Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

On a recent walk, we visited the Lychgate of Hickleton church. It contains three skulls and the words "Today for me, tomorrow for thee", as a mortality reminder. Who the skulls belong to is unknown, but rumours suggest highwaymen, or corrupt local lords.

This is a quote from someone's page on the Flickr website where they are able to share their photographs. It's about a recent walk to Hickleton, near to Doncaster. I too recently went walking at Hickleton again and saw the skulls in the renovated lychgate…unfortunately one of the skulls is obviously plastic. When I was a child in Thurnscoe, the next village, we were all told that the original skulls [long since removed] were recovered from the site of the Battle of Marston Moor, near York, by an eccentric vicar of the parish.

I've got a vertical letterbox and it's rather annoying when the weather is windy like it is this morning. It's lightweight aluminium and the wind just catches it, and then it remains in the open position, causing the house to be full of drafts. I suppose I could fit some sort of curtain - a piece of cloth attached with drawing pins would help.

The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.
In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."
It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."
The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.
Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma.
"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he said.