Is Garth Brooks more popular than the British queen?
Did you watch any of the queen’s funeral?
It’s okay to admit it if you did! I saw a few a snatches when clips popped up on social media.
When I was younger I remember trying to watch a variety of historic events. I don’t actually remember any of them. I’m very interested in history but often these kinds of set pieces are horribly boring. Am I wrong about Elizabeth’s funeral?
Whenever I saw bits of it, the scenes looked boring and depressing. I don’t know if I’ve ever actually wanted to watch any funeral. They’re not of much interest to me at all.
Of course, I’ve gone to plenty because you want to be there for a person, to acknowledge their life, or for a friend or family member to acknowledge their loss. It’s something we do in Ireland and do very well.
But I’m not going to watch someone’s funeral when I have no personal connection to them - what would the point be? A funeral is not something to be enjoyed, it’s part of a process for sure - grief or remembrance, but I’ve no need of that to mark the death of a symbol of the Great Britain and the British Empire. It’s certainly been fun to poke fun at the horrendously over the top nature of the British mourning though.
My highlights include RIP EIIR spelt out using shipping containers at a port with a crown added. Channel 4 in the UK didn’t put on commercial ads on Monday “as a mark of respect”.
My favourite one was probably the woman who was interviewed on tv after she was “one of the last people” to view the queen’s body when it was on public display at Westminister Hall after her death. She was asked what it was like to which she replied: “Amazing! It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. Even having my children, Lily and Luca, I think this tops that! I’m so pleased we did it!”
She was a great of example of how crazed and over the top things got over there. The urge to be seen to do ‘the right thing’ seemed to supersede all else.
One woman on BBC said that she was due to be the birthing partner for her pregnant daughter - who is due to give birth at any time - but she pulled out in order to queue up to see the queen! Madness.
Footbridges in Devon were closed during the funeral, along with bike rails in Norwich. The UK border at Stansted Airport was closed during the one minute silence on Monday. Why, why, why?
Mind you, perhaps we should not be the first to cast stones. After all, 410,000 went to see Garth Brooks in Dublin, paying lots of money for the privilege. More than 250,000 went to view the queen’s body for free. That almost seems reasonable despite the length of the queue!