Another week gone? How did that happen?

I feel all out of routine at the moment.  Of course we had our family reunion week and then last week I ended up looking after Grandsons Rory and Vinny for the whole week as Vinny just wasn't well enough to go back to nursery. Understandably I was exhausted by the end of the week so we had a reasonably quiet weekend.

On Saturday I did meet up with some former colleagues at a reunion which was good and on Sunday we dropped in on a "Flea and Tea" event at the local church which supports a Food Hub.

Of course it's been a strange time following the death of the Queen last Thursday.  I think it took us all a bit by surprise as only 2 days before she'd been welcoming our new Prime Minister into her post and then 2 days later the Queen had passed away.

Queen Elizabeth was an incredible woman and such a great example to us.  Having reigned for such a long time this is the first time many of us have experienced the death of the monarch and then the move to a new King.  The Accession ceremony was very interesting to watch as it had never been televised before but it was a great example of all the pomp and pageantry we are known for.  The language was very archaic at times - the ceremony has taken place for hundreds of years with little or no changes.

Accession to the throne is then followed by a series of proclamations throughout the country - in previous times there would have been no TV or social media or even radio to spread the news of a new monarch so it was done by word of mouth and this continued with the Accession of King Charles III.

The TV schedules have been swamped with programmes about the Queen and her family during this official period of mourning.  Various events were cancelled at the weekend and even the radio stations seem to be playing sombre songs.

I'll be in Ireland with friends when the funeral takes place - we're hoping the TV will be working ok.

Of course going away again is disrupting my routine and although I've managed to read many of your blogs I haven't been leaving comments so apologies for that.  We won't have any WiFi at the house we're staying in either so you'll have to wait until I'm back for photos and details of the trip.  I'm sure we're going to have fun!