Although too often an afterthought, end of life costs should form a central part of this planning; a loved one passing away is a difficult enough time as it is, unattended and unexpected financial costs should not add further upset at a time when loved ones are grieving.

I had no idea about burials laws until coming across Wendii Miller, a Cambridge graduate, who carried out her own DIY burial for her 98-year-old mother Doris, even digging the grave after collecting her corpse from Grimsby Hospital mortuary and driving her mother's remains back to a burial site outside Harrogate.

I have been lucky enough in my life not to lose anyone that I was really close to. Apart from my grandparents, who passed away in old age, I can thankfully say that my immediate family and all of my good friends are still here with me. Death is the one thing that doesn't grow easier with age and I can only hope that I am strong enough to deal with the inevitable when it eventually happens.

There is nothing quite like it. The hopes and joys and fears and promise, the comedy of errors and clash of class, the mix of characters and range of emotion, the execrable speeches and appalling dancing and the potential for calamitous farce.

Whenever human beings gather to celebrate, food and drink is there - wetting babies' heads, birthday cakes, parties, the Christmas dinner, the wedding breakfast. But it's also there at the more wan and sorrowful times, often in a quieter, more humbler guise; it has a part to play in healing the sick, and eventually, in the final commemoration of our lives.