Melissa Stokes speaks to people in London wondering if cancelling events is the best way to pay respect.
Today I read a British supermarket has turned off the bleep on its self-service counters as a “mark of respect”, and I just knew I needed to look into it.
In a 1News investigation I went to rival stores Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury’s - and I can report the bleeps on their self-checkouts are bleeping at full noise.
The country’s other religion, football, cancelled Premier League games this weekend and reports suggest it could happen again next Saturday and Sunday to avoid a clash with the Queen’s funeral.
The Birmingham tattoo - the biggest military event - is off and the final night of the Proms, a huge fixture in the British music calendar, is also cancelled in respect.
But not everyone here is sure this is the way to go.
Many events in the UK have been postponed, but some are wondering if the Queen would have wanted them to go on. (Source: 1News)
Peter Lumbus, who has run a stall at London’s Petticoat Lane Market for 40 years thinks it’s “all a bit ridiculous”.
He adds: “Last Night of The Proms is something royal anyway. We sing Rule Britannia and, I guess, the pomp and circumstance is all to do with royalty in a way, so I don’t think they should have stopped that.”
He’s quick to add that he, like everyone, is extremely sad to say goodbye to the only monarch he’s ever known.
At the London Stadium, a West Ham home game was meant to be played yesterday. Instead, the ground is all shut up.
Outside, we met a dad and his son having a look around. The son having missed his own game because weekend sports were cancelled too.
He told me he understands but was disappointed. His dad, like many we spoke to, reckons the Queen would have wanted everything to keep going and that adding a minute’s silence and singing God Save the King would have been a very special way to pay tribute.
The move to cancel as a mark of respect has also provided some lighter moments. The UK’s Met Office – the equivalent of MetService - put out a tweet saying out of respect to the Queen it wouldn’t be tweeting forecasts, only posting how the weather would be that day and if there were any warnings. It set Twitter alight.
One woman I met today got quite tearful saying the Queen would have wanted us to carry on because that’s the way she was.
Let’s not forget Queen Elizabeth was all about consistency in her duty, working through life’s hardships and heartbreak.
And some here are wondering if organisations cancelling aspects of normal life is in line with the way she approached her role as monarch for 70 years.
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