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Wednesday 6 June 2012

Back to Normal


What a fabulous 4 days we've had here in the UK.  I wonder if Her Majesty had a well deserved lie-in this morning!  Although we didn't actually partake in any of the celebrations in person I felt as if we were part of it all simply by being British and being here rather than still in France! How I wished I had been able to be in London though.


Pomp and pageant is something we do so well in England and the colour and joy were apparent in spite of the weather (sixty years ago I remember going to see the proceedings on a neighbour's television but no colour was available then!) What struck me most about it all was the fact that it is possible to have thousands of people all congregating together and there to be none of the violence and arrests which so often occur when crowds get together for whatever reason.  I occasionally feel saddened and embarrassed by the behaviour of some of my fellow countrymen and their thuggish behaviour but the Jubilee restored my faith in the better side of human nature.  It was wonderful to see so many people from all walks of life, of all ages from the elderly to little children (who will surely have memories to tell their own children and grandchildren one day), of all nationalities and no doubt of many different religions or none getting together to enjoy themselves. Just now when the world is in such a parlous state, when Europe is hanging on by its fingernails as the recession deepens, and when so many people have little to be joyful about it was wonderful to have 4 days of happy news on the television!  Long may she reign indeed!

Now the streets of our capital are gradually returning to their usual workaday selves, the nationwide street parties all cleared up and the mountains of washing up done (I wonder just how many cups of tea were drunk over the weekend!) we are left with memories of a joyous few days.  It was certainly something none of us will live to see again!

Meanwhile here at chez Marigold we too have returned to normal as our wanderer left us on Sunday to move on to pastures new - we miss her of course, and so do the cats who had been enjoying extra attention,  but at least this time she is not on the other side of the world but just the other side of London and near enough for an occasional visit.


Yesterday was such a dismal wet day here (I was pleased to see that the rain didn't reach London till later in the day) that indoor occupation was called for and I decided to make a small quilt for the office chair we use at the computer - the cats sometimes sit on it and we are prone to come in to check our e-mails in our grubby gardening clothes so something washable to protect the upholstery was called for.  I probably should have made it red, white and blue instead of yellow since it was stitched over the Jubilee weekend!  I finished off the hand stitching sitting in front of the fire we lit last night as it was so chilly!

By the way there is a programme on Channel 4 tomorrow evening at 9.00 pm about the 50's home to tie in with the Jubilee.  I shall be watching with interest as due to leaving a comment on a blog a long while ago which indicated that I remembered life in the 50s one of the researchers got in touch with me and then after a long conversation on the phone a week later she and another researcher came here to talk with both me and my husband, who probably remembers some things better than I do and had a more typical childhood than mine too.  We were asked if we would agree to being interviewed on film but we declined - we are weird enough as it is without the editing process making us come across as even more strange than we already are so we shall not be making an appearance but it should be an interesting watch for anyone who enjoys a trip down Memory Lane.

15 comments:

  1. It was indeed a wonderful long weekend! :)
    Lovely cushion Jane and knowing cats I'm sure THEY will be delighted with it! In fact they will probably think you made it especially for them. :)
    What a shame you didn't appear on the programme, I'm sure you would have been wonderful!
    Vivienne x

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  2. Lovely cushion, I'm sure the cats will appreciate it as much as you do!

    Thanks for the info about the TV programme, it soudns really interesting and I shall make sure I watch it.

    Have a good week, getting used to nort having your wanderer around :-/

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  3. Comfy looking cushion! What a shame that you won't be making a tv appearance! I am sure you aren't strange Jane. No more strange than the rest of us anyway!!! x

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  4. If I had been invited to do that, I should have declined too.

    Thanks for the info about the programme, I shall try to watch it.

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  5. It was a wonderful weekend, wasn't it?! It was so lovely that it wasn't spoilt by demonstrations, terrorism etc., just a happy happy celebration enjoyed by so many.

    Your chair cover is lovely, I'm sure your cats will love it!

    Shame you didn't appear on the tv programme, but i can understand your decision (not that there's anything wrong with being weird!).

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  6. Certainly not over for the Queen who was meeting with the heads of Commonwealth today.

    Wonderful, all of it was it not. Watched from armchair but son went up to town.

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  7. oh will be watching that one!
    xxx

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  8. I already had that programme earmarked as one to watch.

    Wasn't it lovely to sit and watch the crowds in London? A weekend to remember, that's for sure!

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  9. Hello, found your blog whilst surfing over my breakfast! i(A wasted life, I fear!) and completely concurr with your comments in this post. We didn't do much Jubille-related other than watch part of the pageant - and worry about the poor drenched choir!, and the concert was 'on in the background'. However, we both felt...involved, somehow, and I think there has been a lot of good feeling washing about the place.

    Intrigued, now, about your 'weirdness' - naughty, you have piqued everyones' curiosity now!

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  10. How disappointing that you declined the interview.

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  11. Oh Jane what a shame you declined the interview . I could have told everyone that I know someone famous on tv! I'll have to look out for that programme. Sounds like my cup of tea.

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  12. I shall have to have your autograph now :-D
    Hope you enjoyed reminiscing for the programme.

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  13. I agree with you how wonderful so many people together without any violence etc.
    I'm sure that most of our young people are lovely decent human beings but drugs and drink change them into something else.
    I know as I have had my Grandson living with me and met lots of his friends, they are all lovely boys but get some drink into them and who knows.
    Unfortunately this is the youth culture and I'm not sure how this is going to change barring an war or similar and we don't want that do we?
    Thankyou for a lovely post.
    Briony
    x

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  14. Wasn't all the Jubilee excitement just the perfect antidote to the prevailing doom and gloom.

    And how fascinating to be involved in the 50s house programme! I'm sure you wouldn't have seemed weird at all if interviewed, but I can quite understand why you declined. We homeschooled our super bright son and were sometimes interviewed for the radio, even that was the oddest experience and no one could see us.

    Jane you're a no reply blogger and I've been trying to get in touch about the Bryn Tanat knitter's and crocheter's retreat. You said your interest depended on cost, which I can confirm is £350 as stated originally. I have more details to send out if you are interested, perhaps you could email me to let me know if you do want to be on the list or not? There's a link with my email address just under the title banner on my blog. Cheers m'dear x

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  15. I watched the 50's Home programme and found it fascinating. I love social history type programmes anyway, so this was right up my street. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

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