If you're a royalist, then today's funeral has been the culmination so far of 11 of 12 days of mourning.
If you're somewhere on the nationalist spectrum, then perhaps the best you can say is that the queen has bestowed upon us all two extra days off work this year.
One in 2022 was for the jubilee that was controversial locally. The other's today. Public holiday-wise, we've never had it so good. We're usually allowed eight. We managed nine bank holidays in 2011 and 2012, thanks respectively to the wedding of the duke & duchess of Cambridge and the diamond jubilee. We may even have nine holidays in 2023, if the present king is crowned that year and he decrees such a day. But 2022's 10 is not only rare, it's so far unprecedented.
Also rare is the fact that all shops were closed at least for some of the day. Tesco hadn't opened at all and neither had B & M. Co-op opened at 5 pm. Bridge Services closed 10.30 to 1pm. Morrison's Daily likewise but from 10 to 5pm. Pubs were closed in the morning, save one. Wetherspoon's opened at 1 pm.
One of two town centre businesses open was the Well Street Clinic. Inside, waiting, was a man who was obviously in pain thanks I'd say to a bad back. The other was The Wine Vaults, the solitary open pub during the actual funeral.
Car parks were bare. Wynnstay Road had just one car parked along its entire length. There was more traffic on the roads than I'd anticipated, perhaps as much as a usual Sunday morning, though estate roads were quiet and all but deserted. There were a handful of pedestrians in town, some walking dogs. A couple of what appeared to be tourists were looking in closed shop windows. Before 11 and you could hear the sound of a buzz saw, as someone was taking advantage of their day off to do a bit of DIY.
The half-muffled bells of St Peter's rang between 9.30 and 10.27 am, the last 10 minutes or so being a solitary toll which, for one reason or another, picked up undue pace the near it got to 10.27.
If you're a royalist, then the previous 11 days have been a chance to say goodbye and to reflect.
If you're somewhere on the nationalist spectrum, then that time period has been a hiatus, a too-long pause.
The world tomorrow will wake again to the state of the economy, bills, rising inflation and possible recession. Whatever your view of the mourning period, my guess is that as events normalise and unfold you might wish that things had gone on as they have been just a little longer...
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