TILTING AT WINDMILLS: A BURNING ISSUE

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A BURNING ISSUE

It appears that those who have opted to be cremated and who die in Gibraltar have to have their funeral held in nearby Spain even though a crematorium opened on the Rock last April.

Apparently the crematorium is ready to be fired up and a separate furnace for clinical waste and the cremation of pets has been in use for some time.

The hold up seems to be that regulations need to be finalized and those wishing to be cremated need two death certificates instead of the usual one. I am sure that is not the case in Spain and it seems rather an odd requirement as Hindus in Gibraltar have been sent off to their maker on a simple open fire with just one certificate.

It appears the crematorium section for funerals is set aside for human use only – so there is no danger you’ll consumed with a load of old bandages or dearly departed Fido.

It is said the new crematorium is state of the art and complies with all EU requirements. All very reassuring but if it’s sitting idle it doesn’t really matter a toss whether it meets the European laws or not – and if you’re dead you are in no position to complain anyway. I also have to say that I have never come across a cremation centre before that caters for humans, animals and waste all on the same site.

Is this an unsavoury first for Gibraltar?

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TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Sancho Panza is much less learned but a good deal saner than his master.

"At this point they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that are on that plain.

"Fortune," said Don Quixote to his squire, as soon as he had seen them, "is arranging matters for us better than we could have hoped. Look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants rise up, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes. For this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth."

"What giants?" said Sancho Panza.

"Those you see there," answered his master, "with the long arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long."

"Look, your worship,'' said Sancho. "What we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the vanes that turned by the wind make the millstone go."

"It is easy to see," replied Don Quixote, "that you are not used to this business of adventures. Those are giants, and if you are afraid, away with you out of here and betake yourself to prayer, while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat."”