We started with jokes the day after the Coronation, when the sun warmed our bodies soaked by the rain of May 6th: they say the rain had been Princess Diana’s curse, since either on the 5th, or on the 7th, 8th, 9th… there wasn’t any rain. Only on the 6th. Especially on the 6th.
I ignored the jokes, but I had others, this time on me and how I was carrying the day’s newspapers on the streets of London:
Can you say that I wouldn’t have been suitable as a newspaper seller at the traffic lights in the city… But it’s hard work, dude, no joke! My arms hurt! (For you to better understand, this was the first bunch, then I returned to take more for others who wanted them too.)
With hands black from ink – God, now I realize how long it’s been since I got dirty flipping through a newspaper! – I searched on the net, even though I had newspapers :), for details about the event at Windsor Castle.
THE CORONATION CONCERT
I read that at Windsor Castle, where the much-promoted concert takes place, you can only go if you have a ticket, so I calm down and stay in London, where various events are announced.
I missed all the Coronation lunches, where I understand that you had to bring the food with you anyway. But I set my mind not to miss the evening concert, which I can see in the street, together with other people.
Piccadilly screen on May 6 
Piccadilly screen on May 7
Things returned to normal in the city. In Piccadilly Circus, the companies see again their advertising on the huge screen, because that’s where big money is, no joke!
London is still “decorated” for the coronation and still… blocked in certain places. Even if there is, finally, access to the park that leads to Buckingham Palace, you have to take a lot of alternative streets, because the restriction fences are still standing.
People just chill. Seeing the sunbeds, I remember the shock I had many years ago, when I first arrived in London and noticed that you could sit in the sun on a deckchair in the park, without anyone bothering you! I had never seen anything like this before. In our parks, you’d be stopped by the “Don’t step on the grass!” signs.
Back then it was free of charge to take a deckchair and put it wherever you wanted in the park, now it costs…
One hour – 3 pounds, 2 hours – 4 pounds, 3 hours – 5 pounds, 4 hours – 6 pounds or, if you want to lie here all day, you can just pay 11 pounds and the sunbed is yours. I say it’s not bad at all! And, if you are a student, you even have a discount!
What’s strange is that The Mall, the street that I crossed yesterday passing through a mass of people, is now closed not only to cars, but also to pedestrians. I do not understand why. I ask an agent. He admits, helplessly, that he has no idea. But then he hurries to shout: “circulate, circulate!” – so that there are no human jams…
You can only walk on the edge, where you kind of step on other people’s feet and you can cross the street in one single, narrow place. (Where, by the way, I stopped briefly for pictures.)
To be sure that no one will send me to the end of the world that night, I’m going to the place where the concert will be broadcast.
ST JAMES’S PARK
Although there are still a few hours until the start of the transmission from Windsor, people are already gathered. Like a picnic. On blankets, nicely, with food and drinks, with accessories for a possible rain (although none is announced). It’s quite relaxed, and the space is very large, so I really don’t think I’ll have any problems in finding a place to put my butt.
The press is already present, to report from the London picnic. Judging by the Coronation Day and the experience in Hyde Park, the journalist from the Spanish television should go live now, because tonight everyone will shout at her: “Sit down!!!” :))
And that’s it, evening is coming.
I clearly know the shortest way to the lawn where the screen is and I am ready to stand up to the law enforcement if they send me elsewhere. It’s just that no one notices me hihi.
I ask some citizens to take a picture of me in the funny window of a shop, even if this mirror looks like having been made by the evil Queen. No, not Great Britain’s Queen, but that in “Snow White”! We all look crooked in it…
No selfie possibility. Someone must take your picture from a certain angle.
We take up the entire sidewalk, the “photographer” stands at a certain distance, so do I, not to tell you that I have to get up on my tips. So it’s a picture I have to work to get.
I hurry to St James’s Park, even though there is still an hour and a half until the concert starts. And I really panic when I arrive there!
It’s full, packed! What did I say about finding a place?!? Now I’m looking for an unoccupied patch of grass.
It’s like at the seaside in Romania… Variegated blankets, some so big that you’d think they would host a children’s camp! Fisherman’s chairs, garden chairs, cushions, then bags and boxes full of food, bottles and glasses. Those who didn’t come prepared, sit on their own jackets, Dolce & Gabbana coat, plastic bags or magazines.
It is full of flags, King’s crowns made of paper, plastic or inflatable. We are all kings here :).
I take a selfie (well, about 10 actually…) and I go to look for a place.
Messages for the King from personalities are shown on the screen, along with other videos.
The place is well organized, with spaces for all needs, well marked so you can see them from a distance: you know where to go if you are hungry or thirsty, you know where to go if you can’t hold on anymore, there is access for people with disabilities, a social assistance point, a… “quiet space”, which I, not going very often to concerts, only now find out about, and there is even a place where you can go to refill your water bottle. The marking of this last place blocked my view of a part of the screen all evening, so you can guess how I chew out…
Do you remember the picture above, from when I came to see the place? Accidentally, I took one now, in the evening, approximately from the same place. Look at the difference:
The unoccupied patches of grass, which tempt the newcomers from the very first second, are nothing but a big trap: if you sit there, you have no visibility of the screen, sometimes because of trees, sometimes because of I don’t know what first-aid point installed, so all remain free and untrammeled.
Although I marked a small territory on the grass – with some pages from an advertising magazine, don’t think about anything else – I decide to stay standing for the whole concert, next to a fence. It seems to me a better place, with better visibility. This was also confirmed by the neighbors on my left and right, with whom I establish a kind of silent pact not to let anyone invade our territory.
Once the King and Queen appear, the show begins. All the VIPs are in their seats, all the announced stars go on stage and perform, one by one. Each with a short performance, followed by long applause. Not only in Windsor, but also here, in the park!
It’s very nice to see how the whole park of picnickers applaud frantically and scream after the songs or to Prince William’s speech. I feel like I’m in an airplane upon landing, when we, the Romanians, start applauding . But at least on the plane you have a chance for the flight attendants to convey to the pilot the appreciation of the people. But here?? Who tells the King, the Prince or Take That that we applauded and shouted for them?…
I really liked the performance of Nicole Scherzinger, who sang so beautifully accompanied by the Chinese pianist, the superstar Lang Lang.
I quickly filmed them in “portrait” mode, to share with the world on the networks, only… there was no network. No pictures sent on whatsapp, nor any story, reel or whatever else was invented on this planet to complicate our lives. You see, the lack of internet made it easier for me: I watched the concert without any other concerns.
A young woman from the organizing team makes her way among us with difficulty and hands out paper flags. I can’t figure out if she gave them to us before or after I saw King Charles waving a similar flag in the stands. But what does it matter? Now everyone in the park waves the flags they received, after every performance seen on stage.
I am absolutely fascinated by the performance of the intepreters on the right of the screen, who translate for the hearing impaired! There are more of them, they change from one star to another, but a couple of ladies simply leave me speechless! They are brilliant!!!
Even covered by the branches of a tree on my viewing direction, I can still see their gestures and some of their mimicry!
The host, Hugh Bonneville, whom I just saw again in Notting Hill, is cool as a host! I imagine what a big deal is for him to be the host of such an event. By the way, I kept asking myself, seeing the stars who took the stage: who chose them and how? I will study the problem, because I am really curious. Are they on the King’s list of favorites? On the Queen’s list? They must have done something good, if they were chosen…
I don’t know what Kermit and Miss Piggy did, but judging by the number they had, they looked a little bit like me, who find myself in the middle of an event without being invited for it .
Beyond the fun, the good will, the drinks they drank and the food they ate on the grass, almost everyone in the park stood up when the anthem was sung! Hats off!
Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Take That, Andrea Bocelli and Sir Bryn Terfel (a Welsh bass-baritone), Nicole Scherzinger and the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, as well as others were part of this Coronation concert.
The show on stage was accompanied by a drone show in the sky – absolutely impressive! Rabbit, owl, butterfly, lion, messages and other things composed of drones made a strong impression among the spectators (me included).
I left the park during the last or penultimate song of Take That, together with other people who were probably also afraid of the wave after the concert.
The road to Buckingham Palace is unbelievably deserted!
The center, however, is as dynamic as I’ve always known it, and the boys with the furry rickshaws are waiting for their clients.
To get into one or not to get into one? This is the question…
Well, how could I? Should I lose the training achieved after the almost 29,000 steps taken on the Coronation Day??? The story of that day’s adventure, here.
