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PamNY
07-06-2010, 02:50 PM
Queen Elizabeth visited the World Trade Center site today, and I had planned to take my bulldog down in his Radio Flyer (festooned with Union Jacks if I could find any). The extreme heat made that plan unrealistic for an 8-year-old bulldog.

Instead, I watched the queen's arrival from my window with binoculars. She walked into the site from one of the regular entrances, looking quite regal even in the heat.

ny biker
07-06-2010, 03:06 PM
My cousin is one of the foremen working on that site. I wonder if he got to meet her.

Tri Girl
07-06-2010, 03:11 PM
Cool!:cool:

PamNY
07-06-2010, 03:12 PM
I hope he survived today okay. I guess in that line of work you get used to weather extremes, but I thought about those workers while I was watching for the queen to arrive.

Hey, tell him to watch for me. I go right by the site on my usual bike ride. Blue Trek, mirror on eyeglasses, and I stop at the red light.

ny biker
07-06-2010, 03:17 PM
I hope he survived today okay. I guess in that line of work you get used to weather extremes, but I thought about those guys workers while I was watching for the queen to arrive.

Hey, tell him to watch for me. I go right by the site on my usual bike ride. Blue Trek, mirror on eyeglasses, and I stop at the red light.

He used to be a crane operator. Stayed up in the cab all day every day without a break, unless there was a thunderstorm in the area in which case he got the heck outta there. I admit, I would not like a job like that.

BTW, years ago I knew a guy who was a theater manager in London's West End. One night when there were no royals in attendance he let us use their seats, and before the play and during intermission we were allowed to use the private lounge known as "the royal retiring room." Long story short, I used the queen's loo during intermission. :D

shootingstar
07-06-2010, 03:43 PM
Compared to the other royal family members, the Queen really carries herself and her life as the "Queen". (Even though she might have not been a great mother-in-law to Princess Diana. But that's all under the bridge.)

Her characteristic style is "old", but there is something timeless in being dignified.

Before Canada had its own national anthem, "O Canada" in 1967 (or maybe it was a few yrs. before), I sang along with my classmates at school every morning to her portrait/print 'God Save the Queen'. That used to be Canada's anthem even though we were already an independent country since 1867.

I briefly caught a glimpse of one Canadian tv news clip since she was touring Canada just before the U.S. this year, where she was walking up and down over 10 concrete steps with an entourage, receiving flowers outdoors and chatting with folks ...Man, if I was her at 83+ yrs. old, I would be afraid of tripping over the steps.

Don't know why on earth, protocol folks made an elderly woman like her walk up and down a staircase like that while also talking to several people individually along the way! But good for her.

PamNY
07-06-2010, 04:28 PM
Shootingstar, she did not look the least bit shaky, at least as far as I could tell from a distance. I thought they'd drive her vehicle into the site, but they didn't. Maybe she is active and outdoorsy and that benefits her in official duties.

Her motorcade did include an ambulance. Also, bikes weren't cleared from her motorcade route as they were recently when the American president was here.

Trek420
07-06-2010, 04:31 PM
Shootingstar, Pam and all,

She may be 83'ish but isn't she an excellent rider? I bet she's pretty fit for a dame her age and might even still ride her own horses :cool:

G*d save the queen! :D :)