If you haven’t noticed yet, I don’t like Goodbyes, especially to Queens or a Great Dame.

But she’s going tonight … really and truly drifting out to sea for the last time … our QE2 is leaving Southampton for the warmer climate in Dubai and her new life as a hotel. I won’t make any Florida senior jokes, because Dubai is one of the new centers of the universe.

How embarassing! The QE2 experienced a minor mishap this morning, but doctors report her to be in fine condition.

Life in Dubai should keep the QE2’s dendrites growing. Perhaps she can write a blog about her new life there. I don’t know how Dubai culture views older women. Perhaps Maryam can tell us.

Just imagine, though, leaving London with 1,000,000 poppies dropped from the heavens. Now THAT is what I call pomp and circumstance, and our friends the Brits do it so very well. Personally, I’m glad the fleur du jour is electrifying red poppies and not English garden roses. I adore roses, but poppies are more celebratory, especially for a dowager.

Our QE2 must remain hip.

Pine Canyon Poppies! I think we must throw a few poppies of our own into cyberspace … showering the QE2 with plenty of love and good wishes.

Perhaps we appreciate the QE2 a bit more now, than a few years ago. Yes, as the Telegraph writes: “(she) may be old and looks a little tired in places but its classic lines, elegance and old-fashioned charm have not dimmed with age.”

There are beautiful fields of poppies everywhere in the Vaucluse at the moment. This one is along the Chemin du Mercadier between Mormoiron and Mazan Her formality and good manners may be a bit staid, but as I wrote in my BlogCritics piece last week, stability and a firm foundation aren’t negatives right now. Leaning up against her railing, one doesn’t sense that the QE2 will give way under our weight.

So, adieu for the last time, our dear Queen. May your new life add to your incredible journal of precious moments, accumulated in 40 years of service, 25 times around the world, and 5.6 million nautical miles.

A thousand kisses, and poppies too.

Much love,

Anne, Feanne and all your many fans

PS: Here’s a wonderful blog QE2: The Last Crossing, written by an American journalist following all the festivities.