THE BIG TRIP, BUDDHIST PRAYERS AND THE QUEEN I REALLY DON’T LIKE

I wish we’d had more time on the hill complex, but we were scheduled to fly out early afternoon to the next destination. Some more pictures as promised.

This group of people walked around the monument 7 times as I understand it and said particular prayers.

I wondered briefly if our guide was less than forthcoming about religious practices in case we were sceptical or disbelieving? I remembered overhearing a guide in St Peter’s in Rome, who was explaining that ‘some people’ believe this was a … pointing to some religious artifact as if she herself was not taken in by such stories, but I suspected she did believe, from the reverence displayed by her body language to the item in question.

This was my second blessing and this time the monk tied the white cotton round my wrist himself.

There were just so any buddhas everywhere, I still hadn’t found out why there were so many.

So, back we go to Victoria, only don’t expect me to be nice about her. The question of her name? Her first name was Alexandrina which I think is lovely, but Mummy wanted Victoria after herself. So Queen Victoria it was. And, there are no prizes for guessing what Victoria called her first daughter – yes, Victoria. So there we have it three generations in a row. I just hope the postman delivered the right parcels and letters to the right person. Could have been nasty, just think what might have happened.

OK, so maybe she was repressed, but she took a shine to Lord Melbourne her Prime Minister – she made him call and see her every day. The man was married, and forty years older than she was, but poor dear (I’ve not gone off her yet), she’d been so starved of company and he flirted with her and she thought he was wonderful – that is, until along came Albert. I dislike Albert almost as much as I dislike Victoria, but you guessed that didn’t you?

Next week, the books I’ve chosen from my reading list in 2016 for the something awards – I’m working on the name as I write.

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Have a safe week and a great Christmas. I had pressed the settings to have snow falling over my blogs this month, but as usual, something went wrong and now I get snow on all the blogs I read and not on my own – oh well I tried – again!