I had decided that the weather would govern whether or not I went to watch the parade on the Thames, and since we travelled home to Oxted from central London on Saturday night in the pouring rain, I was expecting just to watch it on television. Sunday dawned rainy, so I didn't bother getting organised very early.
However, by mid-morning the rain had stopped, so at my sister's urging, I caught the train to London. I had agreed to meet her at Waterloo, so had to change at Clapham Junction, where I got the first taste of difficult crowds. It was almost impossible to get onto the platform where the next train to Waterloo was announced, and it would have been completely impossible to get into the train when it arrived, as there wasn't even standing room. A friendly staff member suggested another platform and not everybody heard him, so that platform, when I reached it, was not quite so crowded. The train that arrived was very more like a sardine can, but I managed to squeeze on and tried not to breathe too deeply, as there wasn't really room. I was standing on one leg some of the time, it was hard to find space to put both feet down.
My sister and friends had walked along as far as the National Theatre, and found a place where they could see a bit of the river, so we stayed there. It was a long time to stand, as the parade was not likely to pass us until at least 3.30, and she had arrived around 12.30, and I arrived at 1. By the time 3.30 came, we were all exhausted. To our great disappointment, once the parade started to pass us, we could see nothing. People in front of us stood on tiptoe or on boxes, put small children on their shoulders, raised periscopes and all raised their cameras and our river view completely disappeared. Then the rain started in earnest, and we started to get soaked. So we left, having waited hours and seen nothing.
We made our way by train to Lewisham and then took the DLR to Greenwich, where we hoped to see a lot of the boats after the parade; in this we were quite successful, though the rain was very heavy indeed.
We arrived just as Gloriana, the replica boat based on one in a Canaletto painting, was passing, but we were too late for a picture, which was rather a shame. We stood on some steps in the rain and watched many of the rowing boats pass us, and then most of the Commonwealth Flotilla. After that, we moved onto a pier further forward which had a roof, and this was just as well, since the rain became torrential.
I was close enough on the pier to take pictures, and my first one was the MTB 102, which took part in the evacuation of Dunkirk, and acted as flagship for Rear Admiral Wake-Walker for the last two nights of the operation while he directed the incoming and outgoing vessels at Dunkirk.
MTB 102 was leading the parade of 'Little Ships' from Dunkirk, and they were followed by other historic ships. I'm afraid I couldn't tell the difference between the two groups.
I'm not sure that the ones above, right behind MBT 102, were all the boats that were at Dunkirk, likewise the ones below.
However, the next one was one of the historic ships
After this there was quite a collection of service boats
and at times, the river was very crowded.
However, the rain became heavier, and the wind stronger and after another hour or more of watching and waving, we were so cold we set off for home.
I went back with my sister and her friend for supper and we watched the whole parade on catch-up on the TV, where we had a much better view. The BBC commentary was poor, but we went away to eat in the really boring bits. Perhaps it was a waste of time going into central London in the first place, but it was a different experience actually being there, and it seemed a shame not to try.
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