So that's
it then. After weeks, if not months, of build-up, including countless
television programmes about various Royal weddings and some very corny films
about the "Royal romance", last Friday William Arthur Philip Louis
Windsor and Catherine Elizabeth Middleton said their vows under the glare of
worldwide publicity and married in Westminster Abbey.
The big
advantage to this was that it gave this country an extra Bank Holiday, on a
Friday before a Bank Holiday Monday. For me, because last weekend was Easter,
and therefore a four day weekend, I would have only had to work three days, but
because of time owing, I was able to take the whole week. So for the outlay of
zero annual leave, I have had 12 days off! The
downside is that I now have to go back to work tomorrow! At least it’s only a
four day week.
So what
of the wedding? Yet again, the UK has proved that when it comes to ceremonial
occasions, then no-one does it better. William looked more nervous than anyone
else, although I don't know why he chose to marry in his uniform of
Colonel-in-Chief of the Irish Guards, rather than his everyday Royal Air Force
one.
The bride
looked lovely. I thought the dress was quite reminiscent of 1920s fashion, but
I think that it definitely suited her. Her sister also looked fabulous and
turned a few heads!
One of
the heads that she appeared to have turned was the best man, Prince Harry's.
Now the press are full of speculation. As for Harry, I don't know if his
brother had insisted that he wear a uniform that looked like he'd borrowed it
from someone else much bigger than him, or if he'd lost weight since he
purchased it, but he definitely looked a mess next to William.
The good
news is that the threatened rain never appeared, so the trip back to Buckingham
Palace in the open top carriage didn't result in a soaking wet husband and
wife. And despite the defence cuts, the rumours that the flypast by the Battle of
Britain Memorial Flight was
actually all that's left of the Royal Air Force isn't true!
The other
thing that was nice was the fact that the whole family were there, having
picked up my youngest two on the Thursday. However, Maggie spent a lot of the
time playing with m'Julie's new toy, a toy which will hopefully mean I get some
peace and quiet!
m'Julie
is on my mobile phone contract, and she was due for a phone upgrade at the end
of last week. I knew which one she was likely to go for, as every time someone
has been on TV with one, or even seeing someone in the street with one, I've
been told "See, he/she has an iPhone!"
So last
Thursday, off we went to the Orange shop and m'Julie told them what she wanted.
The guy behind the counter then informed m'Julie that they had just had a
delivery of the new white iPhone, which weren't due for release until the
following day, but that they were willing to let her have one that day. How she
managed to contain herself, I'm not sure. Although she stood there and calmly
said that she would like to go for that phone, I knew that inside she was
jumping up and down and whooping like a four year old!
So that
was what Maggie was playing with, as well as complaining that her phone (an
iPhone 3) isn't due an upgrade until next May.
However,
whilst they were distracted by weddings and gadgets, I was indulging in my new
"hobby", making cocktails. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I
purchased a cocktail shaker, something I'd been promising myself for years, and
just about every evening since I can be found with various spirits, occasional
mixers and plenty of ice, shaking like a demon. In fact, I think I've drunk
more spirits in the past two weeks than I have in the last two years! My
efforts have been greatly aided by Alex's Cocktail Recipes.
I guess
that I will have to have one this evening to celebrate today's news. That the
world's leading terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, has finally been tracked down and
killed. It is a pity that they were unable to capture him alive so that he
could face proper justice, assuming the special forces team even tried.
There
will be enough on the worldwide news bulletins without me going into all of the
details, but there is one thing that I am curious about. It appears that Bin
Laden was living in a compound that was a mere 200 metres away from the
Pakistan Military Academy, was about eight times larger than every other
compound locally, had higher walls, topped with barbed wire, than any other
local compound and had no telephone or Internet access, and yet the Pakistani
authorities were not curious about this and had "no idea" that he was
living there. Really?
I saw a
television interview this evening with the Pakistani ex-president, Pervez Musharraf, who was
objecting to the fact that the American special forces team had flown into
Pakistan, attacked the compound and killed Bin Laden, but had not informed the
Pakistani authorities of intentions until after the whole thing was over. Is he
really that surprised, given that Bin Laden appeared to be living unmolested in
the lap of luxury in a Pakistani town, that the Americans chose not to share
the information prior to the attack, and therefore risk their target being
tipped off and disappearing.
There was
also another interesting interview this afternoon. A Pakistani official was
being interviewed and again repeated that they had no idea that Bin Laden was
in this compound, and then in the next sentence stated that he'd only been
there a few days. When the reporter asked him how he knew that Bin Laden had
only been there a few days if he had no idea that Bin Laden was there he became
very evasive.
I'm sure
that there's far more to this whole episode than we will know for about one
hundred years, not unless wikileaks restarts.
