V3773

Female psychology graduate, ex-bookseller, ex-primary teacher, currently hospital pharmacy assistant, 50 years old co-habiting in the West Midlands Saturday 2nd June 2012 I wanted to go to Kenilworth Show in the morning, recommended by a friend who lives in the country, but my partner, A, wasn’t interested and I didn’t want to go on my own so we went into Solihull and I looked out for some Jubilee memorabilia. Most shops that were part of a chain had a royalty/British theme in the windows and sold various royalty/British items such as mugs, tea towels, biscuits etc. Costa Coffee just had red, white and blue paper chain links along the counter. John Lewis had more of an emphasis on the London Olympics, although they also stocked Jubilee things. Independent stores didn’t tend to have changed their stock or display, just red, white and blue balloons or bunting outside. I don’t know why I wanted memorabilia – maybe just an excuse to buy stuff, or maybe because it was the only way I was likely to get involved – but it had to be relatively tasteful, and something I would use. In the end I found some stuff in Robert Dyas and used a voucher they’d previously handed out giving 15% off during Jubilee weekend. If I’d seen anything I liked featuring the Queen I might have bought it, but as it turned out the items I bought were more traditional British than they were royal. I bought three tea towels, a mug and a water bottle. Pre-discount, the tea towels were 2 for £4 (one with old-style telephone boxes and one with post boxes) and the other one, featuring lots of Union Jacks, not all in the traditional colours, was reduced to £1. I also bought a mug with bunting painted onto it (also reduced, to £1.99) and a folding Union Jack water bottle (£1.99). Solihull had scheduled a few fun things for the town centre later on, such as a fashion show, face painting and some jazz bands. The jazz bands weren’t really part of the jubilee celebrations (jazz not being known for its traditional British roots) – they were part of Solihull jazz weekend. Driving home for about ten minutes along mostly busy residential roads we saw one house with a Union Jack hanging by the front door, and just a couple of houses with bunting. I asked A whether I should enter into the spirit of the thing and stand my (fairly insignificant) mug in the front window but we thought perhaps not. Apart from Solihull town centre I wasn’t aware of any local Jubilee celebrations. Our road is too busy anyway, but there wasn’t anything organised for the quieter road around the corner that A’s relatives lived in. Someone I know thought that street parties were more likely to take place on council estates, which suggested to me that they thought perhaps it was a class thing. Maybe some neighbourhoods are just friendlier than others. At home I had an early afternoon sleep as usual, A investigated music CDs (American/blues) on the Internet, and we watched a DVD of The Ghost (Robert Harris/Roman Polanski). Not as good as the book. After tea/dinner we watched the final of The Voice, and went to bed by 9.30. Sunday 3rd Up by 8 and watched a few minutes of BBC Breakfast talking about the river pageant that would dominate BBC1 viewing for most of the day, but switched over to watch two Channel 4 repeats of an American sitcom (Everybody Loves Raymond, if you must know). Out at 9.30 to do the grocery shop we do every other Sunday at Sainsbury’s. A said that on Friday the assistants had been wearing Union Jack bowler hats, but there was no sign of that today. I didn’t notice anything especially Jubilee-ish at Sainsbury’s. One car we saw on the way home, in the drizzle, had a flag sticking out of the window, and another had an England flag which A thought was probably more to do with football. At home I had another sleep, and then while I was trying to do some Nectar Canvass surveys (trying to get more Nectar points off future shopping by doing online surveys for companies) A was watching some of the BBC coverage of the river pageant. I could tell he was missing me because he shouted up the stairs that the Queen had fallen in the river. “No she hasn’t” I shouted back without needing to check my facts. Then apparently Clare Balding had fallen in the river too, so although I knew darned well she hadn’t, I gave up doing computer stuff and went to watch some river pageantry with him. I don’t usually think of myself as Royalist or nationalist, but I do get drawn in and eventually find myself rather moved by these occasions, with such a large proportion of Britain’s population (and the Commonwealth) all celebrating at once. I’d phoned Mum in the morning for a chat, and she said that it made you think there wasn’t a God (not that I think she believes anyway) that such a big day for Britain should have such miserable weather. I said I thought would help people to feel British, because they’d still turn out in the rain to support Her Majesty. I thought that it showed more loyalty for her subjects to support her in the rain, because if it had been sunny, one wouldn’t have been sure that they’d turned up to support one, or just because it was a lovely day to be out. The Royal boat was rather splendid, and so were the gondolas and the New Zealand boat with the men (who must have been freezing) performing the haka. I missed the Little Boats of Dunkirk, which I know I would have found moving, but saw the puppet war horse (from the theatre production) on a rooftop, which the Queen seemed to like. I came back right at the end when the London Philharmonic Orchestra was playing, and some very damp choristers were singing on top of the orchestra boat, and although I know they have to go ahead and perform anyway, I found everyone’s dedication in the rain quite touching. The royal family seemed to enjoy the upbeat sea shanty more than Land of Hope and Glory or whatever song it was that went just before. They must like a change from the same old nationalist tunes, however apt or stirring they may be for the occasion. Kate and Camilla seemed to get the giggles during one of the pieces, and I enjoyed seeing that, and the various bits of chat the family had, wondering what they’d be talking about. The local news showed that there were a few parties going on in villages, and also in inner-city Birmingham, I think. Slightly envious of the friendly communities, but being expected to join in would be A’s idea of hell. In the evening we just had a non-Royal tea, watched non-Royal telly and a recording of a non-Royal episode of Doc Martin. Mum phoned to say that the pergola attached to the back of her house had collapsed (but she wasn’t holding a Jubilee party under it so no one got squashed). Monday 4th Up at 6.30 to see A off to work at a local branch of a DIY chain. I had breakfast, put a wash on and mostly got on with Mass Obs, though I also tried to sleep once or twice. Dad returned a call I’d made the previous day, to tell me he was fine, and I asked him whether his call was free, before I settled in for a longer conversation. I don’t think we mentioned the Jubilee at all, or maybe I asked him whether he was doing anything for it, knowing that he probably wasn’t. As it happened I think he went to a Japanese festival in a nearby park. When A came home (about 12.20) he said that lots of staff had dressed up to come to work. The lady meeting and greeting customers was dressed as a Beefeater, one woman wore a red, white and blue curly wig, a couple of employees wore England ’66 football shirts and other employees just wore a variety of red, white and blue clothes. A wore his black uniform top, as usual. He’d said that he’d listen to some music so I could get on with Mass Obs. However, after listening to one CD he was fed up so I went and had a cup of tea with him once or twice in the garden, though it was only warm up near the house. After he’d grudgingly let me get back to work he made us the evening meal (which lacked a Jubilee theme) and we sat down to watch telly for the rest of the evening. The One Show featured interviews on a bus – Sir Cliff in the driver’s seat (one or two lines of “Summer Holiday”) – with Sir Paul, Sir Elton, Sir Kylie and Sir Gary, then we watched the first part of the Jubilee concert. We found it rather weak until (Sir) Tom Jones performed, and didn’t blame the Queen for not turning up until 9pm (reportedly armed with ear plugs). She probably left it until just after Sir Tom so that she could enjoy hearing him as she arrived, but at the same time wouldn’t be tempted to throw her knickers at him. We were pleased to see will.i.am because his energy and sense of fun make us laugh but all the performances and songs until Sir Tom’s arrival were bland and boring. Even the Annie Lennox song that I usually enjoy seemed to have had had the edges knocked off, and had gone all shapeless and Mariah-fied, which so often seems to happen to great songs for live performances. I liked the classical performances a little more, at least they retained their crispness, but Sir Tom was the first singer who seemed to get the crowd (including the Royal family) really enthusiastic. The comedians that introduced the acts were a little more entertaining, though they didn’t get a very enthusiastic response from the crowd, and Lee Mack made a joke about Prince Harry then muttered ‘Is he laughing?’ After Sir Tom we waited to hear the jubilee song, but it wasn’t anything special – Lord Lloyd-Webber hadn’t made it as rousing as I know he’s capable of doing. We were promised Slum Drummers from a Commonwealth country – Kenya, I think, probably not Canada – and a brilliant Aboriginal musician, but although we could see them they were kind of swallowed up in amongst the African Children’s choir (whom, we’re told, absolutely love being in London) and the Military Wives. We realised that there wouldn’t be a repeat of Brian May’s guitar rendition of ‘God Save the Queen’ from the roof of Buck House (performed for the Golden Jubilee in 2002) but we were delighted to see that he’d been invited to watch the concert from the Royal box. Many reporters seemed to think that the Duke’s absence was verging on tragic, but although the Queen will have missed him, I can’t imagine that he was devastated to miss it, and I’m sure he’ll be better soon. Bed just after 9, and A wouldn’t record the rest of the concert. He’s in charge of entertainment and I can’t be bothered to argue, and we know these things often turn out disappointing anyway. Tuesday 5th Up at 6.30 again. It was grey and cold, but luckily it wasn’t raining or I’d have ended up giving A a lift to work. Wasn’t tempted to try to go back to sleep today until at least 9.25 – I must have been catching up, finally. Looked forward to seeing a programme featuring the concert highlights that would be on from 3.45 until 5.30, so we could see the bits that we missed after 9pm. I read that will.i.am appeared again towards the end and hoped that we had a glimpse of him to look forward to. Put on my whites wash (work tunics), worked on Mass Obs, and also tried to set up my camera to point at the bird feeding table (not very successfully) in order to record visitors to it. Didn’t sleep until after A came home and we’d watched the morning’s recording of Frasier, then I semi-permanently dyed my hair before we settled down to watch the concert highlights. Pleased to see that the drearier stuff was cut out or shortened to one song, enjoyed Tom Jones (both songs) again and Shirley Bassey. They both still had strong voices, whereas Sir Paul’s, Sir Elton’s, Sir Cliff’s and Stevie Wonder’s voices seem to have weakened more with age. Is it a Welsh thing? Or have Sir Tom and Dame Shirley continued to focus on singing and been less distracted by other things? Kylie was quite upbeat and entertaining although her songs are nothing special, but it probably helped that as well as being attractive she’s backed by dancers. Didn’t see will.i.am at the end though A said he saw him when all the performers walked onto the stage to hear Prince Charles’ speech (to ‘Your Majesty…Mummy…’ which got a laugh). Quite touched during the speech, including when the Prince suggested that if everyone shouted very loud his father might hear from the hospital. Fantastic fireworks to Land of Hope and Glory at the end. After tea and making sandwiches for the next day, I carried on with some Mass Obs bits then watched Springwatch before bed. I don’t have any visual displays to report, and the only photo I shall attach is the one of my Jubilee purchases from Robert Dyas. My monthly online Costa Coffee points statement was headed ‘Your monthly statement Ma’am’ and went on to say ‘It's Diamond Jubilee time! Bestowed here is your balance as of 25th May 2012. If one would like to check one's balance at any time, then simply login to one's account. Remember, you can collect and spend your points on all coffee and food in store like our royally tasty Coronation chicken sandwich or our simply spiffing lemon tart with lashings of lemon curd. Raise a glass to Queen and coffee!’