Thursday, December 20

The Queen


The present Queen of Britain will celebrate 60 years on the throne in 2012, and thereby break Queen Victoria's record as the longest-reigning British monarch. Ah, five more torturous years to wait until it's a done deal.
During her reign, the Queen's achievements have already included being the first British monarch to send an e-mail, to have a message put on the moon and to hold a public concert in her back garden.
Gosh - I pale. What did I do wrong? Perhaps I should organize a public event on my lawn next spring to make up for it. I doubt I will be able to send a message to the moon though, that's out of my league.
First time I went to England, I was a little boy. But what struck me then was all the different coins in multiple sizes and denominations, an array of continuous confusion. Some were large and others tiny. These were copper, others pewter or even silver. Size didn't present value, necessarily. But what always charmed my mind was the beautiful Queen embedded in some of these coins. I sort of fell in love with her.
So here is cheers to the Queen, an that antiquated institution.
Perhaps the US could benefit from a queen. But I am not sure if Hillary is the right one for me!

picture stolen and not by me

1 comment:

lindsaylobe said...

Like her or loathe her, one facts remains incontestable; none could can doubt her sincerity to serve her nation and empire in the faithfulness she first promised in the 1946 speech whilst touring South Africa , as a mere slip of girl ever mindful of the sacrifices of those who had perished in WW2. Elizabeth herself was no slouch, she previously served as a mechanic in WW2 repairing Land Drovers and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty.

An entirely practical person the story goes that one day in the palace it came to her attention there was a faulty toilet that wouldn’t flush. Apparently she exclaimed with alacrity, (to the horror of those present) ~I know how to fix toilets! ~ And promptly fixed it, returning gleefully to confirm the fact.

I think you could do lot worse, particularly if you believe, as I do, that hard work and faithful service prevail over coups and cleverness of politicians with short term horizons. Trouble is you could get a good monarch or a bad one, its pot luck but then what was that I was just saying about politicians?
I notice the silence is deafening in relation to the sub prime mess and the lack of prudential standards over bank lending. Neither side including Hilary have uttered a single Bo peep on this very significant failing on the supervisory side of bank lending that led to the crisis. Why is there this tongue tyed shyness about sub prime?
Best wishes