THE MASS
OBSERVATION PROJECT
SUMMER 2012
DIRECTIVE
MO B1771 Female, age 76, Married, Mitcham, Surrey,
Retired Secretary
Part 3: The Diamond Jubilee
2nd
– 5th June 2012
June 2nd – Introduction
I’m not anti-monarchy neither am I an ardent follower. I
never turn up to cheer any member of Royalty wherever they visit. For example I
was working as a temporary telephonist in 1977 at an office who wanted to see
the Queen go by in her car that day and they had laid on a spread and wine for
the occasion so it would have been churlish not to have seen her drive through
the city that day. Recently the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Royal Marsden
Hospital
I’m happy that events are under way. The Royal Family has visited many places
throughout the UK
leading up to the four days of celebrations and no doubt will visit many
more. The Queen went to Epsom for The
Derby. Strange to relate my son and a
friend were all togged up for it, not because he is a Monarchist but because he
attends all the big races in the calendar and he wanted to big it up that day
and he likes to gamble!
There are no street parties in any roads nearby and we
probably wouldn’t have gone anyway. The last one we attended in 1977 was when
we lived on a council estate and we all chipped in to a do organised by the
tenants association. We enjoyed it as
there was a barbecue, drinks and music.
There may be something at our local church but we will watch some of the
events on television. I noticed that Hyde Park was holding a Family Event today for
50,000. Garry Barlow has written a song
to be sung at a concert to be held in The Mall after the main event of a
Pageant on the Thames . I am looking forward to watching the Royal
Barge and all the other boats on the day and will record others, if not my own
participation, in the general celebration.
June 3rd
Talk on the radio and tv is mostly about the Jubilee. Some Scots on TV (am) were a bit anti-monarchy
but that is to be expected. Also heard on the News that anti-monarchists are
holding a demonstration on one of the bridges (I kept a look out but saw no
sign of them). Maybe the weather deterred them. That’s democracy! Everyone is
entitled to their views. Syria – take
note!
We are watching the French Open on tv so we are managing to
avoid the overwhelming broadcast events on every station. I plan to catch the Thames Pageant, or at
least some of it.
We did watch quite a lot of the pageant. It was quite a spectacle and well organised
but the weather was appalling and BBC coverage was not what we expected. Our generation had been spoilt by the likes
of the Dimbleby Dynasty over the years who mugged up on their homework. Some of the airheads fronting programmes
today leave a lot to be desired. The rain got heavier and there was poor
visibility which meant the fly-past couldn’t take place but the crowds stayed
put along the riverside. They also filled the parks and streets. They had put marquees and gazebos up or went
into halls and houses. It says something about us as a nation and much about
the Queen as our sovereign. The whole Royal Family had been incorporated into
the pageant. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh stood for hours acknowledging
everyone, whether on the river or embankment.
There was every kind of craft from Maori canoes, D-Day little ships,
rowing boats to name but some. I
wouldn’t have been surprised to see an old man with a beard and a shipful of
two of every kind of animal!
The sun would have made it so special but clever editing
will brighten the whole spectacle.
June 4th
I put television on early and watched “Jubilee Tribute to
the Queen” with Prince Charles and it was quite moving as he recalled events
with films and photos from his early childhood. I never thought of Jubilee for most of the
day. We watched tennis for a while. My friend from San Diego phoned early evening to say that
she had watched the pageant. They got
about 6 hours of it and she had recorded some. She said that Americans love UK traditions
and our Queen.
Dipped into the “Diamond Jubilee Concert” but only caught
fragments, hoping to avoid the non-singing singer, Cheryl Cole! She does
however wear good false eyelashes and several layers of horse hair on her head,
blended into her own. (Next day I found most people wondered why she was there
as she apparently sang out of tune! Cheryl Who?!)
The Duke of Edinburgh has been taken to hospital with a
bladder infection which is not surprising after the day he had yesterday. Watched “Gok Wan’s Cooking” and “8 out of 10
cats” and only went back to concert for finale.
Felt a bit of jubilee overload.
June 5th
It is still cold weather – I and feel sorry for people
trying to party outdoors. It eventually rained as well. I put tv on and saw a
bit of the run up to the “Thanksgiving” and caught a glimpse of who was who and
what they wore. I caught just a bit of
the service before putting the radio on as the day got steadily more un-June
like. My husband and I got fixated on the French Open and watched for several
hours rooting for T’Songa versus Djokovic.
T’Songa was ahead all the way through but never put Djokovic away when
he had several opportunities so he ended up losing in the final set because
Djokovic is a robot programmed to win! Dammit!
Read all the sections of the Telegraph. It seems that the BBC has come under fire for
their poor, amateurish coverage of the whole thing. I must say it didn’t have the standard of
previous Royal events. Some mention of “dumbing down” was made.
After eating we put the “Great British Menu” on Winners will
cook for Olympians prior to the games. Then we watched “All in The Best
Possible Taste” with Grayson Perry.
So ended the Jubilee period.
I think the Queen would have enjoyed most of it had her husband not been
unwell.
