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Welcome to the world of the Vincent D'Onofrio obsessed - and a bit of real life thrown in.


Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Jubilend

I'm not a royalist. I believe inequality. I really resent that I am not a British citizen, but a British subject.

I was once at an opera gala that the Queen Mother attended, and I didn't stand up for the national anthem. When asked why, I replied that I would stand up for the old lady on a bus, but not as a mark of deference.

On another occasion I was in the front row of the stalls for an opera performance that the Duke and Duchess of Kent were attending. They kept us all waiting, then we were expected to stand for the anthem. As usual I stayed seated. A woman behind me jabbed me on the shoulder and did a "stand up" gesture with her thumb, saying "Up". For once, the correct response came to me in good time. "Up yours," I replied.

So I have not strung out any Union Jack bunting - I've actually seen hardly any. There have been no street parties. I have watched almost nothing on TV. As for going up there, well, apart from the cold and rain, and the standing round that I can no longer do, I need a toilet every few minutes (OK, not quite) so I wouldn't have considered that. But there were a couple of things I wanted to see.

The first was Paul McCartney's contribution.



The second was the firework display at the end of the concert.


These I enjoyed less. I can't help thinking about the disturbance to the local wildlife, especially the birds, when we disrupt their sleep with our bangs and flashes.

Finally there was the flypast. Mostly I was hoping that after their trip along The Mall (pronounced to rhyme with "pal", not "fall") they might go home via my house. Concorde used to go over regularly, and the Red Arrows have been known to come this way during the Biggin Hill Air Show. But no such luck.



So I have still never seen a Spitfire, Hurricane or Lancaster Bomber fly in real life.

7 comments:

Eliza said...

I enjoyed some of the concert, although not all of it..Grace Jones with a hula hoop comes to mind..

I fell asleep watching the river pageant..although I did wake up to watch a two hour show about horses on ITV

as for Spitfires..we have a Spitfire Training School at the (get this) London Oxford Airport so I have seen one or two..

Basically glad it's all over..although I guess it probably did give a bit of a boost to some people

judith said...

No street party or bunting put up in my bit of England either.
We used to live near, and husband worked a BAE systems so I saw a lot of aircraft there. When they where practiseing for Farnbough you could nearly shake hands with the pilots they flew so low so planes hold no mystery for me...I am so glad it's over and TV. is now back to normal...

JoJo said...

All these years I thought it was the 'Mall' rhymed with Hall. Huh. Who knew?

There was little to no coverage here. What keeps coming to mind is the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen."

vikeau said...

JoJo I get BBC America so I did watch the flotialla thing (I like boats and day would love to to one of those barge/cannel trips)). I was amazed that the Queen stood for a good 4-5 hours. After that I caught Stevie Wonder and he was fantasic. Other than that when does the next season of Dr. Who start?

vikeau said...

P.S. next up the Olympics--you can always escape to the U.S.

Jane said...

I enjoyed all of the events (I watched it on BBC America) And I think in this age of selfishness it's wonderful to see a Woman (and a family) who put service to country before themselves.

Anonymous said...

At least you can chose not to stand here. The net result of that action in North Korea would probably be a swift bullet in the back of the head.

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