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Dear REGINA “Isabel“,
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as this second “Elizabethan age” comes to a close, we…
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Ever since Rei João I of Portugal signed the Windsor Treaty back in 1386, we (our “peoples”) have have felt close – except perhaps on a football pitch during game time – a perdurable “confederation” between our “Johns” or “Joões” and our “Janes” or “Joanas”, and it’s a convergence of “tribesmen” that is stronger than oak or blood.
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Our ladies (especially) in Lusitania have always been very enamored with you, and what you represented: Strength, continuity (for the lesser liberal), vigilance and “immortal fashionability” of something for us to aspire to (in spirit if not in patrimony).
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Bless you, child, for you have served and taught us well, and it has been a long tour of service and duties, to mankind, womankind and humankind. You were ours as much as we were indeed yours. Never before had the world witnessed such a reciprocal and symbiotic “partnership” between commoners and a Royal. Throughout our lives, with heart, soul and enthusiasm, we served each other, and we did it without burden or boredom.
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Hundreds of millions of us subjects (both foreign and domestic) and “chroniclers” that awake today with pretty much the same sad stories to tell (“of the death of… Queens“). We have fallen “orphans” of (you)our Queen. We were born and she(you) was(were) there. We ourselves have matured, grown, flourished, thrived and “ascended” into adulthood, into “the wrong side of forty” and beyond, and she’s(you’ve) always been there.
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Through thick and thin, (you)Isabel was(were) a constant in most of our lives. She(you) has(have) been here and there, for us and with us, seemingly everlastingly, until recently, impervious to the passing of “Father Time“. She(you) championed and imbued(us) with her stoic and enduring brand of unequaled serenity, grace and dignity.
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And suddenly… she(you) is(are) no more, other than to be cried over here, on this sacred ground upon which we have sat and fought over, land which Sir Arthur Wellesley came to return to us, 214 years ago.
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Bless you, Isabel. Rest well and easy, Elizabeth Alexandra. And thank you for so much over so long. You we will be fondly missed, on and around the Commonwealth. And we do profess to transfer – and endeavor to offer the same level of – (our) fealty to your primogenic descendant. May God’s grace be shed on him and keep him safe and unassailed.
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As a man, I could never understand why women shed tears over the passing of strangers. Since yesterday’s 18:33 when my aunt phoned with the sorumbatic news, I have come to better understand those womenfolk who “put on the weeps’‘, gutted to their very cores and consequently, “dissolved into tears” over Marilyn, Princess Grace and Lady Diana. And I do so apologize for not being more empathetic (or sensitive) back in August of 97 when Naseem Hamed went to Buckingham’s gate to deposit a “boutonniere“, or during other plebeian’s hours of bereavement over a (much beloved)stranger.
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GOD Save The King!!! And now, let us all “motor” on!
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As the “bipolar” (“Bi“, might be an understatement (but not a cheeky one at that)) Tyson Luke Fury – the(near)uncontested “monarch” of all he surveys in the “overweight division” – awakes, his oscillating (and I’m feeling charitable today) personality keeps polarizing (pun intended) his royal subjects and (increasing number of minders).
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First, “King Tyson” claims (on several occasions) that he is to be regarded as “superannuated” (in Boxing sense) and retired. But then, the caffeine, the refined sugar, or something else entirely(…), enters his organism (or overthrows his mind), or as the case may be, the direction of the winds unanticipatedly changes on that “whirligiged” Encephalon of his, and… all of a sudden he is not retired, nor “outdated“.
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Then, as the breeze blows precipitously, “King Tyson” decides he’ll only “do the fistic” in exchange for a half billion pounds (a “King’s ransom” if we are to keep with this stylistic device of mine). But then the gust changes out of the (wide)blue(yonder), and he (pro)claims he’ll fight for nothing (or a tuppence). Talk about Capitalism and “Marxism” in one brain alone. I did always hear that trauma to the head does irrevocably destroy brain cells and causes permanent damage that leads to… well, a sad state of personal and intelectual affairs, later on in life.
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Then he(Tyson) wants to fight Dillian Whyte (why??? Not if they paid me handsomely…). But then, it blows further (talk about a sneaky “double entendre“) and he prefers to fight Oleksandr Usyk, and now (for the time being, that is) he wishes to fight one Anthony Joshua. This comes across a bit like asking a schizophrenic whether he is happy or sad, and he answers both, in an interval of 15 seconds. Even politicians (some…) and (very few)Presidents of Football Clubs show more coherence, decency and “authenticness”
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Care I for this hypothetical contest? But of course! After all, when all is said and done, it is still the very best Heavyweight on the planet versus the – at worst – 3rd or 4th best heavyweight on Earth. Plus (and I am nonplussed), from a commercial standpoint, it would be by (very)far the biggest…”battle royal” that could be made or staged.
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Who would I “blue-chip” in this one? The same as always in any contest I do handicap, I always select the most technically proficient fighter. Plus, even though Fury often happens upon us as some sort of “raving lunatic” (I for one, do not see it as merely as some sort of eccentric sense of humor (and I’m a bit of a “reference” on this particular matter…)), but rather as a man with preoccupying mental issues, and should, within reason, be cared for and not just “exploited” for booty and plunder at the box-office).
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But, as I was writing, beyond the physical attributes, I do ironically (but not facetiously) rate Fury higher on the “mental scale” than A.J. as well. Meaning by that, that pugilistic men such as Fury or Usyk may not look so impressive on a bodybuilding stage, but they do seem to be (moxie-filled)”born fighters“, and by that, I don’t just mean to say that they started their “apprenticeship” sooner, but also that they convey the impression of “men of (natural)violence“, men who were born to become fighters. It’s a natural aptitude in’em
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In the UK there is an expression to define what the (A)’maricans refer to as s “tough guy“, and that is a “hard man“. Meaning not just that they can physically “furnish” and inflict the pain. Psychologically, they seem to have a greater (natural) predisposition to enjoy violence and a “willingness” to bear it.
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I honestly see (no longer so) young Anthony Joshua as a mentally frail (and surprisingly immature )man, he might be more stable than Fury, but when spontaneity comes, what comes natural to him is his”undoing“. He gave us a sad and perplexing spectacle of himself post-2nd fight with Usyk. Just 3 short years ago he had never tasted his own vanquishment. Now(or soon), by year’s end, if the bout does come to be (I have my sincerest doubts), he’ll very likely have four “nonsuccesses” loitering his “loss column“. And an ever weightier bank account.
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Joshua even in (multiple) defeat(s) might very well be the Sport’s top attraction, but I suspect he (or anybody else with a modicum of pride or panache) won’t’ be around for much longer, no matter how bountifully he is rewarded in defeat.
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As previously stated, I’ll commit myself with the winner being the bigger, rangier, stronger (Oh. Yes!), more technical and “mentally stouter” man, Tyson Fury, long may he reign and well-cared for may he be, by family and by his true loved ones. With reference to the “rest”, well, they are… the “rest,” the sycophantic masses whose memory is always short, and unappreciative.
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And for this reason, rightfully so, he should take the money and run (to the ring, and later on, perchance also to a good neurologist and/or psychiatrist). For what is the life of a “Royal“, if not to care and provide for family, the “blood one”, and the “extended ones”.
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Parque das Nações,
Friday, September the 9th, 2022.
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Text: Ronald William Miller.
Image: All rights reserved.
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