Tag: Diamond Jubilee

Village life!

An insight into the humour of Neil Kelly.

The vast majority of the readers of Learning from Dogs will not have heard of Neil Kelly.  That is unless you have a really keen eye, (and a youthful memory!), and recall the two photographs I published a few days back in recognition of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Neil lives in the small Devon village of Littlehempston just a few miles from where I used to live in Devon in a previous life!  I can’t recall how long I have known Neil but it’s a few years now.  But one thing I can recall very clearly is Neil’s sharp sense of seeing the world and his canny sense of humour.

Thus it is with very great pleasure that I reproduce a selection of Neil’s cartoons.  Enjoy!

That Diamond Jubilee

A further reflection on what has clearly been a wonderful occasion.

Last Sunday, I published a piece about The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  Today, I wanted to add a couple of perspectives to this glorious and historic event.

The grand perspective

As seen by someone watching the 1,000 boats on the River Thames to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Then in stark contrast …

The local perspective

… as seen by the camera’s eye in the little village of Littlehempston, South Devon with many of the population of some 200 persons in front of Littlehempston Church.

Picture by Neil Kelly, standing to the right of John, see footnote.

Footnote: Not only is Littlehempston just a few miles from the village of Harberton where I used to live, before my new life with Jean here in Arizona, but both my sister and brother-in-law are in this photo; my sister, Corinne, is the first woman in from the right in the front row, and my brother-in-law, John, is standing just behind her (wearing the white hat).

Update:

Neil sent me a further picture below of the village beacon alight for the Jubilee.

Littlehempston’s Jubilee Beacon

 

Congratulations, Ma’am.

A small tribute from two of Her Majesty’s subjects!

Best wishes for many years ahead as our Queen!

Jean and I managed to watch the hour-long tribute by Prince Charles to his mother’s wonderful Diamond Jubilee week-end.

Here’s a small extract of that programme that appeared on ITN News.

Then thanks to Martin Lack’s latest Post, I discovered that You Tube have the full programme as well.  Here it is – do watch it if you can, it is a lovely, personal and intimate reflection by Prince Charles.

At the end of the programme, both Jean and I felt very nostalgic about the long reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  However much we appreciate the life that we have here in Payson, Arizona, these two old Londoners still feel proud to be British.

There’s a great website here full of all the details of this very special time for Britain.

Finally, the extreme dry conditions of our forest mean that lighting a Jubilee Beacon here at home is out of the question.  The following is our alternative:

Beltane Fire Ritual, Edinburgh, Scotland

It’s what Jean and I do most Sunday evenings anyway!