WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Platinum
Jun 6, 2022 8:42:38 GMT
via mobile
Post by WDB on Jun 6, 2022 8:42:38 GMT
Did we all enjoy it? Did we take any notice? Can we have Paddington Bear as our next monarch?
|
|
|
Post by Alanović on Jun 6, 2022 10:21:19 GMT
I will be using the discount code "PLATINUM" to order 2 new Bridgestone Turanzas from Kwik Fit for my Civic this morning. (O/T - The existing tyres have plenty of tread, but there's a bit of cracking starting, and they are dated 2016 so are orginal fit. With the car going to be fully loaded and driven at speed to Montenegro and back this summer, I'd rather have new ones on for that rather than wait. The other 2 were fitted in 2019 and have only covered about 5k miles, so are fine. New ones will go on the front.)
Other than that, had a couple of beers stood on a neighbour's driveway yesterday afternoon, under a teeny bit of bunting. Rah rah.
Paddington is probably the only asylum seeker who would ever be allowed that near The Q. If he existed.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 17:42:27 GMT
I used the code Julbiee70 on EasyJet holidays to get £70 off a holiday. So that was worth it.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Platinum
Jun 6, 2022 18:22:06 GMT
via mobile
Post by WDB on Jun 6, 2022 18:22:06 GMT
…or will be if you get anywhere. 🤞
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 21:45:15 GMT
True - but there have been problems with Manchester airport for months and I've flown in April and May so far and it was okay. Second time was very quick through security. Touch wood it will be fine at least going out at the end of June.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 21:49:57 GMT
If we do get to the destination this time I've booked a package deliberately so have a bit more assistance if things delayed coming back. Went independently in April and May and coming back I even did what I'd tend to avoid - using Ryanair! But they came back on a Thursday and easyJet did not. Even managed to just back in time to use the cheap bus service back to near home instead of using a taxi
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 22:28:29 GMT
I should have added that I did watch some of the TV coverage and enjoyed it. Glad it went well for her. I quite like the Queen. Closest I got to her and Prince Phillip was about 10 feet. Not that I spoke to her or anything - she was just passing.
|
|
bpg
Full Member
Posts: 2,733
Member is Online
|
Platinum
Jun 6, 2022 23:28:36 GMT
via mobile
Post by bpg on Jun 6, 2022 23:28:36 GMT
Not sure I'll be flying anytime soon. A quick scan around various UK airport websites show most have vacancies which they are recruiting for.
Manchester was not showing any flight departure information just see screens in terminal which looks daft to me. If a flight is cancelled why have passengers travel to the airport creating more inconvenience and delays? Unless thinking of foot fall metrics.
Ferry prices are getting ridiculous now. I looked at traveling Amsterdam to Newcastle in July, four people, one dog, car with roofbox 2,500.00€ before adding meals, standard cabin. They added a 20€ fuel surcharge each way. I'm guessing there wasn't enough profit in the 2,500€ to cover fuel.
Edit: to get back on topic maybe the ferry companies used Platinum jubilee clips at the last refit.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 23:34:08 GMT
Yes it is daft they do not show the info for flights on the website. It was the same back in April too. For my flight in May I tracked the aircraft I was going to be on back from Belfast before it would then go on to Corfu so I had an idea if on time. It could have been but left a little late due to what they claim are air traffic problems over Germany. But I got there 5 minutes early with only hand luggage and a front of cabin seat. So within 30 minutes of landing I'd walked to my hotel near the airport.
Referring to vacancies. The staff who look after the trays for scanning at security at Manchester airport.... they get £10.53 per hour. And long shifts some of which start in the very early hours. And they no doubt are getting a lot of hassle.... which is why they are probably struggling to get people to go back to these jobs and fill the positions after they made so many redundant.
|
|
Rob
Full Member
Posts: 2,721
|
Post by Rob on Jun 6, 2022 23:35:29 GMT
>> I'm guessing there wasn't enough profit in the 2,500€ to cover fuel.
That figure of €2500 is ludicrous!
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Platinum
Jun 7, 2022 6:39:50 GMT
via mobile
Post by WDB on Jun 7, 2022 6:39:50 GMT
The staff who look after the trays for scanning at security at Manchester airport.... they get £10.53 per hour. I happen to know that even an 18-year-old can earn that much at a supermarket. Some early starts and late finishes but an easy walk to work. I know which I’d choose.
|
|
|
Post by EspadaIII on Jun 7, 2022 9:35:17 GMT
I didn't watch much but what I did see was lovely. I am a monarchist (surprise surprise!) but I do think that Charles (at teh right time) should step aside for William and Kate. They are much more in tune with the British population than Charles - who by remaining as Not the King - can do more good.
For the second time we have seen HMQ with a sense of humour and also some real feeling of care for her family with her interaction with Prince Louis. There are few if any countries with non-political Presidents who can do what the Royal Family does in terms of bringing the country together and creating huge financial benefits; far more than they cost us.
|
|
|
Post by Alanović on Jun 7, 2022 10:26:07 GMT
If you are a monarchist, then you have to accept that you have no say in who takes the throne. If you want your opinion to be considered, then you are in favour of an elected Head of State. You'd be free to vote for William in those circumstances, if he stood for election and you consdered him the best of any alternatives.
What you cannot be is a Monarchist and then expect to hold an opinion over who should take the throne.
The 2nd and 3rd sentences of your first paragraph are meaningless, EIII - hollow, unsubstantiated waffle I'm afraid. "In tune"? What does that mean? "At the right time"? Who is the arbiter of that? "Do more good"? What good does a Monarch do, in measurable and quantifiable terms please?
You saw a Great Grandparent having a fun interaction with their Great Grandchild? What is special about that? Big deal. What were you expecting? These people are utterly ordinary at best, and often show themselves to be pretty malignant towards members of their own family. It is all so Emporer's New Clothes.
I'll give you a list of countries with impressive Presidents - Ireland, Estonia, Finland, Iceland... to start with. All cost less than our Royals, and the actual truth of the financial side is that our system costs far more than it brings in, the latter being close to zero, to be generous. And much of that cost in our country goes to people who do remarkably little to earn or deserve it.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Platinum
Jun 7, 2022 10:30:08 GMT
via mobile
Post by WDB on Jun 7, 2022 10:30:08 GMT
Esp may have been thinking of the Paddington sketch. Add that to the Bond one in 2012 and you have two instances of regnal humour in just 70 years.
Elizabeth the Last seems like a sound maxim. EiiR has done a decent job in that she has generally kept out of the way and kept the nation’s front garden looking pretty. Recent years have made it clear that her decent performance has depended on ‘may gevernment’ also behaving decently. Faced with a government that is the antithesis of decency — just the kind of thing a constitutional head of state is there to prevent — she has nothing to offer.
Charles apparently wants to be more involved. That supposes he has (a) the right and (b) the capability, neither of which is very evident. He also has no constitutional framework to operate in, which doesn’t seem like a great recipe. William? Seems like a nice chap but so what? He doesn’t actually know anything either, and would probably struggle to run a cake shop if he had to earn his own living.
Modern times demand modern politics. The Windsors are just another part of this country’s nostalgia problem.
|
|
WDB
Full Member
Posts: 7,352
|
Platinum
Jun 7, 2022 10:50:57 GMT
via mobile
Post by WDB on Jun 7, 2022 10:50:57 GMT
If you are a monarchist, then you have to accept that you have no say in who takes the throne. That’s not quite true. The Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 abolished the primacy of a male heir, and that was parliament’s doing, not the queen’s. Parliament could similarly, and quite reasonably, introduce a retirement age of, say, 75 for the serving monarch. That would spare us the absurdity of another 96-year-old head of state and (by simple generational arithmetic) a succession of aged, erm, successors.
|
|