Queen Victoria
My father and all his tobacco loved you
I love you too in all your forms
The slim and lovely virgin floating among German beer
The mean governess of the huge pink maps
The solitary mourner of a prince ~Leonard Cohen

Today, November 5th, was Guy Fawkes Day. By now, it’ll all be over but for busy burn units across the UK.

As a kid in Staffordshire, I recall stuffing old shirts and trousers with newspaper to create a flammable scarecrow “Guy” who would be first rolled ’round the streets, perhaps in an old pram, begging “penny for the Guy!” The proceeds would be used to buy fireworks — Catherine wheels, jumping jacks and “bangers” — to accompany the occasion otherwise known as “Bonfire Night.” Guy’s effigy would eventually be burned, often seated in a chair atop the fire.

Fawkes famously, or infamously, hatched the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Houses of Parliament and King James I. Caught in the act, on November 5, 1601, the Catholic fanatic was subsequently sentenced to death. He avoided being hung, drawn and quartered when he fell from the scaffold and broke his neck.

Today’s photo challenge took me to the British Columbia Parliament Buildings, in Victoria, designed by Francis Rattenbury (11 October 1867 – 28 March 1935)  — built between 1891 and 1898 — who also met an unnatural death at the hands of his second wife’s lover.

Once again, the video production took much longer than editing the still below … especially as I forgot to title it and only discovered the oversight after the long YouTube upload process (this video over 4 min.). I’ve developed a great deal of respect for the folks who put together the 6 O’clock News.

I have no idea what significance this morning’s parking stub expiry time/parking space number/date might have in the world of synchronicity.

Until tomorrow … God save the King … or Queen, as the case may be.

Photo of the day

Dome of the British Columbia Parliament Building, Victoria, 2018

Queen Victoria
The Twentieth Century belongs to you and me
Let us be two severe giants not less lonely for our partnership
Who discolour test tubes in the halls of science
Who turn up unwelcome at every World’s Fair
Heavy with proverb and correction
Confusing the star-dazed tourists
With our incomparable sense of loss ~Leonard Cohen