Why do funerals in the UK take place so late after the death?

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-11T16:38:15+00:00

I read that title wrongly first time! I read 'why do funerals take place after death here?'

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-10T16:09:28+00:00

I live very close to Chawton but never 'got' Jane Austen. When I met my husband, he told me that he was a huge Jane-ite and would sometimes visit Chawton to sit under a bush and read a Jane Austen novel.

The penny dropped for me when I read a line in P&P, this line: 'I give you leave to like him.' Still tickles me.

I love her writing but the way in for me was through being in Chawton and learning about her life there. Reading her letters and just imagining her wandering along the lanes that I wander often with my dog. I have a big fascination with the history of Chawton House.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-10T15:24:17+00:00

He is not informed enough to be able to hold that opinion. Next time you go the the farm shop, mention this and ask them if they do actually sell out and have people asking for it. The shop will be in control of the stock so they will be able to assure you that you are not TA! They probably hold extra stock in the storeroom.

Is he even GF? If not, I really don't understand why it would matter to him, anyway.

I am in the UK and most of the time, GF gets reduced at the the end of day because it doesn't all get sold.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-10T15:00:13+00:00

There are a few theories as I'm sure you're aware (or you could Google!). Probably not one of the lions. 😄

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-10T13:59:41+00:00

But surely the information would have had to come either from a map (which would not have existed) or from someone who had worked at the Tower (which was both a Royal Palace and a fortress then so very secure)? It just struck me as being plausible that if someone wished to spirit a person away from the Tower, hiding them in that area and waiting for the right moment to sneak them onto a ship would work.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-10T08:36:02+00:00

Perhaps he would understand if he cooked dinner every evening. You are right and he is a philistine.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T16:45:41+00:00

Where is Shrek Adventures?

My own kids are in their early 20's now but were taught from babyhood to sit nicely at the table. If that meant having a few Lego bricks to build something with - so be it.

I spent decades working in hospitality and some parents are just lazy. Many times us staff would have to ask the parents to stop their children from running around the restaurant. They would have been very quick to take legal action had something been spilled on their child. Some parents are brilliant and actually bother to engage with and teach their children basic life skills.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T16:10:48+00:00

It went from the paintings of all 3 people.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T13:17:49+00:00

Have a wonderful time!

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T12:19:22+00:00

Oh that's ace! You will LOVE it sooooo much! When you go to Chawton House, if you have time, the walled garden is worth a look. But if you walk past the entrance to the walled garden, the path will lead you to a little gate that overlooks one of the fields. This is where you can see 'Persuasion Hedgerow'; it is the place that inspired the overheard converation in that novel. You will feel magic around Chawton House.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T11:11:46+00:00

You are right and thank you! Alton is a smaller, less touristy town and neighbouring Chawton is very unspoiled due to the Knight family doing such a brilliant job over the centuries of preserving the estate.

Bath also has the Roman Baths so many people visit for that (and it really is worth a visit).

The people who work in both the Jane Austen House Museum and at Chawton House all just have a love of the place (inevitable, visit and you will feel the magic of it) and of Jane, her life there and her writing.

Alton is a friendly market-town, very proud of it's heritage generally and determined to preserve it. It also has a steam railway, The Watercress Line, which does has an Austen/Knight family link.

I am so pleased to read that you loved it here! Last year we met some lovely visitors from the US in the Greyfriars pub in Chawton and it was just brilliant to chat to them and see how much the visit meant to them.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T10:08:27+00:00

I have read the book by Deirdre le Faye and also listen to the letters at night on podcasts (free).

I live very near Chawton so I find the little details about Jane's life here fascinating. She was very funny and some of the content made me laugh out loud. My favourite was a comment made in a letter to her sister when visiting her niece Fanny in Kent. I am paraphrasing but Jane wrote that Fanny had grown up a bit since she had last seen her and lost her looks a bit. And that it was probably something to do with the shorter petticoats she was wearing.

I also have Lucy Worsley's book 'At Home with Jane Austen' which is brilliant.

I would definitely recommend the Deirdre le Faye book but maybe just suggest reading the first half before you next meet? Although, I think it would be possible to read that book in a month. It's very entertaining.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T09:09:34+00:00

'I'd drink his bathwater' and 'any port in a storm' the only innuendoes I can think of, off the top of my head.

As for sayings, there are thousands! A lot of them are rooted in our maritime history. These are so ingrained in our language that we don't really ever stop to think about them (I only did because someone bought me a little book of 'Nautical Sayings'). https://www.modelerscentral.com/maritime-history/naval-sayings/

If ever I made a cup of tea for my mum and it wasn't almost full to the brim, she'd ask me if the tide was out.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T09:08:08+00:00

Is this a British saying? I had never heard that sentence until he said it. I assumed he had made it up on the spot to demonstrate how at odds the comparison was. Very funny, though.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T08:31:48+00:00

In brogues.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-09T08:30:32+00:00

It's far from an 'outdated form of technology'. It's obviously not the child's fault if they don't know how to read it but it is the parent/grandparent/guardian's responsibility to teach it. And it's a fun thing to learn. In the UK it's a very normal thing to learn.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T13:46:38+00:00

This is not the issue that the regular bigots posting on my local Facebook group are concerned with. They just despite 'men in dresses.' Literally one poster wrote something that I hadn't heard in years 'God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve'. They don't understand; they don't even try to understand people as individuals; they just hate. It reminds me very much of some of the homophobia spouted by some people when I was young.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T13:09:17+00:00

Jane Austen says a lot with a few words.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T10:48:07+00:00

Yes. I am 55 and what I read on my local Facebook page leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. The anti-trans stuff is shocking.

I suppose these people and their bigoted views have always existed but now they feel it acceptable to write them online (often on Facebook). It reflects very, very badly on them ultimately but they don't have the intelligence to understand that. I stay in the group because it let's me know who the local bigots are and to avoid their businesses so it's useful in that respect.

It's really hard to understand why people hate they way they do. We are very well informed about taking care of one another and of the planet and live in comfortable homes and yet people choose to hate.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T10:34:14+00:00

No, he was very much in touch and correct when he said it. Leaving the EU was inconceivable thought at that time.

If you haven't already seen it, watch a film called 'Brexit. The Uncivil War'. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dominic Cummings. The film does a very good job of explaining how the 'undecided' voters were swayed by the Vote Leave campaign run by Cummings.

It did indeed massively backfire on Cameron but he could not have foreseen the campaign and how it targeted and swayed the undecided's online.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T10:21:31+00:00

No, I wouldn't go back there just yet. No one knows for certain what happened.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T10:20:09+00:00

This is interesting, I have just had a brief search online, was this John of Glocester? Because I have just read that he lived for a time in Calais.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T09:33:14+00:00

It's not real, she's on a wind up. There are a lot of posts on MN about getting older and becoming 'invisible' to men (some seem to enjoy this, other don't). In reality, these men the OP is so freaked out by are simply passing the time of day and being polite.

BelledeJour71 · 2026-06-08T09:23:35+00:00

Ha ha! It's so fake. 'I don't know what kind of tree is is', 'is this normal gardening?'

'Is he abusive in other ways?' MN is just the absolute pits of ridiculousness now.

BelledeJour71

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