London Calling

54 years and counting...

It's been a slow week and we've been a bit remiss about updating the blog in a timely manner. So on the 2nd of June, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 54th anniversary of her coronation. In merry olde England this is referred to as, surprise, surprise, Coronation Day.

Kirsten had to work so I got to play tourist all by my lonesome. Much as I love the Queen (one of the conditions for residing in London) the real draw to the celebration was the promise of a 41 gun (cannon) salute. I'm a man of simple pleasures.

Buckingham Palace was closed off and packed with tourists and loyal subjects. It was a gorgeous hot and sunny day to be sitting around the perimeter of the palace waiting for the festivities to begin. After about 30-45 minutes a couple who had been sitting next to me for awhile leaned over and asked what everyone was waiting for (themselves included). I wondered how many other people in the crows we're simply waiting around because there was a crowd, classic!

Things kicked off around 1 with the parade of the The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery pulling the cannons behind them. The cannons made a militaristic cadence as the wheels rumbled along the cobblestones surrounding Buckingham Palace. The horsemen were followed by a band composed of literally hundreds of Queen's Guards, the ones with the tall furry black hats. Check out the pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8394484@N07/sets/72157600335208596/
(these were taken on my mobile so the quality is not very good)

After all of the celebrants made into the area in front of Buckingham Palace the festivities transferred over to Green Park. The Royal Horse Artillery charged in and quickly set-up the cannons, 8 in all. After a some yelling and final organisation the commandant (?) began giving the order to fire. Moments of total silence were punctuated by the deafening boom of the cannons. As you can probably gather from the photos my position was in front of and within a hundred yards of several of the guns, it was pretty intimidating. What if it went down like Brandon Lee and I got a squib load? Anyway, after the first few rounds the silence in between the firings was filled with screaming babies, it created a very interesting orchestra of sounds. Finally 41 shots later the horses galloped back in, the guns were replaced onto their carts and off they went.

I decided to get out of the sun and walk back home, having witnessed another little piece of Britannia. Although I might add, I made the effort to show up at Coronation Day, you would think the Queen could have returned the favor, she was a no show...

posted by Brian and Kirsten Hennigan @ Sunday, June 10, 2007