19th September 2022 - Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral
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Today is a bank holiday so I was free from work. Sadly it was due to 
the Queen's funeral. So of course, I felt obliged to watch as I did 
some Scout digital stuff. As ever with these things, there is a lot of 
nonsense. Listening to the commentators on TV was annoying. They 
always are. A big part of the funeral was the procession. The first 
procession took the coffin from Westminister Hall to Westminister 
Abbey. She was placed on a gun carriage which was pulled by some 100 
or so sailors. Members of the various royal guards at the side. This 
was a relatively short one. In the abbey, a relatively straight 
forward religeous ceremony was held. I did not pay much attention but 
did chuckle when Justin Welby, Arch-bishop of Canterbury (highest role 
in Church of England other than King/Queen) said that those who have 
power thrust upon them will be remembered long after those who cling 
to power at all cost. Hmmm I wonder who he could be referring to. 
Boris may have squirmed a little and hopefully Truss was paying 
attention. After the service, the second procession took place. This 
was much much longer. Led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, they 
marched from Westminister Abbey to Wellington Arch in Hyde Park. This 
is pretty damn far and took a good while. The procession stretched for 
a mile. That is just the people walking/marching. Once again, the 
Royal Navy pulled the gun carriage with the coffin on. Though this 
time, the Queen's family followed by foot. Interestingly, the wives 
and children went by car. The horses involved in the parade did not 
look happy. It made sense when you heard the gun salutes going off and 
Big Ben going dong every minute. It was a very well done affair and I 
am mightily impressed with the poor sailors, soldiers, airmen et al 
who were lumbered with this dubious honour. They will have had to 
learn some very complex drill with opportunity to only practise at 
midnight. This is the sort of thing which is once in a career. The 
last state funeral was for Winston Churchill in the early 60s. There 
was a sort of practise with the Queen Mother's funeral but that was 20 
years ago. They were at the scene from 8am at the latest and were 
still going past 2pm. Amazingly no one fainted. Thankfully the weather  
was kind to them too. I hope they manage to get plenty of leave to 
make up for the hard work. 

Anyhow, more funeral stuff to go. The coffin is on the way to Windsor 
for another long walk. Procession number 3 will go up the Long Walk to 
the castle and through St George's Chapel. The Long Walk is a good 3 
mile/5 km so it is well named. Then finally we can go back to normal 
outside of the mourning period. 

The mourning period has certainly been odd. People are surprising. I 
am surprised at the numbers of people who went to see the laying in 
state. The queue was stupidly long with people waiting for days in 
that queue. Absolutely absurd. The careful changing of TV schedules 
has been interesting too. Lots of quiet programmes appeared. The radio 
has been rather dull compared to normal as well. 

Monarchy is a confusing thing. It is inherently pointless until you 
see how entrenched it is within the UK. It gives a reason for ceremony 
as well as some pomp and circumstance. These are deep rooted and 
sometimes prove how all of these institutions are mad. One example is 
Black Rod, as a representative of the crown, having the door of the 
House of Commons slammed in their face. This happens each year at the 
state opening and represents the independence of parliament from the 
crown. They still went to the house of lords to hear the Queen's 
Speech so it is a drama over nothing. These silly things do show how 
riduculous all institutions are. Without them, I think it is very easy 
for government to think itself high and mighty. Yet, why do I pay 
taxes for a family to live in a variety of castles with the utmost 
protection. Why them and not others? Well, who else would we get to 
open hospitals or public buildings? I am yet to see someone gushing 
over meeting their local MP or the prime minister but I have seen 
plenty gush about meeting royalty. They are a bit of magic to civil 
life in the UK. Both ridiculous and sort of required at the same time.