O3436

MO No 03436. female age 58 married Llandudno.

Summer 2012 The Diamond Jubilee.Although this is a special week-end I do not have any special plans but I am still very happy about the celebrations that are going on. The bunting & flags are terrific & I expect they are even better in other parts of the U.K. (North Wales not being the most royalist of areas!). Last week the Olympic Torch was passing through this area & I think that has helped, not only with all the decorations but also with the general air of celebration. My Diary -Sat June 2nd - Not so warm & sunny but good enough & the threatened rain does not arrive until late afternoon so proves to be no inconvenience to me. I am aware all day of how busy the main street is here - it is the way to the town & I think that it is busier than an ordinary Saturday but possibly I am just imagining that. I have lots planned but only a day at home doing chores & I start with some cleaning up to 10am. Then I begin my most urgent task of the day. I pot 48 small begonias into my tubs; some in the front garden & some in the back. I am so happy to have this job done as I am worried about the begonias being spoiled in their polystyrene seedlings box. I just know they are all longing to spread their roots & begin to grow in their new summer homes! I have several breaks whilst doing this & so by the end it is almost mid-afternoon. I am then helping my husband to assemble a shoot for his online photographic competition. This involves me staring on a chair, dangling one arm over our tall black, back gate & releasing from my hand a bunch of flowers as the shutter is pressed. The result is very good I think & the set up is quick & easy. After another rest during which I do nothing but watch a recorded TV documentary ('58 Up' - my favourite this week!); I summon up the energy to iron the clothes which I had washed & hung out first thing. After tea I watch T.V. & knit. Once I stop knitting & have a lie down on the settee it is no good at all & I quickly fall asleep. Never mind it is almost bedtime anyway!Sunday June 3rdThe street next to mine is called Jubilee Street & I am most pleased with the fact that they are having a street party today! Also it is a longish street of tiny terraced houses & so will be exactly the type of urban setting appropriate in my mind for a street party. Also the people who live in the street are a mixture of every age & several nationalities so it should be an ideal party. However the weather tragically could not be any wetter or even much colder. I feel so sorry for them all. I was invited to this party as my abutting street is very small we were included, but I could not go as I am going to do my voluntary shop job & my husband would rather be imprisoned in the Tower of London than attend a street party. So I am doing my usual Sunday tasks, do a load of washing & make the bed with clean linen before the time arrives for me to go the charity shop. I leave the house at 10.45am & it takes just about 5 minutes to get to the shop. Before i open at 11am I make myself a coffee. When I open my friend who also serves in the shop has braved the elements. She is almost 84 & is helping me until she goes back to have her lunch at 12.30. The weather is so bad she doesn't come back after lunch but I really don't blame her. It is pretty quiet in the shop & at 4pm when I close I have taken £172 which is low for a Bank Holiday Sunday. Most of the people in the shop are visitors to the town & they are mainly coming in to escape the weather but not to buy anything sadly. Everybody is sorry that the bad weather has put a literal damper on the celebrations. I am not surprised to find out that the street party in Jubilee Street has been cancelled. I watch some of the Thames Flotilla & find it quite a lot more interesting than I would have thought. I only watch for about 10 minutes though so I am not sure how I would have felt if I had watched more. I thought Kate (wife of Prince William) looked gorgeous in her scarlet outfit. I felt for all the Royal Family, they must have been freezing. It has felt quite a special day to me even though I did all my normal activities & the weather was so vile. A customer said it was the same weather on the Coronation Day so that made it seem a bit better - at least it was traditional!Monday June 4th.Woke to a blue sky & sun which lasted all day & was very welcome. It was still quite cool & windy but so much better than yesterday. I did a load of washing & cleaned half of the kitchen, my husband did the other half! I went to Asda supermarket which was fairly empty thankfully. I scrubbed 9 flag-stones in my back garden which is actually a small yard, & then when it had dried I put my 6 patio tubs in the clean area & they looked very good there so I was happy. Inbetween these chores I had rests as I didn't want to get too worn out too soon. I have M.S. so I need to take things slowly. On my rests I sewed up 2 knitted sheep for my nativities which I have been making for the charity shop to sell at Christmas. When I had done all my chores I did some work on some birthday cards I am making. I went out straight after lunch for a walk around to the prom & back. The beach & Prom were crowded & everyone was making the most of the better day. Lots of sea-side scenes everywhere, sand castles, donkeys, paddlers, deck-chairs & Punch & Judy. I saw one stout young couple very royally clad, the man was wearing a funky union-jack T-shirt & the lady had a dress made of union-jack fabric. After tea I watched the Jubilee concert from The Mall. I felt really sorry to hear that Prince Phillip was poorly. I did enjoy the concert although I was recording it & had put it on later than when it began so my husband was fast-forwarding through anyone he didn't like! At 10.15 we went to bed so I will probably watch the rest of the concert tomorrow night. I was impressed with the people in London - they were so enthusiastic & I felt that it would have been great to actually be there!Tuesday June 5th.A return to the cloudy & cold weather & plenty of rain around all day. It didn't feel like a Bank Holiday & I felt that the impetus of the Jubilee had been lost by going to another day. The house across the street took down it's huge Union Jacks first thing. I was engaged all day in my usual activities, cleaning, some card-making, to serve in the charity shop in the afternoon & then I watched the end of the Jubilee concert in the evening. I really enjoyed the concert & I thought it was terrifically well organised. I thought it was a terrible shame about Prince Phillip but I did also think he was not really a fan of almost all of the artistes in the concert so he was possibly a little relieved at missing it. I am glad that I saw what I did of the Jubilee & it meant more to me than any other Royal Event. I think the Royal family are enjoying a surge in popularity since the wedding last year of William & Kate. I think they are very good for the country & would now be sorely missed. The best part of the concert for me was the projections onto the Palace - fantastic!