Here we are on a special day for our country and I wonder how many people will be watching the Coronation? It's funny to remember than when Elizabeth was crowned back in 1953, hundreds of families went out to buy their first ever TV - now there are almost as many TV's as people!
Also wonder how many people won't be watching. Brother in Law said he was glad to be heading out to stock car meetings so he didn't have to hear about it or see it. .....I called him a grumpy old man but if the weather was hot and sunny perhaps I'd be at the beach or out in the sun rather than watching TV - 6th May is probably too early for that.
It might be a one-off event in my life-time (if Charles is as long-lived as his Mother) but I can't get up much enthusiasm for the whole business although it might be interesting to see 7,000 members of the armed forces from here and the Commonwealth marching through the streets of London. A bit like they do regularly in communist countries!
Because a Village Street Fair had already been planned for last weeks Bank Holiday Monday (before the Coronation date was announced) there are only a few things planned in the village for This weekend - a 'Royal' scarecrow competition, a special Church service on Sunday morning and live music and dancing on Sunday night, with a family fun afternoon on Monday. None of which make me feel very excited. I think I shall just have a quiet weekend.
Thank goodness car boot sales are still happening - weather permitting of course and it looks a bit iffy.
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If only I'd found this new Birthday card a few weeks ago before I did the post about Mallard Ducks I could have included it on the post and written more about the famous train from the 1930s. But only spotted it at last weekends car boot sale along with a couple more - 20p each again. Another handy card for a man.
Flowers on the table this week have been a £3 bunch of Irises off the market to which I added 3 late tulips and a few bits of greenery from the garden - they look better than the photo!
And on the subject of flowers, please can someone tell what these are? A perennial, forming a large spreading clump - pink buds on arching stalks about 12 -15 inches tall that then open as white. I tried a recognition app which told me it was Rhubarb!! errr no, but it's something I've not had in any previous garden. It's spreading so well that I'm hoping it's not an invasive weed that I don't know about.
I did my duty and voted in the District Council elections on Thursday- the only posters I'd seen were for Andrew Stringer who has been our Green Councillor now for several years. The only leaflet through the letter box was hand delivered by the man himself. He was voted back in and many other Green Councillors were also elected in the other Wards - It looks as if Mid Suffolk District Council will completely Green rather than sharing with the Conservatives as they have done for the last 4 years. I have no idea what difference this will make to the services the District Council are in charge of - but perhaps it might slow down some of the planning applications for huge housing estates in our villages which come without any increase in much needed facilities.
Fingers crossed for fine weather for the weekend, especially in London for the procession and the 1000's watching in person. Enjoy whatever you have planned for this extra Bank Holiday and I'll be back Tuesday.
Sue
The general attitude to the Coronation in Australia is Indifference -and annoyance that Monday isn't a public Holiday because of it!
ReplyDeleteSorry you've not got a Holiday - the weather here is mixed so not sure holiday plans will happen
DeleteI am pretty sure that is a relative of comfrey. If so it's very invasive.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog. Tish x
Thank you
DeleteHi, your plant is white comfrey. You can make a liquid feed from it but it does smell quite wiffy . At one time people would consider it a weed but I have seen it in many open gardens that I have visited. I personally would keep it. Veronica
ReplyDeleteOf course! I've had plenty of purple flowered Comfrey but not this
DeleteHave a fun weekend, whatever you get up to. There is meant to be a scarecrow competition in the village here but by the closing date, only one person had applied to enter.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, not sure about here
DeleteIt’s Comfrey, usually found in the wild. As someone above has said, it’s make a good liquid feed but it does pong. I would keep it but it can be invasive, but much nicer than ground elder, Sandra.
ReplyDeleteWe used to make a liquid feed with purple comfrey - but it had much bigger leaves
DeleteAt least it is warm on The Day. Glad the Greens got in, they mentioned it on the radio this morning. We don't need party politics in councils but people who work for the people around them.
ReplyDeleteVery exciting to hear Mid Suffolk get a mention on main news for having the first Green council!
DeleteI have Russian Comfrey on my allotment and it doesn't spread laterally, because its seeds are sterile.Your plant looks like our native Comfrey which can be invasive.Interestingly, its country name is 'knitbone' after its healing properties and Comfrey ointment is still available online.
ReplyDeleteI should have known, but it puzzled me as it's not very tall and has smaller leaves than purple comfrey
DeleteI won't be watching the coronation. I don't wish the royals any harm but I'd be happy without them. Displaying wealth and privilege at a time where people can't afford to feed themselves doesn't sit well with me. I know it's history and that makes it interesting but I'll be on my plot if stops raining long enough!
ReplyDeleteHorrible weather here , I have things to do in the greenhouse - will get them done
DeleteI feel exactly as you do about the Coronation. Something I ought to be more enthusiastic about but just can't.
ReplyDeleteI, too, think that is Comfrey, or at least Google Lens tells me so!
I should have known about it being comfrey as it has the hairy stalks and leaves like the purple comfrey we had at the smallholding and used for liquid feed
DeleteI have a yellow version of comfrey, pretty, but it does spread.
ReplyDeleteI will pull some out if it gets too big - it's in a corner at the moment
DeleteI was chatting about the difference in TV's yesterday with a friend and the fact that now you can watch this Coronation on a 54" TV in full colour at the bottom of your bed if you so wish with full surround sound!!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine watching TV in bed! Previous owners here did as there is an aerial cable coming in through the wall in one corner.
DeleteI'm also feeling a little indifferent about the whole thing, but I have the TV on in the background, and I'm sure I will enjoy watching the procession.
ReplyDeleteYour flowers are looking lovely. I never see many Irises these days, but we always used to have them in the garden when I was a child. Xx
I wish the Irises had lasted a bit longer, had to ditch them after just 5 days . I've got some clumps of yellow flag iris and just one purple iris in the garden
DeleteYes, it’s common comfrey, Symphytum officianale, which has been used since ancient times to mend bones. I inherited it at my allotment and consequently have never bought plastic bottles of liquid feed as if you stew the leaves in water (I use an old galvanised watering can for stewing and decant into plastic milk containers - always dilute before using) it makes the best feed for tomatoes, roses or anything that fruits and flowers. The smell puts people off but it just smells of farmyard to me. I have several clumps brought from the allotment growing in my semi-wild woodland edge and it is an important food source for early foraging bees. It will spread sideways but is easy to contain if you chop off all the leaves and flowers for comfrey tea round about now. New leaves will grow back soon. Looking forward to watching the Coronation on this rainy day and having a rest from the garden and bookshop! I am interested in the new music (lovely harp music coming live from the Abbey on Radio 3 right now) and especially the flowers which have all been grown on small UK flower farms. Our supper tonight will be wild garlic, spinach and asparagus tart (pastry made with wholemeal flour milled at the water mill down our lane and South Downs butter) with a salad of quinoa, pea shoots, young rocket leaves and flower buds from chives followed by rhubarb and yogurt. I don’t have flags or bunting but our ‘no mow’ grassy verge is so pretty right now with English bluebells, white stitchwort and red campion backed by white hawthorn all in flower together. Our Lib Dem candidate beat the incumbent Tory by the slimmest of margins. He was the only candidate to come round before the election and Chichester District Council will now be controlled by the Lib Dems. My ‘Help Out’ job on Monday will be litter picking along the lane. I wish we could have a new Keep Britain Tidy campaign. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteI should have recognised the comfrey but had a mental block! We also grew purple comfrey on the smallholding to make liquid feed and to just add to the compost heaps when it threatened to take over.
DeleteMy main meal today is homemade spinach and ricotta lasagne with home grown lettuce leaf and a homemade tomato and herb bread roll.
Your chives must be flowering much earlier than mine if you have flower buds already. I have two clumps and usually let one flower but both are really slow to put on much growth this year.
Keep Britain Tidy is still going. Each April there is the "Great British Spring Clean" Keep Britain Tidy came about because of a Women's Institute resolution in the 1950s. from jeanbythestream
DeleteI remember watching the last Coronation on the only TV in the street, all the kids invited in to watch, and eventually fall asleep not being used to screen time. Long ceremony. It was a big post war push toward a better countrywide mood!
ReplyDeleteI finally found comfrey at an Amish greenhouse this week! I was so excited!
ReplyDeleteI am following the Coronation on TV. Westminister Abbey is magical and makes the ceremony truly lovely.
ReplyDeleteI watched the TV coverage; enjoyed parts of the ceremony but I wish the media hadn't released all those intimate phone conversations between Charles & Camilla. I kept recalling the sordid details while the solemn service was taking place and it rather spoiled my enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteThe procession, however, was magnificent. So well organised and co-ordinated to the nth degree so that the mile long procession, including several bands, many horses and 1000s of marchers, all set off at precisely the same moment and stayed perfectly in step and in time until they completed the route. My goodness, we know how to put on ceremonials!
I didn't watch/hear anything of phone conversations back in the day - missed all the kerfuffle
DeleteI agree with Rambler regarding the Coronation and those conversations which would have been best kept private. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. We should be proud of our traditions and celebrate the difference that King Charles has already made to the country, The Princes Trust for example. NOT having such a wonderful spectacle wouldn't have made one jot of difference to people's problems, but by HAVING it , thousands of people were able to escape for a few hours, myself included. LOVED IT!
ReplyDeleteLong Live The King!
With regards to the cost of this spectacular occasion I just saw these figures:
ReplyDeleteApproximately £100 million will be spent. In return it will generate, for the country coffers, not less than £1 billion.
I watched the highlights on YouTube and it had lots of touching moments. I kept thinking about Prince William and his young son who will someday go through that same ceremony. I wondered if they were thinking about that while they were there.
ReplyDeleteHello, I was watching Coronation, because it was first time i my life. I am happy to this event and I wish God blessed New King and whole country, greetings and congratulatipnfor this interesting Traditional and history
ReplyDeleteI live in the US and am an unabashed Anglophile. Not enough of an Anglophile to get up at 2:30 am to watch live coverage, however. I'll watch it later. I saw HMTQ's coronation in a movie theater in 1953 (our city did not yet have a television station). I was happy to see this one was going to be much shorter. I didn't know private conversations were released. Truly disgusting anytime, but especially now. I also agree that the cost will be offset many times over for the money it will generate.
ReplyDelete--Maxine
PS Send me a tea towel, 'K?
I watched an episode of Antiques Roadshow last night, and they had a train print. It was done by a man called Terence Cuneo. I see that post card is signed by a name that begins with a 'c'. One of his trademarks is that he always snuck a tiny mouse into his paintings. Is that post card one of his?
ReplyDeleteHere the coronation was televised in the wee hours of the morning. We recorded it and I watched it (on and off) between my usual Saturday work. I enjoyed see in pageantry and all. Like my (grown) son said, We here in Canada have nothing that goes back very far. At least nothing worth celebrating. Granny Marigold
ReplyDeleteBoy, I have been havnig a time with comments lately. I was looking at your train post card. I cannot make out the name of the artist, but just last night on the Antique Roadshow, they talked about the work of Terence Cuneo. It seems like the artist's name begins with a C on your post card. All of his pictures have a tiny little mouse in them.
ReplyDeleteWatched the coronation, but missed the concert due to having a party...not coronation related to attend. Love to see all the pomp and ceremony...well the marching and the bands mainly. x
ReplyDeleteI wish that I could have watched the Coronation but being away and visiting I couldn't. Love the train card.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We sat and watched most of it. Having got stuck in a traffic jam on our way to Manchester for a while we missed the start of them arriving at the Abbey, and then my brother seemed to chatter away through every important bit. So I watched the pertinent parts again on the news after we got home. My Mum loved the day though and waved her flag, drank her alcohol free fizz from her Coronation mug and burst into tears every few minutes when things moved her or brought back memories of family long gone and Elizabeth's Coronation.
ReplyDelete