Day 41– How on earth does a funeral parlour go out of business?

Surely not for lack of customers

I hereby pronounce the passing of H L Hawes & Son Funeral Directors of Leytonstone, previously located towards the north end of Leytonstone High Road, London E11. I was on my way for my spell of ‘second office’ work at the pub yesterday and noticed an envelope about to blow away outside the doorway of what had been, ever since I have been in Leytonstone (over 20 years), a funeral directors’ premises. I placed the letter into the recessed doorway and noticed the place had been stripped of any furnishings or ephemera on the walls, and then saw a man I assume was assessing the property appear from a connecting room to the reception inside. It was evident that there was to be no more trading as far as H L Hawes & Son was concerned.

There were two other letters on the floor in the recess – they looked like bills. All were a little on the dusty side and evidently gathering dust for a while – poked through the pull-down metal shutters that normally protected the shopfront outside trading hours. It must have been closed for a while now, but you don’t tend to register these things. I mean, how’s the funeral parlour doing today? It’s not in my train of thought. I just walk past.

But it was yesterday when it dawned on me that nobody was going to be doing business with this establishment again.

And my first question was…