Sunday's Picture and a Song: "God Save the Queen" and the Olympics

Fallout from clotted cream? I was in such a hurry to see the evening performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Ruddigore" at the Opera House in Buxton that I didn't notice the smudge on the camera lens from my afternoon tea.

Smashing! Absolutely brilliant! And all of the other expressions used by the English to indicate that something is fantastic would be appropriate descriptions of my all too brief visit to Derbyshire.

Without a doubt, the song of the week was "God Save the Queen". The national anthem was played over and over again as British athletes won medal after medal at the Olympic Games in London and the entire audience (minus one lone American) sang a rousing version of it prior to the performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Ruddigore" at the Opera House in Buxton. Hearing the normally self-effacing English people talk with pride about their team's accomplishments proved to be so contagious that Stephane and I weren't even disappointed when we heard that Roger Federer had lost the men's tennis final and the gold medal to Andy Murray this afternoon.

As I write this, Great Britain has 37 medals and is in third place overall for total medals, a truly impressive feat.

Even though this clip is from the Royal Wedding and not the Olympics, it gives a good idea of the current mood in England. Imagine being the lone American in a crowd singing the "British National Anthem". Do you join in?  Do you lip sync? Now I  know how Stephane feels whenever the Americans say the "Pledge of Allegiance" at Chick and Ruth's Delly in Annapolis.



I wonder if it was the clotted cream, the frosting on the coconut cake or the butter from one of the finger sandwiches that made the smudge on my camera lens...

Comments

  1. Yay, you found your afternoon tea! Looks lovely.

    Fun fact, as well as being the national anthem of the UK, God Save the Queen is also technically our national anthem (alongside our "real" national anthem, God Defend New Zealand).

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    1. Thanks for the info about the national anthem for NZ. I'm going to google it to see if the melody of God Defend New Zealand is the same as God Save the Queen. Oh, interesting - I just looked at Wikipedia and saw that the lyrics are also in Maori.

      I love afternoon tea! Fortunately, the woman at our B&B treated us to tea and fresh baked goods every afternoon. We were thoroughly spoiled!

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  2. I never noticed the smudge, and I'm still looking for it.

    I was crestfallen with Roger's loss, he was simply spent from his previous match two days prior. Sometimes Silver still feels like losing.

    Your pictures of the countryside are beautiful. More please (without the cream).

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    1. Thanks! Seeing the different shades of blues and greens of the English countryside made me wish that I could paint. After the owner of our B&B told me that the grass around Alstonefield is more blue than in other parts of England, I started paying more attention to the different colors. Beautiful!

      I hope that you've recovered from Roger's loss. We were standing in line waiting to check in for our return flight to Paris when Stephane heard the final result. I was truly surprised when he said that he was pleased for Murray and for England, especially because Switzerland never has as much success in the summer games as they do in the winter ones.

      The smudge is on the left tower. I noticed it because all of the pictures that I took after eating my scones have smudges in exactly the same spot. When I looked at the lens, it was covered with a substance that looked suspiciously like clotted cream. Next time I'll have to remember to use my napkin!

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  3. I can never get enough clotted cream... The teatime goodies look so delicious! I second Joseph's request for more countryside pictures.

    Patricia H

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    1. Me, either! Clotted cream is like a Siren's call. Whenever I'm in England, I always find myself being drawn towards a tearoom for my next fix.

      I'll try to include some more photos of the countryside in the post about Haddon Hall. You were in my thoughts when we went to Lyme Park because the roses were in bloom and the guide told us that we should follow our noses to find them.

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  4. What smashing weekend to be in the UK. when we won three gold medals in one night.

    Great photos. Where did you end up for tea?

    Love denise

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    1. I had tea at No 6 the Square. I think that it's part of the Old Hall Hotel so perhaps it's the same place that you went when you were in Buxton.

      The atmosphere in England was amazing. I'll long remember the enthusiasm of the audience in the Opera House when they heard that their team had just won another medal.

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  5. That outdoor table and chair set looks like something from downtown Abbey. Lovely.

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