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    He'd roll over in his grave...

    This article caught my eye: people doing exercises in a graveyard.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33911938

    Nah, I don't think it's 'wrong' or 'disrespectful' or any of that nonsense. You can't disrespect a skeleton by doing the downward dog over it. In fact, unless you're playing football with grandma's head, you have a hard time 'disrespecting' the dead at all; much less those dead for 200 years.

    I recognize that others may disagree.

    #2
    He'd roll over in his grave...

    WOM wrote: I recognize that others may disagree.
    *raises hand*

    What if I was going there to pay my respects? I'd be fucked off to find some dink doing yoga on the grave of someone I knew, regardless of how long they've been dead.

    [edit: having actually read the article properly I should [strike]cover my arse [/strike]clarify by stating that I am speaking in generalities, about the abstract notion of exercising in a graveyard]

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      #3
      He'd roll over in his grave...

      I reckon there's a difference between doing it in an active cemetery and one like this that's been out of use for 160 years.

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        #4
        He'd roll over in his grave...

        I agree there's a difference, but I don't think it is a very significant one.

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          #5
          He'd roll over in his grave...

          That looks like a really horrible place to exercise - they look like they're surrounded by litter and shit. Probably literal shit, from pets and wildlife.

          There are regular parties in our local cemetery (Abney Park), I haven't made it to one yet. It's also a popular cruising and flashing spot (I'm told) and some young girls have been attacked.

          Highgate Cemetery West has been open to tours and members only, following shenanigans with Satanists and strange people.

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            #6
            He'd roll over in his grave...

            Really?

            Is that the bit where Marx is?

            It's always been dead boring when I've been there.

            A friend of ours does fundraising for the historic cemetery in Brooklyn, which is interesting and lovely.

            They do weddings.

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              #7
              He'd roll over in his grave...

              MsD wrote: There are regular parties in our local cemetery (Abney Park)
              Christ now I really am beginning to feel like Victorian Dad.

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                #8
                He'd roll over in his grave...

                ursus arctos wrote: Really?

                Is that the bit where Marx is?

                It's always been dead boring when I've been there.
                No, the other bit with creepy catacombs, where the Victorians used to come to view their relatives of a weekend.

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                  #9
                  He'd roll over in his grave...

                  george clarts wrote:
                  Originally posted by MsD
                  There are regular parties in our local cemetery (Abney Park)
                  Christ now I really am beginning to feel like Victorian Dad.
                  There's an official one tomorrow.

                  http://www.abneypark.org/news/100/17/Abney-Music-Festival/d,news

                  I've been invited to some less formal parties there.

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                    #10
                    He'd roll over in his grave...

                    Lack of respect aside. Cemeteries represent some of the few urban outdoor spaces that present an opportunity for peace and contemplation. Calisthenics and getting pissed with friends OTOH can be done almost anywhere, and these days often is. Bugger off and do them elsewhere.

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                      #11
                      He'd roll over in his grave...

                      On the respect issue, what is the nature of respect/disrespect for the dead? Surely someone doing yoga or playing frisbee-golf doesn't harm the dead. Surely it doesn't detract from your memories of their life or the esteem in which you hold them after their passing. I guess I don't understand the loss that they or you are suffering due to lack of reverence or deference to a gravesite.

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                        #12
                        He'd roll over in his grave...

                        There's too much feeling and not enough thinking in my opinions, so it's a hard one to put in writing. I mean WOM, I feel the same way as you about whatever's left of me (and family/friends) after I die.

                        I also get the impression that a huge number of people don't feel this way, so would respect burial sites and etc. out of fear of creating offence.

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                          #13
                          He'd roll over in his grave...

                          It is nice to have a quiet space - whether it's a cemetery, memorial garden, or art space and there are too many shouty selfish people around, yes.

                          I like to sit in cemeteries sometimes or memorial gardens sometimes - Postman's Park is a very special space, or there's Bunhill Fields, where William Blake and Daniel Defoe are.

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                            #14
                            He'd roll over in his grave...

                            But at least they're only exercising in the cemetery - it's not like they're snorting coke off a tombstone or using the headstones for target practice. Personally speaking, you could crimp one out on my grave, as I'd be too far gone to care by then.

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                              #15
                              He'd roll over in his grave...

                              I would like to append to my earlier post - but feel like adding it with an edit would be a bit snide - the notion that funerary ritual and mourning and etc. are all just as much to do with those that are left behind as those that have died.

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                                #16
                                He'd roll over in his grave...

                                More actually.

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                                  #17
                                  He'd roll over in his grave...

                                  My maternal Grandfather is in Abney Park, I think. Well, what's left is.

                                  Cemeteries represent some of the few urban outdoor spaces that present an opportunity for peace and contemplation. Calisthenics and getting pissed with friends OTOH can be done almost anywhere, and these days often is. Bugger off and do them elsewhere
                                  Yeah, I reckon that's about right.

                                  But at least they're only exercising in the cemetery - it's not like they're snorting coke off a tombstone
                                  That would only work with marble headstones. Stone ones would be too uneven to rack up a decent line.

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                                    #18
                                    He'd roll over in his grave...

                                    Cemeteries, for me, are a great daily reminder that life is for the living and that it all goes by far too quickly.

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                                      #19
                                      He'd roll over in his grave...

                                      They'll be spinning in their graveyards

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                                        #20
                                        He'd roll over in his grave...

                                        Nicely played.

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                                          #21
                                          He'd roll over in his grave...

                                          Antonio Pulisao wrote: They'll be spinning in their graveyards
                                          Applause.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            He'd roll over in his grave...

                                            I must be missing something in my naivety. I mean about the presumed punning. I get the 'disrespect' potential, and also the counter-argument about how it makes no practical difference to those, erm, below. Is it a drugs reference?

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                                              #23
                                              He'd roll over in his grave...

                                              A few years ago my ex took me for a picnic in one of the nicer cemeteries in town, we ended up making out. I thought it was pretty disrespectful and maybe there was a bit of a perverse kick in that, but we were in the far edge of the lot and we moved once several rows after a visiting party came nearby.

                                              One person or two doing some meditation or tai chi in one corner of the cemetery is OK, but a whole tribe of lululemon-clads regularly setting up shop is a bit out of bounds.

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                                                #24
                                                He'd roll over in his grave...

                                                I really wish one of you would break down and explain what's disrespectful about any of it. I mean, Frank Underwood pissing on his father's headstone...that was meant as a sign of disrespect. And a pointed one at that. But making out or playing frisbee golf or otherwise enjoy life?

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                                                  #25
                                                  He'd roll over in his grave...

                                                  Paranoid Velvet Android wrote: Is it a drugs reference?
                                                  Spinning is an exercise. Stationary bicycle and that.

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