I got the Pre-Royal Wedding Day Blues.

.....and there's still over two weeks to go.

I've had enough! Every flaming day on all the news channels there just has to be something about the Royal couple - well, the female half has to wait until the 'big day' before she gets her title.

When the last similar hoo-ha occurred, 30 years ago, on the day when Charles and Diana tied their ill-fated knot I was busying myself taking a load of 'candid' self-photos, while the royalist chap in the flat above me (camp as a row of tents and a true 'queen' in his own right) blasted out the TV commentary of the ceremony through his open windows. I could hear it through my own windows, also thrown open being a hottish day, which had resulted in my wearing very little anyway - and might have given me the idea to maximise the opportunity.

This was, of course, many years before digital cameras, and though I did have a Polaroid camera, it didn't have a self-timer, which my 'normal' camera did. There was also the problem of having the photos developed and printed - and I'd have waited some time before finding someone who would do it and plucking up the courage to send off the film. Anyway, I still have all the photos taken on that day - and this is one of them, suitably cropped for reasons of discretion and, erm, decency. But at least you might have some idea what I looked like before some of you were even just twinkles in your fathers' eyes.
As long as we still have our present Queen I'm not exactly a rabid republican but I do look forward to when Charles succeeds who, together with his own Queen (not-just-a-pretty-face) Camilla, he should duly manage to puncture the Royalist cause and give rise to some consternation (with a bit of luck) at the survival of this quaint but costly and atrophied institution.
I'm amazed at how many British people want the inheritance to pass over Charles and for William to become our next monarch. Their knowledge of history is abysmal. Under our hereditary monarchy we get what comes next, saving a revolution (the last such one being in 1688 when the Catholic James II was unceremoniously given the boot - though even then he had still been king for the previous three years ) . If you don't like the next in line, too bad. It's just tough-titty!
Of course Charles (or King George VII, as I reckon he'll want to be known) can always abdicate, but there's hardly a strong reason why he should do so. He might have some crackpot ideas but he'll hardly be the first to have such!


Well, for the next fortnight or more I'll just have to keep on switching channels, though it's getting increasingly difficult to escape this morbid fascination - "They were seen together holding hands" (oh, shock, horror!) "They are clearly a young couple very much in love." (Well, who would have thought it!) I shouldn't be at all surprised if they now start telling us the timings of Kate's periods.
Meantime I'll have to think of something to do on the 29th's 'yawn-athon' when there's going to be saturation coverage on both TV and radio. Pity I no longer have the looks or the body to self-snap myself again. Still, dare say I can always find something (or someone?) on the Internet to amuse myself with.