AUTUMN KARMA

The Stuff of Life has a habit of coming along like the buses: there's nothing then they all come at once.

THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEK:  Good Stuff

Another lovely day at Balloch Thursday where tree planting has been taken over by other types of input e.g. building bird boxes (Mary-Anne sees that we don't get so knackered at the end of the day!) 

Last week Ishbel helped me make a prototype and so next time she's over we will do another one.

It's the turn of the year, actually the Solstice, with the wonderful early autumn colours just starting to appear. Spending a day in Balloch Park lifts my spirits immensely, like getting a jump start with the car battery cables.

As we move into Autumn I bask in the fact in all it's been a good summer: good folk and good craic... what Ellie calls 'Good Karma'!

In the 40 minute drive I listen to Classic FM. Today it was this cantata of J S Bach on the subject of thanks.  [Cantata BWV 17 part 2 no.7 Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich].

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SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK: Bad Stuff

Things came to an abrupt halt: our sailing and fiddling friend Bob, emailed us, individually, to say that Kate was in hospital with serious injuries due to a very bad road traffic accident Friday morning when she was coming home from her usual Friday morning swim in East Kilbride.  She's in the Trauma Unit at the QE2 Hospital on a ventilator having sustained internal injuries, fractured pelvis and ankle.

We are still trying to process it all.  What has been quite uncanny about all of this is that I was thinking about both of them at the very time Bob had been issuing his message.  What happened was that I arrived at the BR station to buy my ticket to go into the city (and hadn't looked at my phone for messages) and had asked the ticket man about extending my ticket to Rutherglen so I could visit them. [a long and different conversation ensued due to it being quiet - that's for another time!]   I got on the train which was empty and phoned Bob to see if they were going to be in.  I had not read his email and he was put in the position of spelling it all out to me.  Dreadfull! 

I had also been recently talking to someone about 'Survivor's Guilt'  where we agreed that at our advanced age we could be "hit by a bus tomorrow" so had better enjoy each day.

I ended up in town giving myself enough time to get into  John Lewsis's as I had to get back to Milngavie for my afternoon 3 pm flu and Covid jabs.  I bumped into  Anne B so we enjoyed a coffee together.  It really was rather bizarre, however as we spent much of the time talking about the fact that I was in middle of dealing with Don about the Salmon Arm Booth family plot in the Mt ida Cemetery. (I couldn't bring myself to mention the car accident.) It's all good; I have to give formal permission, as the eldest of the current family, to have urn (space for 5) or casket (space for 1) placed there.  We are all done and dusted on that but Anne and I compared notes on the topic of what did we want done with our ashes or whatever.   It's all Work in Progress. Again, this has come along with all these other events that crop up when you least expect them (or when it's not a great time  to have to think about it!)

So the week is over. It is Sunday and we are both feeling a bit 'flu-y' from our jabs.  The remedy:

A's soothing Rosehip Syrup in front of the fire listening on my iPad to some Bach that I need to prepare for tomorrow morning's piano lesson. 

QUEEN'S FUNERAL - END OF AN ERA

It has been a long day.  Officially today (Monday) is a holiday for the funeral of The Queen. I watched it on television throughout the day. Lots of excellent camera work, commentary with historical information explaining significant sections of it.  There also was a conscious decision to avoid talking a lot over the action e.g. pointing out who was who as they entered the Abbey. "You can go to the website..." - quite a good idea.

In the early morning the long queue to Westminster Hall finished at 6:30 am.  It had been televised non-stop for 4 days - quite an undertaking!  It included lots of stories of why people came to pay their respects, the 'adventure' of it all and how many reported feeling unexpectedly emotional. As often as not it was due to having lost someone themselves, particularly during Covid when they did not have a chance to say goodbye.

Ishbel joined me for the morning.  She made scones and we peered at the iPad  from time to time as it sat propped on the kitchen table. We were fascinated by the crown, orb and sceptre placed on top of the coffin trying hard to see how they were kept in place thinking that they might roll off when the coffin was moved about.

I was particularly struck by the massed band of pipers which started everything off!   I just love a parade and the more colour and pageantry the better!

Seeing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police brought back memories of going to the Musical Ride which came to Vernon (or maybe it was Kelowna?) in the 1950s.  I loved the whole thing - the music, the riding displays, the colour, the flags!

 

Apparently these 4 horses in the photos are resident in one of the Queen's stables.  They were a gift (there had been 8 horses gifted in all over a period) from Canada. So the Mounties who came from Canada for the funeral did not need to bring their horses.

At the end of the service in the Abbey a long piper played a lament high up in one of the galleria. Along with many people I found it quite poignant. He ended by turning around and departing slowly letting the sound slowly fade away.

The people in the Abbey were in good voice when at the end of the service they sang 'God Save the King'.  This is the music I happen to have which is from a Scottish Hymn book that has Iseabail's name in it.  It must be from the 1930s when George VI was on the throne.

As with many funerals, the service included 'The Lord's My Shepherd' sung to the tune Crimond. Here it is from the same hymnbook.

The end of a long day....

PEOPLE GATHER, OBSERVE, WAIT AS HISTORY UNFOLDS

This has been a week of official mourning in the UK for The Queen.  It has been marked by 24 hour television coverage of people filing into Westminster Hall to pay their last respects. 

The scale of the turnout, and also the sincerity, has been a bit of a surprise.  What is being played out globally, it would appear, is a very British cultural feature: queuing!  

And not just standing in line but doing it stoically for hours and hours!  I guess that is another cultural marker: the stiff upper lip.  People have spoken about their various reasons. for example, stating  "She did her job for all those years; it won't hurt for me to do mine."

I think also there is a collectiveness and connectedness about all of this public display of feeling.  Everyone lays flowers (nowadays it's done a lot at the site of accidents, tragedies) at the entrance of various royal residences. With social media nowadays public displays in this way are immediate and they grow and grow into carpets of flowers with cards, toys and the like. 

the Imperial State Crown 

the Scottish Crown

Following the Act of the Union in 1707, when Scotland and England's parliaments were joined, the Scottish crown jewels, which now had no ceremonial role, were locked away and forgotten about – so much so that they were eventually thought lost.

It wasn't until over a century later that the famous novelist, Sir Walter Scott, rediscovered the Honours, directing a team of workmen to prise open an old wooden chest they had found in one of Edinburgh Castle's strong rooms. Inside were the crown, the sceptre and the sword – which is thought to have been snapped in two to help smuggle it out – and several other items including a mysterious silver wand.

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Preparations for State Funeral next week

At  our Sunday meal, I asked the children how they found out The Queen had died. "On social media".  Did they have an assembly at school for either the death of the Queen being announced or a statement about the accession of The King.  "No".  

Did they know the first line of the national anthem?  "As Mairi pointed out "They don't know what that is."

I pointed out how the wording has now changed as I attempt to recite (no singing with this bunch) the lines illustrating the point. We did manage a toast saying "God Save the King' but, due to the general lack of interest on all sides we quickly moved on... and things continued to deteriorate...

Ishbel's lovely walnut and carrot cake (made earlier in the day) in the above picture shows how it started out as Spiderman Cake but got turned into a crown with 3 lit candles. (My idea was to attempt some sort of 'memorable occasion'.)  Lighting the candles started out with matches which wouldn't light when the side of the box was struck and ended with Harriet (9) and Ellie (7) squabbling over whose turn it was to blow them out.  

I spoke to a few folk in the Glasgow area while out and about and they are in the same camp as Iain "Can't be bothered with it all." "Ya canny get anything on the TV because of all they programmes etc etc "

So it seems I am the only person around who is enjoying the colour and the pageantry,  the  processions, the ceremonies, the rehearsals at 2 am, the programmes about protocol, historical parallels.

George VI funeral

Well, I would, wouldn't I!!!!  Being a Colonial transplanted here 55 years  ago I am in awe of the history, the tradition, the rituals of all of this!  Born and raised in a community where everyone came from somewhere else (in my case: grandparents - 3 from England and 1 from Scotland) for many people whatever their background there was a strong pull to their origins.  My grandparents went to Canada in the 1910-20's. They, and to a lesser extent, my parents', related very strongly to 'The Old Country'. No they were not poor nor displaced (DPs - displaced people - as they were called) but they still had ties which were strong.

Where they settled was a 'young country'; people often didn't know much about their forebears (for good and bad reasons!).  In this country it is different; it's an 'old' country i.e. it is possible to trace forbears for generations.  

In Scotland these days displaced people are now settling here. But most Scots I know are from families who go back for generations. They don't have ties (including symbols, rituals) to some other place; it is simply not part of their experience.   (Actually, in Scotland history records how things were the other way around: being cleared off the land in the mid 19th century the displaced Scots went to Canada, and Australia, New Zealand etc and settled.)

And so, thinking of the Queen whose funeral is early next week, the only thing to do now is ....

 

PROCLAMATION OF NEW KING ON THE THRONE & THE SCOTTISH OATH

It was with great interest that I watched the ceremony where Prince Charles is officially proclaimed monarch.  While he automatically becomes King on the death of his mother it has to be confirmed in an Accession Council* Ceremony. (This is usually done within 24 hours of the death of the monarch.)

This took place today in St James Palace, London where 200 (out of 700) invited members of the Privy Council gathered [These are the people called 'Right Honorable']  The monarch is not present. Those present included 6 former Prime Ministers, along with leaders of various religious orders and Prince William and Camilla. Apparently Nicola Sturgeon was invited as part of the 200.

First they state formally that the monarch has died then they state or 'proclaim' the person who is to 'accede'  The proclamation is then signed by Prince William, Camilla (and others). Then everyone moved to the throne room where the new King joins them.

The King makes his personal declaration to serve the country starting with  the   words....

I, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of My other Realms and Territories, King, Defender of the Faith

This was followed by another oath that was required him to promise to uphold the Protestant faith of Scotland by declaring it entirely independent.  This dates back to a time when Catholic Europe was seen as an existential threat to Britain. It promises to protect the security of the Church of Scotland which, unlike in England, is separate from the state*.

Here it is in full.  (Note the wording in line 7!)

I understand that the Law requires that I should, at My Accession to the Crown, take and subscribe the Oath relating to the Security of the Church of Scotland.  I am ready to do so at this first opportunity.

I, Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of My other Realms and Territories, King, Defender of the Faith, do faithfully promise and swear that I shall inviolably maintain and preserve the Settlement of the true Protestant Religion as established by the Laws made in Scotland in prosecution of the Claim of Right and particularly by an Act intituled “An Act for securing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government” and by the Acts passed in the Parliament of both Kingdoms for Union of the two Kingdoms, together with the Government, Worship, Discipline, Rights and Privileges of the Church of Scotland.

So help me God.

In every part of the country now there are plans in place for local proclamations to be made, i.e. the Proclamation of Accession is read out (as it would have been done in the old days as it would be the only way people would get to know about it).

And now the new words of the nation anthem  ...  'God Save The King'

Another new practice:  television cameras filmed the event

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*The accession council first met in 1603 after Elizabeth I died without a child. Since then, it meets as soon as possible after the death of a sovereign.

**  What about his position regarding the rest of the UK? Apparently he will make a similar oath in front of Parliament, promising to assume the role of the head of the Church of England. 

THE SECOND ELIZABETHAN ERA HAS ENDED - TAKE A MOMENT TO RECORD A POINT IN TIME

The Queen died this afternoon.  It was announced at 6:30 pm this evening.  We had just finished our evening meal and, having lit the fire, we moved into the living room and switched on the TV news. It came as a slight surprise as it was only in the early afternoon that the media stated that there was 'grave concern' about her.  Also at that time it was noticed that plane arrivals at Aberdeen Airport were bringing various members of the royal family. 

She died peacefully at Balmoral Castle later in the afternoon. (Only 48 hours previously she had received the new Prime Minister Liz Truss.  Photos of that meeting show The Queen to have lost weight and, certainly, she was looking frail.)

For most people they have known no other monarch. Everyone has their stories and memories: those who met her or were influenced by her, those who couldn't be bothered with her and all she stood for (of which Iain is one).  As a Colonial transplanted to this country I am a horse of a different colour!  And there I shall leave the topic!

As it is a historic day I wish to record, albeit in a rather haphazard way, what I was doing today. I certainly recall what I was doing on other momentous occasions e.g. Lady Diana's death. After that I will do the same with Iain and the grandchildren. It's simply a snapshot before we move on with our busy (or not so busy)  lives.

STARTING WITH ME:   

As usual I started the day with my usual hour of morning piano practice - trying to jazz up Bach. Then having made my packed lunch I headed off the to Balloch Park tree-planting activities in which I am involved twice a month.  It's down by Loch Lomond (40 minute drive).  I was out all day clearing sites of grassland before mowers moved in and then building bird boxes from scrap timber.  IKEA: look to your laurels!  (A note to myself: I drove D to the bus station half way through - hope he feels better soon.)

Took this photo of a leaf from the tree next to where I usually park.  It is Red Oak.  Also the first signs of colour are now appearing in the avenue of trees at the entrance of the park.

While dinner was cooking this evening I finished off the damson chutney I had started last night.  It's been a few years since I've done any of this.  Iain likes the bought stuff so I simply made a batch by copying the ingredients on the label. I managed to track down damsons at Christies independent butchers at Bearsden Cross. Results are a success.

IAIN AND THE GRANDCHILDREN:

Iain:  Last week he gave a Zoom talk to an engineering group in New Zealand.  He said it was weird talking to a screen where there was no feedback from a live audience.  Earlier this week he gave a Zoom talk to the Orkney Science Festival audience.  Topic:  energy (I think).

The children: just some observations gleaned from the past few days.

[1] Ellie (7 years) On Tuesday Ellie had a very early morning start with us (not something that regularly happens) as Mairi had a long day in Edinburgh with work.  I tried  Ellie with 'soldiers' toast and a boiled egg (which I used to do with the others when much younger).... "Yuk" says Ellie!.... Oh well.....

She spent some time showing me her 'diacritical markings' which she is learning just now!  Good heavens! I had to look up what she was talking about! The photo shows her working.  I hope her teacher  appreciates what a great job she is doing with this Little Person!  We also had a short session at the Craft Table thinking up original items to draw and colour in.  As I had her on her own I tried to get her to use the castanets to keep time when I played the piano; she's musical. Oh yes, I took to her gym class at the Allander.  Again, she's a wee star at cartwheels etc.

[2] Ishbel [15 years] is learning Othello this year (5th year). They've been shown the movie and then they study the play.  She asked if she could do some cooking with me this Sunday. We've a couple of ideas to do with cake decorating and baking either bread or scones - she hoovers up both!   We always have a bit of a laugh and call it our Test Kitchen because things don't usually go to plan.

[3] Alastair [14 years] goes out walking with Iain at least once a week after school, usually Tuesdays.  He is nearly my height and gives me a hand with digging in the garden these days as I am trying to clear bamboo roots which have spread.  He reads our TLS [Times Literary Supplement] every time he plops himself down at the kitchen table.  He is in 4th year and vaguely thinking he might look at studying history and archeology but basically no strong pull in any particular direction.  He and Iain chew over ideas and Alastair now expresses some of these without having to be prodded - impressive!

[4] Harriet [9 years] is very switched on, organised but takes ages to get moving! She's always been very 'together' and likes things done properly. I have to watch myself, e.g. during lockdown I was turning the pages of her reading book by licking my finger to turn the page.  "Grandma! You can't do that! You'll pick up/spread germs!"  Of course, she's quite right.  Also she checks me if I show any sign that girls can't do jobs that boys do.  [Ishbel is the same] If I need someone to lift something heavy, dig, pull etc and ask Alastair they point out that girls can do that job equally as well.  (M-m-m-m-m ... this is a difficult one!  I have to tread carefully!)

She eats anything and everything (unlike the others) but eats one item at a time on her plate... so I have resolved to avoid serving peas now as she takes ages as she singles each one out to be speared before finally putting it in her mouth!

She's now back into her grey school uniform which, as it happens, matches her grey eyes. She has (always had) long hair down to her waist and wouldn't countenance any change to that. Sigh....

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And lastly we were out to have a meal with B and M last weekend. It has been ages what with B recovering from his car accident and the rest of us being mindful that Covid is still about.

M always lays a lovely table and a fine bottle of wine. She had prepared a meal of ostrich  and stroganoff sauce.  Iain and I were a little anxious about staying late after dinner as the light was fading. Both of us don't see so well to drive in the fading light or darkness so we reckon we really only want to be going out for meals during daylight hours. 

As they say nowadays "The nights are drawing in!". In 3 weeks the daylight will be deteriorating earlier as we pass the equinox and head into autumn and winter.

Meanwhile back in London....