Sir, – Further to recent correspondence (March 25th), I was at a funeral this morning where not only did a smartphone ring but a car alarm sounded in the church car park. Rather than become irritated by the distractions, I mused on how, unlike my deceased friend, I was privileged to still be able to hear them, and I also mused on how my friend would himself have mischievously enjoyed a smartphone breaking the solemn silence of a funeral. – Yours, etc,
GARRY BURY,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – The letter printed yesterday brought to mind my own father’s funeral a few years ago. I happened to be doing a reading from Ecclesiastes 3, 1-8: “There is a time for everything. A time to be born a time to die. A time to plant and a time to reap.” In the middle of the reading the priest’s phone rang. The priest apologised and said with humour that there is a time to have your phone powered on and a time to have it silenced. My father would have enjoyed that response. – Yours, etc,
PHIL REILLY,
Drogheda,
Co Louth.