Mothers and Grandmothers.....

    Last week I put both feet in it, regarding my lovely Barcelona family. I was thinking of going out for a few days, and hoping to help with my little Grandson, when Son's Partner had to fly off to Warsaw because her very elderly Grandmother was poorly and not likely to live much longer. To cut a long and complicated story short, I sent a loving message of condolences to both my Son's Partner and her Mother before the beloved Grandma had actually died. This was not my fault, because someone else had anticipated the event, but nevertheless, I did actually send the messages before checking. Oh dear! Many heartfelt moments later I was sending apologies and feeling dreadful. It's lucky for me that my family are so understanding, so that when the dear Grandmother did pass away, a couple of days later, I was able to send a very sincere message without feeling a complete fool. Once again, a Mother's place was in the wrong - I should expect it by now!
    And I'm not off to BCN in the immediate future because it's Big Grandson's 14th Birthday on 30th, and his Half Term too, so I imagine I will be on duty here for the holidays.
   Well, it's  the Royal Wedding today, and a lovely day for it. I'm not watching it at the mo, writing this instead, but I'm listening to the radio, so I guess I'm semi-involved. When you think of it, Ms Markle is just about the furthest she could be from the traditional royal bride: she's divorced for a start, and 'mixed race' as it is politely put, she is older than Harry by a year or two and she has been a star of the small screen (in old-fashioned terms, a show-girl). If only she was Jewish as well, we would have the full set! But it just shows how far our own Royal Family, and our society as a whole, have come in adapting to real, modern life. I'm immensely cheered by the fact that it shows an overall tolerance which was certainly not the case in previous years.
      Having watched the ceremony - irresistible really - I'm even more impressed with the way their two cultures have been intertwined for the occasion. I could have done without the extra-long white train on the white dress, but otherwise the new Duchess looked just lovely. I was also impressed with her Mother - when you think that this lady had flown across the Atlantic on her own, met the Queen of England for tea yesterday, and is now sitting watching her daughter marry a Prince in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, it could all have been overwhelming, but she is somehow both modest and dignified, beautifully dressed in an understated way and thoroughly calm in the situation. I'm not one for religious ceremonies, but the Evangelical Bishop from America was a regular blast of fresh air, and the Gospel Choir singing 'Stand by Me' was genius. A final thought from me: Blimey, Meghan Markle, a divorced, mixed race American television actress is now a Duchess and has the Queen of England as her Grandmother-in-Law! It's the stuff of fairy tales.
      My favourite bit is the celebrity watching (the Beckhams and George Clooney in particular), and I intend to do a bit more of that before I switch off and watch the Cup Final. I'll be cheering for Chelsea I think, only because it's better to have a team to cheer for, and I'm not a great fan of  'the Chosen One'. If Man U don't win he will be so grumpy...I wonder what his Mother is like?

Shakin' all Over...

      I've got one of  those days when I'm extremely shaky and can't seem to do anything about it. Luckily typing and driving aren't impaired by this, and I'm not sure why it should be  so bad today!
The only possible cause I think is the news I got yesterday that my lovely maisonette in Hove  is on the market again! After a scant three years!  And I lived in it and loved it for 13 years. I feel both sad and angry about it, though why it should rankle ((great word) I'm not sure. It does though, because I believed that the lady who bought it from me loved it too - though she did proceed to change just about everything so perhaps that was a clue!  She put in three new bathrooms, a new fitted kitchen, and painted the whole place white - so most of the character it had was promptly diluted. Apparently she has kept my fabulous chandeliers, which is some comfort, though that may be because she can't reach them. Ah well, I know I'm planning to leave here in search of somewhere that feels more like home, so perhaps she is doing the same. We are all different after all..
      Watch out Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, they have fixed their wedding date for 19th May, and I can only warn them that this may not be an auspicious day. According to folk lore, marrying in May is not advisable, and I can vouch for that: my first (!) marriage was on Friday 19th May 1961, and what a disaster that was. We were married at Caxton Hall in London, which was very smart, and I wore a pink silk suit and a black (designer) hat. The week before, my Sister's fiance had been killed in a horrible car accident (although she was amazingly unhurt) so there was already a pall literally hanging over the event. I have to say it went from bad to worse after that and lasted a mere 15 months, which was more than enough for me. And I recoiled from marriage so completely afterwards that I didn't contemplate doing it again until 1975!  Still, that's only my experience and it was all a long time ago - I'm sure the young Royals will be fine, and I wish them every happiness.