Trooping of the Colour

We were lucky enough to get tickets to the Trooping of the Colour: an annual military parade in honour of the Sovereign's birthday, dating back to the mid 18th Century. Despite threatening to ruin the day, the forecast thunderstorms actually arrived right on cue to make the flyover from the Airforce even more dramatic.

As always, it was good to catch up with Elizabeth, who was looking sensational in lime green, but the real stars of the day were the magnificently athletic horses on display who were so well behaved during the whole ceremony when I bet all they wanted to do was cut loose in St James' Park!


It was a great show of discipline, ceremony and musical talent, but the morning wasn't without slow patches, during which I had time to contemplate:


- Did the Queen record Saturday Kitchen to watch when she gets home?
- If there are 532 soldiers wearing Busby lids - how many bears were skinned to populate them?
- Does the Queen own a mobile phone?
- If so, is she on prepay or a monthly contract?
- Are the guards' guns loaded?
- If the Queen were born as a Siamese twin, would there be two Queens?
- Would I be shot if I ran across Horseguard's Parade right now?
- Why does no one clap when it was such a damn good show?

All I know is that the Queen is the one wearing lime!

Visit from Mum & Rob

Highlights of the visit from Mum & Rob included:

• Boat trips to Westminster and to the Thames Flood Barrier from Tower Bridge


• Watching the Lion King and the Mousetrap in the West End


• Listening to the nutters at Speakers Corner


• A walking tour around the British Museum


• A picnic with Kylie and Morgan in Hyde Park


• A walk around the Royal Albert Hall and Kensington gardens


• Scoffing chocolates at Harrods


• Swimming at the London Firelds Lido


• A walk around Grenwich and Canary Wharf


• Finding goodies at Borough and Broadway Markets