TBK asks- what were you doing when?

 
    This was one of my favourite pictures posted when the Queen died

Although I have not been to the UK for 13 years I was born there and have a British Passport. So, I, like thousands of Brits around the world were shocked by the news that Queen Elizabeth had died aged 96 on September 8th. The next day was the anniversary of the two hijacked planes being flown into the World Trade Center in New York City, on 11/9/2001 (or 9/11 using the American calendar).

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks ( accessed 13.09.22)

These two events prompted someone to comment on Facebook " I guess we will all remember what we were doing when we heard the Queen died" and " We all remember what we were doing when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City". I, of course, replied " Not if you have dementia!"

Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, prime Minister of Bahrain until his death on 11.11.20

Now strangely back in November 2020 I was working in Bahrain when the much-loved Prime Minister there, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa died at noon on Wednesday 11.11.2020. I wrote a blog called "What were you doing when the Prime Minister of Bahrain died?' meaning to publish it on the anniversary of his death on 11.11.21. I then realised it would look odd if I published that blog this November without paying tribute to my own Queen Elizabeth.

      I loved all these paintings which suddenly appeared all over the social media

Interestingly the two were good friends as they were both horse lovers and they both dominated the world stage for many years. Sheikh Khalifa was the longest serving Prime Minister in the world and Queen Elizabeth the longest serving Monarch. They were also ill for some time prior to their death- The Queen was under medical supervision in Balmoral as her family rushed to her side and Sheikh Khalifa was having treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the USA.

According to "The Independent " there were "huge queues at Buckingham Palace as mourners wait in line for hours"

Reactions to the Queens death varied around the world. In the UK where plans have been in place for years for the Queens death (under the code name "Operation London Bridge") everything came to a standstill for a national outpouring of grief. !"Ironically nothing like this has been seen since Diana's death" commented one correspondent while another said "Everything cancelled, radio only playing mellow music !!!

Enter

Debbie

I thought at first the funeral was gonna be on TBK birthday! - 10 days of mourning, died 8th, your birthday is the 18th September.

Enter

Debbie

Now we hear it is set for the 19th

Enter

Debbie

I was surprised, I really was and still am quite sad over it - I'm not usually like this so it feels strange to feel like this

Enter

Debbie

I watched the Netflix docu/fiction - The Crown last year, and after that I saw her completely different . I know it was half fact half fiction - but she gave up so much for this country & her strength was amazing, yet she still had that intimate side.

Thanks Debbie!

My regular readers will know I am not a big fan of Lloyds Bank in the UK (I currently have a claim against them with the Financial Ombudsman), but I would like to commend them for their tribute to the Queen which I saw when I logged in to access my latest statement today.

Over in Canada I saw this beautiful tribute on the beach:

Wow!!Incredible and Beautiful!!

Beach Pebble Art Tribute Dedicated to the Queen, Titled the Paddington Bear

“Thank you Ma’am, for everything!”

Made at Sandymere beach on 11/09/2022

#beachart #paddingtonbear #QueenElizabethII

        Paddington's tea with the Queen shown on the big screen outside the Palace

If you missed it Paddington Bear recently had tea and marmalade sandwiches with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in a comical sketch as part of celebrations for the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

"Within minutes of the news breaking that the longest-reigning British monarch had passed away in Balmoral, the account for the beloved fictional bear tweeted: "Thank you Ma’am, for everything."

The post has since been retweeted over 124,000 times, gaining over 761,000 'Likes' on the social media platform."

Source: https://nz.news.yahoo.com/paddingtons-perfect-tribute-queen-viral-194154649.html

Allegedly some people have been bringing Marmalade Sandwiches and Paddington Bear toys to the memorial sites which has prompted officials to discourage such practices! Only in Britain!

Pav Shroff

3h  · New Westminster, BC, Canada  · 

Paying final respects at Queen's Park 
RiP my humble Queen EII 

— at New Westminster Queen's Park.

However, another British friend in Canada could only find one tribute and commented:

"I'm quite disappointed to see, that's all there was for HM

Enter

Pav

I think only a true Brit would feel it as it is/was

                          King Charles making a Vigil beside his mother's coffin

"What is that Mr G?"

"What was I doing at the time?"

I was driving around Ireland with my Labrador Trixie when 9/11 happened. I stopped for Fuel and the old Irish Petrol attendant said, " Two planes just flew into the Twin Towers in New York". I thought he had been drinking and it was only when we got back to the Hotel, The IBIS in Cork that I saw it on the news, I remember there was an American tour group staying there and they could not get home.

When the Prime Minister of Bahrain died, I was at work at Bapco and the next day drove past the Mosque in Riffa where the Royal Family had gathered to say their farewells and prayers after his body was flown back from America. 

As the Philippines is 8 hrs. ahead of the UK, I was asleep when the Queen died and woke up to all these pictures of Corgis!

"How else did people react Mr P?"

" Well, I contacted some friends around the world, and this is what they said:

Martin Peters - Thailand, said:

"I will say that I was very happy that government buildings had the Thai flag at half-mast that shows so much respect and everybody I talked to in Issan knew that Queen Elisabeth had died"

Mike Roche, also in Thailand, echoed Martin's words:

"I live out of the mainstream Brit community in Thailand. Thailand is a different land. It has different a religion, different customs, and different attitudes. There is also an eclectic mix of foreigners in the town I live in, Pattaya (party central!) The government has lowered the Thai flag over government house to half-mast as a sign of respect in the Queen's passing. Other than a few raised glasses to the new King, life goes on. A few Thais have given their condolences, and I've received one message of condolence from the carpet man in Bahrain. But that's it, let's see if there's anything this weekend for her funeral ceremony. Until now, the party continues!"

Thanks Mike and raise a glass to the new King from me.

For those not in Awali the carpet man used to drive around our town selling carpets every week. I resisted the temptation to buy an Arabic Carpet to bring to Palawan with me. But on the subject of "Condolences from Bahrain " I had this email out of the blue:

zaidkaiksow@gmail.com	Fri, Sep 9, 11:41 AM (6 days ago)
to me, thebritishkabayan

Just emailing to offer my deepest heartfelt condolences.

This was the guy who circulated a nude picture of me from my previous blog " Brit in Bahrain (Occasionally) around my colleagues and led my manager to tell me to get rid of the Blog and 500 Blogs, 5000 hours work

I replied:

The British Kabayan <thebritishkabayan@gmail.com>	Fri, Sep 9, 3:18 PM (6 days ago)
to zaidkaiksow

Contrary to popular rumour I am not the Queen and I am not dead

The good news for everyone at Bapco is that he then responded with:

Zaid Kaiksow	Sep 9, 2022, 10:12 PM (6 days ago)
to me

Did I mention I resigned?

                                     Many Royal watchers have commented on how the family has 

                           finally, been reunited in it's grief!

Meanwhile, back to the important stuff- Barbara in South Africa said:

" SA perspectives very diverse: many Afrikaans- speaking people wanted her to apologise (when she was here in 1995) for the atrocities the British caused during the Anglo Boer war with the 'Scorched Earth Policy' and the concentration camps in which 26 000 women and children died.

The EFF (Black party) wanted her to apologise for colonialism AND to give back the Cullinan diamond which was taken/stolen from us (personally we feel it is MUCH safer there in England because here our corrupt government will either have it cut up and distributed amongst themselves and/or it will just be stolen! South Africans (like us) can appreciate the person that she was and the way she served her country. We have sympathy for her with the heartache her children and their antics caused her.

For myself - I can't call myself a Royalist, but I love the pomp and ceremony that goes with the monarchy (we don't have ANYthing like that here) and no-one does it like the British. I loved watching The Crown....

So, all in all - we mourn with the rest of the world and try to follow the build-up to the funeral when we don't have loadshedding (no electricity)

Special thanks to my former neighbour in Bahrain, now back home in South Africa

Another South African friend, Gerda, is currently on Vacation so I asked her to update us on the situation there:

" I am amazed that nobody is really into the passing of HM in Turkey. I could only find an article on page 4 of a local newspaper and it's not major news on TV. I did ask some of the locals (who could speak English) and some of them know about it but it's not a big deal here.

However, in South Africa it's a different story. There is a lot of debate with extreme left- and right-wing minded idiots, with the left saying that King Charles should return the "stolen" diamond in HM's crown, and the right demanding an apology from him for the deaths of women and children in concentration camps during the Anglo Boer War in 1899-1902. The majority South Africans are following events religiously and it is widely reported in the media. According to my mom it is headline news almost daily. She is recording a lot of the events for me to watch when I visit them in just over a week."

Many thanks Gerda... who will be writing a guest Blog about her trip to Turkey soon.

Robin in Italy added: "Here in Italy, many are somewhat perplexed by how much coverage the media has given to this, whilst at the same time having great respect for Queen Elizabeth. The monarchy as an institution still fascinates people here, as they have had a Republic since 1948. In the last few days, I have heard people commenting on the rather weird way that the Queen's coffin seems to have been touring the country, but I'm sure that many will be glued to their TV screens come Monday"

and Chester said " woof"

No seriously, Chester the Hooman, in Marikina said:

"I may not be able to speak regarding the departure of the Queen, or how her perpetual absence may affect the citizens under her reign. But I strongly feel for a life lost - of a mother and a grandmother, of a friend and of a fur parent to her pack of adorable corgis. She's also an icon and her death will surely mark an end of an era."

Nice words Chester. And thanks for the new TBK ASKS logo below.

                  Sorry, I do not have a black suit, shoes and tie any more           

I have spent the last 13 years out of the UK, like many of the contributors to this blog, but I will admit to sharing a tear at the loss of our Queen when I woke up last week. As Barbara said no one does Pomp & Ceremony like the UK and I am sure Brit's around the world will be watching the funeral and other events as they unfold. The social media makes them so much more accessible then when Elizabeth's father died and as a young woman, she became Queen.

Image caption,

King Charles was crowned Prince of Wales in front of huge crowds at Caernarvon Castle, Gwynedd, in 1969

Peter Conway was telling me he watched the Investiture of the Then Prince of Wales at Carnarvon castle, and it is good to see he is now on a tour of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to greet his new subjects after a long wait to be King. I will also echo the words of Chester in that the Queen was always fond of animals (I think I read she had 31 Corgis in her reign), and I am delighted to see that Prince Andrew has at last been given a new role following his mother's death. Prince Charles moves up to King, Prince William becomes Prince of Wales, and Prince Andrew will look after the Queens last two Corgis. What goes around comes around. 

So that's all from me and as usual TBK is very grateful to all our followers around the world for their updates. Special thanks to Debbie in the UK, Pav in Canada, Martin and Mike in Thailand, Barbara in South Africa, Robin in Italy, Chester in Manila and Gerda in Turkey - it was great to hear from you all. I have a feeling that, even though I don't have a TV, I might be watching the Funeral on 19th, Brown Outs permitting, on my vacation in Sabang.

This is the British Kabayan signing out from Sabang and wishing you all Ingat Palagi, Take care always