Walking my dogs last night I was aware, even in this bungalowed downland backwater, of a large number of children scurrying around in fancy dress. There were witches and wizards, ghosts and ghouls, skeletons and blood-soaked horrors, and various impersonations of the Grim Reaper. All harmless fun, I suppose …
Yet, how harmless is it, really? I remember, as a somewhat nerdy teenager being fascinated by death – or, rather, by the process of bereavement that faces the living who are dying, or the living who remain after the death of a loved one.
