The King Is Dead. Long Live The Queen. (page 2)

Englishman

TR and all,

Come visit! Mind you I often see first-time American visitors quail in terror...our driving on the left blows them away!

Englishman.

Truth exists;only falsehood has to be invented. -Georges Braque

Hey E-man ,good story.Your right about driving on the left.When I flew to Jamacia we got off the plane and there was a bus waiting for us.After going through customs we boarded the bus that was to take us to the hotel.It was dark and late at night.So when the bus driver drove on the left and we had headlights comming at us,it scared the shit out of me.(LOL)It took a few days to get used to it...OUTLAW

BluesBrother

I believe that my earliest memory is of my mum sitting me on the kitchen table and seriously telling that the King was dead Perhaps I am a little bit younger. Were you really playing 78rpm records at 5 years old? Are you sure you'r not older??

Question. would the people mourn as much today? I doubt it. even though the unfortunate Princess Di received the full treatment , I think that a lot of people supported her because she was seen as opposing her in laws

Do'nt have much use for Royalty myself.

GinnyTosken

The REAL British Sex Symbol, Britty!!

Sorry, BritBoy--Englishman gets my vote. I hardly dare think of him walking boldly out his front door to ravish the daffodils.

Part 3. Things Begin To Heat Up....
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=15912&site=3

Ginny

Hmmm

Come visit! Mind you I often see first-time American visitors quail in terror...our driving on the left blows them away!

It wasn't the driving on the left, if was sitting in the front seat, up top, on a double-decker bus while the driver sees how close (we're talking millimeters) he can get to the lamp posts at 50KPH on a busy London roundabout that freaked me out! Driving in the Plymouth countryside on one-lane shoulderless roads, with 3 meter berms on each side so you can't see what's ahead, and a space every so often to pull over to allow oncoming traffic to pass, was also pretty interesting.

I thought London would be drab and dreary, but it was pretty amazing. What really made an impression was seeing builings with cornerstones that read 1690 A.D.

Hmmm
Mind the gap!

Englishman

Yes, Mr Blue, I was indeed playing my one 78rpm record on my dad's radiogram at the tender age of 5. He even showed me how to change the needle after every 60 plays, only Columbia 99 needles would do the job.

Englishman.

Truth exists;only falsehood has to be invented. -Georges Braque

Jang

It’s strange how you can always remember where you were when you first learn about a cataclysmic event. 9-11 being the most recent case, or 11-9 in the UK. There’s been other times, of course, JFK’s assassination being the most well recalled event up until the WTC affair.
But, I can actually remember what I was doing at this very hour 50 years ago to the day. I was 5 years old, school was over, and I was walking down Bradford Road in Farnworth, Lancashire, intent on playing tig with the big boys gang that was run by 6 year old Jimmy Robinson.

I can remember where I was too ..... Seems we are the same age too.

It was morning here and I was on the back verandah where my mother was putting DDT in my hair for the latest creature infestation (nits) and our next door neighbour yelled out to my mother and told her that it had just come over the news that the King had just died.

My mother immediately forgot about my infestation and sat down and cried her heart out and I finished the job on my head.

Unforgettable

JanG
CAIC Website: http://caic.org.au/
Personal Webpage: http://uq.net.au/~zzjgroen/

ashitaka

Don't really have anything to add, E-man, but I enjoyed the tale, very atmospheric. Thanks.

ashi

Prisca

A good 20 minutes must have passed before I asked if the mourning was over, but no, this was going to be heavy stuff for sometime yet.

lol... typical child's reaction - differnt concept of time to adults.

Interesting to hear of 78s, rations, etc. My father is a couple of decades older, but he used to speak of the same things. Thanks for the nostalgia.

ZazuWitts

I loved your recollection Englishman, as I always do.

And actually you brought up my own memory of King George VI's death.

I was 10 at the time, and my elementary school teacher was Mrs. Buck. She was the English 'war bride' of Captain Harold Buck, who had been stationed in England during World War II.

Mrs. Buck was the loveliest teacher. We were all smitten with her, the boys as well as the girls.

She always wore the prettiest dresses, which she called frocks. She was of the sweetest disposition, always had a kind and encouraging word for even the most struggling student..."I know you will do better next time John." "Stay with it Emily, you will soon understand."

But one day in early February, 1952 our beloved Mrs. Buck was sitting at her desk with tears in her eyes. We all wondered what could be wrong; what had happened to make our teacher so sad?

Bobby Meade, always an outspoken boy, piped us and asked, "What wrong Mrs. Buck? Did your little dog die, or somethin'? Which only resulted in fresh tears for Mrs. Buck. Finally she composed herself and with a sad-sounding voice, explained about the death of King George. Then she showed us her black armband and explained she was wearing it as a symbol of respect and to show mourning for the King's death.

I don't think we 10-11 year old American students really undersood her sorrow, but we all loved our Mrs. Buck, and for days thereafter, several of us presented her with a little present of some sort.

Before long she started telling us about the young Elizabeth who would be coronated as the Queen in June, after school let out for us. We loved her tales of England, and the monarchy. I think the pre-adolescent girls were especially smitten with the entire concept of princesses, princes, kings and queens.

For certain we young girls were intrigued with our Mrs. Buck, and tried to emulate her fine manners.

Mrs. Buck always carried dainty, embroidered handkerchiefs, I admired them so, that when I had saved enough money from cleaning out the doghouse at five-cents per clean, I used the $2.00 to buy a box of handkerchiefs. I showed them to Mrs. Buck, and I think she was pleased to know she was my inspiration. I used to lovingly hand-launder those hankies, and carefully iron and fold them just so.
And for a short while I was the envy of the other girls for thinking of the idea, LOL.

Even to this day, Arpege is my signature fragrance, I think because it is always what Mrs. Buck used. She had explained that it was a gift from the dashing Captain Buck, purchased in Paris while he was there for R&R.

Thanks for the post, it brought up some long-forgotten pleasant memories for me.

The King Is Dead. Long Live The Queen.

Share this