I don't know about you, but for years after my parents died I would occasionally find myself absent-mindedly thinking that I should call them up as I had not spoken to them for a while. Don't get me wrong, but I sometimes think the same about Queen Elizabeth now that she is gone.
I never met her, (but I did meet her eldest son once and I was invited to tea with her mother - the Mother), so I do not imagine myself calling her up even if I did have her number.
I have just renewed my passport. It is a blue one and it will probably be my last one. Inside, it still refers to 'Her Majesty...' I must cancel the milk.
I just miss her, that's all.
Yes, anything or anyone that has been a fixture in one's life, even when you hadn't really thought about it, does leave a gap
ReplyDeleteIn the past I have had some really bad jobs that I did not want to do, and when they finish I actually found myself missing the routine.
DeleteShe was a remarkable woman and always present for a very long time. I believe her presence will be missed for a long time as well.
ReplyDeleteShe even beat Victoria in the length of her reign.
DeleteI absently mindedly think I should find a phone and call my mother, though it's been 25 years since she died. It has been awhile, though. The queen, now. I am so sorry she is gone.
ReplyDeleteMy phone has several dead people's numbers on it. I usually delete them after a few years, but not before. I find I don't have the heart.
DeleteI feel detached from the world. I haven't missed her. If you asked me at the time of her death "will you miss her?" I would have said yes. But in reality I haven't.
ReplyDeleteWith me it is the opposite. If you had asked me the same question I would have said 'no'.
DeleteMissing people. I remember when my first husband died and I would wake up thinking he was somewhere in the world still living. The Queen was an anchor in our lives, the royal family are in turmoil at the moment over stupid human affairs.
ReplyDeleteWere you married to Lord Lucan?
DeleteShe had been a fixture in the lives of anyone under the age of 70. At 84 I can remember her coronation in 1952.
ReplyDeleteI was a young bellringer at our village church and helped the "tower captain" to half muffle our bells for her father's funeral. This involved fixing a leather pad to one side of each bell clapper. When rung the result was awesome. It never happened again in that village until she died.
The new king, Charles !!!, is keeping a low profile until after his coronation and I don't expect his reign will be, at the most, above 20 years. After him it will be William, hopefully a breath of fresh air to the monarchy.
Elizabeth had the longest reign of any monarch. it is natural that we miss her.
I was given a dinky toy gold carriage for her coronation. That's the only thing I remember. I sometimes think I would like to be a bell ringer, but not for the nearest church to where we live. Their bells are awful.
DeleteYour Queen was a wonderful woman, Tom, and I miss her too.
ReplyDeleteMy father is now 13 years gone, but sometimes I hear his voice behind me - he had a lot of humour and he was wise, so I hear either a funny comment or an advice.
By the way: I met King Charles once when he still was a Prince - no official meeting but the opening of an exhibition.
He came to my workshop in Bath once - also as a prince.
DeleteWhen the Queen died I felt we had lost the one of the few people who stood for decency and morality in this country. Most of our leaders do not inspire such things. I miss her for that.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's exactly it. I don't think I would miss her as much if our government were not so rotten. She represented everything which was dependable.
DeleteI miss my farmer - every day but especially at night when I am all shut in for winter. In Summer I miss walking the fields with him.
ReplyDeleteWhen were you in or near Wolverhampton? I lived there for almost twenty years and taught there almost all of my teaching career.
I bet you do, Weave. I think I was near Wolverhampton for the passing out parade of my RAF brother. You were probably there at the time.
DeleteTo me it’s her “ we will see our families again, we will see our friends again, we will meet again” speech that sticks in my mind .
ReplyDeleteDelivered with firm authority
She was a proper authority.
DeleteI miss some common sense in public life and perhaps her sense of duty. I'm about as republican as it gets but I can recognise a good egg when I see one - and she was certainly that to be fair.
ReplyDeleteRepublicanism or monarchy - it's all ideology, and you know where that has got us in the last few years.
DeleteIt sounds silly, but she was simply always there. For all of my life, she was just always there. I mean, I recognized that the day would come when she wasn't, but I never expected it to matter. She was a symbol, I guess, of all the things that people stood for back in the day. She really did believe in honor and duty. Not many people do.
ReplyDeleteThe longer she was there, the more it mattered.
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