At the end of the day it was her habit to go over what had happened. She did not keep a diary but she found by going over everything it was more likely that she could remember things. And she could remember where they had been.
After all lots of things were happening.
She had spent the previous night in the sleeping compartment of a luxury train. She had not expected to do this. They had diverted from the official plan. They had been scheduled to stay for two days on a large farm where they could relax and be more or less alone. But it was explained that they were way behind schedule and they had to make up two or more days.
So she and her husband were kept on the train.
The carriage was special and had two bathrooms. So both she and her husband were able to have separate bathrooms. They were at either end of the carriage. This suited her fine. Their bedroom and sitting room was in the middle of the carriage. It had windows that could be made completely private. If required it could could be completely blacked out to simulate darkness. It was truly a luxury carriage and had all the facilities. She could lock the doors from inside. She felt quite safe. This was important to her.
The train had been diverted to a country station and had stopped for them to spend the night in a rural area. She and her husband had been left alone. More or less to rely on their own resources. This suited them fine. Her husband was tired and after a light supper had gone to bed early. She stayed up doing a little reading and writing letters home to her family.
She was kept fully in touch by the people at home so she never felt she was neglecting her family. But she tried to do as much as she could and kept up a daily correspondence to everyone.
Early next morning she had been woken up by hearing schoolchildren singing school songs in the distance. She could not see them but they sounded nice even though they were a little distance away.
They were brought their breakfast from the nearest railway station. Her husband was not fussy about food and enjoyed these unexpected treats. She herself was slightly wary as she was very careful about what she ate and tried to keep healthy at all times. Still she was able to pick and chose and had a satisfactory breakfast.
They were ready to leave by 10AM.
The train would be sent on and would pick them up later in the afternoon.
They were transferred to an open car and driven through the local town. Even out in these rural areas there were large crowds. The car went quite slowly and the crowds milled quite close to the road. She waved to the crowd.
When the car left the town it speeded up and the hood was put up. They had some distance to go before they arrived at the next town. This town was larger than what they had left and there were several things that were scheduled.
They had to alight from the car at the main Railway Station and attend an official reception. There were several speeches from local dignitaries. She had been made aware of the schedule before they left for the morning. One speech went on for longer than it should have. She knew this because she always took note of the times allocated for speeches. She looked into the faces of those attending. She heard people talking but she didn't really pay attention. Not that she meant to be rude. She had heard it all before. She was not scheduled to speak today and no speech had been prepared for her.
She and her husband got back in the car and they were driven through the streets of the town. There were large crowds and they cheered as they went past. Finally went through some gates saying Showgrounds and they ended up in a cricket ground. She could see the pitch laid out in the middle of the ground. She found this somehow comforting. She wondered how often they played here and when they were playing next.
There were crowds of schoolchildren ringing the cricket ground. The car took them on a circuit of the ground just inside the fence. The children waved and her husband waved back. She used her official wave that her father had taught her.
For the schoolchildren it was over very quickly.
But all the children were happy. It was a day out.
And they were given a medallion that said they had attended a meeting with the Queen.
I know cause I was there.
But she herself was not aware of this. So she could not commit it to memory later that night.
Neville Gibb
October 2021
After all lots of things were happening.
She had spent the previous night in the sleeping compartment of a luxury train. She had not expected to do this. They had diverted from the official plan. They had been scheduled to stay for two days on a large farm where they could relax and be more or less alone. But it was explained that they were way behind schedule and they had to make up two or more days.
So she and her husband were kept on the train.
The carriage was special and had two bathrooms. So both she and her husband were able to have separate bathrooms. They were at either end of the carriage. This suited her fine. Their bedroom and sitting room was in the middle of the carriage. It had windows that could be made completely private. If required it could could be completely blacked out to simulate darkness. It was truly a luxury carriage and had all the facilities. She could lock the doors from inside. She felt quite safe. This was important to her.
The train had been diverted to a country station and had stopped for them to spend the night in a rural area. She and her husband had been left alone. More or less to rely on their own resources. This suited them fine. Her husband was tired and after a light supper had gone to bed early. She stayed up doing a little reading and writing letters home to her family.
She was kept fully in touch by the people at home so she never felt she was neglecting her family. But she tried to do as much as she could and kept up a daily correspondence to everyone.
Early next morning she had been woken up by hearing schoolchildren singing school songs in the distance. She could not see them but they sounded nice even though they were a little distance away.
They were brought their breakfast from the nearest railway station. Her husband was not fussy about food and enjoyed these unexpected treats. She herself was slightly wary as she was very careful about what she ate and tried to keep healthy at all times. Still she was able to pick and chose and had a satisfactory breakfast.
They were ready to leave by 10AM.
The train would be sent on and would pick them up later in the afternoon.
They were transferred to an open car and driven through the local town. Even out in these rural areas there were large crowds. The car went quite slowly and the crowds milled quite close to the road. She waved to the crowd.
When the car left the town it speeded up and the hood was put up. They had some distance to go before they arrived at the next town. This town was larger than what they had left and there were several things that were scheduled.
They had to alight from the car at the main Railway Station and attend an official reception. There were several speeches from local dignitaries. She had been made aware of the schedule before they left for the morning. One speech went on for longer than it should have. She knew this because she always took note of the times allocated for speeches. She looked into the faces of those attending. She heard people talking but she didn't really pay attention. Not that she meant to be rude. She had heard it all before. She was not scheduled to speak today and no speech had been prepared for her.
She and her husband got back in the car and they were driven through the streets of the town. There were large crowds and they cheered as they went past. Finally went through some gates saying Showgrounds and they ended up in a cricket ground. She could see the pitch laid out in the middle of the ground. She found this somehow comforting. She wondered how often they played here and when they were playing next.
There were crowds of schoolchildren ringing the cricket ground. The car took them on a circuit of the ground just inside the fence. The children waved and her husband waved back. She used her official wave that her father had taught her.
For the schoolchildren it was over very quickly.
But all the children were happy. It was a day out.
And they were given a medallion that said they had attended a meeting with the Queen.
I know cause I was there.
But she herself was not aware of this. So she could not commit it to memory later that night.
Neville Gibb
October 2021
RSS Feed
