The History of: Keep Calm and Carry On

On the eve of World War II sometime in August 1939 the Ministry of Information in the British Government printed 2.5 million Keep Calm and Carry On posters.  The aim of this simple five-word statement was to convey to the country a message of reassurance for the troubled times that lay ahead.  The hope was that upon seeing them, the British people would feel a sense of increased morale.  They were supposed to represent a clear and direct message from the King to his public - the look and feel of any communication from the Ministry of Information was always to be the same - clean, simple and impactful.  Unfortunately, these posters were never used and were subsequently destroyed at the end of the war.  Some 55 years later, a second hand book dealer in the North of England came across a copy of the poster in a box of books bought at an auction.  That discovery led to the re-launch of the Keep Calm and Carry On message which has remained if not increased in popularity into the 21st century!

Rainbow Queen!

Source: i.dailymail.co.uk

Keep Calm and be Classy Like Kate!

A Resplendent Royal Romp in Canada

Here is my article in the January 2012 issue of Our Canada Magazine (page 21) called "Visiting Royalty: A Resplendent Royal Romp in Canada".  The special, 4-page, editorial feature was a look at some of the big news events from 2011, as seen through the eyes of fellow Canadians who were there!

2012 *blushes*

When I stop and think about the year 2012… I feel, well, much like the kid at the science fair with his thriving plant that he talked to all semester standing next to the kid that made an erupting volcano.  I feel a real sense of world-wide underachievement.  Sure it’s only April and 2012 has eight more months to do something note-worthy, but what’s really burning in the hopper right now?  What treasure under what unturned stone has been left for the world to unearth and celebrate in 2112? 

Let’s think about this for a second.  What has 2012 delivered to the world thus far?  By April 11th one-hundred years ago we had already seen the Republic of China proclaimed; The Scouts Association incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter; the founding of The African National Congress; the British Polar Explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four become the second expeditionary group to reach the South Pole; Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane; Italian forces were the first to use airships for military purposes; the unsinkable RMS Titanic had just set off on her first and only voyage; The Girl Scouts of America were founded; the Royal Flying Corps (forerunner of the Royal Air Force) was established; and the German meteorologist and geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed the idea of continental drift… to name a few!  And these were the highlights between January-April 1912… not the entire year!

Now enter the first quarter of 2012.  With technology, time and the most sophisticated science and communication platforms in our planet’s history working in our favour, all I’ve seen so far is the 3^rd generation of the Apple Ipad; Eurozone’s finance ministers reaching an agreement on a second 130-billion dollar Greek bailout; the new Dyson Ball DC 24 Vacuum Cleaner (the most super-sucky vacuum there ever was); and, very sadly, after 244 years since its first publication, the Encyclopædia Britannica discontinuing its print edition (thanks to the aforementioned technology).  If that doesn’t scream inferiority complex I don’t know what does.  We need to demand more out the 366 days allotted to 2012.  We need to prevent 2012 from becomming the proverbial 'red-headed step-child' (no disrepect to red-headed, step-children).  We even got an extra day with the leap year – let’s use it people!

I’ll try to remain optimistic as long as you do.  After all, we still have the Olympic Games in London-XXX Olympiad (congrats 30 AD); the Queen will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee (congrats 1953); the 100^th Grey Cup Game will be played in Toronto (way to go 1912); and of course, one would be remiss if I forgot to mention Prince William and Catherine’s one-year wedding anniversary (kudos 2011).  Okay so upon reflection it would seem that the wonderful things to come in 2012 are all celebrations of events and achievements from previous years.  Sigh… in 100 years what will we remember, commemorate, celebrate, retweet?  Oh please say it won’t be the new Facebook Timeline or the release of Apple’s iPad4… of course it won’t – this will be irrelevant by this date next year!  And while were on the subject… how many versions of the Dyson Ball can they actually come up with anyway?  Please say that 2012 will deliver more!  I encourage and challenge all of us to be part of that more! 

Ever respectfully,

Kelly Mathews  

https://twitter.com/#!/allthingsregal

Side note: I found it quite puzzling that spell check did not recognize the word “retweet”… baffled actually.

A Revealing Journey: Without Permission

This piece was entered into the 2012 Guild Travel Writing Competition.  The max word allowance was 800, and the the title had to include the words "A Revealing Journey".  This is a summary of my journey to the UK in February 2008.

It all happened so fast!  I was listening to my travel-agent rhyme-off flight-rates and booking-dates when suddenly and inexplicably with no thought at all to any consequences, I spouted off my 16-digit credit card number and booked a return-flight.  My heart was racing.  This may have been the boldest, unabated, exhilarating, grown-up thing I had ever done.  I hadn’t asked my partner for his blessing… or dare I say ‘permission’.  I didn’t check the weather.  I didn’t request the time off work, and I didn’t get the usually-required thumbs-up from my folks, friends and co-workers.  I just did it.  And it felt incredibly liberating. 

Now before you get excited… this story isn’t about a Culinary-Tour of Tuscany or a Yoga-Zen-Retreat to Machu Picchu.  But to me, it was my chance for ten, glorious days to live my life out-loud in a world, place and time that I will never forget, that I will always cherish and most importantly, vow to return.  I went to my England.  I say “my” England because in many respects, she is mine.  Of course it was technically “my” trip and I went alone but most importantly, for once, and maybe the only time in my entire life, I did only what I wanted to do.  Have you ever felt that you were supposed to be somewhere else?  That another world or culture’s history was your own?  That’s how I think of “my” England.  On the heels of a milestone birthday, this self-professed anglophile told her employer she would not be at work the following week (note “told” versus “asked”).  I politely informed my partner that I would be away for two-weeks and then did what any sensible, UK-bound girl would do!  I bought a new rain jacket and rain boots to match!  I may have looked a tad like Paddington Bear but after all, I was headed to the UK and in February no less.

If I had been blind folded I could have told you the second I stepped off the plane by the smell of the crisp, fresh, yet damp air that I was in England.  It was exactly the way I had imaged, exactly the way every book had promised.  The one difference is that it was February and unseasonably mild.  The sun was glistening mid-day, the shadows long and not a cloud in the sky. I took it as an omen that my England did not want my travels hampered by foul weather.  The boots and rain jacket remained in my suitcase for the next ten days. From Hatfield Palace to Hampton Court, Whitehall to Windsor, the Jewel Tower to the Tower of London, I dutifully traversed the English countryside with a fever and fervor that I doubt she’s felt before.  I hazard to say that if England could feel, she never felt a more loyal or loving subject in all her years upon her soil.  And I whispered in every crevice of every castle, “I will be back”.

Ten days was tantamount to a slow torture for each day that passed was a reminder that my time here was not infinite.  Before I knew it, the sun was rising over Balham and my taxi rushing me to Gatwick.  I tried to find every joy possible in every remaining minute.  Like the driver on the wrong side of the road, and car for that matter.  The adorable roundabouts and funny street signs.  But I couldn’t shake that impeding sense of gloom.  My England was getting smaller and smaller in the distance.  I tried to focus on all the joy the trip had brought, the fact that I still had pounds in my wallet versus dollars.  The fact that my digital camera now housed over 4,000 original pieces of art that before this week had only danced before my eyes in the movies, in pictures, and my imagination.  This was all very well and good, but a very small comfort, just the same.  I was leaving… and aside from a few special treasures that now fit in a small wooden box on my dresser… I knew that my England wasn’t coming with me.

I want to end this personal story with these thoughts to you.  The only thing standing in the way of your travel dreams are your own preconceived notions of the “state of readiness” required to embark on travel.  We live only one life on this Earth and this is not a dress rehearsal!  I promise you that your backyard is much bigger than you realize and the playground more spectacular than you can image.  Whether your heart longs for mountains, rivers, oceans, adventure, serenity, history, rolling-hills or a hammock, you need only to take that first step for your journey to begin.  I invite you to go… without permission!

Kelly Mathews, Hampton Court Palace, February 2008

Keep Calm and Follow @allthingsregal

A fellow regal/royal twitter peep sent me this pic today - it made me smile so I have to share with all of you - thank you goes to @KopyKate and I highly recommend that all fans of the Duchess Catherine follow @KopyKate as well!