What could you do in seventy years?

E38: Messaging your future self

Celebrating the Queen’s platinum jubilee

“Do they really have to be this loud?” little Prince Louis seemed to say with a scrunched up nose and fingers stuck in his ears as the Harrier’s screeched overhead in tribute to his great-grandmother the Queen. That was quickly followed by oohs and aahs from around the country as we watched 15 Typhoons flying over Buckingham Palace forming the number “70” just before the Red Arrows finale of the red, white and blue.

The various aircraft followed the technological path of the start of her reign in the aftermath of the second world war (the Lancaster) when there was still a British Empire. Over her reign, communication has moved from radio speeches taped and distributed around the world, to us watching events unfold real-time.

The UK is celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a four-day holiday weekend. I watched the pomp and pagentry that many of you did, witnessing it on our screens. After days of cold and rain, the Gods above had gifted the Queen with that rare British treat - a beautiful, clear day and blue skies.

We arrived in the UK the year the Queen celebrated her silver jubilee. As a teen I’d thought that was astounding: How could you do the same thing for 25 years?! Forty-five years and my own lifetime later, I have a different perspective.

What would you tell your younger self?

For this week, I invite you to self-reflect based on the following three questions:

• “What do you wish you’d known in high school?” I was recently asked this question as a panelist speaking to a high school student audience

• If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?

• The Queen has seen a lot of changes across technology and society. If you were gifted with being able to serve for 70 years, what breadth of progress do you imagine for yourself and the world? Write your 95-year-old future self a message.

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Here are some photos of the local celebrations. Bunting is strung anywhere you can find two anchor points.

Of course, the street parties:

The local library had created a quilt with individual squares created by residents:

Until next week,

Karena