Recollections of Dianas death

[brodiej]

Following the royal wedding thread anyone have Di related memories.
Good taste ones only (maybe)

I remember the Saturday after, the footie was still on but with 3 minutes silence.
I was at Pompey vs Norwich.

The mascots were on the pitch (A plastic mobile phone for Pompey - sponsored by Vodafone) and a canary for Norwich.
The PA suddenly announced the silence and the mascots were still on the pitch.
You could sense their dilemma - they had no way of leaving.

So they stayed in the pitch and tried to look respectful.

I'll never forget the bloke in the mobile phone suit trying to bow slightly at the waist in his plastic suit and the canary trying to bow his head. 3 minutes is a long time to stand motionless and convey grief via the medium of the canary and phone.

I dont think they quite carried it off

Unfortunately the crowd gradually noticed and sniggers followed.

Still it knocked candle in the wind into a cocked hat

 

[Arch]

The day the news broke I was due to drive a party of friends up to Scotland in a minibus for them to tackle walking up a mountain, park up and sit/sleep in the bus while they did it, and then drive them back.

The bus was hired, and had no tape deck, only a radio, and mostly it wanted to pick up Radio 2.

So in effect, I had 2 days of listening to Candle in the Wind.

The day of the funeral, I had an OU tutorial group. The tutor came in, looked at us all sitting there and said "Is it just me, or has the country gone mad?" We were all thinking the same thing.

Oddly, I didn't, and still don't, resent the coverage, or state funeral of a royal. If for no other reason than I like pomp and tradition and monarchy, and all that. It was the hysteria that perplexed me.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Nothing. I remember going to work on the day of the funeral just to get away from all the nonsense.

 

[Keith Oates]

I was living in Hong Kong at the time and was glued to the TV with my family and some friends and had a lump in my throat for a lot of the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Banjo]

I remember during the funeral it would have been a great time to go for a bike ride, there was hardly a car on the road.

 

[vernon]

I remember the mass hysteria and wondered why I seemed to be the only one who didn't give a toss. Adulteress to sainthood in an instant. My sympathy was reserved for her sons.

 

[sheddy]

On that morning, I was very puzzled as to why every radio in the house decided to break at the same time....

 

[sheddy]

Actually that's not quite correct, I think that all BBC stations played classical music all day.

 

[marknotgeorge]

I'd been brung low by a woman (first girlfriend at 25 - did I tell you I have social issues?), and had decided, under the influence of much alcohol to see if slashing my wrist with a Stanley knife hurt or bled first. So I was stuck in hospital that day...

 

[Arch]

Actually that's not quite correct, I think that all BBC stations played classical music all day.

No. Radio 2 definitely played Candle in the Wind! Also, ironically, at one point "Who's gonna drive you home?" by The Cars.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

I was sat in a layby just off J26 on the M1 making jam sarnies when I heard the news that she was dead. I'd been to a party the night before and was making my lunch on the way to work in Macc Forest. I care more for blackcurrent jam than I did for her

The day of her funeral I had to attend a meeting in Bakewell. and I was pretty impressed how quiet the roads were, and the fact I could park where I wanted was a rare bonus. That night I camped near Macc forest (work again), and listened to the radio. There was some phone in where people who'd never met her recounted their pseudo memories and presumed thoughts of what a wonderful person she was. I always though she was a manipulative gold digger.

 

[Hover Fly]

That afternoon I was given a iron ore specimen wrapped up in the previous Thursday's Daily Depress, headline; "FOR GOD'S SAKE KEEP QUIET DI" to do with her anti-landmine campaign.

 

[ASC1951]

Oddly, I didn't, and still don't, resent the coverage, or state funeral of a royal. If for no other reason than I like pomp and tradition and monarchy, and all that. It was the hysteria that perplexed me.

The hysteria puzzled me, too, but there again I found the occasion oddly affecting even though I am far from a royalist and her actual impact on my life was zero.
And the funeral was brilliantly staged. We are still world class at such stuff.

 

[Archie_tect]

No-one should lose their mum before they are fully grown...

 

[Arch]

The thing that angered me was the anger at the Queen and royals for not rushing back to London. Everyone said how dreadful it was for those poor boys, without thinking that maybe being in Balmoral with their Dad and Gran was exactly what they needed. It was all "She was one of us!" (despite her being an aristocrat, of course!) but somehow those around her were expected to have no emotions. I wondered how many people screaming for the Queen to appear would have rushed back to work when their grandsons' mother died.