Jubilee Holidays

Teachers and hospitality staff are a bit grumpy. All this talk of long weekends and extra bank holidays makes them feel cheated. Hospitality staff are expected to work harder than ever but have their shifts cancelled at the last minute as people decide to party in their own gardens instead. For teachers these ‘extra days off’ have occurred in report writing half term, which for most is a week of squeezing in writing (which always takes longer than you think it will) with dentist appointments, MOTs and catching up with friends who don’t understand that to effectively cope with 30 children at once, you need to be in bed by 9pm.

This Jubilee doesn’t seem to be the joyful event of previous celebrations. Maybe it’s because I’ve got old and grumpy or that people can remember the last one. It seems to have stirred up anti-royalist feeling. Prince Andrew has been sent to a basement to look after Covid while a song called ‘Prince Andrew is a sweaty nonce’ hits the charts. The Queen only goes to the things she fancies (who can blame her?), skipping church, so the press can focus on Harry and Will not sitting together. The Prime Minister’s wife is so reluctant to be seen with him in public that she has especially designed hats. The BBC were surprised that Boris was publicly booed (they must have missed the darts). 

I feel a little distanced from it all. I’m not a report writing teacher, I’m not into crowds or joining in with Street Parties. I can’t be an ‘abolish the royals’ grump because I like a bit of pomp and circumstance and it’s churlish to not want to celebrate someone doing the same job for 70 years, especially when that person is a smiley old lady with nice hats. 

Maybe it’s because I have been on holiday.

I can recommend a short break in Norfolk. We stayed in the gatehouse at Holkham Hall, roaming the park as though we owned it after hours, attending the private beacon lighting and being served drinks by Lord Leicester. Surrounded by nothing but trees, moles, rabbits, deer and pheasants I slept like I haven’t in years.  

I wrote ‘A very pleasant stay’ in the visitors book but my handwriting is so bad I think someone will think I’m wittier then I am because it looked like ‘pheasant’. 

The trouble with pleasant stays is that reality can feel a bit odd and when reality is bunting, fireworks and concerts it’s even odder.