A Grand Day Out

Being somewhat of a Royalist and observer of people, there seemed only one place to be on Friday 29th April. In a world that is so full of cynicism and unpleasantness, it really did prove to be a wonderful antidote and if truth be known not really anything to do with views on republicanism or not. Here in Britain we really don't often seem to celebrate anything, but the mood on Friday was different. Many, many ordinary people from differing backgrounds wanted to party - and they certainly did. I heard someone on tv later in the day call it a 'march back to nostalgia' and there really can't be any other nation that knows how to do that better than us. A day like this gives us all the opportunity to see people in a different light. If you were not actually there it's really difficult to describe the good-humoured fun and banter between strangers packed together for hours and in some cases days. It really does lift the spirit.

In particular it's an opportunity to see our police in a very different light. Eventually getting out of their stab vests and high vis jackets, discarding the radios and batons and putting on proper tunics and white gloves, they seemed much more relaxed and content for an all-too-brief period. Complete with packed lunches in their brown carrier bags, they once again look the benign force of childhood memories. Of course this is entirely why the public will never countenance their routine arming, despite the clarion calls from certain quarters and blogs. Yes the 'heavy mob' were in attendance, complete with a full armoury of weapons, but that is not in anyway inconsistent with a majority unarmed force still wearing centurion helmets. The uniquely British way of policing is still something worth keeping, despite the surprise and horror from some BBC3 tv Police Academy attendees.

During a day like this it's always fun to try and spot famous people. Fortunately this young constable realised who he was addressing when none other than the Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson sidled up for a chat. I can't help noticing though that not even the top man gets a salute nowadays. Very sad, but then I'm getting old and you know what they say about constables looking young. I'll end this experimental attempt at introducing some visuals by passing a comment on 'kettling.' Yes it was fun to pretend that we were all 'kettled' on The Mall, but actually we weren't. Of course we all accepted that for safety reasons it couldn't be a 'free for all' in getting to view the balcony appearance - people would have been killed - the difference is that the reasons were self-evident and any of us had an alternative route if we had wanted to leave the area. I don't think either of these factors apply in 'kettling' proper and for these reasons the policy will have to be reviewed I feel. 


But enough of that. It was just a brilliant day out for people of all ages that ran like clockwork and in complete safety with fun and good humour involving about a million people. That isn't possible in a lot of places and the police were largely responsible for it. I for one am very grateful for that.