The Queen Passes

It’s been an odd few days. As I am sure the whole world knows by now, The Queen passed away late last week. It is sad news. Queen Elizabeth has been the only constant in terms of world leadership in my lifetime. The same goes for the vast majority of people. 70 years as Queen is truly incredible, regardless of where you stand on the monarchy.

I am no monarchist but nor am I anti-monarchy. There are arguments for how the monarchy could be improved I am sure, but there is nothing anyone can say to convince me that having an elected president is any better. Far from it if present day experiences mean anything.

The best argument I ever heard on the subject however is pro-monarchy. It deals with the argument people use when talking about how wrong it is for someone’s son or daughter to inherit so much (especially the crown). As parents don’t we all want our children’s future to be better than our own? Richer, even easier perhaps?

Whether dirt-poor or the richest people in the world, it’s what we all strive for. Right? In recent generations our parent and grandparents became property owners and we all want to inherit that. And pass it on to our own offspring. We also look for any way to avoid any inheritance taxes. That is no different from royal lineage. Yes, there is far more money at stake but with that comes a lot more responsibility. It is doubtful that any royal critic would want such responsibility, let alone be able to deal with it.

I would definitely like to hear from anyone who has a good argument for scrapping the monarchy. But be prepared to back it up with what you would replace it with. Then again, I may be arguing that case myself in the near future. I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Prince Charles – now King Charles (hard to get used to that). But let’s see…

First Communion

This Sunday my son took his first communion in church. The place was packed. Not for him of course. There was a whole year from the local school associated with the church plus several others like Dani. Naturally all of their families were in attendance.

It was not only myself and Dani’s mum there for him. Dani’s Spanish grandmother is here visiting and she timed her trip to coincide with his first communion. Suffice to say we were all proud of him.

Now, similar to above with the ‘royalty question’; I am not a religious person – but nor am I anti-religion. As far as belief in an all-powerful being goes I suppose I just don’t have that faith that (I am told) it takes. Equally however, I do not believe in any “Big Bang” theory. I really don’t want to go into a full blown theological discussion because, well… I just don’t care either way. It really does not bother me how we all got here. I don’t know and I am quite happy believing that nobody else knows either.

In the meantime I have no problem with my son being raised as a Catholic. When he is older he can, and will, make his own mind up.

Planning Permission?

Sandwiched in between the two events (both historic for me) described above we went for a long coastal walk over the weekend. In all it was about 15kms. We took Dani’s abuela with us and although she appeared to struggle to keep up at times she completed the walk. Well done to her!.

There were several photo opportunities but this particular one grabbed my attention:

Anyone who has walked along the coast in these part will be aware of the land erosion clearly visible in all the dramatic cliff faces. There are clear signs of massive erosion on the cliff facing the building (just below where I stood to take the picture). Oddly nothing like as bad just below this large building.

Can you imagine trying to get planning permission to build this block of apartments today? I doubt it would happen but not because the design is seen as some 1970s monstrosity. Just imagine the planing permission meetings and all the health and safety reports that would be required! Never mind the time to pore over them all. There would be far more input from geologists and “climate change experts” than from architects and engineers.

I say ‘monstrosity’ as that is how so many of these buildings are described in our supposedly more enlightened times. Although I happen to think it looks great. Location as they say is everything…  I wonder how much longer this building has left? Again, feel free to comment.