To be annoyed about the Jubilee

[thegreenlight]

I know I’m being miserable but I’m bloody pissed off about the sodding Jubilee! I went to sainsburys this morning, paid £1.68 a litre for petrol and then popped in to be confronted by bottles of champagne! The last thing I feel like doing is celebrating! I spent all morning cancelling non-essential DDs as things are really tight with the rise in energy prices and the increased NI contribution.
funny how this ‘magic money tree’ can be harvested to pay for this event when people are genuinely struggling and are told to ‘get a better paid job’! I have a bloody well paid job, thankyou, but am still feeling the pinch. I know people are going to say that the economy will benefit - but how? If people spend more then inflation will rise and the BOE will put up the mortgage rates! I despair!

I just don't get this attitude. Are you saying if you were in such a privileged position you would give it all up to sympathise with the masses? Or that you would not spend any of your money because others have less?

We are having a family BBQ. The first big occasion over 2 years. The long weekend means we are all free to meet up. It's something to look forward to for us.

Exactly - and when she kicks the bucket there'll be be a coronation during which we'll all be expected to bow, scrape and tug our forelocks to Tampon Charlie and Cowmilla.

For those of you not liking it, you can just avoid it, and know it will be at least 40 years before the next one, so in 2062 you can moan about King William V a then 80 year old having a Silver Jubilee.

And deeply unpleasant

Stay in and avoid the celebrations by all means, but don't rain on everyone else's parade.

Be careful what you wish for! If she wasn't living in Buck House then some alternative head of state would be. President Johnson, maybe?
I'm no royalist but at least HM seems to have an attitude of loyalty and service to the nation, unlike most of the Tory party.

So hoping it rains is deeply unpleasant, but referring to someone as psychotic and a narcissist isnt? Interesting.

You do know what a platignum jubilee is? Unless William succeeded the throne next week and lived to be 110, there won’t be another.

Anyway, we Brits don't let the weather get in the way of a Jubilee!

It's up to the individual if they celebrate or not. No one is forcing someone to buy champagne if they don't want to/can't afford to.

And where do you stop?
No Christmas chocolates, Easter eggs, valentines, mothers day, fathers day,....

It's a once in a lifetime and probably our kids too

Yet each of the last two jubilees have been sold with exactly the same words as will no doubt be the case at the next circus coronation.

I'm very neutral about the Royal Family but I do quite like the Queen so I'm not against all the excitement from some about the Jubilee.

The town a couple of miles from me is closing off part of the seafront road in order to have big street party. I really hope they have a fab day, with lovely weather and it's not too windy for everyone who will be there. All the decorations and bunting so far look fantastic.

Me, I will be sitting in my garden - weather permitting - with a book and a large gin and tonic or two.

I understand your stress at the cost of living, but the Jubilee is a fantastic opportunity to not only Acknowlege all that the Queen has done, but to come together as a community. Our church is having a party and providing free ploughman's. We're having a bring your own picnic party on the road. Kids are making their own paper bunting. You don't need to quaff champagne to enjoy the weekend. Neither is it the queen's fault that Russia invaded the Ukraine and caused fuel prices to rocket. Why take it out on her?

But it doesn't mean anything, really. It's not like anything has changed because she's been on the throne for 70 years. She's there out of sheer dumb luck.

For me, a massive historical event is World War 2 ending, or Saddam Hussein being executed, or the end of the war in Ukraine (when it eventually happens). Not someone spending 70 years in a position of incredible privilege through luck of birth.

Besides, one of the main reasons she's survived like she has is because has access to incredible healthcare that most of us can only dream of - hardly worth celebrating IMO.

Charles is 70 so we'll be seeing 2 coronations in a short amount of time.

I do get where you are coming from, and the Queen strikes me as someone who cares more about people coming together, rather than champagne and extravagance. I’m not a Royalist but I can see that the Queen will go down in history as a key figure …. and many people think that is worth celebrating.

She could have chosen to live a life of luxury, done bugger all with her days. Actually, she’s been really hard working until very recently, has shown great leadership (eg during Covid) never put a foot wrong herself. Acted with integrity we could only dream of for our PM and cabinet. Ok she lives in palaces, but she lives a relatively simple life in that context.

She eats marmalade on toast for breakfast according to her ex chef, who I met on holiday once. Apparently she likes to do the washing up when with the family at Balmoral! She doesn’t like luxury and prefers the simpler things in life, which I think makes her an inspiration. She teaches us all what is important in life.

Yes her children have let her down (one in particular must bring her a lot of shame) and who knows if that is down to her parenting, but it could happen to any parent. Her family has the added pressure of duty, living in the public eye….the privilege can be destructive (Andrew, Harry).

I wouldn’t want to live her life, but she has taken the hand dealt to her and given the world so much in return. She is a model Queen and very popular inside and outside Britain for good reason.

@emmetgirl So you won’t be serving those people who have an extra day off for the jubilee and decide to go out for lunch?
Surely if you own the cafe it’s a chance to make more profit?

I think having a normal life is the most fun thing at the moment but that might just be because I have long covid and no energy for anything. I'd love to be able to get the house straight after 3 and a half months of neglect and it would feel lovely. Also I'm teetotal so champagne does nothing for me, might like a bit of cake.

I won't see another jubilee in my lifetime, and it is a significant event. I'm not particularly royalist but I do like the fact that it's pulled a lot of communities together.

Lots of villages round me are hosting extended fetes etc. With all the disruption and isolation of the last couple of years I see that as a positive. It's given people a reason to come together and celebrate in what are, quite frankly, depressing times.

Not a fan of the concept of royalty and object to it constantly being pushed down our throats that we are all overjoyed and looking forward to celebrating when many are scared and anxious about day-to-day life.
I respect the queen for the fact that she has fulfilled her duties of office, way past the time most of the rest of us get to retire, but would be happy to see it end when she passes.
In fact I,m dreading the day she goes because we will have literally weeks and weeks of wall-to-wall coverage of her and her life and then preparations for Charles' coronation all explained in painfully boring and tedious detail. then the coronation, then the investiture of William. Meanwhile, the tories will use the opportunity to sneak in unpalatable laws while everyone is looking at 'the squirrel'

If they're all at street parties the cafe might lose trade.

For the UK.

Not just England. There is no such title as Queen of England, you know.

There are also places in Scotland marking and/or celebrating the Jubilee. I've seen some, but I know a lot of Scottish Unionists are worried some ScotNats will put a brick through their windows or suchlike. So, a lot of people will simply not put them on their properties for that reason.

I have to say I agree with you OP.

I just find it all really cringey. Fair enough she's done a good job for 70 years, but so have lots of others, in a far less privileged position. She's travelled the world, been waited on hand and foot, something the rest of us can only dream of. I'm not a royalist, nor a republican although that would make more sense, but at least she's saving us from Boris being essentially ultimate ruler of the UK, god help us. Anyway, if you want to celebrate, great, and if you don't, don't. But all the bunting stuff, the street parties, the endless gushing from the BBC (and I'll defend the BBC with most things!), the bloody special cake contest thing, and especially the singing of Sweet Caroline (fgs) I can do without!

It's beyond my comprehension, the deference and talk of the "achievement" of being "on the throne" that long (even that phrase, "on the throne" is archaic). All it really means when it boils down to it is that she didn't die before now. I supposed you could argue that she is the figurehead of an insitution that she has maintained and not let die out. But does such an institution have its place in modern enlightened times, when any wrongdoing is not easily hidden?

As for her "duty" and "public service", yes, I'm sure there were many times she went to cut a ribbon and didn't feel very well or was utterly bored by the prospect, or she had to meet with some dignitaries and be polite even though she couldn't abide them, but you know, we ALL go to work and feel like that. But the difference is, she hasn't had to come home from a 10 hour shift on a crowded bus or tube and had to scrub the bathroom or make tea out of the scraps that are left in the fridge before pay day, hasn't had to turn down a child's wish to try a particular hobby because it's too expensive. Hasn't had to give up her beloved pet dog because she can no longer afford to look after it. She doesn't have to lie on a trolley in an A&E corridor for 10 hours when she's got a serious medical problem.

It has been privilege after privilege, and she is so distant from normal life we must seem like characters on Eastenders to her. I do think William and Harry have more of an idea of what normal people are like because they have mixed with others more than she ever did, as part of their daily lives. But in doing so, I have no doubt there is part of them that also agrees with a large part of the population that the idea of a monarchy in the 21st century is laughable, and they are wholly uncomfortable with the idea. William often looks embarrassed at the deference displayed towards him, or when he has to wear the daft costumes at formal occasions. He's probably desperate to modernise it all, and I'm sure he will do that if his time comes.

People roll out the same old arguments about all the money they bring in tourism. But France has not had a monarchy for a few hundred and years, yet people still flock to Versailles and the chateaus. Other royal palaces around the world still attract tourists even though they haven't had a royal family in them for centuries.

That said, if there are people in the country who get joy out of a bit of flag wearing and oohing and aaahing at a parade then who am I to stop them? People need all the happiness they can get at the moment. I disagree with the notion of a monarchy, but I'm not a party pooper. And frankly the couple of mums at the primary school I work in who rang to complain that we were brain washing the kids and they would not be bringing the kids to school that day, need to get their heads fixed.