Send Her Victorious, Happy, and Glorious!

I know I’m not technically English, but I certainly felt it during last week’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration.  In my defense, it was pretty awesome.  Also, ethnically speaking, I am mostly English.  Based on that, and the fact that I would NEVER have a chance to do it again, I decided to go to London on Monday for the festivities.  My fabulous old housemate, Kim, kindly offered the services of her couch for the night and I took her up on it.  After a delicious kebab dinner that we ate on the Tube, we arrived at Hyde Park to watch the Jubilee Concert, along with thousands of our closest friends.  There were massive screens set up all over the park and people dancing and singing. It was actually pretty great. We saw Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and even Paul McCartney!  I sang and danced and felt like a proper Englishperson.  Then Prince Charles came on stage and called the Queen “mummy,” which was by far the cutest thing ever.  Afterward, we got to sing the national anthem.  I sang it with all my heart, even though I didn’t really know the words, but luckily Kim was there to supply me with the correct order of ‘gracious’ and ‘noble.’  In that moment, surrounded by a crowd singing at the top of their voices, I felt like I was one of them.  There was a sense of unity that I haven’t felt before in all of my time here.  It was very cool.  Then, to top it all off, there were fireworks…and I got to see them!  It sort of made up for missing the New Year’s Eve ones. 

The next day, I went down to central London to watch the Queen’s procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.  I met up with some people from Kim’s ward to head down to Trafalgar Square and I had my flag al ready to go.  They weren’t too bothered about actually seeing the procession, so I dumped them and made my way as close to the action as I could.  Turns out I should have just gone down there by myself waaaay earlier.  It was chock a block and the best spots were already taken.  Luckily, I wiggled my way over to the side and found a spot where I had a clear view of the road and turning toward Admiralty Arch.  After waiting for a couple of hours, the procession began making its way towards us.  I saw all the horses and heard the bands and strained to catch a glimpse of the coach carrying Her Royal Highness.  As the coach approached, I stretched and just barely spotted the Queen in her lovely hat.  Then I rushed over to Trafalgar Square to watch the rest of the procession on the screens.  It was brilliant.  I loved watching the masses move down the Mall, in perfect order, and wait patiently for their beloved Queen to appear.  When she finally stepped out, the cheer that erupted was amazing.  As I stood there, once again singing the national anthem, I heard the rumble of airplanes and looked up to see the planes flying directly overhead.  Apart from a peek of Lizzie herself, the flyover was my favorite part.  By that time, it had started to rain, as always, but I decided that I wanted to take advantage of being there and absorb as much of the atmosphere as I could.  I wandered down to the Mall with its Union Jacks flying and Buckingham Palace in all its majesty at the end.  It was pretty cool and I enjoyed just being there making a memory.  I still am amazed that I was there for such a once in a lifetime experience.  

Happy Wanderings

As I sit here watching football and feeling decidedly British in my allegiance, I decided that I should update this lovely old thing, even if there’s nobody that even reads it anymore.  Life in England is going really well, although I’m stating to wonder why I ever complained about not having work.  It’s just a darn good thing that I like my job.  We’ve got 5 weeks left and I just started teaching a new class on American history.  It’s been great fun teaching people who’ve never heard it before, though I must admit that my natural patriotism creeps in every now and then.  I figure they should get the full American treatment. 

Life apart from work has been fairly busy as well.  I had a lovely visit from good old Laura Lu during the Easter holiday that consisted of a few days in the Lake District (of William Wordsworth fame,) a few days in southern Scotland, a few days in Yorkshire, and a few days in London.  It was a fabulous trip, complete with hillsides covered with daffodils, just as I had always pictured them.  Scotland was rugged and beautiful, but not much different than the gorgeous landscape of my homeland.  I did, however, thoroughly enjoy the time spent in Yorkshire.  We went to the fascinating old ruined Fountains Abbey from the medieval times.  It was a Cistercian abbey until Henry VIII dissolved it and stole all its wealth.  It is fairly isolated and so remained untouched until a wealthy family bought the land and used the Abbey to stage parties and picnics.  I love the idea of some fancy-pants lady with a posh accent inviting her friends out to their country house for a picnic in the nave of a ruined cathedral.  I think it was made even more enjoyable by the fact that we were among the first people there and we had a lone wander for the first few hours.  It ranks on my list of favorite places I’ve visited in England.  London was great, as always, but was also greatly improved by the company.  We went to Kew Gardens to absorb all the springtime goodness, ate our way through Borough Market, and saw ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’  All in all, not a bad couple of weeks. 

Then the next month, I played host to Aaron and Camille who came to visit for a few days.  Unfortunately, I had to work, but we still got to spend a day amongst the treasures of the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and King’s Cross Station.  The following weekend I met up with them in Cheltenham, a lovely old spa town on the edge of the Cotswolds, where Aaron served for a time on his mission.  Saturday was spectacular and we decided to spend the bulk of it in the park with what seemed like everyone else in Cheltenham.  It was so nice to be together and have a proper chinwag.  The next day we went to church and met a few people Aaron had known when he was there.  We finished up the day with a drive through the Cotswolds and a delicious roast dinner.  I loved having them here and having them see where I live and meet my friends.  I wish they’d come back…we had the best weather we’ve had all year while they were here. 

P.S. The pictures are frustratingly out of order. Sorry about that.