Oh Britannia

London has had its fair share of excitement these last few months. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics injected some (for a change) happy faces, some sun (finally!), and some 550 miles (err that's 855km, just from one retailer!) of blue, white and red bunting. Although the day of the Thames flotilla, where over a thousand ships sailed past, the weather in true London style was complete crap, but what I enjoyed seeing most (whilst drenched and huddled with my posh hat and a classy mug of Pimms and lemonade since the queen was a mere white speck from where we were sitting) was how the locals came along with their camping chairs along the borders of the river, had picnics and enjoyed themselves despite the rain. These last few months have included explosions of Union Jacks (pet outfits included), open air big screens across the city to watch the games, beautiful bridges lit up at night, choc-a-block pubs, free concerts, corgies, a jaw dropping collection of ambient torches at the National Theatre, and bobbies. Lots and lots of bobbies. I'm not one for Goliathesque (if that's a word) corporate sponsorship so I avoided the games for the most part. But you could notice there were foreigners around, as they were chatting on the train. Londoners don't do that. I'm all bunting-ed out now.