A couple of weeks ago the Queen came to our house for tea. Well, almost. Her Majesty did come to Goodenough College, where we live, to unveil a monument in commemoration of Goodenough's 75th anniversary. Colleen and Sven were visiting and as only Goodenough members were allowed into the quad, I thought I'd skip it. But, even though I'm not one of those Canadians who goes ga-ga over the Queen, there was some fascination wrapped up with the chance of seeing her up close. So I got dressed up and found a place amidst the throng and waited with all the others.
Standing and waiting (pregnant and in the cold) is not my favourite thing to do. But there was
a live jazz band playing on one of the balconies, and there was quite a buzz of expectation in the air. She arrived on time, bless her. Those facing the entrance to the quad started raising their cameras. As I leaned out to see, I realised she had already rounded the corner and was actually very close to where I was standing. I quickly took a photo. She looked really great - fantastic outfit (of course). And she has a very infectious smile. She took her time and paused to greet the odd person. Lucky for me, the family next to me got her attention and she stopped - not more than a foot away from me - to talk with them.
Derek is always after me because I never take the camera out when I should and I always miss the good photo opportunities (I have yet to be forgiven for not getting a good shot of him giving the Best Man's speech at Dan's wedding...I did get some shots but had the camera on the wrong setting so they were all out of focus. Of course, no allowance was given for the fact that I was, at the same time, tyring to manage a crying 6-week-old!).
I think all of you will agree that
this time, I succeeded!
