Are you having a Jubilee party in your street?
Apparently there are thousands planned across the UK . The shops are definitely prepared for us to spend our money on red, white and blue cakes, bunting, teapots, cushions, sweets, mugs, rugs and so much more. There will be lots of it reduced if you want to have party next weekend instead.
I’m away working at the moment and will miss a lot of the celebrations as I will be at a music festival in Denmark. I don’t think I would have been standing in the Mall waving a flag anyway.
Twenty years ago, Gordon and I took the children to London for the Golden Jubilee. It was wonderful. We stood there for hours, swept up in the excitement of it all, waving our flags. We saw all the royal family, in the procession up the Mall, and then the crowd moved towards Buckingham Palace and we all watched the royals appear on the balcony and the traditional fly-past in the sky overhead.
I’m so glad we did that. It’s lovely to have the memories of the children’s excitement at being at such a special event, and they loved that we had brought a picnic with us and went to the restaurant Wagamama in the evening, which was brand new back then.
I’m sure we didn’t buy any red, white and blue food at all. Fifty pence flags were our only patriotic expense. The shops didn’t seem to cash in back then as much as they do now!
Now, speaking of red, white and blue logos – have you been watching Britain’s Got Talent?
I saw the first few nights before I went away. Is it a load of rubbish this year, or have we just seen so many different talents over the years that there is nothing new left to see?
I, personally, feel a bit uncomfortable with some of the child acts. They can’t all go through to the final, and I just hate to see them get disappointed.
I recall that one year on the show, a girl forgot her words and started crying in the middle of her song. Simon said they would find time for her to do the song again later in the show.
I remember the panic on the faces of the producers when they then had to find an extra two minutes in a precisely-timed live show. They managed to do it, but that’s the problem with child acts: they are a little more unpredictable, and we are all willing them to succeed.
I only really watch it to see what Amanda and Alesha are wearing. They have been as stunning as ever. In fact, if you look back at photos of Amanda, she looks better every year.
I used to sit behind Amanda years ago, when I worked on the show, and I do remember having such fun. Twitter was brand new then and everyone was tweeting about the programme as it happened. Simon would steal Amanda’s phone in the ad break and tweet things on her account. Amanda and I would then sit looking at my phone, waiting to see what he had written.
We even persuaded a very sceptical Piers to join Twitter as well. Sorry about that to everyone who has to put up with him on there now!
It’s an amazing week to be a part of. Exhausting but fun. The difference now is that I don’t really care who is crowned the winner.
So, as I said earlier, I’m doing a lot of travelling for work. I’m with a band, so the logistics of us all getting to where we are going are down to the tour manager, which I’m glad about. I wouldn’t want the responsibility of getting myself anywhere this week, with all the chaos we are seeing at the airports.
Apparently the airlines let a lot of staff go during and after the worst of the pandemic, and are now having trouble recruiting and training enough people in time for the summer rush.
Half-term this week is, therefore, a huge problem for them and so many flights are being cancelled at the last minute.
I do feel sorry for people, especially those with children, getting to the airport for their much-awaited holiday and only then finding out that it’s cancelled.
You never know, I might end up going nowhere and spending the weekend eating Victoria sponge and waving a flag.
Happy Jubilee weekend everyone,
Yvie x
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