Damp and boats

[fuchsoid]

Well, we had a good, if extremely wet, time yesterday. We all met up in a ludicrously crowced Waterloo station, and headed for the river bank. The news today said there had been over a million people and most of them were standing in front of us, so we couldn't see much of the river even then. It was pretty clear that there was nowhere we could see the flotilla properly from (places on bridges and balconies all seem to have been ticketed, with tickets sold out months ago, so we pootled about, ate some rather good burgers and drank cider for an hour or so. Eventually we were just about able to get a glimpse of the royal barge (looking rather like a seagoing velvet sofa) and the Dunkirk boats, and then headed into the festival hall, where there were a couple of large clear screens, seats and a bar. The atmosphere was great, and the crowd very cheerful despite the god-awful weather, and the horrors of the journey home. We venured out again to see the last boats, because the g-s had a friend on one, then headed home. All the roads around the riverbank were closed, so no buses, and Waterloo was closed too, because of the size of the crowd, so we ended up walking (squelching) to Charing Cross, and eventually getting the tube. It was really cold last night, and apparently some of the poor rowers ended up being treated for hypothermia. I hope the Queen didn't get too cold - I noticed she had a shawl on at one point, and I suspect that the Derby on Friday is the only bit of the ceremonies that she actually enjoyed. Prince Philip ended up in hospital today, but I suspect that may be a ruse to get out of what sounds like a god-awful concert right outside his bedroom window tonight.

So we ended up not seeing the queen, or even many of the boats, but we had a great time anyway, in the great British tradition of soggy outdoor celebration. Oh, and the niece's boyfriend is lovely, and didn't moan once about the rain, despite having come here from Florida (via Derby).