Victoria and Albert

Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!

Unconventional love of two first cousins...

Queen Victoria became the Queen of England at the age of 18 after her father’s three elder brothers died without leaving a male successor to the throne. Her father Prince Edward had died about 17 years before that in 1820 the same year her grandfather King George III died leaving her with her mother who she did not get along with. Her reign of 63 years and 7 months is currently the longest any Monarch in Britain. I am not going to go into too much detail about her reign but I am here to capture the love story of her and Prince Albert. Prince Albert the love of Victoria's life happened to be her first cousin. Yes!!!! she married her first cousin, his father was her mother’s brother I think the word we are looking for here is incest. Apparently Victoria was being pressured to marry once she became Queen but she was in no rush. When Victoria met Albert for the first time when he visited from Germany she was drawn to his education and intelligence and thought Britain could benefit from his ideas. The second time he visited she was by then already been Queen for about a couple of years, she was even more captivated that she proposed to him. Talk about unconventional not only did she marry her cousin she was the one who proposed to him. WHEN THE QUEEN ASKS YOU TO MARRY HER YOU BETTER SAY YES!! Okay it was nothing like a one sided affair or a "I command you to marry me situation" he actually shared the same fondness she had for him.

On Victoria's wedding evening she had a headache and wrote in her diary while lying down "I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!"

I do not know about you but forget about the incest going on here and join me in "Awwing" this is so cute! This is so adorable I hope to feel this way someday you know if and when I get married but not to any of my cousins or anyone related to me!

This marriage remained strong and produced 9 children however sadly Albert died 21 years after the marriage when he was only 42. Albert’s death hit Victoria hard as she went into deep mourning and refrained from public appearances. Her seclusion had a negative impact on her but regained later on in her reign on both her silver and golden Jubilees she made public appearances.

After the snow

Morning after snow in London a couple of weeks ago, took some pictures at almost mid-day on my way to buy milk from the corner store down the road.. (double click on the pictures to see them enlarged)

Melting snow on the plant infront of a hair dressers.

The snow causes traffic as cars, buses and other vehicles have to drive slowly and carefully.

A plant infront of the Cafe where I have breakfast sometimes.

A man decides to walk on the road and not the pavement because its too slippery.

Trial and Failure

"Been there done that and failed" I saw that once on a facebook status, it was a comment on a post of someone complaining about a difficult exam they were going to have, and I assume the comment on the status was a humorous way of a friend who has done it before acknowledging that the exam is indeed difficult.

How many people are willing to try new things, knowing they are difficult and almost impossible to excel at? How many people will take dangerous risks that may offer massive payouts? Looking from a financial point of view the more risks an investor takes the higher the expected return. There are risk free assets that offer low returns, but an investor may want high returns I mean the kids college school fees, the massive mortgage payments will not pay themselves. Without bringing out complex equations in summary MORE RISK = MORE RETURNS however as the name risks implies there is a lot to loose if things do not go as expected. Risks come with gains as well as loses, such is life!

I find myself pondering a lot of times if I should go after my dreams. I mean the dreams that come and hunt me for months then go for a week, then come back again for months. The risks I dream of taking, seldom come to surface in reality because I stop to ask myself "what if?". I am so afraid of failing, that sometimes I refrain from trying and I shield myself with the ignorance of never knowing how I would have done. Ignorance is bliss, you cannot fail if you do not try, you get me right?! However everyone one knows you cannot win, if you are not in the competition. Have you ever watched "who wants to be a millionaire" and discovered you know all the answers to the questions asked and you wish you were the one playing the game and not the person on the television who seems to have no clue. Oh well, there goes your one million my love because you are not the one playing.

"Try and fail, but never fail to try" I came across this quote somewhere and it hit me! what am I afraid of, I am young there is no harm in going after the things I want. There is no harm in trying even if I fail, I will just keep trying till I have lost interest in that pursuit, but if it still hunts my dreams why give up? Take risks! Play the game! you never know you just may win...