where ‘p’ is for ‘pain’
there are three kinds of people in the world – those who are obsessed with the royal wedding happening in the uk today between william and kate and those who aren’t [the third group being those fortunate enough to have no clue that it is happening, who i assume are the poor and marginalised because if you have a tv or computer you probably cannot avoid having had it thrust before your face numerously]
and if it’s you’re thing and you’re obsessed with it then good for you, well maybe not if you’re obsessed cos then you should go seek help, but if you’re interested and want to watch and stuff, you have my blessing, just do it in the other room, please… i, however, fit into the second category…
people in britain being obsessed i can understand a little bit, but south africans taking the day off work to have scone and champagne parties a lot less so… but again, if that’s your thing and you’re going to enjoy it, enjoy it large…
but for all those who don’t and aren’t, here is a clip worth visiting as the one kind of royalty the uk has brought us which i have appreciated – it’s one of my favourite scenes from monty python’s ‘the quest for the holy grail’ and especially significant this year for me contains the line, “I’m 37, I’m not old” so check it out.
then, if you finished that and are still trying to avoid hearing about which way they swirled the cream on the royal scones [not a metaphor] you can take a look at this one which contains my favourite line of the movie and maybe of all time, even though it has nothing to do with royalty…
“she turned me into a newt.”
[awkward silence]
“i got better.”
Haha. Love the python vid. Taking off work? There are people doing this? I’m on holiday anyway… Pffft
They are your future King and Queen and you should show more respect.
i only have one King and i gladly bow my knee to Him.
The King is ordained by God. You should be more respectful!
Jesus is of course all of our King!
We must however show respect for the our future King especially on this great day.
You should be happy for the Royal couple and not speak so negatively. With all due respect, your post was uncalled for. If you are not interested and have no respect, then surely you should have just kept quiet. I for one, along with a few billion others have really enjoyed taking some time off work to watch a bit here and there.. with scones of course.
It was a great wedding. Long live the future King and Queen.
with all due respect i am a south african and this is my blog and these are my thorts and if you don’t like them you are more than likely to have your own – i thort i handled it very tamely [wishing those who were interested well and telling them to enjoy it – it has been a pleasure to me watching my friend sharne be so amped about it on twitter all day – that has made me smile] compared to what i really feel and think about it – i celebrate the marriage of any two people and i am happy for them and really hope they pull it off cos i’m sure it’s incredibly tough being in the limelight and the royals sadly don’t have a great track record when it comes to marriage so for them i am really hoping it works – but i am entitled to think that going crazy about something in another country concerning people you don’t know or have any relationship with is a bit too much. chill lady.
Why did you mention pita or pain? This was a most day for all those taking part and watching it. It was lovely watching the royal wedding with friends. I agree with those who love the Royal couple and this was a special day to be a part of.
You have a relationship with Jesus and you’ve never met him in the flesh? SImilar here… others give support to this young couple to lead us..
You are a South African, but until fairy recently, South Africa was under the British rule. If this were 50 years ago, would you be so against serving our Queen? This marriage will last as they’ve been together for a long time, living as man and wife for longer than most marriages already! So they not exactly newlyweds haha. How long have you been with your girl for Brett?
You should encourage those who do not share your views on this blog as thats what blogs are there for? Telling Cindy that you handled her comment “tamely” is rather condescending don’t you think?
I hope you get to watch some of the reruns of the wedding and join in the celebrations.
thankx for your thorts amanda – i don’t really understand how me blogging that i’m not really a big fan of the royal wedding crazy that’s hit the world detracts from anyone who thinks it is a good thing – those who loved it and were amped, loved it and were amped – a lot of other people didn’t think it was such a big deal and thort too much of a big deal had been made about it – are we not allowed to think like that? that’s how i think and so that’s what i blogged – when i say “tamely” it’s not condescending at all, what i was meaning is that i felt a lot more strongly about it but suspected that even writing tamely about it would get me into trouble [for some reason] – i hate raisins and i blog a lot about that [well it comes up] – does that mean i’m doing a disservice to anyone that loves raisins? i really doubt it. those who love raisins will continue to love raisins and hopefully smile a bit when they see how passionate i get about not liking them – a blog is a place to air your thorts and that is what i did – if you don’t like the blog you won’t read the thorts or you’ll read and disagree and life will go on – i don’t expect everyone to agree with what i say but that doesn’t mean i can’t say it – sounds like you had a great time celebrating with your friends and enjoying the occasion – well that’s great – i’m glad for you – people have different opinions and enjoy different things – there are a lot of people out there who have similiar [and much stronger] sentiments to me and i’m sure they were able to smile and feel like someone understood them when reading my blog – and i think that’s a good thing.
i love and will fight for marriage but i don’t know those people and so it means a lot less than when my friends get married and then i get super amped for them – i was not campaigning for people to stop being excited for them or saying there marriage was a terrible thing – i was saying it’s been a bit of a pain having it our faces for the last little while and that something so universally insignificant as that particular marriage [if you want to get me passionate then let’s start talking about the kind of money spent on the occasion and the potential over-the-top wastefulness in the face of some other needs happening around the world at the moment – let them eat cake – but let’s not go there] gets so much airplay…
i have a question – how on earth did you find this blog amanda? seriously, what is your story and where are you from and why is brett’s blog, of all the blogs in the blogosphere, the one you chose to come onto and rant on? What’s the deal?
Your blog tags probably got picked up by Google in SA. Your tags even mention the holy grail. Why??
The wedding was fun and lots of people enjoyed it, so it was really money and time well spent! It was kept fairly modest don’t you think? It made the people happy and gave them a renewed sense of hope. Money could always go to the poor, but look how much money Churches have anyway. Instead of Church buildings, the money could go to the poor as well.
Prince William has served his country! Have you? He has risked his life in the armed forces. Have you? Prince William has been into Africa and helped the poor.
If you have no kind words to say or are uninterested in this joyous and festive occasion, then why not remain silent!? Talking about raisins and about a wonderful wedding are not exactly in the same category.
If you had given the wedding a chance, maybe you would gave enjoyed it. It’s about a young couple -a love story. You get excited about Jesus and you have jot met him in person. People get excited about the Royal wedding because it’s tradition and fun! Don’t be a stick in the mud!
Looks like you are both married. How would you feel if someone blogged about your wedding in the same way? Using the word “pain” and other words? Talking about how bad the royal wedding track record is and other bad comments come across as nasty.
Lighten up a bit and enjoy life more. Celebrate this joyous occasion!
Amanda, i imagine if i was getting married [i already am to an amazing woman] and the details of my wedding were put in the Brazilian newspapers and all across their internet and everywhere they looked and people were all going crazy cos we were getting married, that if i heard news that some random Brazilian dude was a little bit over my wedding and having to hear about it everywhere and was not sure why his countrymen were so super amped, i think i’d smile and maybe apologise to the dude cos i would totally get that – if one of my best friends told me he was over all the fuss and build up i’d probly be quite bummed – William and i have not corresponded for years, ever since i beat him in that grade 7 chess match and he never quite got over it. So i doubt that even if he did somehow find out that i was not particularly amped for the public celebrations [cos don’t get me wrong, i’m not for a second unamped that they are getting married – that is incredible] he’d be all that bummed… however if prince harry changed his princebook status to “so over this wedding, why can’t they just get over it?” that that might hurt a lot more…
i don’t think it’s a fair comparison comparing the royal couple to Jesus cos Jesus has completely impacted my life in ways that couple never will and so there is a very big difference in terms of the things i write and speak about – again, it’s a blog, which is not even that huge or anything – it was my personal and shared thorts on the hubbub being made about the occasion and not really meant to be responded to on such a huge-crisis-sounding level
i’d like to think i have served my country – you don’t know me at all so maybe get to know me better before you start questioning stuff – go back and read up on my blogs in the love and relationships section and see my passion for love and marriage and all of that – i fear your overall impression of me if just taken from this one blog [which appears to be the case] is severely lacking in content to base it on
and i tagged holy grail because of the two links to monty python ‘the quest for the holy grail’ movie which i included in my blog and which brought me possibly as much satisfaction as it seems watching the royal wedding did for you – and that’s british!
i live life to the absolute full so it is hard for me to lighten up more and enjoy it more but i am always trying to so thankx for the advice – and also with you.
Quite funny clips from monty phython (i don’t think I spelt that right)
I wrote something different about the wedding here: http://darrelhoff.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/royal-wedding-no-one-likes-a-party-pooper/
God decides our lot in life. Some are born into poverty and some are born Princes. It is similar to the Indian caste system. We should be happy for those above us and not rebel against the order. Look what the Bible says about rebellions! They are wrong! Maybe you’re a little jealous? Have you no respect for authority? Even the Church recognizes them as Royalty and have given them certain authority.
Your tags are Royal Wedding, Prine William, William an Kate etc. Are you trying to attract people here? Valerie who are you and what nice things do you have to say? I hope you at least enjoyed this beautiful day!
i really enjoyed this beautiful day – it’s not like i made a dartboard out of williams face and threw darts at it all day – i just didn’t spend it watching four hours [or whatever of wedding] – i was busy transcribing interviews of poor people and some of the obstacles and risks they face in life, so that hopefully something can be done to help them. i tagged “royal weddng” etc etc cos that’s what the blog was about and i think that’s how it works…
http://darrelhoff.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/royal-wedding-no-one-likes-a-party-pooper/
i wrote something different.. what do you think amanda?
i am not sure what you are trying to achieve here amanda but if you have a moment go and check out my friend Bruce’s blog on the day because i think he captures largely my feelings towards it [he gives the pro and the anti] and it is really well written and then i think maybe you will have a better understanding of where my concerns lie – http://brucesbrews.com/2011/04/29/what-will-kate-i-do-reflections-on-a-royal-spectacle
Instead of writing something negative, you should have taken the 10 minutes to watch the vows. Really incredible. They handled it so gracefully! Do you acknowledge them as your future King and Queen?
i am a south african, living in south africa, why would i acknowledge anyone as my future king and queen – we have a president and a ruling party…
had you, instead of spending all this time attacking and judging me, started with “hey i think you’re missing out, the vows, were amazing, you should check them out” then i may have been a lot more inclined to do so – i may still cos one of my other friends said it was a great message and that excites me – i think it is important for you to examine your heart and ask why you have responded so aggressively to me cos i have been nothing but patient and gracious and taking time to answer as best i can. i think you’d probably really dig me if you got to know me so maybe take time around the blog or my facebook page before you write me off and see what you think… i don’t particularly mind either way, but you might be missing out… this has been made a much more lager issue than i think was merited… but it is obviously something that’s important to you so well done for fighting for what you believe in i guess.
My husband and I are both unemployed at the moment after deciding to pack up our life in CT and move to Dbn. So we both had the day off, so to speak! Wow I have been excited for today! My husband has known for weeks that today our tv is on the Royal Wedding! And he accepted that (what a good man I have!). It was so beautiful! I am not British but watching the wedding today was a real rags to riches fairytale!
Having said that, I can understand how some people don’t share my enthusiasm. And that’s alright! Isn’t it so much nicer that each person has their own personality and has the ability to have their own opinion about some things? How boring would it be if everyone, the world over, shared exactly the same opinion about something like the Royal Wedding? If that were the case, what would you be doing instead of commenting on blogs like this one? Just a thought… 🙂
sounds like you had a great day megan, did your husband watch any of it or was that asking too much? i caught the kiss on the balcony when i went to renew my driver’s licence and for some reason they had it on there and it was cool to see – she looks super amped, well they both did and that is something that very much excites me and like i said i really dig marriage completely and hope for the best for them…
Read your friends blog post. So many pretending to be not interested but blogging and twittering about their disinterest. Ironical!
It was a great wedding. Maybe watch some of it before commenting on how you dislike it. You even said so before the wedding! Lol you probably are an okay guy, but your writing dies come across as a bit condescending to others. It would have been much better if you could delete all these posts and edit your original comment to sat that you wish William and Kare all the best etc. And that you’ll try take a peek at the wedding to see what all the hype was about. The world is so miserable, I think this one thing is great in that fir once there is no machine guns or revolutions or murders in the news. It’s a taste of what could be. Something fun, like a fairy tale.
So you see, you did enjoy the parts that you saw. How often is a royal wedding on anyway? Maybe once or twice in a lifetime!
It’s great seeing nice things on the news and one day focussed on that. It does a lot if good as it inspires young people to believe in marriage.
I think some of us support William and Kate the same way people support their favourite sports team. We don’t know them but have followed the part of their lives that has been made public kinda the same way sports fans follow the ups and downs of their team. The wedding is like our world cup final. I have no interest in watching sport or hearing people talking about it ad nausium (spelling?) and I really don’t need to see it on the news everyday, but I get that other people feel otherwise and good for them. It’s fine that you don’t enjoy royal weddings, most men don’t. Hopefully you’ll sympathise with me when rugby world cup comes along.
thats kinda been my point the whole way along cristi and i fully get it being big on cricket rather than rugby but other people dont need to dig it and when there is so much of it they are welcome to blog about it etc, etc,… i may be a man but i am a diehard romantic…
p.s. I totally agree that being absent from work is not acceptable. Luckily I am on school holidays but if my school was open, I would have docked pay for absenteeism from any teacher who gave me a televised wedding for an excuse. I would be equally strict for anyone who wanted to watch a sports match on a work day. Work comes first. Thats what a tape recorder is for.
WOW Brett! You really did attract many hostile comments on a simple post.
Amanda I think Cristi’s point is a good explanation. SA hosted the football world cup last year and it really gave me and a lot of people across the world a lot of hope and joy. But when people complained that they were “over it” or tired of having it disrupting their lives, even maybe questioning the mentality of those who prioritised watching the matches higher than other important things, I think most people would respect their opinion (and maybe feel a little sorry for them that they didn’t enjoy it along with us – as you are entitled to feel sorry for Brett, lol!)
Amanda what I think you are serious about, is that the few joyful moments in world news deserve people’s attention as it gives us all hope. I agree. I think most of us do. As long as you acknowledge that different things make different people happy, including different news events? But maybe this particular event has become a real source of hope for you, and that’s cool and I don’t think Brett denies you that.
Finally, as a South African who is very proud of my country, I would just like to state that my allegiance lies with the Republic of South Africa and, although I have nothing against the British system of government, I firmly reject the notion that I should acknowledge any members of the British royal family as my kings or queens in the present day! Formal imperialism is finally over in SA. We celebrated Freedom Day on 27 April – now there’s a day worth celebrating if you’re South African.
Brett I continue to admire you as a critical, inspirational voice. Keep publishing your thorts. But I’m sure you will!
great comment cara, nailed it
and thankx!
1. Word of advice Brett. Do not engage with the rabid blog critic. I think Amanda and Cindy are Fair Lady and the ‘other one whose name I forgot’ in disguise. I love how commentators on other people’s blogs tell the blogger what, how and when they should write. Get your own blog ladies, and do what you want there!
Cricket and rugby are on all the time. It matters not who wins or loses as there will be another game next week. A Royal wedding is on maybe every 20 years. It’s a source of much joy for many young people. It’s different from a sports game. It’s about two young people. If people are not interested in this then they should not even bother blogging about it in the first place. Negativity over a wedding, no matter dhow it is should be kept to oneself. Cricket on the other hand is on all the time and whoever enjoys watching a week of that boredom must have very low tolerance for boring things. Not many guys I know like cricket as they have outdoorsy kind of lives that they live and don’t feel the need for for watching others. However, the royal wedding is unique in that it comes along so rarely and it really helps us with our values and in keeping good traditions alive.
And the comment about South Africa. With our murder rate and corrupt government, are you really so pro ANC government? If I had a UK passport, I would be over there so fast. It’s no wonder you are also leaving as this place us out if control.
Amanda there seems to be a problem with my computer – whatever you wrote in this comment simply comes out as “what i like is good, what you like is dumb” so not sure what you really wrote but i hope you have a mirror nearby, and i would recommend staring at a pot and a kettle and trying to figure out the difference…
if you want out of this country you should go, really, and i mean that will all love and respect – we are leaving to go work in a poor community overseas to hopefully learn and grow and engage with others who are doing it well so that we can at some stage come back here and pour it right back in – i love south africa and my heart will always beat african – do i agree with everything our anc government does and says, not by a long shot – but i think i will take it over a racist white apartheid supporting government and hope and pray that somehow the right people will get into power…
if you think the place is so out of control, what are you doing to make it less so – what impoverished people are you engaging with, who are you helping educate, where are you volunteering – be part of the solution instead of hovering over peoples personal thoughts about life spewing judgement…
This government is also racist with BEE. The murder and crime rate is much higher than in the old days.