Pomp & Circumstance

I must say that I'm not a great fan of the set-piece ceremonial occasions but I decided to become a tourist for the day and go down to the Mall to have a look at the Trooping of the Colour.

With some trepidation I took my place among the thousands of flag-waving spectators lining the road.

I apologise for the poor shots - I was sandwiched between a rather large lady from somewhere in the US Mid-West who didn't seem to understand much about what was going on (she kept asking the person with her "is this part of the tour?") and a man from up north, in town "to see t'Queen".

Plenty of comedy value but not much help to take decent pictures. C'est la vie.

Anyway, the Guards duly marched by in their inconspicuous uniforms. I must admit I struggled to pick them out against the background. They were followed by the Household Cavalry - how do horses manage to crap seemingly continuously?

Eventually of course the royals followed in horse-drawn carriages - I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about more crap but I'll let that one go :)

And someone behind said - "It's tradition, you know."

Great, I thought as I pulled someone's Union Jack out of my ear.