Dear Indyvidual

What are you complaining about!

You can't even spell "individual".

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Fond memories of a passing Queen !

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What a beautiful day it was as I stood on the hill on the outskirts of Oakey with my classmates overlooking the Toowoomba road as it wound down towards the Warrego Highway as far as the eye could see. There was not a single cloud in the bright blue sky and still a little freshness in the early morning air, but we all knew it was going to be a hot sunny day as usual.

We had been instructed to wear a hat as we were going to have to stand in the hot sun on the side of the road for several hours. We did as we were told but the sun didn’t bother us. We were used to it. We were all bush kids.

There we stood, stretched out on the right-hand side of the road looking down towards Toowoomba. She was due to come from that direction. There was no sign of life anywhere, no movement, no sound.

We were all from the same class at primary school and had been brought 54 km by bus to welcome the Queen on her first visit to Australia. It was 1954 and this was the first visit a British monarch had ever made to Australia since it had become part of the British Empire.

I had no idea where Queen Elizabeth II was headed when she finally drove past us as we formed a guard of honour on the outskirts of Oakey. I caught a brief glimpse of her as the royal vehicle flashed by. It continued on its journey without slowing down and I am not sure if she actually noticed us waving our flags. It didn’t worry us. We were subjugated by the charm of our day in the country and the sense of freedom it brought, just standing on the hillside enjoying the magnificent view, instead of having to go to school.

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Some years later, I was invited together with Fr. Keith Rayner to lunch at Jimbour House by the Russell family following celebration of the Holy Communion service in the little chapel on the property. I was an altar boy in those days and had adopted Fr. Keith as my spiritual father in compensation for the lack of an earthly one. How surprised I was to notice the photograph of Queen Elizabeth II standing beside the Russells, placed discreetly on the mantlepiece in the main lounge where an inquisitive observer could not fail to see it.

My mind immediately flashed back to the guard of honour my schoolmates and I had formed for her Gracious Majesty on the outskirts of Oakey a few years earlier. At last, I discovered where she had been heading on that beautiful sunny day in such apparent haste.

That was the first time our paths crossed. The second time must have been more than 30 years later.

I was in a London cab near Trafalgar Square, headed for a meeting in the City when I suddenly saw the Queen’s Bentley state limousine pass by. This time she was clearly visible through the high glass window, sitting at the rear of the vehicle behind the chauffeur in deep conversation with one of her old cronies who was sitting beside her.

She was too immersed in her conversation to turn her head and glance out the window. Once again, more than 30 years later, she still didn’t see me. Maybe, if I had been waving a flag … can’t remember where I put it.

Once again, I had no idea where she was going.

Just passing by, I guess.

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Another Gross Green to make make trashy remarks was Mehreen Faruqi, who described Her Majesty as, "... the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonial peoples".

Dear ttbn,

What is wrong with Mehreen Faruqi's comments? It sounds like an accurate description of the British Empire.

Dear Banjo

Where you utter "I had no idea where Queen Elizabeth II was headed when she finally drove past us"

You're lucky the Queen didn't Moon youse!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooning