So surely you saw that Queen Elizabeth celebrated her 90th birthday the other day. Many festivities involved. Like here she is with husband Prince Phillip, who is 95. She is probably surprised at the rapid passage of time. I know I am.
So that got me to thinking, and I sought out my old slides from the vault. Would you believe that 40 years ago, in June of 1976, I happened to find myself at Windsor Castle, the official residence of the Queen? It's about 20 miles West of London. You see, I spent the whole summer of 1976 in Europe with a college buddy and his brother. Just hanging out and seeing the sights. It was a great experience that I will never forget, even after all this time. And it was pretty cheap, and safe, to do back then. But anyway, here is one of the guards outside the gate. We were there on a Sunday morning and received a tip to go to the end of the driveway for a big surprise.
There she goes, zooming by us at the wheel of her own car. (You can tell this is in England since she is driving on the wrong side of the car.) And right after that, her husband Prince Phillip drove by, driving himself in his car. I remember he smiled and waved. (It was so sudden, that I didn't get a picture of him, darn it.) But it was kind of cool to see these lofty icons drive by, and one even wave at us. I guess at home out in the country, they could drive themselves around, and took advantage of it. Surely a different world.
So looking at the top picture of the way they are now and remembering how they were then...makes me think. Have I changed any my own self? No, that's what happens to others. I have pictures. I'll bet if I was at one of the London parades now, the Queen would nod my way thinking "I remember you." Well Happy Birthday anyway.
(By the way, I know this has nothing to do with fertilizer and agriculture. But it's my blog and sometimes stuff happens that I want to share. Plus it's late Friday night. And this is only for my loyal blogspot followers, not the website.)
