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Adjusting to a changed landscape (death of the Queen)
BoardLikeAMirror · 09/09/2022 12:48
I wondered if anyone else felt as though we fell into some kind of alternative universe yesterday evening. Every time I hear references to 'King Charles III' it feels as if I'm watching a futuristic TV programme or film - it just doesn't feel like real life.
I am not 'upset' about the Queen's death in an emotional sense - she lived a good life, and, we are led to believe, had a peaceful death. I just feel as though I have slipped into a non-existent, invented universe. I wonder how long this will last.
Bergamotte · 10/09/2022 16:06
I know what you mean, BoardLikeAMirror. At the beginning of covid measures I felt very strongly that I was living in a futuristic film- it was a strange sense of "real unreality" for a long time. I don't have it so strongly this time, but it does feel wrong every time someone mentions King Charles. Like they must be referring to Cavaliers & Roundheads or something!
I was about to say that hopefully, since we don't have much to do with the royals in our daily lives, hopefully things would start to feel normal again in a couple of weeks.
But then I remembered they'll be changing the stamps! And presumably money with Charles' portrait on will start entering circulation soon. And there must be more little details like that which will now be wrong.
So no reassurance- I'll just grumble to myself about the change. Hmmph.
BoardLikeAMirror · 10/09/2022 16:27
Yes, it's just like that. I remember writing my diary at the start of the pandemic, and noted that it felt more like I was writing dystopian first person fiction.
I remember a while ago I watched a drama that was set in a contemporary but parallel universe, and they had things like bits of a rolling news ticker being on screen but with different politicians in roles such as US President, and I vaguely thought at the time I was watching it 'that's quite well done and convincing'
I keep having exactly the same feeling watching TV/looking at news websites. I admire how 'convincing' they are, 'yes, that's what it will be like when the Queen is dead' and then I realise it's not 'convincing' - it is real.
Hopefully it will take time for Charles money to filter through. I imagine the notes will come first. Coins can go on as long as they are undamaged and the monetary unit is still valid. One of my 'special interests' is D-Day (decimalisation day) and it's notable that we kept the old shilling and two shilling coins for about 20 years beyond D-Day, and they were only withdrawn when the fundamental coin designs changed, not because they wore out.
So as long as we keep the present units of currency and coin sizes/weights/shapes, we might be using Elizabeth II coins for many years to come. There are still 1p and 2p coins in circulation dating from 'D-Day' - 15.02.1971.
I'll stop there because I could waffle on about decimalisation forever.
Clarice99 · 14/09/2022 18:08
I feel the same and completely understand what you mean! I felt the same when the pandemic hit (and beyond) too.
My coping mechanism is avoidance. No TV and no newspapers. If I want to know anything, I ask my DH for updates, and he will comply when I say 'please stop now'.
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