Just when you thought the media blitz over the past month had ended regarding the passing of the Queen, I have decided to chuck something in.
No, it’s not about Meghan or Harry’s body language around King Charles. It’s not about the King giving his pen a good royal thrashing for not working or any other insightful comments on the goings on of the new ‘Fab Four’.
I never met the Queen. The closest I got was a drive-by once, but I did get to meet Phil the Greek. I did the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award when I was at Nambour High. Why, I will never know, but someone must have talked me into it as I was a better follower than a leader.
I probably did it because someone told me we would get time off school. The categories were physical recreation, skills, volunteer service, and adventurous journey over a six-month period.
So the latter is what I remember clearly and, in hindsight, I would have been better off at school as we had to do a cross-country overnight trip from Montville to Nambour.
I can only remember three things: getting hopelessly lost (followed the wrong person), getting stuck in a whole bunch of lantana that cut me to shreds, and camping in a dry creek bed somewhere in ‘Woop Woop’ and a cow sticking its head in my tent and mooing at midnight. Awesome.
A change of undies was required and it ensured a lifetime dislike of camping.
How I managed to pass any of the criteria I will never know. But as promised by persons unknown, about three months in, we did get a whole day off school to go to Maryborough, play a game of footy and meet the Duke (movie star John ‘The Duke’ Wayne would have been better).
It was stinking hot, the field was a dust bowl and we then had to line up for about an hour to shake hands with the Duke of Edinburgh.
He must have been about as thrilled as I was, because when I eventually got to shake his hand, he said something like this: “You are a chubby fellow. You must be hot?”
He was deadset right about that and after a three-hour bus trip home, I decided that those awards weren’t for me and spent the rest of my time at school sitting in the back of the room reading surfing magazines.
Ashley Robinson is a columnist with Sunshine Coast News and My Weekly Preview. His views are his own.
