Previous | Next :: The Queens Diamond Jubilee River Pageant : The Thames : London | June 4, 2012, 7:56 am

It was wet.......... but this little girl summed up that stoicalness that I associate with the British........ well at least on the stoicalness required to get through a British National event on a classic British June day.......... hehehehe........... she held her flag and waved throughout.......... she waved and waved and held her flag.......... from Richmond to Rotherhythe........... through unbelievable bad weather........ cold, rain and wind......... incredibly she never went inside and she never left her post............. but she had a lovely time.......... even though unbelievably she had no water proof clothing........... slight over sight surely mum and dad ? ........... her folks must have had an optimism over reality moment as they left the house......... hehehehe............

Anyway the Queen waited even for our tail end Charlie boat to get there and she duly waived back at this excited little girl............. It was all rather lovely........... I enjoyed it........

I was not as dedicated as the little girl........ I drank champagne inside and kept warm........ then I would pop out on deck to survey the state of play .......... over a million people were watching from the banks .......... apparently this giant flotilla has made it into the Guinness Book of records as the biggest ever? .......... but every now and again........ the weather suddenly made me have flashes of 'what the hell am I doing here?' ......... hehehehe............

Before I left the house while I was putting on my 15 layers of waterproof clothing....... rather uncharacteristically on a day like this the BBC reminded me of a Thames protest against the Queen way back on her Silver Jubilee when the 'Sex Pistols' took to the water to protest ........ and do a performance of their song : ' God Save the Queen' ......... they were arrested ........ so I found it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtUH2YSFlVU .......... made me laugh.......... before I headed out into the cold damp day to join the flotilla ......... with a vague niggly sensation in the back of my mind............ 'Why am I doing this ?' ........ hehehehe.............

Cheers Jez XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

www.jezblog.com