Lord Mayor's Show

To finally finish off last week, on Saturday we went to the Lord Mayor's Show. The history behind this is, in 1215 the King said the residents of London could elect their own mayor. Then, after the election, the mayor would have to go to the king and present himself for approval and pledge allegiance to him. They still do this to this day but with only one change, the role of the monarch is carried out by the judges of the Queens Bench at the Royal Courts of Justice. The oath of allegiance is the same and the new mayor travels the same route. Over the years, this has turned into a huge thing. There are bands, soldiers from various eras and companies and floats from various groups around the city. It's so big, in fact, that it is longer than the parade route and lasted almost an hour and a half.

I don't quite get the Romans. Maybe to remember how London started?

It was pretty cool. As I said, it went on forever and there was a lot going on. Anna loved it, especially the marching bands. I had her in the wrap and we were able to find a place where the crowds weren't too bad so she could see. There were still a fair few people and quite a few kids. We got there just as it was about to start. Part way through, it began to rain. We did have an umbrella but only one and we all got a little wet. It stopped raining before the end but not until after quite a bit of rain. I felt bad for the people marching.

Before it started, there were people selling things like flags and whistles. I don't know if they do it for all parades or just this one but that's quite an idea. Needless to say, it was pretty loud, especially at first. Fortunately, as the parade progressed, most of the kids forgot about their whistles and it got quieter. Unfortunately, the little girl in front of us didn't falll into this category. She felt a need to blow it quite strongly at any military group, of which there were a lot. By the end, I was so annoyed.

This is the coach that the Lord Mayor went down in but we were able to see it up close before it started.

In spite of all of that, it was a cool parade. They actually have a return processional but we didn't stay for that because we figured it would just be the same thing. Instead, we went to the British Museum and looked at the Egyptian, Assyrian and Greek stuff. There were more people than I was used to being there. We decided it was because it was a Saturday (have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying this off-season travel).

This doesn't capture her enjoyment. She had a blast.

Then they had fireworks. I wasn't sure what Anna would think of them but we figured, there's a first time for everything. It was very crowded and we were quite a distance from the barge that was setting them off. This time I didn't think Anna would be able to see in the wrap so I pulled her out and put her on my shoulders. She LOVED the fireworks! The noise didn't bother her (we were far so it wasn't that loud) and she was memserized. One good thing about living so far north, and it being winter, is that they could start the show at 5 and it was plenty dark enough.

We could have gone home at this point. It was early enough Ann could have even been to bed on time (which would have been good as she was getting a gunky nose and it was a big day). However, since the fireworks went over so well, we decided to go to another show. An area near us does a big show every year for Guy Fawkes day . We heard it was a good show and it didn't start until 8. So we had time to have dinner and take the train to the place. There were a lot of people here too and it was pretty crazy. They had a big section of the heath sectioned off and people were lining up along the fence waiting for it to begin.

While we were waiting, they played some music (ironically, they played opera. That would never have happened in the US) and we waited until ten after which seems to be the usual late start time for displays. It was really windy and they made an announcement that people on one side should be careful of smoke and debris (another sign we were not in the US, they would have canceled it for sure). These ones were AMAZING! We were able to be front and center and I didn't have to take Anna out of the wrap (SO glad I didn't have the stroller, it would have been horrible) for her to see. The wind blew the smoke away so it didn't mess with the show and there was a lot going on. On top of the aerial ones, they had ones on the ground and it lasted for half an hour. They also had music going during the show. Some of the songs seemed a bit odd (like Seal's I Believe I Can Fly) and some made me laugh (Eye of the Tiger) and it ended with Time to Say Goodbye.

I was a little worried about Anna because we were so much closer this time but it seemed to only increase her enjoyment of it. Not even during the finale when there was a lot going on and it was really loud and bright did she have a problem. Then it was time to go home. It was near where we go to church so we decided to walk home. I don't know if there would have been a faster way to go but we followed the bus route. I was really glad we didn't have to take the train (it was packed getting there and I can't imagine what it was like getting back). The walk was a little long but not too bad and with all the people, we mostly muscled the cars out of the street. We finally got home and collapsed into bed exhausted. It had been a very very busy day.