Bear with us

I know it's well-intended, but the practice of leaving items at memorial sites and gravesites is a little puzzling to me. For one thing, if you want a person to have flowers, send them today or tomorrow at the latest. They will do more good while the person is still on this level.

As far as covering sad sites with stuffed animals and commemorative material, how about taking that stuff to an orphanage or a police station (some police keep a comforting toy in the trunk of their squad car, to be given to a child involved in an accident or other traumatic situation)? At any rate, it would only take a phone call or two to find some place where your largesse would do a lot of good.

This all comes to mind because of this headline news from Great Britain: 

Mourners Have Been Asked To Stop Leaving Paddington Bears And Marmalade Sandwiches For The Queen

Reading on, it turns out that the mournful public has been dropping off Paddington toys, stuffed animals and the like, along with jars of marmalade and sandwiches for the love of Pete. Now officials are saying enough is enough is enough.

You'll recall that Her Majesty co-starred with Paddington in a television sketch that had the two having tea at the Palace. The gag was that the Queen, who was famous for toting her purse every where she went, pulled a marmalade sandwich out of her purse to feed the bear.

So now people want to commemorate her passing by leaving sandwiches sitting around.

In the sketch, Paddington said to the Queen, "Thank you, Ma'am, for everything." This week, the Paddington Twitter account has the bear saying that again. 

Green Park in London is the more-or-less official site for floral tributes to the queen, and the toys and the jars of orange marmalade and the ready-made sandwiches are piling up all over the place. And now, officials have issued guidelines for all this.

They're asking that any and all flowers left in tribute have the plastic wrapping removed, which will make it easier for the flowers to become compost a week after the funeral. 

And in the polite British manner, they also said, "We would prefer visitors not to bring non-floral objects/artefacts such as teddy bears or balloons."

BBC news presenter Sally Nugent told viewers, "They are suggesting that there are enough Paddingtons and marmalade sandwiches in the parks at the moment, so please feel free to bring flowers but maybe don't bring any more Paddingtons or marmalade sandwiches for now."

I have a feeling that the homeless and underresourced people of London and all over the British Isles would appreciate money or outright gifts of bread and marmalade (or gift cards to buy them). I'll bet the Queen would approve.

Give in her honor. Don't leave edible food out in public, please.