#sandringham hotel

[timeagainreviews]

The Hyperfixations of Steven Moffat

Leading up to the Doctor Who Christmas special, I was surprised to see people expressing indifference toward the prospect of new Doctor Who. There were the usual shitbag “Not my Doctor,” homophobes and racists who add nothing but noise to the background radiation of the fandom. But there were also ride-or-die fans expressing disinterest. And it’s not like I don’t get it. The first season of RTD’s return was a bit jank. For me, it was a marked uptick in quality, but it also felt like it was trying a bit too hard. We’re also coming off the tail end of a Hell Year™, and we’re tired. Honestly, I kind of hate anyone whose biggest problem in the world right now is the Superman trailer. But I also recognise the need for escapism. Which is why a Doctor Who Christmas special and Wallace & Gromit double feature was such a welcome reprieve from Hell Year™. That was my Christmas sorted. And you know what? I had a lovely fucking Christmas.

My greatest takeaway from this double feature was that Wallace is a bit of a menace in his own right, and Moffat is a man with hyperfixations. When I say this, I don’t mean it in a judgemental way (except for Wallace, he should take more care), but rather to highlight what I think is Moffat’s main quality as a writer. Recently Moffat disclosed that he has been diagnosed autistic. As a neurospicy individual myself, I appreciate a good hyperfixation. Let this blog be exhibit A. You give an autistic or ADHD person a hyperfixation, and it’s like a dog with a bone. You can see this in the way Moffat writes about time travel. I’ve mentioned it before, but Moffat writes time travel like a young boy who got hyperfixated and couldn’t stop thinking about the implications of time travel. 

What are some of Moffat’s hyperfixations as a writer? How about names beginning with “Os”? What about women who look like Elon Musk’s mum if she were a burlesque scientist? Or young people who meet older people and become obsessed with them into adulthood? (I’m not gonna get into it, but it’s weird that it happened three times) While some of Moffat’s preoccupations are distinctly Steven, others are more widely shared. I still remember being nervous around a hobo statue my grandmother had in her basement. I used to run past it as though it were going to spring into life the moment I took my eyes off it. I understand Weeping Angels. Fear of the dark gets us the Vashta Nerada. Steven Moffat is a writer whose fixations are at the centre of his work. And part of that work lands him in hotel rooms where he has plenty of time to lie there and think about the room he’s in.

About a month ago, we were given our first taste of “Joy to the World,” with the opening scene of the Doctor going door to door in various locations attempting to deliver a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin spice latte. I don’t usually watch scenes ahead of their time, but the costume geek in me really wanted to see the latest variation on what has become the closest thing we’ll get to a signature look for this Doctor. I loved the butterscotch tones with the wide legged trousers. Such an iconic look. This may be one of my favourite costumes Ncuti has worn thus far. However, beyond a glimpse at the new costume, I was curious to see the Fifteenth Doctor with a different companion from Ruby Sunday. I adored Nicola Coughlan as Clare in Derry Girls, so I had to sneak a peak.

It was rare in classic Doctor Who for a Doctor to go into a situation with no companions. The Third Doctor was alone before meeting Liz Shaw. The TARDIS engines had hardly cooled between Leela and Romana. There were also the Eighth Doctor and Grace. But for the most part, there was always a companion bridging the exchange. It’s far more common in modern Doctor Who to see the Doctor without a companion at the beginning of a story. These moments interest me because its a chance to see the Doctor’s vulnerability. With no one to impress, the Doctor feels somehow less confident. The Doctor doesn’t always need a companion to remind him when he’s gone too far, but also to remind him to feel love. Here, we see the Doctor still not used to being on his own. He pops into a hotel lobby for a couple cups of coffee before remembering he only needs the one.

While this is a nice re-introduction to the Doctor’s current emotional state, I was a little disappointed by this being the reason the Doctor was at the Time Hotel in the first place. It’s funny that he steals coffee from hotel lobbies on the reg, but it’s a flimsy device for a story setup. Then again, that is Moffat’s way. During his run on Doctor Who it was always impressed upon us that the TARDIS always took the Doctor where he needed to be. He even reiterates this concept during the Doctor and Anita’s conversation about her sat nav. That’s sort of the Doctor’s whole thing. Go somewhere innocuous on the day when everything went to shit. Henrik’s Department Store operated for years without incident until the Nestine Consciousness showed up and the Doctor had to blow the place up. Besides, how else are you going to draw a guy who time travels and has no need for a home into a time travelling hotel? Those are like the two things he needs the least. So yeah, the Doctor steals coffees like they were TARDISes.

Along with Nicola Coughlan guest starring as Joy, we get an adorable turn from Joel Fry as the charmingly dim Trev Simpkins. While his screentime is minimal, I fell in love with Trev almost immediately. Sadly, Trev wouldn’t be long for this world, but the stars are a completely different story. Having been conscripted by the Doctor to spy on a strange man in the hotel lobby, Trev quickly becomes embroiled in the journey of the mysterious Villengard suitcase by becoming its next host. This is how we’re introduced to Joy Almondo, a young woman staying at the Sandringham Hotel, which is a bit of a flophouse. Once again, we’re reintroduced to another Moffat hyperfixation which is a weird “women be shoppin’” attitude when Joy nervously asks Anita if its obvious that she’s single. I rolled my eyes at that line, and it’s made slightly more egregious when you consider the reason Joy is by herself in this run-down hotel on Christmas Eve. Why would she be thinking of men on the night she’s very clearly mourning the loss of her mum? The brief conversation between her and the fly in her room endears us to her far more than her anxiety about finding a man in this economy.

Ultimately, the Sandringham Hotel proves to be a lot more interesting of a location than the Time Hotel. Which is saying something considering that out of the Time Hotel’s many doors into different periods of time, one of those doors is some kind of Hobbit door. In contrast to the wacky voyeur tourism of the Time Hotel, the Sandringham Hotel was where the emotional core of the story takes place, even if I find Moffat’s conceit about hotels a bit contrived. You see, I can imagine the genesis of this story came from Moffat lying in a hotel room and considering that weird door that won’t open. We’ve all wondered about it. But he loses me a bit with his take on why people stay at such hotels.

Back in 2016, my friend Gary came and visited me from the states. We planned a trip down to London where he could see Abbey Road and then onto Cardiff for the Doctor Who Experience and up to Liverpool to see John Lennon’s house. It was a bare-bones trip over three days that required some sacrifices in train times and accommodations. We needed a good hotel in London, but what was most important was a place to hang our heads for the evening, so we went with cheap. The hotel we ended up with, we lovingly referred to as the Hotel Mos Eisley because it was a wretched hive of scum and villany. The rooms were numbered with a devil-may-care randomness. At the top of the stairs was a slashed canvas depicting Marilyn Monroe. One of her teeth had been blacked out and a swastika was drawn on her forehead. We had to sleep with toilet paper in our ears for fear of roaches. But we met so many characters in this hotel that we remember it as a fond memory of our trip. We still laugh about it to this day. My point being, sometimes a hotel room is just a means to an end. Also, some people are just poor. It’s not that deep, Steven.

I will however concede that this isn’t lost on Steven Moffat. As I said before, a lot of humanity can be found in the mundane setting of the Sandringham. Spoilers for the Bible if you’ve not read it, but that sentiment is reiterated with the humble manger where Mary gives birth to Jesus at the end of this episode. Furthermore, the Doctor was merely making Joy angry in an attempt to wake her out of whatever control the Villengard briefcase has over her. I had read about a week ago that Moffat wanted to bring the Doctor’s meanness back into the character, something which I have been waiting for since Chibnall decided to make the Doctor constantly stoked on life. I’m not going to go back and count the number of times in this blog where I mentioned wishing they would make Jodie scarier, but it was often. The Doctor is an alien and basically a god, it’s nice to be reminded of that on occasion. Eccleston is a good Doctor, but he became a great Doctor when we saw him lose his shit in “Dalek.” Even if it was being mean to save Joy’s life, it was nice to see the manipulative cosmic being we saw in the Seventh and Eleventh Doctors.

The Doctor is forced to go the long way to save Joy in the future by boot strap paradoxing the briefcase code to himself. I really loved this year the Doctor spends with Anita, working side by side at this hotel. As my friend Taryn quipped, they did more to build the Doctor and Anita’s relationship in one episode than they did Thirteen and Yaz’s relationship in three seasons. But in this relationship, I did find a few holes, and I don’t think I’m alone in suspecting they mean something. By now, you’ve probably seen a theory or two about Anita being Mrs Flood, and I’m right there with you. While she seems perfectly nice, there are some moments when Anita feels like she’s either a woman out of time, or not of this world. She didn’t recognise police boxes, which is sort of fair. I mean, here in Glasgow, they’re everywhere. But they are still a relic. She also didn’t know what Auld Lang Syne meant. Once again, fair dos, not everyone does. But growing up in the UK and not knowing who Guy Fawkes was? Very suspicious.

The Doctor stays with Anita for an entire year working side by side at the hotel. It gave shades of “The Lodger,” and “The Power of Three,” watching the Doctor stay in one place for an extended period while using his Doctory technology in service of mundane tasks. It was very charming and Christmassy to see the Doctor in this capacity. It only further drove home my belief that Ncuti Gatwa was a shoe-in for the Doctor. However, my internet addled-brain still laughed when they hinged a large portion of the episode’s emotional core around a hotel cuck chair. Moffat is clearly not suffering from the same brain rot as me. It’s Chibnall and VOR (see: vore) all over again. Moffat may have a lot to say about hotel rooms, but so does the internet. Sometimes, the fact that Doctor Who is made by middle aged Doctor Who nerds is entirely apparent. I suppose it’s what makes the show so wonderfully memeable. 

Trev uses the phrase “Everywhere, all at once,” in this epsiode and I can’t help but feel like Doctor Who is dipping its toe into the metaverse. Last season we had a character called Susan Triad who was played by a woman named Susan Twist. Then the characters dance while singing that there is always a twist at the end. If Anita turns out to be Mrs Flood, then we’ll have a woman named Anita Dobson who plays a character named Anita Flood. I’m not saying this is what is happening, but it can’t be lost on RTD. Then again, Moffat did give us Oswin Oswald at the same time we got Osgood and I’ll be damned if it didn’t feel related back then too. One of the recurring theories I see people returning to is that the Doctor is in the Land of Fiction from “The Mindrobber.” Perhaps they have included the Master of the Land into the Pantheon of Gods. If you watched the trailer for season two, you’ll have noticed the large animated character emerging for the theatre screen. It’s either the deepest Eighth Doctor cut ever (Crooked World represent!) or the walls between fiction and reality are bleeding into one another. What will that mean for the Doctor, a fictional character? Doctor Who may be a staple of British culture, but it also exists in a Britain so foreign to modern Britain because it never went through a phase of Dalekmania. None the less, I sense another shakeup on the horizon.

Speaking of Britains from a foreign reality, how about that COVID-19 representation? I say foreign from reality, because if you were to have watched Doctor Who during the pandemic, you would think that their fictional version of Britain never had to deal with the coronavirus. I’m not going to sit here and call Chibnall gutless for not including the pandemic into the storyline. I imagine it was a choice that required a meeting and they ultimately decided not to address it. If I were to guess, I would imagine they left the pandemic out of the show for two reasons. Firstly, they probably wanted Doctor Who to be a reprieve from death and despair. And secondly, they probably wanted to avoid questions like “Why doesn’t the Doctor just give everyone the cure?” So yeah, they probably did what was best at the time and left it at that. I can appreciate that. I can also appreciate them introducing it to give the Tories a proper bollocking.

I’ve seen some complaints about Joy’s decrying the Tories as her mother gasped her final breaths in the hospital. Some people (see: idiots) thought it was too political and woke. Which, if that’s your takeaway from this episode, I pity you. If anything, the Tories got off light. I have friends who lost their mums to COVID and I was happy to see the show finally address the very real situation we survived. I’m old enough to have lived through monkey pox outbreaks, bird flu, SARS, and mad cow disease. I never met anyone who got those diseases. I’ve had COVID three times. The pandemic was out of control in a way no living human had seen since the 1920s. Doctor Who has often struggled with finding the correct tone when tackling deep issues. But I feel like they nailed it here. Oddly, it being a Christmas story allows it the proper tone to reflect on holidays spent with late loved ones.

It’s rare when I watch an episode of Doctor Who when my closest network of friends and family who watch Doctor Who are all in agreement as to its quality. Usually one of us has a grievance to air. But everyone in my little circle really enjoyed the episode. This is surprising considering the somewhat cheesy ending with Bethlehem (though I did love the idea that the Time Hotel is why there was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph). Myself and Taryn, both atheists, weren’t bothered in the slightest. My friend Alice, a Christian, wasn’t bothered by it on any religious grounds. It was a sweet moment afforded by the fact that it’s Christmas. Besides, if Baby Jesus isn’t invited to his birthday party, then maybe they’re doing something wrong. Other than the usual chuckleheads, I’ve not seen many people complaining about this episode. I did see that some people were let down by the lack of Silurians. The Silurian hotel manager, Melnak, had led some to believe that this Christmas special was going to be rife with Silurians. I never got this impression as he seemed like a one-off character. In fact, after watching the second episode preview, I thought it was implied that the Villengard briefcase hologram took the form of the dominant species during dinosaur times. It would appear that we were all wrong. Other than that and some of Moffat’s weird “women be shopping” brand of dialogue, it was a very solid episode of Doctor Who.

Along with the quiet moments of reflection, the deep connection between the Doctor and Anita, and Joy’s mourning her mother, we even got some exciting action scenes. We got a Jurassic Park style dinosaur with glowy eyes. We even got an exciting train scene. I love watching Ncuti in that flowing coat. He’s like a superhero in his cape atop that train in an ice storm. It was fun to watch him swinging a grappling hook to open the tomb encasing the starseed. But when the Doctor returns, both Joy and the starseed have ascended the stairs to the wild blue yonder above. While I had hoped for a little bit more of a presence of Villengard, I appreciated that this sentient star had more in mind than death and destruction. Villengard was so far from in control of the situation by that point and I loved that. Because, in reality, they’ve always been pathetic and small-time in the Doctor’s world. They acknowledge and appreciate the shared risk all sentient life takes with their actions. They like to think its the same worry people had when they fired up the Hadron Collider, but it’s closer in nature to corporations killing the environment we all depend on. “The Starseed will bloom and the flesh will rise,” wasn’t a threat, but a prelude to Joy’s ascent into the heavens. What’s more is that Trev and the other carriers of the star case will also live on forever in the sky. Leading the wisemen to Jesus and delivering Joy’s mother to the great beyond. If you think this episode didn’t make me cry, you’d be wrong.

The episode ends, but not before revisiting a couple of familiar faces. We see Ruby waiting by her phone for the Doctor to call, but instead it’s her mum. We can expect to see Ruby again, but probably not right away, which I’m fine with. It will give us time to get to know Varada Sethu as “Belinda Chandra,” a name which excites me on two levels. Is she related to Rani Chandra? And why does she have a different name from Mundy Flynn? Is this an Adeola/Martha cousins thing? Or is an Oswin/Clara different versions of the same person thing? Maybe it’s something more? The important thing is that I’m curious and excited to find out. I expect great things from Doctor Who, and if nothing else, chairs for the TARDIS. The future of Doctor Who feels bright from my perspective, I just wish the rest of the fandom felt the same way. 2025, or Hell Year™ 2.0,  is going to be a rough year for a lot of us. Like I said, I understand the need for escapism. You have my permission to feel good about yourself and to enjoy some Doctor Who next year. Fuck the haters. You have value and you deserve to feel joy.

[birdsonpowerlines]

In this episode we're back to talking about Doctor Who. We finally had a chance to watch the 2024 Christmas special, and had a lot of fun watching it so that is the topic of this podcast. We really loved the play on the "timey wimey!" What did you think about this year's Christmas special? How does it compare to others that you've seen? If you want to hear more of our Doctor Who-related podcasts, be sure to explore our episode playlist - there are quite a few podcasts focused on The Doctor.

If you haven't listened to our podcasts before, we use a voice messenger app to share our thoughts with each other to discuss a variety of topics as we go about our day.

Who are we at the Birds on Power Lines Podcast? We are a mom and young adult child team having the time of our lives talking about things we love and care about!

Links for the artist, Curtis Epperson, who we talk about at the end of the podcast: https://www.curtiseppersonart.com/ https://www.popgalleryorlando.com/collections/curtis-epperson https://www.popgalleryorlando.com/collections/curtis-epperson/products/tardis-by-curtis-epperson

Find the full set of podcasts on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWyQ8KHWi2wBg3ZXuABXeaHAdrcJ2da67

We are also on (look for Birds on Power Lines Podcast): Apple Podcasts Spotify Facebook Podbean

Art: All watercolor art by me: Evelyn Voura for Birds on Power Lines @BirdsOnPowerLines

Music: Music by my child for Birds on Power Lines @BirdsOnPowerLines

Bird sounds from: Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrgGTvzuA1I

[hotelbooking]

The Sandringham Bed and Breakfast Take everything available in Durban with a comfort stay at Take advantage of a wealth of unrivaled services and amenities at Front desk services including luggage storage can assist with your needs. If you need, the ticket service and tours can even help you book tickets and reservations at all the best shows and programs nearby. Staying for a long time, or just need clean clothes? dry cleaning service and laundry service offered at the hotel will keep your favorite travel outfits clean and available. For lazy days and nights, in-room conveniences like room service and daily housekeeping let you make the most of your room. Please be advised that smoking is not allowed in the hotel to allow cleaner air for all guests. Each guestroom at The hotel also offers a refrigerator, a coffee or tea maker and mini bar in some rooms for when you feel like it is needed. Knowing that bathroom amenities play an important role in increasing guests' satisfaction,...

[raspberry-gloaming]

Lemme tell you, i am so certain someone at big finish is looking at that episode and rubbing their hands with glee, in aproximately 5 or so years Anita will have a Big Finish series about her and the Time Hotel, and there will also be a series about that year her and the Doctor spent working at the Sandringham.

[silvereyedowl]

"Joy to the World" preview analysis

The Doctor is bouncing through time trying to deliver someone a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte.

Notably, he doesn't seem to know who the food is meant for. A message on the psychic paper, perhaps?

He visits Manchester during a WWII bombing raid, the Orient Express in 1962, and Mount Everest basecamp in 1953 (the year it was first summited).

Basil (the old man) wonders about the door the Doctor came through. Since the same room appears on the other side of the door in the Queens Hotel, the train, and the Sandringham Hotel in 2024, this question is warranted.

Joy appears to be recently single, since she says she wasn't expecting to be lonely for Christmas.

The hotel manager is a Silurian. He also does not appear to know what a hairdryer is on sight. It's not like Silurians really need them, though.

He says "The star seed will bloom, and the flesh will rise."

It looks like Joy is the intended recipient of the food. If so, how did the Doctor know how to bring it? (see above)

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

🌟 What's Going to Happen in 2025?

Are you wondering what 2025 might bring? Well, we've already been there. Here are a few key moments that are going to happen this year:

📅 Dated Events

All year: The Fifteenth Doctor will spend most of the year as a live-in employee at the Sandringham Hotel in London, after becoming stranded there.

30th January: Activist Jack Coulson will lead an energy protest in Trafalgar Square, attended by the Fourth Doctor and Leela.

31st January: The GlobeSphere corporation will set this day for a massive energy transfer from their moon base. However, the Daleks' plan to hijack the event will threaten to make Earth uninhabitable. Fortunately, the Fourth Doctor and Leela will foil the Daleks' scheme.

Christmas: The Fifteenth Doctor will bid farewell to Anita Benn at the Sandringham Hotel and head to the Exeter Hotel in New York City to meet a portal to the Time Hotel.

🌀 Undated Events

Tenth Doctor and Donna: The Tenth Doctor will take Donna Noble to the World of Aunty Winnie and meet Borace Gamnetyaac, a blue jelly-like creature from the Magneta Spool Galaxy.

Tenth Doctor and Rose: Rose Tyler will accompany the Tenth Doctor to a fairy tale-themed park, where androids designed to look and act like fairy tale characters will, of course, go wrong.

Eleventh Doctor: The Eleventh Doctor will investigate mysterious disappearances on Moonbase Laika.

Borozhev's Manifesto: Borozhev will publish a manifesto advocating a return to pure Marxism, founding neo-communism—a movement that will shape the 22nd century.

🔀 Alternate Timelines

Seventh Doctor: In one timeline, the Seventh Doctor will visit a dystopian 2025 where Earth is stagnating under Benanki rule. He will travel to 1992 to prevent it from happening.

Ruby Sunday’s Alternate 2025: Another timeline, caused by the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday damaging a fairy circle in 2024, will see Ruby's life get super complicated.

👶 Births and Deaths

18 January 2025: Andy Stone will be born in Iowa in just eight days from now. (Fun Fact: Adelaide Brooke is already 24 years old and working at NASA's Johnson Space Centre.)

What a lovely fella.

Whoniverse Facts for Friday by GIL

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[heresmyfiddlestick]

Joy to the World

my thoughts and some silly canonwelding and esquivalience-tin-hatting

a standard, inoffensive Christmas special. along the lines of Twice Upon a Time where there is *something weird happening* and the Doctor gets involved but doesn't really need to, because as it turns out there is no big evil and everything would have been fine either way, but by getting involved he learns a bit about himself.

the 7.5-minute bootstrap paradox interlude in the Sandringham in 2024 was nice and cute. we have to laugh at the Doctor wishing they could live day-by-day (The Power of Three? prison-era 13? UNIT era?), but i think it's interesting to see that admission as 15 wishing he could have the gift that he has given 14. i'm not holding my breath for the skinny man to actually come back or be mentioned any time soon, but this incarnation being born and immediately rejecting "the quiet life" is an important aspect of his character. i wish we'd gotten a bit more about Anita and how she helps the Doctor see more of himself. but Steph de Walley did a great job portraying a passionate one-sided workplace romance in montage.

{{esquivalience}} tin-hatting time now. it's time to draw some wild connections between elements of the show that may mean something but probably don't. call it an easter egg. the Susan Twist twist has primed me to respond to connections between character names and performer names. Anita Dobson is Mrs. Flood, who we know will be important to the "forces beyond this universe" we hear about in the teaser for season 15/41/apple/2. ALL I'M SAYING IS Anita || Anita. the real world is still blurring into the show and the show is bleeding out into the real world.

hang on, in looking up Anita's actor's name i learned that the woman working behind the desk at the Time Hotel is named Angela Grace i.e. Angel o' Grace L.M.A.O. another banger, steve.

alrighty now for some canonwelding, my favourite activity in this fandom. something with fewer implications and just for fun. what the heck happened to Joy and the star-seed and all that? "we're so much bigger than Villengard"?? and the Joy-star just sucked up Joy's dying mother??? Aha! why of course, we know about a big powerful sentient star that exists on a crazy long time scale, is the centre of a religion (the briefcase is put in a shrine and described as something that could "start a religion"), and likes to eat emotionally-potent items/people. that's right, I put forward that Joy, after she becomes the fucking Christmas star, eventually turns into...

AKHATEN

(does this mean "the Long Song" was just an extended version of The Twelve Days of Christmas?)

and absent any further investigation of exactly what the star-seed is and what it ends up doing after this special, that is my headcanon of choice.

[sassyfrassboss]

BP has already set the record straight to the Sun.

Charles kept his helicopter waiting so he could personally welcome Harry at his London home Clarence House.

Sources said the King made a “significant” decision to delay his travel plans after his son’s gesture to fly across the Atlantic at short notice.

Their meeting was thought to have lasted little more than half an hour, with Harry and his entourage leaving Clarence House around 45 minutes after arriving.

The Sun understands there are no plans for Harry to spend time with the King at Sandringham.

Last night Harry did not stay in any Palace and may have booked into a luxury London hotel.

There's also precise timings of everything in the article.

Basically: Harry turned up uninvited, is not invited to Sandringham, will not be given any accommodation, ought to be grateful Charles was willing to spare even 30 minutes, and should go home now.

https://archive.ph/W3CyI

Thanks!!!

I think he will stay put until early next week and then fly to Canada to meet Meghan for IG.

What I don't particularly like about this is that Charles delayed his own plans to accommodate Harry. Makes it look like Harry is more important than he is.

[slowlystupendousdelusion]

If someone took me on honeymoon to the Sandringham Hotel I think I might have second thoughts

[the-empress-7]

In actuality, staying at BP is a snub; especially after it was made known that Charles had left. Even HM QEII didn’t enjoy BP as a base; she left as soon as business concluded. Not being invited to stay at Sandringham, Windsor, KP, St. James, CH, hell even FC, that’s the snub. He’d be better off at a hotel but he doesn’t have the money. Doesn’t matter what Americans think about Henry staying at BP; do Americans even think about Henry?!

Americans know very little about the BRF, but of all the royal palaces BP is most popular in our pop culture. It equates to the seat of power for the UK, because most Americans don't realize the UK even has PM.

[bergeronprocess]

Can we talk about that Michael Scott ass sized TV in Joy's room at the Sandringham Hotel though

I was half expecting Jan to come in and bean a Dundie award at it

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Matt Wilkinson: HARRY BLOCKER Prince Harry planned King heart-to-heart & Sandringham stay but aides blocked it over fear theyd never get rid of him by u/Von_und_zu_

Matt Wilkinson: HARRY BLOCKER Prince Harry planned King heart-to-heart & Sandringham stay but aides blocked it over fear ‘they’d never get rid of him’ I'm laughing so hard at this story. Can it be true?The Sun on Sunday can reveal Harry, 39, planned for a long heart-to-heart with his dad.He had even hoped to join the King — recuperating from cancer treatment — for a few days at Sandringham.But instead he was instructed to visit Clarence House, his dad’s London home, for a short managed face-to-face meeting — and then told to get himself a hotel for the night.But after landing at Heathrow on February 6 he was told not to set off for Norfolk, where the King, 75, was planning to spend time with Queen Camilla, 76.As Charles delayed his departure for Sandringham, Harry was directed to go to Clarence House.He spent 45 minutes inside, but only around half an hour with his father.An insider revealed: “Harry came over to see his father, expecting to go to Sandringham. But instead he was asked to be at Clarence House and was restricted to 30 minutes.“The fear was that if he went to Sandringham they would never get rid of him.”https://ift.tt/hSVL6Zs post link: https://ift.tt/93zMfTw author: Von_und_zu_ submitted: February 17, 2024 at 10:50PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[birdsonpowerlines]

Doctor Who 2024 Christmas Special: Joy to the World

In this episode we're back to talking about Doctor Who. We finally had a chance to watch the 2024 Christmas special, and had a lot of fun watching it so that is the topic of this podcast. We really loved the play on the "timey wimey!" What did you think about this year's Christmas special? How does it compare to others that you've seen? If you want to hear more of our Doctor Who-related podcasts, be sure to explore our episode playlist - there are quite a few podcasts focused on The Doctor. 

Who are we at the Birds on Power Lines Podcast? We are a mom and young adult child team having the time of our lives talking about things we love and care about! 

 Links for the artist, Curtis Epperson, who we talk about at the end of the podcast:  https://www.curtiseppersonart.com/ https://www.popgalleryorlando.com/collections/curtis-epperson https://www.popgalleryorlando.com/collections/curtis-epperson/products/tardis-by-curtis-epperson 

Find the full set of podcasts on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWyQ8KHWi2wBg3ZXuABXeaHAdrcJ2da67 

 We are also on (look for Birds on Power Lines Podcast):  Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Facebook  Podbean 

 Art: All watercolor art by me: Evelyn Voura for Birds on Power Lines @BirdsOnPowerLines Music: Music by my child for Birds on Power Lines @BirdsOnPowerLines Bird sounds from: Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrgGTvzuA1I

[leonisandmurex]

please correct me if i'm wrong, so the brf tradition for summer is staying at balmoral, sandringham for winter and a hotel when you want to get away from your wife?

Only in your imagination anon

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in January 2023

05/01 Oxford Farming Conference

10/01 Traveled to Cyprus and attended a Reception and Dinner 🇨🇾

11/01 Meeting with the President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades at the Presidential Palace, Nicosia.

Visited personnel from the Royal Logistic Corps who are currently serving with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), on Operation TOSCA.

During the visit, The Princess was able to view different areas of the Buffer Zone and Nicosia, including the Ledra Palace Hotel, the abandoned Nicosia International Airport and Wayne's Keep Military Cemetery where there was a Service of Remembrance and Wreath Laying Ceremony UN Buffer Zone, Nicosia.

Opened Queen Berengaria Military School at Dhekelia Garrison, which serves British military communities from Dhekelia and Nikolaos.

12/01 As President of the Royal Yachting Association, HRH attended their Annual Luncheon at Trinity House, London

As Royal Patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, HRH attended a Reception and the ""Insights: Women in Sport"" Panel Discussion at the British Olympic Association

14/01 Opened the Gloucester Health and Care NHS Trust's Therapeutic Allotment in Gloucester

16/01 unofficial Accompanied by Sir Tim Laurence and Lady Gabriella Windsor, she attended King Constantine II’s funeral in Tatoi, Greece 🇬🇷

17/01 As President, of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, HRH opened Kalopsia Collective's new textiles facility

Visited the FastBlade Structural Testing Facility, at the University of Edinburgh

As Patron of the Royal Caledonian Hunt, HRH attended a Dinner to mark the Two Hundredth Anniversary of Royal Patronage

18/01 Investitures held at the Palace of Holyroodhouse 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Planted a tree in Jubilee Wood, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, to commemorate The late Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Her Royal Highness, Member, the Royal British Legion Scotland, afterwards Re-opened Lady Haig Poppy Factory, Edinburgh

Attended a Reception for Nurses and Midwives at Old College, University of Edinburgh.

Visited WildGenes Laboratory at Edinburgh Zoo, to mark the Laboratory's Tenth Anniversary

20/01 Visited 9 Regiment at Buckley Barracks, Lower Stanton St. Quintin, Wiltshire.

24/01 HRH, accompanied by Sir Tim Laurence, traveled to Estonia and attended a Dinner held by Alar Karis, President of Estonia at Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn. 🇪🇪

25/01 As Colonel-in-Chief of The King's Royal Hussars, accompanied by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, HRH visited the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence at Tapa Military Base, Estonia, and later attended a Reception given by His Majesty's Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia at the Residence in Tallinn.

29/01 unofficial Attended a church service with King Charles III at Sandringham

Total official engagements for Anne in January (not all listed in this post): 32

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in January: 3

[bikepackinguk]

Day Seven

Whew, a week in! And today has been a bit of a challenging one at times!

Managed to find a little patch of trees near Trimingham to spend the night yesterday where I encountered the first issue - the cable to my solar panel had become dislodged in the day and, coupled with a very overcast day, had left my GPS dead and my phone on just 10%. which meant no navigation for me today!

Not the end of the world of course, as I can't go too wrong just keeping the coast on my right! But it has meant not being able to find aome of the less travelled routes and have spent much of the day slogging along the A149 with the traffic.

Not as bad as it could have been though, as traffic for much of the day wasn't awful and it felt more like being on a B road for the most part, though with a few vexing hills.

Regardless of the road taken, the Norfolk Coast AONB is a gorgeous area and it's still been some beautiful scenery to take in whilst eating up the miles.

Stopped off at Hunstanton to take in The Wash and have a coffee on the coastline before finding a spot to cook an early dinner, where I encountered the second challenge of today - a flat tyre.

I could barely believe it, I haven't had a flat in years. Schwalbe Marathon tyres are like tanks, but somehow a hawthorn needle had come in through the side of the tyre and just scratched the inner tube.

Thankfully regardless of past experience, I always carry a spare tube so was able to get back up and rolling, though this meant that rush hour was now in progress and the quieter A road was now in full flow.

The solar panel had given me enough juice by now to get a bit of navigation going and was able to divert through Snettisham to avoid the worst of the traffic, then fell into riding along with another cyclists who was an old hand at touring, and took me on a lovely route around through the famed Sandringham Estate and connecting on to the traffic-free NCN Route 1. Thank you Peter!

This leads in to the historic town of Kings Lynn, where I am sat currently. As it's getting late and finding a hedge to sleep behind isn't really feasible, I have said sod it and booked into a cheap hotel. Which as luck would have it managed to overbook so I have an upgrade to a nice double bed to myself!

Alas no photos from today owing to the power situation, but I should at least be able to get thongs charged up again whilst here, as well as enjoying my first soft bed in a week!

I might even have a lie in. Luxury.