Saturday
Sep182010
Princess Diana
Saturday, September 18, 2010 at 6:21AM
A strange title for a blog post right? Well whilst I was on the subject of driving, I thought I would share with you something I came across on my travels.
Sat in traffic, I looked at the car in front of me, and noticed an interesting sight; a personalized number plate, which read- LADY DI. Now I know she was a great woman, but I couldn't help feeling this was a little over the top. Why would you choose that as a license plate, unless of course you, or your wife, was called that. Which I think was unlikely. In my journeys across the states, I have found a lot of sympathy for Princess Diana, a lot more than you come across in England. She was well and truly loved here. People have come up to us and told us how they felt our loss. For me, I have to restrain myself- "what loss?" Don't get me wrong, I think she was very admirable woman, who did an awful lot for charity. But I never felt some sort of personal attachment to her, especially because of my age.
People here also seem shocked I haven't met the Queen, or any member of the Royal Family. Well, they don't get out much, and Britain is still a fairly large place. Have you met Obama?
I also get asked about my opinions on the monarchy a lot too, and I find it hard to explain my views. Well I acknowledge that its anachronistic, and does guzzle a little too much of the taxpayers money, I think Britain would be a worse off place without our royals. They are an icon of the UK, an image, a symbol of our country. They make us who we are, and they serve a purpose. They facilitate lots of public events and openings, freeing up time for our prime minister and other important national figures to do legislative work. We don't have a presidential figurehead, the closest we come is with our Liz. Furthermore, the monarchy is a big tourist factor for the UK, attracting a large number of visits to the country because of Buckingham Palace and other such homes. In fact, with people willing to immortalise the royals on license plates, maybe the UK government should look at expanding monarchy tourism abroad?
Sat in traffic, I looked at the car in front of me, and noticed an interesting sight; a personalized number plate, which read- LADY DI. Now I know she was a great woman, but I couldn't help feeling this was a little over the top. Why would you choose that as a license plate, unless of course you, or your wife, was called that. Which I think was unlikely. In my journeys across the states, I have found a lot of sympathy for Princess Diana, a lot more than you come across in England. She was well and truly loved here. People have come up to us and told us how they felt our loss. For me, I have to restrain myself- "what loss?" Don't get me wrong, I think she was very admirable woman, who did an awful lot for charity. But I never felt some sort of personal attachment to her, especially because of my age.
People here also seem shocked I haven't met the Queen, or any member of the Royal Family. Well, they don't get out much, and Britain is still a fairly large place. Have you met Obama?
I also get asked about my opinions on the monarchy a lot too, and I find it hard to explain my views. Well I acknowledge that its anachronistic, and does guzzle a little too much of the taxpayers money, I think Britain would be a worse off place without our royals. They are an icon of the UK, an image, a symbol of our country. They make us who we are, and they serve a purpose. They facilitate lots of public events and openings, freeing up time for our prime minister and other important national figures to do legislative work. We don't have a presidential figurehead, the closest we come is with our Liz. Furthermore, the monarchy is a big tourist factor for the UK, attracting a large number of visits to the country because of Buckingham Palace and other such homes. In fact, with people willing to immortalise the royals on license plates, maybe the UK government should look at expanding monarchy tourism abroad?
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