I read an article the other day about what would happen if the Queen passed away. I must admit, I was a bit upset by this article not because it was about the Queen, it would have equally upset me about anyone, because everybody deserves dignity when it comes to death. I found it a bit morbid and absurd to read about the detailed schedule of the ceremony, but then again, this is part of the protocol and it only showed the unvarnished truth. I was aware of TV channels having hours of programs prepared about well-known and old actors and persons (the likes of David Attenborough or Kirk Douglas who is 101 years old) which is understandable.

Getting back to the article, I was shocked by the detailed program of the Queen’s death and that even TV presenters have their attire ready for the day, moreover they have practised the announcement several times. If I were the Queen, it would hurt me, at the same time, it is possibly nothing special to her, because she grew up with the protocol and as Bill says, she is aware this is part of the deal.

How, when and why did I invest in the Queen?

It happened this spring, somewhere in April, I think. How? I bought this waving Queen figurine for 20 pounds, which is quite a lot of money for what it is! At the same time, I knew I wanted it, because Elizabeth II is one of, if not the greatest iconic figure of the UK. One either loves her, or not, but I don’t think she is indifferent to anyone. As for me, I like her, but I am not a fan who follows every steps of hers. I appreciate she has done a lot for this country that she loves in her deepest heart and I learnt to respect her for being able to learn from the mistakes made by the Royal Family and change things around. I like the fact she sticks to traditions, but at the same time she is flexible enough to loosen some expectations. I like her, because she has never really wanted to be in the spotlight, she did not show off or have a flamboyant lifestyle and she did not share too much about herself either, which leaves her being a bit of a mystery for many of us. Undoubtedly, she is a status symbol of the UK, especially since the 2012 London Olympics when – as we all know – “she” jumped out of James Bond’s helicopter with a Union Jack parachute. Just one example that shows the Queen does have a sense of humour.

I don’t think there is anyone on this globe (OK, this might be an overstatement) who would not recognise her, her silhouette, her attire, the hats and the coats and handbags or headscarf she wears. The whole world will be shocked when she passes away and everybody will feel, they have lost a friend and one of the world’s best known characters. This has become clearer to me when we visited Her Majesty’s estate, Balmoral in Scotland this summer, where Bill and a shop assistant started to talk about the Queen. They said, they cannot even imagine how it would feel like not having the Queen around, because she “has always been there“. They grew up with the Queen being on the throne and indeed, the generation of the 1950s has always lived with their Queen.

Do the English like the Queen?

Yes and no. There are royalists who do like the Queen and the Royal Family (Bill for example) and there are the republicans who don’t – just like Mr Stokes and Mable in “You rang, M’lord?” when the ex king of Dalmatia was visiting Lord Meldrum:

STOKES Well, I don’t know why they’re making all this fuss about an old king and queen kicked out of country. If you ask me, I’ll kick them all out, ours included.
MABEL Well, you are quite right, Mr Stokes. Do away with them all!

What I definitely find to envy is the traditions around the English Royal Family. I often think, our nation (Hungary) cannot understand what it feels and means like having a monarch, because we lost our last king of the Árpád dinasty in 1301. With that, not only the last Hungarian king, but the traditions were lost, too. (Of course you can say, we had King Matthias later and Princess Sissi etc, but I think that is different.)

Why did I think I needed a waving Queen?

No idea! I just suddenly felt I needed one, but definitely not because I thought it would make me English – I will never be English. Also, there is a house in Windsor (no not the castle 🙂 ) which I find extremely pretty and has become my favourite house in town. This is where I saw a waving Queen for the first time and this also inspired me. Of course later you bump into these figurines at every corner in Windsor’s souvenir shops. At the same time, I also thought I should buy the figurine now, because the price may go up when the Queen dies. (It might be a disrespectful idea, but this is what I thought… 🙁 ) I find it interesting that Bill thought the new items with Charles on them would be more expensive and desired. Well, maybe both scenario will happen… All in all, I like having the Queen in our window waving all day. This may sound stupid but it is soothing and it feels as if we had a patron saint at home.

After all let’s hope the Queen stays with us for a long time for which she has a good chance as the Queen Mother was 101 when she passed away. I hope, we can admire her and her colourful and vibrant attires and hats that make her so unique in the years to come.

~

As a final cord, when I bought the figurine, I carried it enthusiastically. I remember, I said to Bill he must have thought I was an idiot because I bought a waving Queen for our home. His answer which I will never forget was:

“No, not at all. But then again, you are a tourist.”
🙂

The first things come to people’s minds about Scotland are probably “Nessie”, whisky, kilts and castles, which of course have their own ghosts. I did a little investigation and found that there are approximately 1200 castles in Scotland, however, a few of them do not look like castles. Anyway, if you visit Scotland, visiting a castle is a must.

So did we and visited 3 castles on our Scotland trip which I am going to present in this post. I will try to be brief (it is difficult) and let the photos do the speaking.

Scottish Style

As an introduction though, let me explain the styles of Scottish castles quickly. There are some which look more like a medieval fortress and then we have some which have Renaissance, or Gothic style. However, the most popular style is the Scots Baronial, merging the styles of a medieval fortress with the French Renaissance chateaux style. The result is a Disney like castle, which can be understood better if we remind ourselves that this was the period of the Romanticism, when people turned away from the present and recalled the past and found comfort in that. The style became popular in the Victorian era from 1850 onwards. Characteristics are: pepper pot turrets, towers, crenelated battlements, porches, porticos, porte-cocheres.

Glamis Castle

Click on the photos below to see them in a slideshow.

The first castle on our trip was Glamis Castle, which I believe would take anybody’s breath away. The medieval building was extended and rebuilt in Renaissance and Gothic style. I loved this castle in spite of photographing not being allowed in the castle. There was a very interesting and well narrated 50 minutes tour. Let me share three things:

1.
Royal Family

The castle belonged to the Bowes-Lyon family, the Earls of Strathmore for centuries. In 1900, the Queen Mother was born here and grew up in the castle. Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, Princess Margaret who by the way was born here, spent much of their childhood in the castle. You can see their little wooden chairs next to the huge fireplace where the family would sit in the evenings.

2.
Ghosts

Glamis Castle is said to have 9 (!) ghosts having the title of the most haunted castle in Scotland. So there is a Grey Lady, who appears from time to time in the little chapel of the castle, therefore, locals who attend the mass today leave one chair for her. Who was the Grey Lady? Her name was Lady Janet of Douglas and her brother happened to be the step-father of King James V. The King hated his step-father and his family and when Lady Janet’s husband died and there was no one else left to protect the family, King James V allowed Lady Janet and her 16 year old son executed for witchcraft in Edinburgh. Then there is The Gambling Earl, the Earl of Crawford also known as Earl Bardie who had a passion for playing cards. One night when one of the servants reminded the Earl to stop as it was sabbath, the Earl said, he would not stop playing and would play until doomsday even with the Devil. Apparently, a stranger who was said to be the devil himself appeared at midnight and joined the Earl to play cards. Since people reported loud swearing and rattling of dice which annoyed the tenants of the castle so much that they bricked up the room. Then there is a black, African servant boy who was badly treated 200 years ago and who today is said to mischievously try to trip up passers by sitting on a stone seat next to the Queen’s bedroom. Others are a ghost of a woman with no tongue who is said to haunt the grounds, a Green Lady, the Hanged Butler, the ghost of King Malcolm II, Duncan and Macbeth and more importantly the Monster of Glamis. According to the legend, the family had a child who was severely deformed and locked up in a room in the tower. Others believe he died on the day he was born.

3.
Strathmore Blue

What I do like about the English (in this case let’s say British) is that they have a name for every colour or shade. You could read about the London Cabmen’s shelters on the blog’s Facebook page where I explained these shelters were painted Buckingham Paradise Green or in my post about the phone boxes you could find Battleship Grey and Brunswick Green, in another post a fabric and colour is called the Lavenham Blue. Well, the Strathmore family’s colour is called Strathmore Blue which was the Queen Mother’s favourite colour. Not to confuse it with the equally popular and similar shade of Duck Egg or Sea-spray Blue.

Balmoral Castle

When we hear the name Balmoral, many of us associate it with Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth II driving her Land Rover on the estate or walking her corgies wearing a headscarf. The estate was acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1848, 5 years after their first visit to Scotland when they fell in love with the Scottish countryside. They bulit a new building on the estate (the castle today) and the old building was later demolished. Prince Albert influenced the design which was Scots Baronial.

Unlike the Glamis Castle, Balmoral did not have a wow factor for me. The castle itself is beautiful, but quite small. I think, what frustrated me was the fact that only the ballroom was open for the public, which is understandable considering the Queen still uses the castle from August until autumn. Yet I believe, the tour of the grounds could have been constructed in a more interactive way rather than just having an audio-tour where you have to hold a phone like thing to your ear all time. This made taking photographs difficult carrying round this extra equipment. I have seen the English doing a great job in visualising or making an excellent creative and interactive exhibition and it would be great if Balmoral could come up with something similar. Anyway, the estate has everything that you would find on an estate: vegetable garden, conservatory, flower garden, garden cottage, deer larder, park, riverside, pet cemetery. Without a doubt my frustration was compensated by the quirky details of the castle.

Balmoral is said to have one ghost, the ghost of Queen Victoria’s servant and friend, John Brown. He is said to walk down the corridors always wearing his kilt. Queen Elizabeth II said, she saw the ghost of John Brown at Balmoral and could feel his presence.

Dunrobin Castle

The Dunrobin Castle is beautiful and could easily fit into a fairytale with its pepper pot turrets. When I first saw it it reminded me of the Disney Castle and I bet, you do the same. The castle has belonged to the Earls of Sutherland for centuries. The Castle was re-built in Scots Baronial style after 1850. With its 189 rooms, the Dunrobin castle is the biggest castle in Northern Scotland – how they did not get lost in it, I have no idea…. The view from the rooms overlooking the North Sea is fascinating both in sunshine and I guess in a storm as well. I have visited many English castles and stately homes and what I found interesting walking through the rooms at Dunrobin is that they did not seem to be overly wealthy. I am sure the Earls of Sutherland were very wealthy, yet somehow it appeared in a very different way than you would normally find in England.

Dunrobin Castle too has its own ghost. The Earl of Sutherland locked up a young woman of a rival clan in the upper floor and he wanted to marry her. The woman wanted to escape through the window by tying sheets together but unfortunately, she fell off and died. Her crying is said to be heard coming from the seamstress room.

~

Scotland has some amazing castles which during our visit we were very lucky to visit in fantastic weather. Matching the beautiful Castles with the most amazing scenery touring around Scotland has ensured that we shall return. If a countries beauty and assets inspires you, Scotland is a must.

This post is a little bit different than the others. The reason being, that I could not resist sharing this week’s observations. However, let me emphasize these observations and conclusions are not representative and I only wanted to represent this week through a Hungarian perspective.

I think, the English feel the same about snow, just like us: it is great to have it at Christmas, but other than that rather not! We know the English love talking about the weather, especially about rain. The snow is different. The snow is a sensation.

Although the climate has changed a lot since my childhood and winters are milder with less snow (not this year though), a Hungarian, Central European, German, French or Scandinavian person would certainly not panic if the weather forecast said snow is to be expected. We are all used to change to winter tyres if the temperature is constantly below 7C, we may as well buy snow chains, we put on big coats, scarves, gloves, hats and put the heating on at home. Building caretakers prepare their snow shovels, salt and sand, road maintenance companies start the engines of winter service vehicles.

The English do it in a different way!

I have been watching the English for days and sharpening my ears. If I remember well, the weather forecast mentioned snow and cold weather to be expected on Sunday for the first time this year. I said, I believe it if I see it because during my almost 2.5 years I have been in the UK snow was forecasted a few times, but it never snowed except on Sunday 10th December 2017, when my Partner woke me up at 8 in the morning and suggested me looking out of the window. I was literally jumping of pure excitement and immediately we got in to the car and went on a snow-watching tour, to make some photos of this rare, but beautiful phenomenon in this country. All in all, I was not worried about the snow and was rather skeptical, so I did not really take any notice of the prospect of having big snow in Berkshire.

Tuesday

My English colleagues were watching the weather all day in the office and I tell you, a meteorologist could not have done a better job. They were waiting for the big snow to reach us and were all excited when the first news appeared on TV saying Kent was covered in snow already.

I’ve git it! I’ve seen it!

“I’ve got it! I’ve seen it”, said one of my managers, suddenly and announced proudly the fact he has seen the first snowflake and it started to snow within a few minutes. As the past few days were really cold, there was a good chance the snow could settle and indeed it did on the top of the cars. Two colleagues of mine were standing in front of the window and were shaking their heads and thinking whether they should go home or not. It was difficult to hold back my laugh. Although the traffic can be a nightmare in this country without snow, or extreme weather conditions, I would not think about leaving the office because of few snowflakes. They stayed in the end as it was snowing for a couple of minutes then the sun was shining and this changed in every 5 minutes. My manager started to sing a Eurythmics song with a variation of the words:

Here comes the snow again…

Wednesday

By Wednesday Scotland, the North West, Yorkshire, East Anglia and Kent struggled because of the snow. Of course, my manager sent out an email to all of us the day before, saying, not to take any risks, if weather conditions do not allow to get on the roads, stay at home – here we go again with the importance of Health and Safety, the English are so keen on. At the same time, it IS the right approach, not like in Hungary when people get on the roads even if there is sleet because they are worried to lose their jobs. As for the English, I hope it is clear I am saying this with a pinch of salt, as there is no extreme weather to talk about.

Yet.

Do you remember when we hoped lessons would be cancelled and teachers allow us going to the school grounds to play snowball? My English colleagues were all hoping for some similar magic to happen and it made me smile actually, what a sensation snow here means. Alright, alright… I can understand that the Gulf-stream cools this country in the summer and warms it up in the winter. Therefore, I can understand this country is not really prepared for snow and extremely cold weather (however, I would guess in Scotland, Wales and North they are). Cars do not have winter tyres, roads are not cleared from snow, public transportation collapses and schools are closed even in areas with less snow. Therefore, my colleagues found every way and excuse to go home to avoid the big snow. At the same time, something interesting and incredible happened: the snow brought out the child in them. Suddenly they became creative and I was amazed. One of them edited a photo of a snowy motorway by adding an Imperial Walker (AT-AT) from Star Wars to it whilst driving (that’s all about Health & Safety!), another one made a video and a third one broadcast his situation by sending us photos of his car which was covered in 10cm snow making him unable to get on the road. (The snow could have been swept from the car, that is all that would have been needed…) Anyway, this case reminded me, which I have recently read about, the productivity of the UK, namely declining in the last few years… As far as we are concerned, we were sitting in the office waiting for the snow to arrive to Berkshire. But it did not. Suddenly the words of my colleague hit my ears:

Berkshire is too posh for snow. The Queen won’t allow snow in Berkshire.

I had to smile, I was amazed how creative the English became because of the snow. By Wednesday evening many areas struggled because of the snow and Berkshire had an amber warning, therefore the General Manager sent out an email before end of business allowing us to work from home.

Thursday

The big snow arrived to Berkshire as well: 2-3cm – the Queen must have allowed snow in the end… I worked from home as nobody bothered going to the office. My colleagues in the field, however, had a cracking performance and flew like rockets. (I do appreciate there were regions where snow did cause massive disturbance. Here in the South it was not too bad. The point I am trying to make is how the English I work with reacted to snow.)

Although this is my third winter in this country only and I am sure it can be really cold in winter, I often wondered why big brands are pushing people to buy fur coats (albeit false fur) and hats, thick jumpers as they are almost unnecessary (unless you live in the North), however, now it is really handy to have them. The stores probably make extra revenues during these days. I also often wonder how many sleighs/sledges are sold in the UK, considering the average British family can not afford to go skiing on the continent and having snow in Britain once in a blue moon. Now the sleighs/sledges are used, hats, scarves, fur coats are used. However, even in this cold I saw schoolgirls wearing skirts, but no tights and some women were wearing ballerinas without socks … (ouch…!)

On this note…

I looked up the coldest winters of the UK in the history:

• 1739/40 It snowed for 39 days in London. The Great Frost was tough in Ireland where 38% of the population died in the famine. Interestingly it is not known what the reason for this frost was.
  1947. from 22 January until 19th March it snowed every day in some areas. The snow reached 150cm.
• 1962/63 England was covered in snow for 3 months. In Wales farmers could not get to their livestock because of the snow and the majority of the livestock died. The average temperature was -2C, in some places the coldest measured temperature reached -19C.
• The English would not be English if they did not make note of what sporting games were cancelled or postponed but they do. 🙂

~

I think, the snow makes the English creative, it does not matter in what form they chose: whether it is making videos, singing, photo editing or sharing deep thoughts. And of course they help those who get stuck in the extreme weather (Handing out food and drink and looking after their neighbours etc). As for me I like snow and it always cheers me up.

How do you react to snow?
(No, I do not accept swearing.) 🙂