6 May 2011

to look at the following video but don’t let it stop you having the odd drink! So. Cclick on the URL below and move the beer to the right. This has to be one of the cheapest dietary tips you will ever get!


   http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00622/beer_goggles_622180a.swf   
  

 

 

 

 

5 May 2011

I think we made a mistake with the ladies from Continuing Care. Although we were ready at 7.30 they didn’t appear, I can only think that we misunderstood the arrangement. No doubt it will be sorted out today..

The second mistake was over lunch. I was due to have lunch with a friend at the Cricketers, next door. (No names no pack drill!). 12.30 came but no friend, so ‘my lovely’ dressed me up in my cloak and hat and wheeled me round to the pub thinking perhaps he expected to meet me there. As the weather forecast had promised a sunny day I had booked a table outside where I was parked in my wheelchair. Having furnished me with a small cigar ‘ my lovely’ rushed back to the house to ring my missing friend – no reply. Back she came by which time it was raining so we made our apologies to the pub and I was wheeled home. 10 min or so after I had been settled back in my study chair-with the help of our new neighbour Luke – who is back building his new bungalow – and then my friend arrived, covered in embarrassment, shamefully admitting that he had completely forgotten about our appointment. We assured him that it couldn’t matter less. We have all done it, even before we got old and dippy. I remember once arranging to play golf with two different people on the same day, in, error,and arriving on the first tee to see them both before I realised my mistake. I had no choice but to suggest they played together and I went home.

Alice met one of the new Continuing Care nurses in the local shop and it seems that they are unlikely to start until tomorrow evening-something to do with completing the paperwork, so it means calling on Barry again for the evening run.

The Americans have now decided that the 99.9% certainty about who they shot is now 100%, it was Bin Laden. However, they have decided that they were not show the world any photographs of the body, which naturally makes people very suspicious. Presumably the head was too badly damaged by the gunshot wound and site of their leader in such a state might inflame the Muslim population. The whole business as to why they shot an unarmed man and where on earth were all the guards who were earlier engaged in the gun battle with the Americans prior to the them entering Bin Laden’s bedroom, is all a little bit of a mystery. There is now a big row erupting as to whether they infringed Bin Ladin’s human rights when they’ gently dropped these newly washed body into the sea’ without first informing his relatives!

I know I said we would have no more royal wedding material but the following video was sent to me on the grounds that it was inspirational concerning creation and all the good things in life. In order to redress the balance of my recent comments about evolution and atheism I offer all those readers of mine who are believers this rather mushy video. Be sure your speakers are on.
   
www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html

 

4 May 2011

A truly medical day after the long weekend and the dramas of the collapsing legs. Telephone calls to the district nurse re Continuing Care – we really need help for a few minutes in the evening to get me out of my chair and perhaps in the morning, for the loo. Then there was another call to Dr Margaret Saunders, the palliative care lady, about the two people who she was going to arrange to come here, one to teach me to breathe more effectively and the other one to show ‘my lovely’ how to rub my tummy to remove some of air. Then I called Dr Chris Allen – the head of my MND team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital – I’ve to try to persuade him to speak to Dr Ian Smith, at Papworth Hospital, about the possibility of fitting me with a diaphragm pacer. Then various calls to Lynne, our OT. to arrange for her to come tomorrow to physically demonstrate getting me out of one chair into a wheelchair. Then Holly’s, the wheelchair people, rang about putting some switches on to the left-hand armrest of the electric wheelchair so I could stop and start and control it from there as well as using my right hand to steer it. No sooner was the telephone put down than Mark, from Holly’s, appeared at the door like magic with the switches. He is also assessed me for a chin control for the day when my arms no longer work. While he was fixing the switches to the chair, Harriet, the boss of Ross Nursing-‘s whose offices are just round the corner, arrived with one of her nice young nurses, Louise, as a response to our request for Continuing Care.

They proved to be wonderfully accommodating and seemed to be prepared to work to our desired timetable rather than times to suit them. They will start tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m.I’m so pleased that at last ‘my lovely’, who has struggled on so manfully and bravely for the past year, at last, will be relieved of much of her anxiety.

‘Jane the sheep’ came at lunchtime and, amongst other things, massaged my hands and stretched my arms, as she has done over several months,. Maybe I can get the continuing care nurses to doing this on the days when Jane doesn’t come in order to keep my joints mobile and the fluid in my hands to a minimum.

After all the medical staff I thought the reader deserves some diversion. This first video, (click on the URL below) although little long (about 16 min.) is so well worth watching from a human relationship point of view and recognising the old boy (Uncle Jack) as redolent of the many thousands of young heroes /heroines who served in both world wars and are today still fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For the real aircraft buffs amongst you I can recommend looking at the other videos which show up when you click on to this one. They have a special meaning to me as I was flying 50 years ago, in Australia, with the good Dr Michael and his crop spraying brother, David. My first lessons were in.a little Gypsy Moth-whose wings we used to fold to put it away into the garage at night-then onto a Tiger Moth and finally onto an Auster Autocar. We flew all over the place, including one intrepid trip from Melbourne right across the centre of Australia (the ‘Great Bugger All’ as it is affectionately known in Australia) beyond Alice Springs to Tenants Creek. No radio and a rather dicky fuel gauge which meant that we had to carry a calibrated bamboo stick to dip into the petrol tank as we flew along to see how close we were to empty. This was a little more complex than you might think as we had to carry out this performance in mid-air, so to speak. It meant opening the door and whichever one of us was flying at the time (usually Mick) would have to unscrew the petrol cap, dip the stick and then bring it back into the cabin and close the door. If we were then empty, or close to it, whoever was sitting on the backseat (usually me) would then have to siphon petrol from a 4 gallon you and you and drum again through the open door into the tank to keep us going until we could find the fuel dump the been there for us in the ‘Great Bugger All’ I recall, one occasion, with Mick leaning out to perform this task when he came back asking rather apprehensively whether or not he had his spectacles or at the time because they certainly were there when his head came back into the cabin!. I have a number of flying tales to tell but not now, let these true heroes speak for themselves first..

http://www.sleepingdogtv.com/reel/Uncle-Jack.aspx

3 May 2011

Dramatic ness. President Obama announced last night Usama Bin Laden, the erstwhile head of Al Qaeda – responsible for many tragic incidents including the destruction of the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001,- had been shot by a small specialised group of American type commandos who raided his stronghold in Abbottabad ,Pakistan

The rather mysterious aspect of this whole thing is that they said they were only 99.9% sure that it was Bin Laden and there are no photographs of the body instead have yet been released-apparently he was a gory sight and the Americans did not want to inflame the Muslims by displaying it. Then, bizarrely, they took the body out to sea and after washing the body, in accordance with the Muslim custom, apparently gently lowered it into the water. Why the hurry to dispose of the body of the most wanted man in the world, particularly, from the Americans who have not always used the most sensitive approach to their enemies in the past. Of course, this has caused all sorts of questions about conspiracy theories, in particular as the Pakistani government were apparently totally unaware that Bin Laden was living in luxury in a especially constructive heavily reinforced Villa, with 18 feet high walls around it, only a couple of kilometres from an major military establishment and near a large conurbation. I hope to goodness it was really Bin Laden otherwise Pres Obama will have a lot of egg on his face! Okay one down and how many to go? Syria next? Then Bahrain? What about Saudi Arabia? Indeed where does this sort of tactic end? It is indeed a moral dilemma

Tuesday’s come round again, after two long holiday weekend’s and I was off to the golf club for my drive around and lunch. This week as Griggsy was in Spain he had very kindly arranged for Karl Creasey to be my driver. Karl looked after me beautifully and produced all sorts of rugs,,coats and things to ensure that I was not cold as there was a very chilly north-east wind blowing. Barry and Scott between them did their usual efficient transfer from car to wheelchair and back.

I got back in time for Althea to cut my hand and toenails before she goes off in a motorhome to France for a holiday. Barry turned out again at 10 p.m. to help me out of my chair. I hope we managed to put something more permanent imposition when Lynne come to see us tomorrow.

 

2 May 2011

With some trepidation I managed to shuffle up the ramp into the shower on my frame this morning despite not feeling as safe as I have in the past and I believe that this particular process may swiftly becoming to an end and we may have to resort to the special shower wheelchair. We will, hopefully, sort that out on Wednesday morning if Lynne, our OT, can come to go through the whole process.

This morning the ‘boy’s, our wonderful handymen, Bill and Paul, came at nine o’clock and helped get out onto the frame and into the loo. They put down the ramp at the office door and got out the electric wheelchair which I was determined to have a go at. They also measured up to put six inch inside pieces for the front door ramps just in case I try to drive the electric wheelchair that way. I had a brainwave, as I am unlikely to actually see office again, they could try the office ranp outside the French windows leading into the nursery and that would be a great way for me to get in and out of that room, perhaps using the electric wheelchair. They found that the smaller of the two ramps pretty well fitted the bill and they will come up Sunday to do this work. This will mean I’ll be able to access the breakfast room when we have guests and eat with them. Whilst they were here I moved around the garden in the wheelchair, It was absolute bliss to be out in the sunshine and totally independently mobile

I know we’ve had a lot about the Royal wedding but I could not resist this irreverent of the ‘Royals’ letting their hair down. (See if you spot the real Prince Charles and Prince Harry!!) Click the square below and then click on the URL on the e-mail. Enjoy

 

 

Barry came again in the evening to help me out of my chair and onto my frame, at bedtime. We will have to continue this process to such times as we get something more permanent in place.

 

 

 

1 May 2011

After the dramas of last evening we managed our usual performance of getting me dressed and walking me to my chair in the study for breakfast. The problem came when I tried to get up again and onto the gutter frame to go to the loo. It soon became obvious that we were in danger of another fall. We certainly didn’t want to ring 909 again and ‘my lovely’ had the brainwave of eliciting the assistance of our good faithful driver, Barry, who lives reasonably close by. He came, as willing as ever, even on a bank holiday, and was here within 10 min or so and the necessary manoeuvres were accomplished without further mishap. Clearly this state of affairs cannot go on like this and we must swiftly seeks a longer more permanent solution.

I stayed in my study chair 14 hours, not attempting my usual mid-morning or early evening walks as this would have meant having someone to assist me getting up onto my frame. Barry came again in the evening at 10 o’clock, just to get me up and I managed to walk, or rather shuffle, back into the bedroom.

Incidentally, as a last word on the Royal Wedding, how many of you noticed the wording of the undertaking given by both bride and groom. Instead of the traditional “with all my worldly goods I thee endow ” it was changed to “with all my worldly goods I thee share”. Very modern, perhaps reflecting the right of each partner to a marriage being entitled to 50% of the combined wealth of both partners.

 

 

 
 

30 April 2011

Another quiet day, or at least we thought. The good Dr Michael left after breakfast, for his home in Sweden, and telephoned us late afternoon to say that he had arrived safely.

We were fine and spent the rest of the day together and watched one or two of the residue programmes of the Royal Wedding, in between other things. All was well until bedtime when I failed to rise from the chair and stand on my feet. instead slid to the floor with my usual cries of alarm. ‘My lovely’was her usual calm brilliant self and managed to prop me against the NHS chair so I could breathe and she could go for help.

Much as she would have liked to, there was no way she could possibly get me up from sitting on the floor to a vertical position. Fortunately our next-door neighbour Tom, was not at home and I’m quite pleased about that as we called upon him only two days ago and, let’s face it, there does come a time when you become a bloody nuisance. Anyway, our next port of call was another neighbour, Edward Oliver, who only lives 100 yards or so away. Unfortunately Edward had been to dinner the night before in London and had decide to have an early night. This was rudely interrupted by our telephone call and the poor chap had to get up, dress himself and come round. Even between them, ‘my lovely’ and Edward, with the assistance of the standing hoist, could not manage to get me to my feet and onto my frame, so we decided it was prudent to do what we had always been told we must do and dialled 999. The ambulance arrived from Radwinter no more than 10 or 15 min later with two extremely kind and helpful paramedics. They soon got me onto my frame with which I then I shakily made my way through to the bedroom.

I think it is, as I have suspected for some time, that my arms are giving out faster than my legs as I need to support the weight of my body on the frame when I’m attempting to stand up. I have noticed, for example, that it is getting more difficult to feed myself, even using both arms and the armrest, so I know they are getting weaker. As much as anything I believe that I have lost confidence and dread every time I have to go through the manoeuvre of standing from my NHS chair.

It’s ‘sods law’ that these things always happen at the weekend, and, in this case, on an extra long weekend. Although we have alerted Lynne, our OT, that we need more physical instruction on how to transfer from chair to chair, perhaps using a hoist, I think the earliest this can happen will be Wednesday morning, so in the meantime we will have to set up some assistance for the morning and night move

 

 

 
 

29 April 2011

A Red Letter Day. The Royal Wedding of Prince William, the Queen’s eldest grandson and Catherine Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Certainly a day that many of the millions of people around the world who were watching on television will remember for the rest of their lives. As one has come to expect of anything to do with British pageantry, it was magnificently choreographed, down to the exact minute with every one of the thousands of people involved knowing precisely what they had to do and when.

Of course, it goes without being said, that the bride looked absolutely stunning but, in this case, I can say it with absolute conviction. Her slim figure made it possible for her to wear the simplest of wedding gowns. Pale ivory satin crowned with exquisite lace around the shoulders and sleeves with a flair pleated bottom and a curved train, some two or three metres long, reminiscent of the petal of a giant white lily. She wore a very fine plain white silk veil crowned with a slim, unostentatious, diamond tiara, loaned by the Queen. The   maid of honour, Catherine’s sister, again extremely slim. Was in the simplest of ivory satin sheaths and herself looked absolutely stunning. She held the lands of the two tiniest of the four little bridesmaids who were beautifully dressed in matching ivory satin dresses with wide flared skirts and their hair decorated with a daisy chain of white lily-of-the-valley which matched the small bouquet carried by the bride

Bringing up the rear were two little military style page boys in the long red jackets smothered in gold braid on their breasts The groom and his brother, Prince Harry were both magnificently attired in military uniforms smothered in gold braid and decorations, every inch princes of the realm. The Queen was beautifully dressed in a plain soft lemon coloured full-length, coat, made the smarter by being devoid of any decoration. Her hat followed the style she has adopted some years now, pork pie shaped with a wide brim. If she had been my mum I would have been proud of her.

Beyond that I have no intention of attempting to describe the clothes or dress of any of the other 2000 or so guests in Westminster Abbey, suffice it to say that there were 50 heads of state amongst them, many of them kings and queens in their own right, all of whom appeared to me to be reasonably turned out. After all it was Catherine’s day and nobody wanted to steal her limelight. There were only a couple or so of the younger generation of the Royal Family who, in my opinion, were badly dressed, obviously having little dress sense themselves or were badly advised by others.

Catherine had made her own stamp on the majestic Cathedral by having the aisle lined with 20/25 feet high mature trees in full leaf. Apparently the idea is that these will be transplanted to Prince Charles, home at Highfield, after the ceremony.

The wedding ceremony itself, in the magnificence of Westminster Abbey, was a relatively simple and dignified affair, unencumbered by too much ceremony. Of course, there was some exquisite music, mainly choral, and the addresses given by Catherine’s brother and the various religious dignitaries were not too long or heavy and appropriate for the occasion.

The tens, or hundreds, of thousands of people who lined the Mall from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey -some of whom had camped on the pavement for a couple of days and nights – were more than rewarded by the magnificence of the processions, and heard the service relayed to them through loudspeakers from the Abbey when the Archbishop of Canterbury declared them to be man of my loud cheer went up from the thousands outside which even penetrated the walls of the Abbey itself.A poignant moment.

The troops were, as we have come to expect, immaculately turned out. Regiments of colourfully clad guards, foot or mounted, many with gleaming breastplates;; many beautiful horse drawn, open topped carriages; marching bands, drums and trumpeters in profusion engendering great excitement in the assembled throngs. They were apparently 5000 street parties throughout the land, many of them having a full-size screen on which they were able to watch the whole proceedings and few bonded with the occasion. There was joy throughout the land at this new triumph of emerging monarchy.

When it comes to putting on this sort of show there is no doubt that we, the British, do it better than anyone else. I have always thought but we should do something on these lines for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, like the Edinburgh Tattoo, for example. Something uniquely British as there is no way that we could possibly begin to match the incredible spectacle put on by the Chinese at the opening of the last Olympic Games in Beijing

The processions, to and from Westminster Abbey, were crowned by the now traditional balcony scene (two kisses between bride and groom this time) and the flypast by the Second World War Lancaster bomber, flanked by the two, now famous, fighter planes that prevailed in the Battle of Britain, in the 1940s, the Spitfire and the Hurricane.

Thank heavens the weather was kind and although it was not wall-to-wall sunshine, it did not rain and I have no doubt that for the 2 or 3 billion people, throughout the world, who witnessed the event, through the magic of television, it will be a day they will never forget. The timing was perfect as next year is the Queens Diamond Jubilee and there will be an even more spectacular performance put on for that which will, no doubt, give British tourism a great, and very welcome, boost. Also, of course, it is the year of the British Olympic Games, so this little island should be humming for a while yet. Certainly ‘my lovely’ and I enjoyed every minute of it from mid-morning until early afternoon. I opened a bottle of champagne, despite the good doctor’s absence, in order to toast the happy couple – I did not take very much persuading!

It is not often that I am able to quote Her Majesty speaking off the record, having heard it with my own ears, but as she alighted from the carriage on returning to Buckingham Palace she was heard to say “That was amazing” and coming from someone whose whole life has been spent as the central figure in literally hundreds of such parades and pageants, that comment itself is amazing.

Our houseguest, the good doctor, had decided to choose this day to visit his great aunt, his mother’s sister -an 87-year-old who lives in St Albans. He got Barry to drive him over and then went from there to London to visit an old surgeon friend who is awaiting a major operation. Fortunately when he was with his great aunt he was able to watch most of the days excitement. It is important that as many Australians as possible witness the sort of events as I gather that the republican movement in that country presently has the lowest support that it has enjoyed for many years

28 April 2011

A fairly standard day. The good doctor working upstairs on his medicolegal reports and me below in the stud,y on my laptop

On his last visit Mick, went to Saffron Waldon and very generously bought me a new speaker stand for my iPod. which had excellent sound quality, The only problem was that the buttons on the remote control were tiny and too strong for me to press. Accordingly, we decided to reinstate my earlier Bose system. The only problem with it is that that it has no scroll system which the new one that Mick bought for me did have. On the other hand the Bose remote control has large soft buttons which are much easier to depress, so we reinstated that and Mick will take the other sound system to Sweden. A win-win situation.

A few days ago I started thinking about the electric wheelchair which I have had stored in my office since it was delivered to me in the autumn with a promise that it could be fitted with chin operated controls in the event that my hand and arm became too weak to operate the controls. It was shortly after the chair was delivered that I moved all my equipment into the study, to avoid going out into the cold weather, so the chair has in fact never been used.

Now that the summer is here and if I’m ever going to use it. Now is the time, I thought about how I would get back into the office in order to get into the chair in the first place and realised that I would no longer be able to walk up the ramp. So this would mean that I would have to be wheelchaired there in the mobile chair and then transferred possibly even with the hoist.,. Then, when I had finised with the electric chair, I would have to drive it back into the office and effect the reverse transfer back into the mobile wheelchair and so on. Quite a performance. Even if I had the electric wheelchair I wondered whether I would ever be able to use it outside the garden and, if so, was it fair to just keep it for that purpose when there might be a much more deserving soul somewhere who could make more use of it ?

Accordingly, as soon as the Easter holiday was over I spoke to Lynne, my OT. about it and explained my thinking. In fact, I was quite ready to ask the wheelchair people to come and take away.

However, to my surprise, Lynne was strongly in favour of me keeping the electric wheelchair. As she said it would give me more freedom and she convinced me that it would be crazy to get rid of it.

On the other hand,’ my lovely’ seems to have taken against the idea as being more trouble than it’s worth, so I have to convince her. If we rethink the storage, which could be in the hall, where the other chair is at present and where the it could be plugged in and kept charged. Then by repositioning my working desk in the study, I could probably drive straight in from the hall up to the desk without moving from the wheelchair. Thinking it through again I believe this will all work without too much difficulty and, as Lynne says, it would give me a great deal more freedom. When it comes to the time when my legs are not working at all and Barry our faithful driver, finds it too difficult to lift me up and down, in and out of his car, then we can engage the services of the specialist wheelchair taxi and I can probably drive the electric one straight into it, for example. when I want to go to golf club on Tuesdays. On balance then I believe Lynne and Mick, are right, I must keep it and use it. All I have to do now is to convince’ my lovely’!

Great excitement today. From my study chair I look out at our beautiful chestnut trees in the paddock and suddenly I saw three very beautiful, brown curly haired, double horned sheep, frisking their way passed the window. As the post and rail paddock fence is only around 20 feet away I naturally assumed they were the other side of it, until I suddenly realised that they were actually in the garden. I alerted ‘my lovely’ and Mick, who being a good Aussie was born on a farm and was well used a herding sheep. Between them they manage to get them back into the paddock and then locate and repair the hole in the tennis court fencing through which they had affected their escape.

 

 

27 April 2011

An even earlier start than usual as it was ‘my lovely’s’ Sherborne School for Girls reunion at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. I was up and dressed and having my breakfast by 7 a.m. and Alice was on her way to the station shortly afterwards leaving me in the tender care of the good doctor. We did have a little drama when it came to getting me up to go to the loo as Mick is not a keen belt man – he has a week back and the belt does not help-so he has his own way of doing things and does not use the same technique as Alice in getting me out of my chair onto my frame. Poor Mick, I cannot blame him in any way but, as a result of a different support technique, there was a rather nasty collapse with my legs twisted painfully under me. However, Mick cleverly got me sitting up against the chair and then, on my urging and against his better wishes, went to enlist the support of Tom, our next-door neighbour. Between them they sorted everything out and all was well again

Most important of all it is my dear son Smiler’s birthday. I remember the day he was born, 47 years ago, as if it was yesterday. We were living in Aden, the British Protectorate in Southern Arabia. The night before we went for our usual open-air cinema night at the officers club Tarshyne. On the way, at a T-junction, an Arab ran into the back of our car. This was not an unusual practice as they would then call the police and the Arab would claim that we had reversed into him and the only way we could extricate ourselves from this situation was to pay some compensation for the damage to the other car (if any!) on the spot! Having sorted out that little bit of trouble we set off again and within a couple of hundred yards flames started flicking round the steering wheel. I can only imagine that the collision had caused some electrical fault which resulted in the conflagration. Anyway for the second time within half an hour poor Alice had to scramble out of the car. Being 8 ½. months pregnant didn’t help.

The rest of the evening went without mishap but the following morning Alice complained of having stomach ache, so I decided I would drop her off at the local Arab hospital on the way to the office. The last I saw of her was being carried upstairs by two large black gentleman porters in what is called a fireman’s lift (arms crossed and hands clasped under the body of the patient). I arrived at my office around 20 min later to receive a call from the hospital to say that my wife had had her baby. (Apparently, it was so quick she never even got her dress off!) I rushed back to the hospital and was shown into the delivery room and there, on the floor, on a red rubber mat. were nine very newly born naked babies, eight of whom were Arabs and one of which was ours. They were all the same colour- bright red- as most of them were yelling their heads off. I just hoped, at that time, that we would get the right one. What an amazing thing, ‘my lovely’ took only 20 min or so to have her first baby. So much for her stomach ache! When the baby was taken to his mother for the first time and I really knew that he was my son, I must admit, for the first time, in very many years, tears welled up in my eyes. I was choked with the emotion of the moment. And now the ‘little lad’ is now 47!

Ironically, and coincidentally, I have just reached the point in Anna Karenina (Part 111?, Chapter 16) when Draya Alexandrovna graphically describes the miseries of pregnancy and the pain of childbirth.

She goes on to bemoan all the anxiety and the negative side of rearing children. I think if I was a young woman and had read that before I got married, it might well have been sufficient to put me off the whole idea of having children

Coming back to 2011, the rest of the morning went without mishap and reinforcements arrived in the shape of ‘Jane the sheep’ at 11.30. Then at 12.30 I took Mick next door to The Cricketers, for lunch. We sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed the pub’s, ‘ credit crunch lunch’, a delicious plate of freshly fried fish and chips with a side salad.

In the event, Alice came home in the late afternoon having had a great day at her reunion. On the way back, in the bus, to Liverpool Street station, she passed a number of people camping out on the pavement near Westminster Abbey in preparation for Saturday’s Royal wedding. These people really are determined to get a prime vantage point to witness the procession,. I remember doing something similar myself for the Queens Coronation in 1953