The Anonymous Widower

Everyone and Everything Is Leaving Me!

Not really, but it sometimes seems so.  I now have no mobile phone and won’t probably until I get my Nokia 6310i in a few days. My wife and son have both left me and all I get is a visit from an occasional friend. The radio is just going on and on about the Diamond Jubilee and today’s episode, is not what I’m interested in.  The torch relay has stopped for lunch and there is nothing to do this afternoon. My health seems to be going downhill rapidly and it seems that I get tired walking just a hundred yards or so.

At least Suicide is Painless!

But that is not an option, as it’s not painless for those left behind. My other son, who’s working today, by the way, has suffered enough grief in the last five years, and I would never inflict anymore on him, by my own hands.

They’re having a party in the Square, but do they really want me there, as I’m just rather a miserable killjoy at the moment.

June 5, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , | 4 Comments

Olympic Torch Relay or Diamond Jubilee Service

I’m very much a supporter of the Queen and the work she does, but I’m watching the Olympic Torch Relay as it passes through Omagh.

I think when we look back on these days in the years to come, the Olympics of 2012 and the associated relay, may be in our memories more than the Diamond Jubilee. After all we’ve seen a lot of Royal ceremonials, but the Torch Relay could turn out to be an important moment, in the restoration of good relations between the UK and especially England and the whole island of Ireland. We may be divided in many ways, but no pessimist could say we’re not joined in our enjoyment of sport.

June 5, 2012 Posted by | News, Sport | , , , , | Leave a comment

India Shows “A Queen is Crowned”

According to this report from the Times of India, they’re showing the documentary, A Queen is Crowned, in Lucknow at the moment.

I think I saw it soon after the Coronation, as in those days television was only in black and white, but the documentary was in colour.

June 3, 2012 Posted by | News | | Leave a comment

They’ve Cancelled The Stringbag

The weather has now got worse and the BBC has announced that the flypast by the Swordfish has been cancelled.

June 3, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , | Leave a comment

The Queen Does Her Duty

I think the Queen was getting a bit cold in the rain and has now put a wrap on. The Duke, who of course is very much a nautical person, seems to be enjoying the pageant a lot more than his wife.  But the Queen as ever carries on!

I think he understood, the semaphore signalling from the top of the Festival Hall, judging by his smile. I hope they weren’t sending rude messages, as I would have thought few people on the river could have read them these days, except the Duke.

June 3, 2012 Posted by | News | , , | Leave a comment

A Place for the Little Ships

In the Diamond Jubilee flotilla today, there are about forty or so of the Little Ships of Dunkirk.  If you look at the Wikipedia entry, you’ll see that some unusual boats took part in 1940.  What surprised me was that 39 Dutch coasters that had escaped the Germans also took part and rescued about seven percent of the total of the troops brought home.

June 3, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Queen Gets Her Weather

It looks like the next four days, will be the Queen’s usual weather; dull with rain.

At least heavy rain doesn’t seem to be forecast.

Hopefully!

June 2, 2012 Posted by | News | , , | Leave a comment

Iran Gives the Old Phrase of Neck-Tie Party a New Meaning

Iran has now started prohibiting shop-keepers from selling ties in Iran according to this report in the Guardian.

How long before they make it a capital offence and give life to the old phrase?

May 31, 2012 Posted by | News | , , | Leave a comment

Summer Is Over

Does this picture herald the end of summer?

The Angel, Islington in the Rain

Or is the Queen getting her usual bad weather for the Diamond Jubilee?

May 31, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , | 2 Comments

Do We Really Want a Mormon as US President?

I’m unsure, that having a leader of a country with strong religious beliefs is a good idea. They need strong humanist principles, that are probably subscribed to, by most good people, but that is all.

After all, with the exception of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, I don’t think, we’ve had a Prime Minister in recent years, who went anywhere near a church, except for the usual ceremonial duties, like weddings, funerals and affairs of state.

You can argue, whether we did better under a leader, who regularly went to church or we didn’t. However, in my view to belong to a church with strong political views is wrong, as they might try to divert you from important policies. For instance, we have the stance of the Roman Catholic church on contraception.

I don’t think the leaders in countries like France, Germany and other well-respected nations have outrageous religious views.

So to have a US President, who is a Mormon like Mitt Romney, might just upset the balance in the world. Let’s hope the good citizens of the United States see sense and return Barack Obama for a second term, otherwise it might find itself in a minority of one on the world stage.

Read Mark Mardell’s view of Mitt Romney here. Here’s a paragraph from the article.

The Obama team also wants to promote the image of Mr Romney as very right wing.

Not simply conservative but old-fashioned. The out-of-touch old guy who would bring back the past. In an excellent, if long, article the New York Magazine quotes an unnamed Obama strategist: “He’s the fifties, he is retro, he is backward, and we are forward—that’s the basic construct.”

“If you’re a woman, you’re Hispanic, you’re young, or you’ve gotten left out, you look at Romney and say, ‘This guy is gonna take us back to the way it always was, and guess what? I’ve never been part of that.'”

He sounds the sort of guy, that most British politicians would instantly not warm to.

May 30, 2012 Posted by | News | , , , | Leave a comment

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