Well that was a week of 2 halves. I was sitting in my seat at the Oval cricket ground watching the rain pulse down when the news began to filter through of the Queen’s failing health. By the time play was abandoned for the day at about 4.30 the senior Royals were flying to Balmoral and you knew this wasn’t good.
I think it was the suddenness that caused the sense of personal grief that hit me. There was no lead in, no time to adjust. Of course, at 96 you knew she didn’t have decades but her mother made it past 100.
She has been ubiquitous, part of everyone’s wallpaper. I never saw her in the flesh, never lined a street or pressed against a railing but her presence was a constant and her constancy an ever present. There’s a silhouette in the national backdrop where once she added colour – and boy dd she add colour with her lilacs and lemons and peaches and pinks. You can’t be beige as a monarch if you need to be easily spotted – I wonder how our new King will address that piece of pragmatic protocol?
The cricket continued on Saturday – everything was too raw for Friday to happen – and there was some debate whether any sport should take place during this period of mourning. The Queen – indeed her whole family – enjoyed their sport and in the end only football cancelled. I’m glad I went. The communal sense of something defining was palpable. Though it was very strange to sing God Save the King for the first time in my life.
The ground was pindrop quiet, sepulchral almost during the minute’s silence and then the applause, continuous and considered. It went on and on, only stopping when the players were in their places and ready to play.
The ground dressed in black, even the scoreboard reflected the moment. And it was sort of back to normal… sort of.
We’ve had a lot of rain too. The garden is perkier, I’ve rediscovered pullovers and anoraks and umbrellas. At last. I promise never to moan about rain again.
Behind all this we also have a new Prime Minister and an eye wateringly large support package to try and take the sting out of the upcoming winter fuel crisis. Right now, that and all politics have disappeared. It won’t last. It mustn’t last but for now there are more momentous things to think on.
TanGental 
For a moment I had this marvellous image of Charles (It will take a while for me to get used to “The King”) in a pink suit. I eagerly await the transformation! How time normally flies, but this last week has lasted for ages!
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Yes the dial has been turned down to gas mark 2 while we ponder on it…
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Heh, he’d look rather dashing in pink. 😀
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He is a cerise kind of guy, isn’t he.
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😀
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My, your garden bounces back quickly.
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Made of rubber
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How green and inviting your garden now – so quickly – looks! Amazing what several buckets of the wet stuff can do! You could even hold a Garden Party (?) Being an ancient, I can clearly recall shedding several tears when I heard the late King had died (was a secretary for Philip Morris cigs in Frith Street, London, when I heard), as I was fond of him (he should never have been King!) The Queen never put a foot wrong and did her duty in exemplary fashion, but I’m not a believer in the monarchy and all it entails. Cheers.
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No well I understand how strange monarchy as a construct is. I just fear any alternative would leave us in a very precarious Uber political nightmare. Better the devil…
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Crying all over again…
Luckily for me I saw her numerous times, though in my bolshie period I passed up the opportunity to attend an Embassy garden party for her, silly me! Not that she would have had time to speak to us, but still …
I have countless photos of her on my iPad – she was so reassuring.
We will meet again.
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Indeed let’s hope…
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The heavens opened to mourn her, and boy they did. We were at a hotel in Norwich on Thursday, the day the Queen died…we were all shocked and really upaet by her passing.
Life did continue, the next day Friday we went to the wedding…in torrential rain… It rained all afternoon, my brother opened his Father’s Speech with, ” This maybe be unusual but , God Rest Elizabeth R. a wonderful Queen, God Bless the King”
Then after the speeches there was a beautiful Rainbow, I got a photo of my niece framed by it. 💜.
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There you go… there is always a rainbow somewhere
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Indubitably and always a blessing 💜
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Your garden looks great, Geoff.
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It’s a bit better
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Quite.
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It’s a cardinal sin to complain about the rain here in California. Always nice to see the green return, isn’t it?
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Oh yes. I wouldn’t want to be liable to prosecution for being anti rain next time I visit…
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I am glad that you got some cricket in. I think that it was a mistake to cancel the football matches. I felt that it was infantilising the public. It is an interesting question as to whether the current prime minister will be fuming about being upstaged or grateful that she is being unobserved. Perhaps both at the same time.
The garden looks good.
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Garden is perking up, though it’s a way to go to reach your glory. I’m trying not to think about politicians right now…
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Good plan.
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Finely presented momentous day
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A wonderful tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. She was a Great Lady, and will be sadly missed throughout the world.
I was in France last weekend, and the news there was dominated by her passing. I suspect it would have been in many countries.
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It is quite unexpected to me how widely her death is being marked. She was extraordinary
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This was a wonderful and deeply personal tribute to the Queen. I wonder if she brought on the much needed rain.
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Be good to think she had a quiet word.
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🙂
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