Hammersmith 

Weather - Changing every five minutes, cold - Min 6, Max 12 

As I write part of this post it’s mid afternoon hailing heavily outside our flat and it looks like snow on next door’s roof. It sums up today’s weather as it was so unpredictable and changing regularly. The one constant was that it was cold.

This was an exciting day and we felt so fortunate to be in London for the carriage procession from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords in Westminster for the  State Opening of Parliament. We set out at 8.30am and arrived at The Mall alongside St James’s Park at 9.20am. The only people around were the police, many of them Bobbies with their distinctive hats. We thought the crowds would build up early but clearly we had peaked too early. We had the whole of The Mall to ourselves. We headed off to the warm St James’s Park cafe for a cuppa. 

When we returned there were a few more tourists and keen locals. Interestingly, there were two rows of fencing to separate the people from the procession. The police, many with machine guns, and other members of the Granadier Guards had now evenly placed themselves up and down The Mall. The Granadier Guards faced into The Mall whilst the police faced the crowd. 

We positioned ourselves near The Mall Crossing with St James’s Park and between tall plane trees which proved to be a good move when it rained heavily during the morning as they provided good cover. There was also a Granadier band across from us that had a sense of humour and after one bout of rain prior to the procession played ‘Walking on Sunshine’ by Katrina and the Waves. Even the bobby near us smirked and bobbed his head to the tune. However, the wind came and blew all the trees’ tiny flowers over us during the performance. It also looked like snow falling. 

A number of army bands passed down The Mall and the most spectacular were the Band of the Granadier Guards with their striking red uniforms and bear skin caps. It was very moving. We felt sorry for all those in uniform as seveal times during the morning they had to stand and march in the rain with no coverings.

The sun came out just in time for the carriages. There were five carriages in the procession. The first carried the King’s crown, the second the two maces which stuck out of the carriage windows, the third the King and the fourth the Queen. We were unsure who was in the fifth carriage. We were in luck as both the King and the Queen sat on our side of The Mall and we could see them waving. 

Once the procession was over we walked up The Mall to Buckingham Palace and it was where most of the spectators were. The sun had come out again and the palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial were looking spectacular. The police presence was everywhere and all the surrounding roads were blocked. 

By now it was lunchtime and we didn’t want to wait in the cold for the procession to return to Buckingham Palace. It would have been another hour or more. We set out to find a warm place for lunch. We walked passed a lot of dead-locked traffic due to the road closures and  found the ideal traditional corner pub, ‘The Albert’ which is halfway between Westminster and the palace. It was looking a picture on the outside and inside with decorations of flowers. When we walked inside we started to thaw out. It seemed to be a popular pub with locals and tourists. 

We arrived back at the flat at 2.30pm as we wanted to get out of the cold weather as well as have a rest before going to see a play at 7.30pm. It was a good decision given the two hail storms that went over later in the afternoon. 

We set out at six o’clock to see ‘Grace Pervades’ by David Hare at The Theatre Royal, Haymarket. We took the bus to see the sights above ground and went through Knightsbridge with all the upmarket shops including Harrods and Fortnum and Mason. I booked the play in January as I was keen to see Ralph Fiennes on stage. We arrived at seven o’clock so we had time to take in the audience in the bar area and have a drink before the play began. 

The theatre is old and elegant with steep narrow stairs and tiny seats with little leg room. We were in the circle overlooking the stage. 

The play centres around two leading English actors in the late 1800’s, Ellen Terry and Henry Irving. Irving was the first actor to be given a knighthood. We weren’t too sure if we would enjoy the play but we found we were engaged throughout. Ralph Fiennes was very good. We were back at the flat by 11.00pm so it wasn’t too late a night.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is not looking great so we may have to put our wet weather plan into action again.