hipeter924
Not a zombie yet
http://www.3news.co.nz/Royal-wedding-Are-they-married-yet/tabid/417/articleID/204740/Default.aspxRoyal wedding: Are they married yet?
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 1:51p.m.
By Jill Lawless
There's still a month to go until the royal wedding and yet some Britons are already asking: Is it over yet?
While millions around the world are following every detail of the wedding planning - the guest list, the cake, the carriage, the dress - others are desperately trying to tune it out.
In the British press, scores of stories about the April 29 nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton sit alongside grimmer news: An earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan, war in Libya, and a diet of spending cuts, job losses and inflation in Britain.
It's no surprise many people are not in a party mood.
"I'm tired of hearing all about it," said Andreas Dopner, 24, a postgraduate researcher at London's Imperial College. "You see it on television, the internet, everywhere. I don't believe in having a royal family and I think the money could be spent better elsewhere."
For many British businesses, the wedding is good news. International interest in the nuptials and the predicted pro-Britannia "feel-good factor" will bring in extra tourists, giving a boost to hotels, restaurants, shops and royal-related tourist attractions.
But there also will be an exodus, with several million Britons heading abroad, thanks to the lucky timing of the wedding day - a holiday for most - between the Easter weekend and the May Day public holiday. Clever employees quickly calculated they could get an 11-day break by taking only three days off work.
"I've booked it myself for that very reason," said Sean Tipton of the Association of British Travel Agents, which has seen a surge in overseas bookings for the wedding period.
Those still in Britain on April 29 will find central London bedecked with Union Jacks, tens of thousands gathering along the wedding procession route, millions watching on TV - and millions more trying to ignore it.