Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Up For It - the pageant pictures the BBC missed

Despite the appalling weather at the pageant on Sunday, we were all up for it.  Kath and I were up for it at 3am!  Even the Thames Barrier was up for it (mercifully). Sarah (Greygal) was obviously up for it, and right in the spirit.  What some cheek!

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The crowd were certainly up for it.  Narrowboaters are used to having to wave at folks on the bank, but this was ridiculous.  My arm was soon aching. Now I know how the Queen feels.  These people on the cruise ship Discovery in the Isle of Dogs had the solution.

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There were more waves than the sea. The Queen waved at us several times

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and of course other boaters waved, even the stationary ones.  Delighted by our Greyhound mascot on the foredeck of Indigo Dream, they shouted  “Look at that mouse/ rat/ womble” .  I suppose the Queen thought it was a corgi.

I hear that there has been criticism of the BBC’s coverage of the event.  Even Rainman, not known for his radicalism, has written to the Radio Times about it!  Even then , I expect the TV viewers saw more of the parade than we did.  We were some miles back from the posh boats at the front.  The crew of Nb President probably saw nothing, as they were wreathed in smoke and steam the whole day!  Actually, we did see a bit of the telly, as you can see.

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I hear the music was good up front.  We had some less professional but equally enthusiastic accompaniment.

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Everybody here at Crick has been expressing envy at our participation in the big event.  They are right to.  Despite the cold and wet and the fact that we didn’t even get to witness the stuff happening at the front of the parade, we really felt part of something big.  And I now have been waved to by a million people.

Crick show has been great.  Tomorrow it looks like its back to getting wet again as we enjoy helping Adam get Briar Rose back to base.  Don’t worry, it’ll be great.  This time we’ll wrap up warm.

4 comments:

Halfie said...

I'll be posting my own piccies on my blog soon. They're not very good!

Anonymous said...

Love the photos/attached comments. Participation made The Day. Happy memories, very wet. Watched it all again on iplayer..dry! It must have been exhausting but fun.

Dogsontour by Greygal said...

A truly historic day and all the better for not getting put away in the Tower (you and Andy for your general subversion, me for my Anglo-Saxon language at the repeated misidentification of Homer the aardvark). Can't wait to do it all again in another 60 years although I'm sure the Duke wouldn't mind giving it a miss next time...

Albert said...

Love that "less professional but equally enthusiastic accompaniment" !!! :)