Guided tour of the crematorium

One of my train buddies works at the local cemetery as a grave digger. Last year, I dropped off some posters for the skinsnsharps exhibition to him at lunch time and he asked me to meet him behind the crematorium. I like meeting almost-strangers in secluded places.

He arrived in his tractor at the same time I pulled up in the car and after making my delivery he asked if I would like to have a look through the crematorium. Oh boy! Did I? Wow.

It is a big square concrete room with a bank of four incinerators in the middle. The back area is where the coffins wait till they are pushed into the furnace. From the other side you are able to view the orange glow of the flames through a tennis ball sized window. After the entire coffin (including handles and plaque) and body has been consumed, the remains are raked towards the front of the furnace, where they fall into a smaller chamber to be incinerated further.

The remains then fall into a metal container and the container is placed into a unit on the wall. Using vibration and metal balls the size of a small orange, the remains are ground into a plastic container, ready to be returned to the family. After viewing the process I am quite comfortable with the thought of being cremated.

A further story to add to the day - As I was leaving I noticed a funeral director standing around in his suit while he was making a 'delivery'. I looked at his name plate and it was a boy I went to high school with. At an orientation day, I nicknamed him Foghorn, as his voice had broken and he had a deep, deep voice. We had a gasbag and then my train buddy called me into the tea room, as one of the other grave diggers wanted to ask me something about RAGE.

As I was in the tea room chatting to the men, my high school friend shouted from the hearse, "Julie, leave those boys alone, let them have their lunch in peace. You're as bad as you were in high school."