The Queen died as we were just teeing off at Pottergate Golf Club. Of course she wasn’t physically there. This wasn’t one of those occasions where one of the spectators kicked the bucket whilst watching the golf, or even whilst hitting a driver down the first. The news filtered through on whatsapp. We wouldn’t normally mess about with whatsapp whilst playing golf but we were in communication with Ajax who was intending to join us for the back nine.
After the front nine Jezzer and I had a couple of beers waiting for the rain to move on and for Ajax to get to us. We were sorely tempted to have more beers and abandon the cars for retrieval another day but stayed strong. In any case the rain had moved on and the sun came out.
The golf isn’t really the focus of this post but the death of the monarch. I am by no means a royalist but the Queen’s death is of great historical significance and worthy of a moment of reflection.
The media is full of coverage of the death. They have been preparing for this moment for years, decades probably, so it will have been simply a matter of digging out all the pre prepared material and sticking it on. It does seem as if the world is going to stop revolving for a couple of weeks whilst the official mourning continues.
The signs have been there all year that her days were numbered. She was growing increasingly frail. I saw it with mam and dad and the indicators were the same. Shit happens.
I happen to be in London on the day of the funeral and I have switched to an earlier train which gets me in at 09.25. Thought if there was a chance I might watch some of the action It is, as I said, a very historic occasion. The likelihood is you will have had to camp out overnight to get a look in. Ain’t gonna ‘appen. If the Nile Rodgers gig is cancelled then I’ll cancel the trip.
On a personal level I have no sentiment whatsoever towards any of the Royal Family. As far as I am concerned they are a historic curiosity with little relevance to me but I do recognise this is not a feeling held by a large number of my fellow citizens.
The Queen held the job since before I was born. It’s always been her head on the stamps and currency. Strange really but the way it is. I expect they will now be busy changing all the stamp designs. Feels as if it is a massive job to change notes and coins. A gradual process probs.
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Nile gig cancelled as is pretty much everything else. Over the top methinks but it is what it is. Probably the last time the nation/world will celebrate such an event in this way.
To avoid the back to back blanket media coverage I researched doing an Interrail trip sometime. Wouldn’t be before next summer but the act of looking at it meant not looking at the news. I got the idea from a couple of girls on the Eurostar last week who were on their way home from a 2 month trip. To make life easy you can buy prearranged route and accommodation packages. The only problem is I have already been to most of the major cities on the route. Made me realise how much we have travelled over the years. Lucky really.
So need to consider alternatives. Sailing across the Atlantic? Pacific? I dunno. Catch a wave somewhere and see where it lands.