I’m Now Following The Queen’s Example
By Legend, the Queen never carries any cash.
I’m now deliberately following a similar policy, but I only use a contactless bank card for most of my daily purchases, like my paper and food.
I’ve even still got a couple of John Lewis vouchers gathering dust in my wallet, as sincve the new M & S Food opened in Dalston, I rarely go need a Waitrose.
One thing I find with M & S Food, is that on a typical purchase the average price is two pounds per item. So to keep under the thirty pound contactless limit, I rarely buy more than fourteen items. These unusually fit easily into usable bag.
Buying my paper in M & S or a station also means I can use contactless for the purchase.
A couple of days ago, I was approached by an aggressive tin rattler for a charity I would never suppose because of some of their practices. So I waved my card and asked. “Do you do conactless?” I got a smiling “Sorry! No!”
I still use cash for three purposes.
- Restaurants with waiter/waitress service, so the tips go to the staff. It also means at busy times, in cafes I use a lot, I always get a table.
- Black cabs, when I occasionally use one.
- Personal services from local tradesmen, where the value is small. Otherwise it’s a bank transfer.
But it’s amazing, how little cash you now need.
Will This Become One Of The Iconic Photographs Of the Queen?
Last week, the Queen opened the new Reading station. It’s reported here on the BBC.
The picture of her sitting amongst Network Rail’s orange army, will surely become one of the most iconic photographs of the Queen.
The Queen With The Orange Army
I wonder how many mantelpieces, it’s already sitting on.
A Market Named After The Queen
I find it somewhat unusual that the French have named a market after the Queen, as is reported here on the BBC. The French have also brought the Wikipedia entry for the market in line.
We rarely name places after famous people these days, although it did happen in the past. And if we do, it is unlikely to be after a foreign monarch or politician. Prince Charles for example has a cinema in London and a hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, but where is General de Gaulle Square?
In France though there are lots of places named after Kennedy, Churchill and Roosevelt.
There is a list here of everything named after the Queen. On a quick look Canada seems to honoured her more than we have.
I suspect that the Queen wasn’t that bothered one way or the other about the renaming of the market, but she probably accepted the honour with grace.
The Queen Starts An Inter Union Row
Her Majesty doesn’t often get involved in trade union disputes, but according to this report in the Standard, she’s very much involved in this one on the London Ungerground.
What puzzles me about this dispute is why we still have so many unions involved in the rail industry.
Over the many years, I’ve been watching industrial relations, it strikes me, that companies with a single union, seem to have better industrial relations, than those with more.
The East End Dogsbody Who Got To Shoot The Queen
David Bailey is a real East Ender, who started as a studio dogsbody at £3.50 a week.
This morning, the papers are all showing the photograph he has taken of the Queen.
The picture is shown here in the Telegraph. Here’s a small extract about fom the accompanying text.
The pair are said to have got on famously during the photoshoot, which took place at the palace in March.
Bailey, 76, said: “I’ve always been a huge fan of the Queen. She has very kind eyes with a mischievous glint. I’ve always liked strong women and she is a very strong woman.”
I have a feeling that this image will be one of the lasting ones of the only British Queen most of us will ever know.
Is It The Right Maple Leaf?
There’s a bit of a row going on in Canada over whether their new plastic banknotes have the right maple leaf. It’s reported here on the BBC.
I have no opinion about the maple leaf as I’m no biologist, but is that lady on the note supposed to be the Queen?
I’ve never seen a plastic banknote, although I’ve always thought they should work. Checking with Wikipedia, they are more common than you think according to this article.
A Gentle Joke About The Queen
You don’t hear many repeatable jokes about the Royal Family and especially the Queen. But this video contains a good one from Daniel Day Lewis at the Golden Globes. He is probably one of the last you’d think would make such a joke, given some of the things he’s said in the past.
The Queen Buys Pictures Of Herself
It has been revealed that the Queen has bought a set of prints of herself by Andy Warhol and they will be displayed at Windsor Castle. It’s reported here on the BBC.
There is no comment from Her Majesty, but I suspect she’d have vetoed buying them in May, if she didn’t like them.
An Equestrian Double
I took these pictures yesterday outside St. George’s Hall in Liverpool.
The view of the hall would be better, if they didn’t use it as a car park!
I wonder if there is another pair of equestrian statues in the world of a royal husband and wife, where each is treated equally. I don’t think there’s another statue of a lady in such a prominent place, where the lady is riding side-saddle. Certainly, there isn’t in the UK. But there is one of Queen Elizabeth on Burmese in Regina, Saskatchewan. But then Burmese was born in that Canadian province.
I also went over St. George’s Hall for the first time. It is rather a creepy and forbidding place in the cells under the courts, which are no longer used, but the whole is a marvel of Victorian architecture. As it is right in front of the station, it is an ideal place to spend an hour or so before cstching a train. Especially, as it is a free attraction.
Arise Sir Bradley
If after his exploits this year in the Tour of France (It’s the Anglo-Saxon’s now!) and then his untouchable performance in the Olympic time-trial yesterday, where he made a world-class field look like amateurs, he must be odds-on to be knighted in the near future. The web certainly thinks so.
Would he be the first Sir Bradley?
Searching the Internet only finds an anti-gay evangelical Christian web-site, a US wrestler called Sir Bradley Charles and a Sir Bradley Avenue in Sacramento, California. In my book only the last one has any credence. So who was it named after?
So I think he would be the first Sir Bradley!
There of course a lot of sites saying he should be knighted.
For different reasons, such as his part in bringing the Olympics to London, it can’t be long before Her Majesty corrects the mistake the Greeks made over David Beckham, by adding a knighthood to his name.
The Anonymous Widower 