This is the meme.

Princess Diana’s death (August 31, 1997)

I remember the day well enough. I was three months into my second pregnancy and had just taken a leave of absence from study due to some hemorrhaging the week before. The Scientist, Games Fanatic and I were visiting at his parents’ home, for lunch, I think. I am pretty sure his mum was away at the time but I recall his dad sitting in the usual chair in the games room, watching the news when the newsflash came on. We all rushed to see the story when we first heard about it. That’s about all I remember about that day. I had no idea of the hysteria that was to follow.

The events of the following week have been superseded in my memory by more personal events. That was the week that my pregnancy ended and I recall being in the hospital, watching the funeral on tv and feeling how unimportant her death was in the grand scheme of things. The hype over the years about her death always makes me feel quite sour. In many ways my own loss is well in the past, but because the media regurgitate this story so regularly, I find myself pondering that time in my life quite often. At the moment my memories are especially strong because the dates and days of the week match that week eleven years ago.  Surprisingly, the media have been relatively quiet (at least from my perspective) this year.