I'll meet you at the cemetary gates

Went for a wander inside the Newtown cemetary last Thursday to kill some time before meeting up with someone. Was suprised to find it busier inside the cemetary walls than on the outside, where people walk their dogs, kids play in the playground, some read books in the sun, some are just passing through, and others covertly sip bottles wrapped in brown paper bags.

Inside the cemetary, there was a film crew. I don't know what they were filming - didn't ask - but bets are a film clip or possibly a short film. There were too many nice cars parked there for it to be a student project, but that was my first guess. Through the trees, I could see a lady dressed all in black, with four black trails being held out from her dress like a satanic maypole. Smoke machines spewed bursts of grey, to make it look misty. Goulish looking guys in ill fitting, hired suits darted back and forth on errands to the shops. I met a pair of gothy young lovers looking at graves and asked "are you with the shoot?", but no they weren't - don't know why I assumed that in a cemetary! After all, there was another group of goths hanging out in one of the corners of the cemetary.

The cemetary is beautiful inside with lots of tall shadey trees, and long green grass growing around the gravestones following the recent rain. All of the headstones that I understand were taken from the rest of the cemetary before it was reclaimed as the park line the inside of the cemetary wall. There is a little jutting out bit in the wall that holds a memorial to a ship that wrecked over 150 years ago, including a large anchor and some headstones of the ship's crew. I looked around for the oldest headstone I could find, and 1853 won the yellow guernsey.

Finally, I encountered a wheelchaired man, taking his old labrador for a walk. We exchanged tips on good walks - perfect for entertaining the bored baby (in my case) and exercising pets (in his). Turns out his mother is on the church board, and he knows more than average about the cemetary. It's recently received a grant to help with maintenance; a tree recently fell down; it's great for little kids to run around (I'll store that in my memory for a few month's time). Finally my questions exhausted his knowledge - no there wasn't a book written about the history of this place, or even on the area in general, but perhaps I could find out more if I do a tour. They're on once a month.

Might just do that.