So we had the chance to be in the capital for the Queen's jubilee - almost by accident as my husband (The Belgian) was had tickets for the game at Wembley on Saturday night.
Saturday day time we headed to our fav haunt Westfield in Stratford and got to decorate cakes for free in Lakeland and hung out with the Olympic mascot.
So on the Sunday it seemed only natural that we would head to the Thames
to check out the floatilla. Hmmm...I think it needed some better
planning and certainly an earlier start. We had got some flags and then OK magazine was giving away free ones - so we were very patriotic looking. Although by no means the most Union Jacked up!
And this was our amazing view...we couldn't see a thing!
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| However we noticed a fairly stable looking fence behind some wheely bins and decided to climb on and get a better view. But you know what sheep we all are and everyone started following our 'example' and the fence was beginning to get a little wobbly. A steward came over and muttered about 'health and safety' and we all ignored him. He sent over two rather timid police officers who compromised that we could sit on the bins, but not on the fence. We stayed on the fence - safety in numbers and all and we had now been stationed here for about thirty mins. They then sent the heavies over - a whole selection of burly stewards and police men. We reluctantly moved off - not before the Belgian complained about how they were changing their minds and how dare his colleagues say one thing and then change their minds. He was told very firmly - "we have every right to change our minds." So there! Here Mara is showing how she feels about those killjoys. |
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| We still tried to have fun and the Belgian even got remotely patriotic! |
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| But then slowly, but surely, as the procession got ever closer people started not only to climb on the bins, but also the fence and then sit on the flat roof - shock horror! We enjoyed watching as the power of the people outwighed the power of the police - I can see how the riots happened so easily. We stayed out of it but Mara did climb back onto a bin to try and get a few snaps - that is what we came for after all! |
I think you can see in this pic the tail end of a boat! And below is the closest we came to HRM! It was all about the atmosphere I argued and we sure had a good story to tell about our Jubilee.
Linking up with
Sian's storytelling Sunday
So I'm wondering where the attempted arrest comes into the story...you are such an exaggerator! I stopped in at the rents last night on the drive back to Wales, gave Mom the shock of her life as I walked into her room (she was glued to the computer screen watching the Jubilee concert...you guys are all Jubilee obsessed!) and I told them you and Mara were loving the plot to get rid of Mom story and Dad had no idea what I was going on about! xxx
ReplyDeleteSo... did you see my Mum? She was somewhere in there - but she got there at 4am and had a fairly good view. Amazingly dedicated! Glad you didn't fall into the bin or get arrested :)
ReplyDeleteHow lucky to have shared some of the jubilee festivities. great photos Mel - I have to agree it is all about the atmosphere!
ReplyDeleteHe he! That made me smile! I watched the jubilee on TV but I would have loved to have been there for the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteWell it was certainly closer than we got - we were watching on tv. And it doesn't sound as if the rain dampened the spirits too much either!
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