Phil the Greek died yesterday at the very ripe old age of 99. Couple of months shy of making the ton apaz. Won’t be getting a telegram from the Queen. I’m told she doesn’t send them anyway. The local council sorts it out. Makes sense as more people are making it to triple figures these days. She’d have to spend every morning sorting it out. Phil would have probs got a special one anyway. He had a good innings as the followers of the game of cricket would say.
Few things spring to mind. They won’t now be having a special birthday party for him although I’m sure they will be able to reuse some of the stuff for the wake. Jelly, sausage rolls etc. The latter would have gone straight into the freezer anyway. Maybe they hadn’t even bought them yet.
The passing of Phil has major significance in the historical roll. The husband of the Queen of England. One of a long line of Royal spouses some of whom are better known than others. It is something that must be acknowledged whatever you think of the place of the/a Royal Family in today’s world.
The downside of this bucket kicking is that all the major UK media channels have switched into mourning mode with wall to wall commentary on what a great guy he was. This has meant that some key TV programmes were not aired last night: to whit the Masterchef Final and Gardener’s World with Monty Don. This is a serious misreading of the national mood by the establishment. Many of the queen’s “subjects” won’t really give more than a passing nod to the death of her husband and would prefer to watch the aforementioned programmes.
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Now watching Monty. They moved him to Saturday night, half an hour after Dad’s Army. It’s really an Anne thing. We missed the start of Dad’s Army as I was busy on the bbq cooking lamb kebabs but caught up with it on iPlayer and just made the start of Monty. Good bbq. Marinaded the lamb in a classic dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and basil.