Royal Wedding: Will you be watching?

[deptfordmarmoset]

I went out for a quiet ride around bits of London South Bank - Lambeth and Kennington - that I didn't know while the world was otherwise occupied. I'd now quite like to see a 10-minute edited edition of the ceremony so I'll then know what people will be talking about for the next week and beyond. I did try switching on the Channel 4 news and was treated to footage of John Snow openly cycling around with a headcam on pavements and a succession of ''didn't we do well!'' and ''The Americans, poor things, don't have kings and queens, so they love the pageantry more than we do'' type nonsense.

It's not that I'm a republican or anti-monarchist - I think royalty has shown that it can be popular and combine with stable and forward-looking democratic governments - plus I'd hate to have a president - but the continuous self-congratulatory media ooze is driving me up the wall.

 

[Dave Davenport]

So Kate asked the Queen what the secret was to a successful royal marrage, to which the Queen replied: "Do up your seatbelt and don't piss me off!

 

[bongofury66]

......and when the Queen offered Kate either a BMW or a Mercedes, Kate replied that she would not be seen dead in a BMW

So Kate asked the Queen what the secret was to a successful royal marrage, to which the Queen replied: "Do up your seatbelt and don't piss me off!

 

[gbb]

Watched it from 10ish to 11, went for a ride so missed the ceremony itself but caught up with it all through the day.
Enjoyed it all, nice to have something to smile about while we've spent the last two years with faces as long as fiddles (as a nation)

Funny the things you pick up on...Kate looked slightly awkward every time William saluted anyone, she'd often put her head down, perhaps not knowing what she was supposed to do.

 

[gbb]

I sincerely hope no-one mind a joke re the wedding, but..
Prince Harry asked Prince William 'surely you're not having the traditional fruit cake at the wedding?'
Prince Phillip said 'i don't give a monkeys...i'm going whether you like it or not'

 

[bongofury66]

Lol ......Well if they do ..that means that me and Mr Davenport are somewhat in the mire. Good joke.

I sincerely hope no-one mind a joke re the wedding, but..
Prince Harry asked Prince William 'surely you're not having the traditional fruit cake at the wedding?'
Prince Phillip said 'i don't give a monkeys...i'm going whether you like it or not'

 

[ianrauk]

Watched it from 10ish to 11, went for a ride so missed the ceremony itself but caught up with it all through the day.
Enjoyed it all, nice to have something to smile about while we've spent the last two years with faces as long as fiddles (as a nation)

Funny the things you pick up on...Kate looked slightly awkward every time William saluted anyone, she'd often put her head down, perhaps not knowing what she was supposed to do.

It was a bow to the salute.

I watched some of it on the news. The pageantry of it all looked fantastic.

 

[ColinJ]

I managed to avoid seeing the wedding live, though I did have an annoying supermarket-with-radio-turned-up moment at about 11:30 am.

I had a friend round for a meal this evening and she insisted on watching the Channel 4 news which had about 30 minutes coverage of the wedding. It annoyed me as much as I thought it would ...

My guest couldn't see why I was angry. I said that in my view a lengthy discussion about what a bunch of rich toffs were wearing at a posh wedding didn't sit comfortably alongside a short report about Syrian troops killing unarmed anti-government protesters in the street!

 

[bongofury66]

Yes everything should be in context to it's actual real import. When I got married , hardly anyone turned up (sadly the bride did) and our main wedding present was some beach towels (in pink) from my then future mother in law. It's been downhill for the last 35 years since that. My bike loves me though.

 

[summerdays]

I watched it with the female members of my family and the others watched a few bits of it. I enjoyed it ... looking at what they were wearing and the commentators letting the public near microphones and suffering for it... .

Later on I took one of my children to a street party and stayed for a while... and there was another street party in the next road along too.

When I was a child my parents occasionally used to take me to Windsor Castle on Christmas day to see them come out after the Christmas Day service so I guess it was drummed into me as a child.

 

[buggi]

so you get invited to the BIGGEST wedding of the decade and what do you choose to wear ??? ...

 

[John the Monkey]

I went for a ride on NCN 5 - weather was gorgeous, although the route was difficult to follow at Middlewich (and blocked completely at one point) - eventually I retraced my steps & rode to the start of the Cheshire bit, at Kidsgrove.

It was a beautiful day, and far better than being stuck in listening to Philip Schofield & co. desperately filling air with speculation and inanity (I got back a little before 1, and it was STILL on).

 

[bongofury66]

Yeah did about20 miles even though I felt lousy.very windy. My wife is still watching it cos she recorded it!!!!!!!!!

 

[on the road]

I did 56 miles, rode over the Runcorn Bridge. There was hardly any traffic out and there was only a little bit of traffic on the Runcorn Bridge, even less then on a Sunday. The bridge is two lanes in each direction, normally both lanes are full with traffic in either direction and there's a never ending stream of traffic, but this time there was only one lane of a small amount of traffic and once they had gone past I had the bridge all to myself.

 

[Aperitif]

I'm plugging a nice piece of reporting by Christina Patterson in today (Saturday's) Independent.
Yesterday, returning to London from Hastings, it was apparent that there was a good feeling in the London air. I'm all for that. And there is an excellent description of the wedding attire further into the paper. Buggi's photo is of two princesses; the description of their couture made me snigger: "Dress like a budget airline seat; hat like a commemorative urn..." Not a pair of jeans and a t shirt in sight - I would have felt well out of place!