Queen Me



I haven’t lived in England for years and years. And years. Basically a very long time. The kind of time you cough into your hand over, trying to hide the exact humungous number of years. Long enough ago that any reasonable person could be forgiven for calling me an American. But beware, should you say anything negative about the UK or Queen Elizabeth, my British roots will start showing and my British blood will start boiling. I’ll start flapping my British passport in the air, and put on my best True Brit voice. While I’m very much an American, I’m British by birth, born in 1953, in —as I’m fond of saying and saying—a scene right out of Call the Midwife. I’ve got a thing for the Queen from being born so close to her coronation day that my parents gave me Elizabeth for my middle name. Just a few days shy of being named Elizabeth Simone instead of the other way around. A few days shy of being a Liz versus a Sim. Liz, Lizzie. I don’t mind the sound of that.

Growing up in Canada, the Queen's portrait was centered above the blackboard in my elementary school classrooms. I went to Princess Elizabeth Secondary School in Niagara Falls, built in pre-Coronation day: it’s where I went through puberty, where I went to my first school dances. 
It was 1968, when we moved away, leaving Canada behind for the good ‘ol US of A. Thousands of young American men were coming to Canada and here we were going away. We left the Queen behind too, her royal portrait with its regal looking gown and crown replaced by the picture of LBJ, droopy jowls and all.
We didn’t just see him on our classroom walls, we saw him day after day on the Nightly Horror Show they called the news. I preferred the Queen. 
Postscript 9/10/2022
I still prefer the Queen who we lost this week. She was 96 years old. May She Rest In Peace. 

••••••••••••••••••••••



Sharing this with Joy Weese Moll for British Isles Friday

Popular posts from this blog

5 Ways to feel like you’re in France when you don’t have the francs

Image
Are you Dreaming of France but finding yourself short of the francs you need to take you there? Ladies and Gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs, step right up and j oin my travel club and take a journey that won’t cost you a red hot centime. Because this is a trip you take in your mind. Okay, it ’ s not exactly there -there but if you can ’ t actually get to Paris or the Cote d ’ azur, it ’ s the next best thing.  Here ’ s five things to pack in your virtual valise to put you in a French  state of mind.  Substituting French words for English is a great starting point... Un: French Ambience Pretend you live on a charming street near the Eiffel Tower with the simple application of this artistically incorrect mural. How do you say cheesy in french? Or better yet, decorate your home with every  Eiffel tower you can find — never mind most self-respecting French citizens would likely prefer to leave the tour  Eiffel on the Champ de Mars  where  it belongs.  Deux: La mus
Continue Reading »

Above Ground on the London Underground—Day 46: White City

Image
If it's Friday we must be back in London.   Every Friday I take a virtual walking tour ‘above ground’ on the London Underground. Using  my Tube guide & my fitbit® device, my goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day roughly following along the Underground route, reporting back here on Fridays with my findings.  Here are the previous days . This is Day 46. Today we’re walking from the Ealing Broadway underground station to White City. The trek is 4.2 miles which should clock in at just about 10,000 steps.  Back in 1908, the area was transformed from Shepherd’s Bush farm land into the location for the Franco-British exhibition and the 1908 Summer Olympics. Called the white city because of the white cladding of the ornate exhibition buildings, the area was used for the Japan-British exhibition in 1910, the Latin-British exhibition in 1912, and finally the Anglo-American exhibition in 1914 when WWI put an end to it. After that the White City was left to fall into disrepair and ult
Continue Reading »

Baker Street Station—Sherlock Holmes was there

Image
Baker Street Station The main thing my husband wanted to see in London was London ... as Sherlock Holmes saw it. So our first move, like any fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation was to take a double decker bus to Baker Street. As it turns out I read the map upside down or sideways or maybe it was backwards but we found ourselves in Putney at the bridge. Very much in the wrong direction. Over half an hour by car, which we didn't have. We wound up taking the tube back in the right direction which delivered us to the Baker Street Station. The station is one of the original stations opened when the Metropolitan Railway—the world's first underground railway—was built in 1863.  While we don't immediately think of Sherlock dashing out on the tube, he very well could have and in fact the rail, train etc is alluded to in several dozen Sherlock stories. The Baker Street station is situated on the very block where Sherlock lived at 221B Baker Street. Or should I say th
Continue Reading »