Birthday Bash

Tomorrow being the official birthday of the Queen pomp and pageantry is the order of the day. The trooping of the colour and the firing of guns is how she celebrates. Beats party hats and poppers.
If you want to witness the event, the parade leaves Buckingham Palace around 10:00 am and travels to the Horse Guards. The troops wait for the Queen to arrive and inspect them at exactly 11:00am . This is followed by a 41 gun salute in Green Park and then a 62 gun salute from the Tower of London.

Jubilee Finale

Thousands lined the streets for the final parade for the jubilee weekend.
The news reports are full of how wonderful the event was. Around the outside was a different story. Barriers were in place to prevent thousands from getting in. Police corralled people sending them on long walks. Children were disappointed with many in tears. I witnessed a group of elderly people break through a set of barriers in sheer frustration as they saw large empty spaces on the inside of the barriers.
This young girl had her special day however when Mexican TV filmed her and interviewed her dad.

The Queen has more jubilee functions today. She must be worn out by the festivities. I've certainly reached jubilee overload and will be back to normal life from today.

Red Bus Standstill

Yesterday I was on a red bus going down Oxford St, something one should avoid if possible. Generally it is faster to walk, that is if you are up to shoulder to shoulder combat making your way through the crowds. We were left with no choice yesterday as the red buses became gridlocked the entire length of Oxford St.

What a sight. Passengers had abandoned every bus in favour of street combat, drivers were standing outside their buses scratching their heads in bewilderment and tourists were taking photos of the spectacle.

On a bright note, don't the flags look grand. London is dolling herself up for the Jubilee celebrations the first weekend of June.

For any visitor to my site who does not know what the jubilee celebrations are about, shame. Our queen has been on her throne for 60 years and not a whisper of early retirement.

Three Girls:
An update to yesterdays post. The three girls made good time to Dover. The wet and cold was manageable, the dodgy roads, dead squirrel and dead duck were minor hazards. Constantly starving and trying to satisfy the hunger a different matter.

The ferry ride to France was a welcome rest, but they hadn't counted on the hour long ride once they reached the other side at 10:00 pm.

Today they have a 75 mile ride ahead of them in the pouring rain and gusty winds.

Eleanor's Cross

King Edward was heart broken when his beloved wife, Eleanor of Castile died in 1290 at Harby near Lincoln. During the next 5 years he had 12 crosses made and erected at each of the places they rested overnight when he brought her body back to London fro burial at Westminster.

Only three crosses remain. One of these is in front of Charing Cross Station. Although this was restored by the Victorians and is more lavish than the original. It has undergone a recent restoration with the scaffolding only being removed in the last month.

July Theme - Empty

The coffers are empty.
Here at Treasury the pot is more than empty. There is a shortfall of something like £17.5 billion.

No worries though Gordon (he's the unelected bloke in charge of the country at the moment) has got a few ideas to fix the problem. A big spend up next year, cos it's election year and to just print more of the stuff.

Meanwhile at the other end of this street lives Liz (she's the one who wears a crown every now and then), seems Gordon wont give her any of this printed stuff to fix up her house.

I figure that as we (that is you and I who pay a wee bit of the tax) seeing as we are in debt for the payout to the bankers of £19 each and Liz costs us a mere .69p each we should fix up her house. I also figured that if every tourist that visits her pad donated £3 each that would be enough to cover the amount she needs.

Otherwise it seems her purse is going to be empty in 2012.

That's my empty today. Visit all the other versions of empty here:
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Trooping the Colour

Yesterday was the 'trooping of the colours', a parade to mark the Queen of England's official (as opposed to real) birthday. Originally this parade happened so the soldiers would be able to recognise the flag they would be fighting under.
These men form part of the Irish regiment, recognised by their blue plume. Christian Lacroix recently remodelled and updated their uniforms. True soldiers, they endure hours in 27 degree heat dressed in thick wool uniforms and bearskin hats. And, true to military form there is a rule to cope with mishaps in hot weather - if you sense you are going to faint, you must fall forwards, not backwards or sideways. Now... one of the statements I have made today is simply not true - can you guess which one.