To: The Sydney Morning Herald

Sent: Monday, 30 September 2002 5:10 PM

Subject: grave objections...

Your article "The Dying Game" (Monday, September 30) will have many prospective 'customers' gnashing their teeth while they still can - or contemplating a cheap exit in the country - but it also left a sizeable hole in the ground you so commendably covered. As an inveterate do-it-yourselver, at 66 I would have appreciated a more constructive prospect for that last hurray. DIY cremation may be out of the question and losing myself at sea on
a fishing trip, while saving my family a bundle, would merely shift the financial burden to the search-and-rescue folks. But are there no reasonable options? I have a 20 ha 'burial plot' where I'd love to lie under my
favourite pecan tree, perhaps in a biodegradeable urn. Is it legal? And will I need an environmental impact statement? I'm certain your reporters could dig up some pertinent answers to such questions for a follow-up article... funeral classifieds interests not withstanding.