Jubilee. Jubilation. Celebration.
After watching the concert from our sofa on Monday, we felt left out and decided to also experience some of the atmosphere in the heart of London. Around midday, we wondered up from Westminster, found a spot by the Cenotaph and were happy to see the queen waiving at the crowds from her car. Glad we had been part of it, we went for a spot of lunch at Inn The Park in St James’s Park. Had a gorgeous hake with pea puree, nom nom, a coffee, paid. We strolled up to the mall, where by that stage, it was getting very busy. We stood by the road, behind the barriers, heard cheers but didn’t see a thing. We had a sense the Queen had driven past in a horse drawn carriage, but couldn’t be entirely sure until we checked the footage on our phones.
We hung around for a bit, waited fruitlessly at the Buckingham Palace end for the police to open the barriers. We decided to wander back, noticed a gap in the barriers, surged through (yes, not cool) and joined the crowds towards the palace. We shuffled along, laughing at our fortune. The national anthem resounded all around us, people delirious with excitement, joy and some with booze. Shuffle shuffle we went. Ended up in front of where the day before we had seen the concert on TV. Happy to be at the centre, we came to a halt. But that wasn’t the end. We shuffled along, could now see the Royal Box. We laughed. But even that was not the end. We shuffled and shuffled until we were right in front of the Palace, right in the centre, in front of the balcony. To top it all off, TV camera’s caught us waving like proper royalists, yes there we were. The Queen and family came out onto the balcony, cheers went up. I wondered what to do next . She looked at us, we looked at her. Some gunshots went off. Some explosions. I wolf whistled at the Queen in the end and laughed to myself at the absurdity of it. She turned back, we left, shuffled along with the crowds, wet from the rain, but happy with the whole unexpected experience.
