So I went to play for the funeral yesterday. The organ is very small and up on a gallery which will seat 25 people. The deceased was only 50 and a popular person in the village, so the church was packed.
I arrived 40 minutes before the service to get used to the organ which had been unlocked. There were four people in church. Soon, a couple* in their late 40s came up to the gallery (the nave being reserved for close family and friends) and the man* was quite the comedian. Indeed, his wife said she hoped I would not be too loud. They started checking their phones and, each time new people arrived, the man used the same greeting line, "It's 'ticket only' up here".
'Oh dear', I thought. This guy is going to be noisy and behave inappropriately. Luckily, once he had greeted everyone in turn he shut up and I heard no more from him. He certainly didn't sing in the hymns.
The service passed off without incident although I think the pall bearers were family and friends and rather untrained so they took a long time to bring the coffin in and to remove it afterwards.
*It strikes me that, in this day and age, a couple could be a same-sex couple: this was one lady and one man who I presume were together.
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