Hi all,

Just a quick update to my recent question.

I took mum up the cemetery this morning and cleaned the loose green
glass (like?) stones as mentioned.

I ended up doing it in a similar way to fish tank gravel .. I half
filled a bucket with 'gravel' then ran a hose in there whilst stirring
everything about with my (gloved) hand, tipping the dirt / debris off
now and again whilst it was in suspension.

It was the full length / width of the grave but only maybe 30mm deep
so there wasn't 'loads'.

We did a couple of bucket loads at a time then tipped it back on up
one end then evened it out at the end.

'Mum' was impressed with my efforts and attention to detail .. I
especially wanted to do it right for my Uncle as he was the one who
bought me my first tools and showed me how to use them (Dad was always
there for school stuff but not the 'good stuff' as such).

Looking around I was surprised at what percentage of the graves were
unkempt (and had been that way for a long time).

It got me (light heartedly) thinking if there was anyone out there
doing such professionally ..? Would it still be considered 'caring'
if you got someone else to keep the grave tidy for you (most of the
time at least? Maybe the Council provide such a service already)?

It was the first time I had been to the grave since my Uncle died a
few years ago and I was ok (I didn't go to the funeral for my own
reasons).

What was more upsetting was seeing some of the other graves .. one for
a 3 week old child for example. ;-(

It reminds one (if a reminder was needed) to make the most of it
whilst we can! ;-)

All the best ..

T i m