Thursday 12th June 2012
That is supposedly today's date. I'm surprised on exactly how much has changed in the time I've not been around. Today for Merlin and me was a long day, so it might take me a while to explain everything, so you'll have to bear that in mind.
The first thing I was introduced to this morning was cooking. We don't have people cook for you so we have to do this ourselves. The majority of the food is bought from a place called a Supermarket, which we will be visiting tomorrow. Some of the food such as cheese and eggs are placed into the big box with a door called a fridge. Below there goes all the frozen things, such as chicken and meat, which is an ice box called a freezer, hence the name. The rest of food goes into cupboards.
This morning's meal was bacon and eggs with some bread and butter. Eggs, as I've been told, can be cooked in many ways. I can't remember them all, but the ones we had this morning were fried. You crack the egg using a knife and pour the yolk into a frying pan. You place the frying pan on this huge box, which the top is the hobs and the bottom part is the oven, which cooks food. To fry the eggs you have to turn the dial and press the ignition button before a blue flame appears. Then you place the pan onto the hob and it begins to cook. Once the egg is cooked you turn the dial for the flame to disappear and then place onto a plate.
In order to properly learn how to cook, Merlin has enrolled in some cookery class for beginners, where every Monday and Friday I have to attend some school to learn. I don't want to be taught by someone else, I want to be taught by Merlin! Although, these teachers know more than Merlin does. In that class I will be able to learn to cook many different meals which not only come from England but also across the globe, which is called Earth. How many countries are there?
Two other things I did learn, other than cookery this morning was that the King or Queen doesn't make all the decisions anymore. This United Kingdom is ruled by the Prime Minister, who is like another leader, but makes the majority of the decisions. The current Prime Minister is David Cameron, who is the leader of the Conservative Party, at the moment it is a coalition government, where two parties are working together. The other party working with the Conservatives, or Tories as people call them is the Liberal Democrat Party, and its leader is Nick Clegg.
Down in the city of Westminster, which is a city in Greater London, there is this really old building called the Houses of Parliament. One house is the House of Commons, where loads of MP's come together and make decisions, which the boss is this David Cameron. The other house is the House of Lords where the Queen is in charge. Together they make decisions and the laws of the kingdom, which is literally two giant national councils. There are smaller councils with leaders in them called local councils.
The leaders of these councils are voted for by the people in elections. Anyone who is 18 or over can vote by going to their local polling station. The local elections take place every year, and the national ones take place every five years. This David Cameron bloke got into power back in 2010, after the Prime Minister at the time who was Gordon Brown (former leader of the Labour Party) stepped down as Prime Minister, which means the people have to put up with him for another three years until the next election in 2015. Poor people!
Also, the police are a group of people who are allowed under authority of the Queen to arrest bandits for wrongdoings and are sent to the dungeons, which today is called a prison. They are then trialled in the courts, which the judge and the jury make the decision on whether he or she is guilty or not guilty. If they are guilty, they stay in prison for a certain amount of time, depending on the seriousness of the crime. They are not allowed to be punished by death in the kingdom due to a law that was passed a few decades ago.
There are also other people that help. If we are unwell, like back in Camelot many years ago when I was prince and then king, we go and see the physician, but today, we have to make an appointment first, either by travelling there or by phoning the doctors surgery. Again, what is a phone?
If the illness is more serious then we have to go to the hospital, where there are loads of physicians who are more knowledgeable. We can be taken by a group of people called paramedics in a big moving vehicle called an ambulance.
If our house catches fire then we phone for some people to come and put the fire out called the fire brigade. They all have their own uniforms to show what job they have. These are very good people, and some get knighted by the Queen for their good work, having a title to their name. Women alongside men are allowed to this job, and now get the many equal rights that they deserve.
Anyway, I better leave it here for now as I've got to go to the market with Merlin to get myself some new clothes that actually fit. This should be fun...