At 21:40:09 on Sat, 18 Apr 2009, Ildhund (Email Removed) wrote in :
"A bulletin released at Marlborough House at 1140 GMT was the first warning that her condition was causing some anxiety. ... on a screen of corrugated iron protecting stonework repairs to the front of the gateway, was issued at 1340 GMT."
Since we were not informed as to the style of framing of the first bulletin (was it gold, or gilt, or plain black wood?) this more detailed description of the second bulletin is somewhat lost on us.
However, I am pleased to hear of the corrugated iron protecting stonework repairs to the front of the gateway, even though these were apparently screened from view; these days, the opportunities for honest British working men to exercise the skills of their craft are fewer, and farther between.
(Because no bugger will pay them.)
"The third bulletin, at 1900 GMT, was brief: "Queen Mary's strength is ebbing, but Her Majesty is sleeping peacefully." The fourth and final bulletin was to announce her death."
What I, me and I remember is not the death of (HMS) Queen Mary, but that of King George VI (pronounced "vee-eye" by those who are accustomed to refer to "One Clavdivs").
I remember the occasion vividly.
It occurred, with no prior consultation (to be fair, they didn't consult his elder daughter either, although she was rather embarrassingly up a tree in Kenya at the time), when I was a couple of months short of four years old - *and they cancelled "Listen With Mother" because of it*. Now, c'mon! Even I, a pre-school bairn, knew that the King would not have been paying attention to "Listen With Mother" even if he hadn't died.
For decades, I wanted to raise the matter with his widow. Or with his daughter. I never had the opportunity for the former; I was, once, in company with the latter, but (I am ashamed to say) bottled out. Let's face it - when you turn around, all unsuspecting, and find yourself confronting a wee wummin, five foot tall, with inch-thick make-up, a large hat, and an expression well-schooled in trying not to look bored - well, you just kind of fling yourself underneath the nearest trestle table, don't you?
(Those who have, somehow, never found themselves in this specific situation are not required to answer. Those who actually are eligible to reply should confine themselves to one side of foolscap.)
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin (My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)