There are no short cuts in life - you can however take a shortcut through the Cemetary

"There a two certainties in life - death and taxes" 
Not sure which of the ancient wise dudes said that (some Greek or Roman wise guy?!)
However he seems right.
Taxes we can try avoid paying - cheat on even! Emphasis on try - I am sure the local tax collection agency will catch up with you eventually.  Your 'end of life' however is a given (and hopefully later then sooner) fact.  The only way the above statement by our Greek wise-guy can be wrong is, if you live in Monaco and are about 2-5ooo years old . . . . . . .
hmmmmm

Anyhow - Cemeteries are an interesting place and sometimes I would take a group of youth to some remote god-forsaken place on the westcoast and ask them to find me the oldest and youngest buried person (along with instructions on how to be 'respectful') and consider the possible 'life stories' behind them.
There is even ONE grave in Milford Sound.
When eventually they find a baby (3 or 5 days old and in one case still born from around 1860 )  buried - they soon get the message on how save/privileged they are and appreciate their own life a little bit more. Occasionally they find a person who was lucky enough to have lived to 90 or so years of age and his funeral being around mid 1880's - so the question is - where from to NZ - how many changes in their life so they can be here . . . .    how much hard work (no phone/power/medic/etc)!
Always challenging thoughts for the youth of today. . . . . .

Today - I took a short cut through the local Cemetery and these days I always carry my camera with me - so took the opportunity to take one or two pic's!
It was an opportunity to good to miss.
This particular cemetery is almost full - in fact - I think there is only one space left.

The headstones are nicely arranged and laid out.  Now, for most folk who know this scribbler  poet  urm - writer
you would know that Christchurch has suffered a large number of strong earthquakes and I was expecting lots more headstones to have fallen over.
Seems most of them have stayed up-right.













My own brother passed away far to soon via an accident.  He had a knack of always finding an empty spot for car-parking no matter how busy a place was, and since he's passed away I never have any trouble myself in that department.  It is almost like he's watching me from the beyond and shared his 'skill' with me.  Seeing this angel standing guard - it reminded me of Manfred!









'Earth to Earth' - so the saying goes and you know - earth has a habit of reclaiming what we have wrestled away from mother nature. Just give it some time and space.  This is often evident in places like this.
It is left up to the Families to look after the graves and when they move away - the graves tend to get neglected and soon enough nature claims its space back.  We have been to some West Coast cemeteries and seen some very neglected places.  That of course goes begging the question on why humans bury their dead and so forth -  and you know - I am not wise or old enough to make any comments on that! Should have asked that wise Greek dude from way back . . . .

Anyhow - time to - urm - move on and enjoy life - or do something constructive


Have fun