Burn out is not permitted if

you are the Queen.

One of the interesting things about Covid has been that I have finally managed to genuinely cut back on the amount of work I was doing. I won't say it has been a good thing. It meant independent aid workers were not able to go abroad as they had before. People were not getting the help they needed. In a way though it has been a good thing because I have managed to train other people to take over from me. That was always a worry. Now there are people who will be able to do what I was doing. Between us we have strengthened the network and that is good.

I am still doing some work but now I have time to be with the Senior Cat and I am getting a little writing time, a little craft time. There were a few years there when I was doing almost none of that. But.... I feel almost guilty about all this. It doesn't seem right.

It really didn't seem right last night when I looked at HM The Queen and realised that she has been working for almost as long as I have been alive.  How in the heck has she done it? 

There she was smiling and cutting a cake - and even managing to look as if she was actually enjoying doing it. Perhaps she was? 

It made me think of all those people who complain of "burn out". Now I don't doubt for a minute that they do have something to complain about. I know people who are simply exhausted facing up to patients all day as members of the medical profession. I know teachers who are equally exhausted trying to teach. Some have simply left it all behind and found something else to do.

That has never been an option for the Queen. You can't just "retire". Even if she abdicated there would be "things to do". I know many people think she has an easy life. "All she has to do is smile and shake hands" someone once told me. They forget the boring speeches, the equally boring people, the nervous people, the lunches, the state dinners, the self-important politicians, the "boxes" (of parliamentary and other papers), and working with difficult people. 

I remember my Constitutional Law lecturer - a man who was not a monarchist by any means - telling us that the Queen was one of the best Constitutional lawyers he knew of. The Queen has had to learn a great deal over the years...and yes, she can both "advise" and "warn". It would be a foolish Prime Minister who did not listen.

My earliest memory of her is of sitting on the Senior Cat's shoulders and waving a small flag as she went by in a car. The Queen was wearing a yellow dress. It is a good memory. HM has been a good example. It makes me realise how lucky I am not to be able to stop working altogether.