Final farewells during the outbreak, brief and with few mourners, are hardly adequate to mark lives well lived Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage “What if the postman comes?” my aunt asked, as my mum explained the funeral arrangements for Granny. The only way we could do it was in the garden of her old home in Leeds – a 15-minute funeral, with six people attending. And then my mum laughed, big and booming from the bottom of her gut, because even though her heart had snapped in two, the thought of seven mourners spread out two metres apart on the front lawn next to a coffin seemed ludicrous. And the idea of trying to explain what was happening to a postman dropping off some bills and a soon-to-be-cancelled subscription issue of Knitting magazine, even more so. It’s never going to feel like luck, to be told you have just minutes to say goodbye to a person who’s been in your life for ever, but that’s what it was. Since the lockdown began, many local authorities have banned funerals at