Gardener wanted!

Apparently the Queen needs a new gardener!  I heard this on Classic FM this morning.
However when they mentioned the pay my first thought was "that's a bit rubbish!"  Yet on reflection perhaps 15K/year is not too bad a wage for a gardener, provided they are not expected to have a rake of paper qualifications.
And then I got to thinking, no-one would think that was a low wage if it wasn't working for the Queen, but why should she pay a higher wage?  Many of you, as was my first thought would argue that she can afford to pay more, but perhaps she gives realistic wages for normal posts.  After all the escalating wages are surely one of the reasons that this country is struggling economically?
I can understand that people who work in London get a slightly higher wage as things are more costly there, but surely if people were not so greedy, financially, a "London Allowance" would not be necessary, as prices would be uniform-ish.
I think that 15K/year is a decent wage for a gardener, plus if the gardener ever left he/she could say that they had worked for the Queen, a surely there could be no higher recommendation than that?

One other thing this brought to mind is my Grandad, (Mum's Dad,) who after retiring did some light gardening to supplement his pension.  Also, in his garden is the place I remember my Grandad most.  I wonder if Queen's gardener is a job he would have liked? If so she would have had pansies, chrysanthemums, fruit bushes, a greenhouse heaving with lovely aromatic fruit, with a budding peach tree tucked away near the greenhouse boiler, oh and champagne rhubarb.  (apparently Grandad didn't like the taste so poured the bottle on his rhubarb, and Grandma said it made the rhubarb sweeter.

The "glorious" twelfth?

There hasn't been a single mention of it being the "glorious" twelfth today. Well, not that I've noticed. Probably cos it's weekend, and it is only mentioned on the news during the week as a "filler". I don't know. It's not a date I can easily forget as one of my Grandad's died on the 11th of August. We went to a walk. Grandad was very poorly, and Dad was going to call in and see him before we went on our walk, the bedroom curtains were closed, so we walked and then called in. He died when we were walking on the moors. I remember the date well, as once the grouse shooting season starts, walking on the moors is restricted, depending on where the shoot is taking place that day. Being an inquisitive sort, I've just looked up on the web why everything seems quiet.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=964&id=1172622006
It seems there might be a lack of birds, but also in some places in the UK, the paths and moors could be closed as a safeguard against possible foot and mouth, as sheep graze a lot of the moorlands. Although I have just looked on DEFRAs website, and there it says only footpaths in the affected zone, and restricted zone are closed.
So, it must be a combination of the lack of birds and it being Sunday that have not made it newsworthy.