Pageant Day

The day started well enough. Yes there was rain in the air but everyone seemed to be happy enough. We walked along the street to Westminster Bridge and made our way through the security cordon and onto the bridge itself. All the spaces along the bridge edge had been taken by people looking like they had come prepared to withstand Armageddon itself, we had two weedy umbrellas between the four of us barely keeping the rain off one shoulder each. Westminster bridge with no traffic on was a very surreal experience. Every time I stepped from one side of the centre line to the other I couldn't help myself from turning my head to see if there was a red bus zooming head long in my direction. There wasn't of course, only damp people quietly biding their time. We were in no fit state to be waiting there for five and half hours so we decided to take a walk down to the Tate Modern and check out the Damien Hirst exhibition.

From side streets and main streets along the way more and more people were arriving by the minute, more and more rain was being dumped on central London and we were getting soggier. The Tate was like a refuge for us, a big warm welcoming place where we could spend a few hours drying off a little.

After spending an arm and a leg for tickets to the Damien Hirst exhibition we made our way into the Turbine Hall where the Diamond Encrusted Skull had a room all to itself. The room in question was totally dark with the skull illuminated in a glass case. It was a spectacular sight. The four of us were totally alone in their with it. Just as I got my camera out to take a sneaky snap a torch burst into life from one of the corners and the face of a black security guard, dressed in a lack suit was lit up saying "NO CAMERAS!" to say that we shit ourselves was an understatement! Needless to say that we high tailed it out of there without a picture.

The third floor exhibition had all his famous, shocking macabre items such as the sheep, shark, cow and her calf split down the middle as well as some of his less well known stuff.

For me the giant ashtray with thousands of used cigarette butts made me feel physically sick. The stench was overwhelming and would be a welcome addition to the governments war on the smoking fraternity. The severed calf head and thousands of flies landing on it served to shock and disgust the kids too, but I guess that is what his intentions are. For me I do not see it as art but who am I to judge, he is the one with hundreds of millions in the bank and no wonder when he is charging £36 for a crappy black T-Shirt with a print of the skull on it. The rest of the Tate exhibition pieces managed to capture our attention for an hour or so and when we emerged from the building the weather had improved dramatically and the crowds had swelled exponentially.

When we got back to our hotel and the London Eye area the crowds were thirty deep and every conceivable vantage point was taken. The cheering grew as the boat with the bells clanging passed and we saw bugger all. The pushing and shoving got so bad that we decided to go back to the room and watch from there. It wasn't exactly how we had intended to watch the spectacle but at least we got to see the Royal Barge float by. Then all of a sudden the heavens opened again with a vengeance and we ended up watching the rest of the pageant on the telly with the sound of the hooters coming in through the open window.

Day One Of Our London Adventure

Awoken by our annoying alarm at 05:45 on a cloudy Saturday morning after downing quite a few Peroni's the night before, was not my idea of starting the day as you mean to go on!

A quick shower and cup of tea made all the difference. The kids were as reluctant to muster from their births as they always are, but they eventually relented and made their way down stairs with their usual Kevin And Perry Esq teenager attitude, which we choose to ignore (most times). The time flew by and before we knew it the Taxi was waiting outside the door. The last few things were shoved in any space left in the suitcase and sherper tensing (that's me by the way) lugged it and all the other paraphernalia to the taxi driver to put in the boot. I know it was early but I have never met such a miserable person in my life. Well that aside and being only five minutes behind schedule we made it to Piccadilly Station with plenty of time to catch the train to London.

It's a good job that I prebooked our table seats on the train because it was packed out and the amount of electronic equipment brought out of pockets, bags and god knows where else, plonked on the table was mind boggling. Then the various magazines were stroon across the table and lastly the food and drinks took up any last remaining area of formica. Headphones were plugged in and the kids were off in their own worlds of mind numbing teen music interspersed with the occasional spat over sweets.

We arrived at our hotel at 10:30am, dumped the bags in the luggage room and went out into the now familiar area of the south bank. Walking out of the hotel right next to the London Eye never ceases to amaze me, then catching sight of the Houses Of Parliament, Westminster Tower and Saint Paul's Cathedral is a sight for sore eyes. We walked down to Tower Bridge, skirting the Thames almost all the way and watched it raise as one of the taller of the thousands of boats that were gathering for this weekends river pageant passed underneath. Walking past Tower Bridge we came to what is being dubbed The Avenue Of Sail, which is where the tall ships are being moored for the Pageant. Seeing the flags flying, bunting flapping to the rhythm of the breeze along the riverside was wonderful.

Our hotel room overlooks the newly refurbished Jubilee Gardens with a glimpse of the river, which might be our best place to view the pageant from this afternoon as I have been woken at 05:30 by sirens, barriers bein dropped off and assembled and the sound of torrential rain battering the windows.

Why Oh Why couldn't the weatherman be wrong as he usual is?

Never mind I am sure that the die hard royalist campers along the route have had it a lot worse than us in their ramshackled encampments!

Diamond Jubilee Weekend Approaches

Well you guessed it

There's a long bank holiday weekend approaching and a certain lady is being celebrated for her loyal duties to her subjects

That sounds very royalist from a republican like me but I can't help myself being swept along with flow of national pride that seems to have gripped the entire population. I think it started the moment our Olympic Flame touched down at Lands End a few weeks ago and has been steadily building ever since.

We are off to see the sights of London once again and this time there should be one or two more Union Flags fluttering in the rain.

Hopefully there will be plenty to blog about over the weekend, so keep an eye open for the usual family antics that seem to follow us wherever we go