Sad to say... but life is for the living

Personal monuments at beauty spots a step too far

- NEIL LESLIE

IT MUST be something in the dying of an old year and the dawning of a new one.

It tends to be a time that draws us towards the places where we go to remember those that have passed.

That's my excuse anyway for spending a little too much time around cemeteries and burial grounds in recent days.

From Newgrange on the winter solstice where - if you're alive to it - you can sense a connection to something bigger than just your own story.

To Glasnevin, conceived and founded by the Great Liberator Daniel O'Connell so the poor of Dublin City could be remembered with some dignity in death, and where several of my family's past generations have gone for the big sleep.