Last year (I think, after eight Fairs the years tend to blur a bit) we decided that we would always go ahead with the event, no matter the weather forecast, unless the Council (which owns the field where it takes place) was to tell us we couldn't, and that decision removes a lot of the stress and uncertainty. Packing away, too, seemed to be smoother and less stressful than in previous years. The sky was mainly overcast with a couple of half-minute glimpses of the sun, but not enough to put visitors off: the field was pretty busy and we now have a roster of arena events which provides enough interest to keep people coming and going.
What happened to Reg Hand a week last Friday is still on my mind. I had a conversation about the haunting defibrillator with a member of the congregation who's a retired nurse. 'If someone in their nineties has a heart attack,' she said, 'it's next to impossible that they're going to pull through, no matter what you do. And would he have wanted to, after that? I'm 74, not 91, but I've signed a Do-Not-Resuscitate order.' Others tell me the same thing.
I do hope you can now let go of the defribillator. I'm right with the nurse; I expect you've read or heard a doctor describe the sort of condition someone that age would almost certainly be in after a resuscitation that worked, against all odds? I'm a little but not much younger than the retired nurse (they are a huge reservoir of good sense, aren't they?) but I've even thought of the American idea of having "no resus" tattooed on my chest.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to follow up your helpful warning ref unexpected death in a public place needing police attendance. Tricky enough during Occasional Office in a church, but in a busy single-chapel crematorium? I shall quiz the excellent chapel attendants at our local. I shan't bother to ask the manager. He's too busy managing.
I shall think of you, your congregation, and Reg Hand, in what you'd call a prayer and I'd call a meditation, later today.