RIP Queen Elizabeth II

A strange sort of melancholy day so far. I'm listening to the funeral service right now & the music is beautiful. It's not the time to debate the future of such skills, but the melancholy is also about the state of our world.

With her death we are at the end of an era. I feel for her family, having to hold it all in - whilst in the public eye.

We do pageantry very well.

I have friends who are recently bereaved with family members - they are not watching as it's all too much.

I love hymns and the serenity of church music -  but I never go, and I'm not religious.

Anyway, I went out early, it was drizzly & grey. I found this meadow pipit on top of a dung heap. The extra is a phone pic from the TV to mark this sombre occasion.