Ireland day 0356. Monday 19 September 2022- Unusual

Today’s summary	Watched the royal funeral then went for a quick walk round the demesne and to the shops to get some dinner. An unusual and somewhat moving day
Today’s weather	Dry and bright all day. Some sun in the evening. No wind. About 17C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The green line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Demesne and town

Commentary

It’s not every day that a state funeral happens in the UK – the last one was Winston Churchill’s in 1965, and I can barely remember it. So the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth today was a bit of a unique occasion – partly because of the intrinsic rarity of these occasions, and partly because of the symbolism it represents to the UK – the end of the “new” Elizabethan era.

As such, no matter what we might all think about the institution of monarchy, Val and I like several million others around the world put our plans on hold for the day and watched the funeral as it was beamed from London and Windsor.

Thousands of learned and wise commentators will doubtless analyse and opine about today’s ceremony for decades to come. I don’t think that there is any novel angle that I could offer than others won’t be able to express better than me, so I’m not going to start pontificating here. Anyway I think it was a peculiarly British event, probably one that few if any other countries could carry off with such aplomb. I was surprised how moving I found it. Very thought provoking, too, about exactly what being British in the 21st century actually means.

Once HRH was laid to rest, we brought ourselves back to earth with a bump and spent a happy hour or two filing away some of the masses of paperwork which we had accumulated over the past few months and which we had been diligently filing in neat heaps all over the living room floor. I have to say it was a massive relief to get it all sorted out and put away. One of my very least favourite jobs.

At that point, and with Vera Lynn ringing in our ears, we ventured out for the first time today, to enjoy the evening cool in the castle demesne, just as it was beginning to get dark. By the time we’d completed the circuit and found ourselves on the Broadmeadow shore, the sun was well on the way to setting and an unusual calm had descended over the scene. Although we had to press on to the shops to get something for dinner, the serenity of the lagoon lingered in our minds as we made our way back from the town and up to the flat. I’ll admit that alongside the pizza we did raise a glass to the new king – and to whatever the future might hold for the country over which he must now exercise his reign.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The long lasting echiums are just managing to eke out the flowering season for a few days longer in the wildflower borders, which have been a delight right since the spring	You can get some idea of the size of the Malahide castle demesne from this view over the cricket pitches, which occupy just a small fraction of the total site

A good example of the relatively uncommon hop hornbeam tree, Ostrya virginiana. It’s not native to the British Isles; rather it comes from eastern North America. The only other example I have seen is in the botanic gardens at Kew, London	The tree fern drive in the demesne. Several fine specimens of Dicksonia antarctica line the avenue and seem to be very well looked after – the tender growing centre of the plant is wrapped in wool during the winter to prevent frost damage. Curiously, the trunk is actually a mass of roots all knotted together

Ivy, about to burst into early-Autumn bloom	Evening commuter train leaving Malahide and heading over the Broadmeadow causeway up the coast to Drogheda

Magnificent skyscapes over the castle this evening