Last night I went to visit a family to discuss arrangements for a funeral.  As part of the service they asked for a recording of 'Albert and the Lion' to be played.  I have no objection, but I am more than a tad bemused by this.  I have heard a few people in this locale talk of having this poem at funerals - but why?

In the mean time, I have to prune other bits down so that we have time for this (I seem to recall the recording being quite long to allow for all the laughter along the way) as the crem. slot is tight.