Missing a royal invitation...and other stuff...
Ugh...Monday morning...went out to the car...had to scrape frost off the windshield of the car...on the 24th day of April. Guess we might as well look forward to snow flurries on July 4th...
Meanwhile...
I asked The Other Half Monday night if we had received our invitation to the coronation of King Charles III. She said that we had not received our invitation...and suggested that it probably has been lost in the mail.
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to cover presidents...presidential wannabes...senators (both the U.S. and Illinois state varieties)...representatives (ditto for the U.S. and Illinois state varieties)...various celebrities (folks who actually were celebrities and some who just thought they were)...and other “important” travelers on the Journey Through Life.
As I may have noted in the past, covering U.S. presidents and folks who want to be U.S. presidents generally involves waiting. Sometimes lots of waiting... And it doesn’t help that candidates often are notoriously late.
Back in the day, I had the opportunity to do some waiting for a presidential candidate...and his spouse...who made a campaign visit to Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
I dutifully arrived way, way early at the student center on the SIU campus, where the campaign event took place. The event, if I remember correctly (and there is no guarantee about that) was in the ballrooms in the student center).
I joined some other media representatives who had staked out a place on a platform which had been set aside in the student center for members of the Fourth Estate. And I waited. And waited. And waited...
At about the time the candidate was set to make his appearance in the ballrooms, somebody came up from behind and nudged a fellow media representative and me. The interloper confidently informed us that he was from what we’ll just call a major television network. He let us know that we would have to move so this particular network’s representatives could occupy the space which we had occupied for quite some time.
No thank you, we said. We were staying put.
Well, our response apparently did not sit very well with the representative of the major television network, who went and tattled on us. Moments later, a representative of the presidential’s candidate’s campaign joined us on the platform...and suggested that we would indeed be leaving.
At this point, the situation could have been one of those unfortunate events which leave a bitter taste in one’s mouth.
This little story actually had a happy ending. The two of us were moved to a new location, which, as it would turn out, left us about an arm’s length or two away from both the candidate and his spouse.
I’m guessing that such a thing would not happen if yours truly were fortunate to have received an invitation to the coronation of the new king of the United Kingdom, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6. I am going to assume that the invitation got lost in the mail.
You would probably guess that I have never been to the coronation of a king, or queen, of the United Kingdom. You would be right. I have, however, been to the crowning of the queens of the Cobden Peach Festival and the Union County Fair.
Sadly, the coronation is scheduled on May 6. That’s the same day as the Kentucky Derby. Since we didn’t get our invitation to the big “to do” in London, I’ll just stay home and watch the Derby. Oh, by the way, I did get to the Kentucky Derby...long...long ago...
Meanwhile...
...about the birds and other critters you see this week...the images were captured by yours truly during various travels on the Journey Through Life during the past week or so...