STOP PRESS - King not coronated!

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Nope i saw it myself, no coronating to be seen for the King or Queen!

Which is of course as it should be, i did watch them both being crowned, it may be my only chance to see a coronation 'live', it may be archaic but its our archaic and unlike Bud Light, i think a 900 year 'tradition' is worth continuing. I'm not an ardent Royalist, i'm most definately not a Republican (no connection to the US political arena), i am a historian by leaning. So yes, i was glued to the televisual unit for the best part of five hours yesterday. Not only that but today, on my ride i must admit that i joined countless others hoping to catch a glimpse of the Monarch as he headed to Windsor for this evenings festivities from his home bot 30 miles from here (the royal couple spent last night at the Kings private residence in the Cotswolds).

So Thursday i had a ride out into north Somerset, it was fairly warm and even sunny some of the time on my 100km loop, i even had an icecream! Friday i spent the morning writing before getting in a shopping expedition (for a planter) before the damp came through. You already know what i did Saturday, apart from a walk afterwards and cooking a 'kingly' meal for Aunty Bev and myself, venison meatballs in a nice rich gravy, we even had cream on our dessert!

And so to today. Apart from a general northerly direction i didn't have any real plan for the ride. I ended up taking a mostly laney route up to Stroud where i stopped for cake and a cuppa. On the way i'd dodged a couple of coronation street parties and the bike picked up a no obvious cause bump, that sort of thing is never good and often expensive. It was comfortably warm when i started the return leg, not boiling which was just as well as the first kilometres involved a long 11% climb up onto the Cotswolds.

Past more celebrations then at Tetbury things got weird, people were stood roadside clearly waiting for something - which turned out to be the aforesaid Kingly couple. I rode on but as i reached the King's farm shop i thought i'd better investigate the slowly worsening bumping. I spotted the cause now, the tyre carcass was starting to fail, hopefully it'd get me back but in the meantime i thought i'd eat my banana, sit in the sun and see if the King went by. Having maybe a couple of hours ride still i gave up after 30 minutes.

The rest of the ride was beset with diversions, the first relating to the Badminton horse trials, the second another street party that closed Chipping Sodbury High Street!. The good news was that the tyre held out although it did get a bit squirmy a couple of times. 120+km, 900m, no King and the meanest slither of cake you've ever seen.

A new Gaby chapter is up, Chastised is classic Gaby, hope you enjoy it.

I'll be cracking on with the writing tomorrow and putting a 'spare' tyre on Foxy (i will have to have a beans week to fund a new one!) even if it is a Bank Holiday!

More from me Wednesday
byee,
Madeline Anafrid


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Comments

Stop the Presses

"Yank" lectures "Brit" about grammar. A Republican is a member of a political party, while a republican is a person who believes in/prefers a government without a crowned head of state. The same sort of distinction applies to Conservative and conservative, with the capitalized form referring to politics.

Some people erroneously conflate republic with democracy. Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were republican in character, while being utterly despotic police states. Another fairly common error frequently made by Americans and others is pairing monarchy with tyranny. The United Kingdom is both a monarchy and a representative democracy. The United States of America too is a representative democracy that is republican in form.

BTW, monarchy need not have a hereditary component. Examine the little country of Andorra and the Papacy, which rules over the Vatican.

G/R

Apologies if I'm thick, but...

Iolanthe Portmanteaux's picture

What's the difference between coronation and crowning? My dictionary didn't help me unravel this one.

I will admit I was tickled by the fact that the little boy making faces, unable to keep still, is fourth in line to the throne. It's much like knowing that poor hapless Kevin McCarthy is second in line to the U.S. presidency.

- iolanthe