This weekend celebrates the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and today is the grand procession down the Thames, the Queen on the Royal Barge surrounded by one thousand other boats of all shapes and sizes. It's a shame about the weather and the grey sky, but London and the Thames is looking very pretty nonetheless.
I can't remember the Silver Jubilee at all. I have no idea what I did that day. I assume I stayed in my room and played records. That's what 17 year olds do, isn't it?
What did I think about back then? What were my hopes and dreams? I can't remember those either but I'm sure I didn't think I'd be sitting on the couch in my home watching a grand river pageant with the same Queen standing on her Barge 35 years later. I remember reading about The Sex Pistols playing a gig on a boat and being boarded and arrested by the police. It would've been a week later that I read about it in the NME. Who would've thought that Johnny Rotten would be a more mature John Lydon issuing his latest album with Public Image Ltd just a week ago and the BBC celebrating the occasion with a Punk Britannia series on BBC FOUR and BBC6 Music. For that matter, who would've thought there would be more than just two BBC telly channels?
I hadn't heard 'God Save The Queen' by The Sex Pistols at the time of the Silver Jubilee. I think I heard it for the first time when I bought 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. The record that turned me on to the Pistols was 'Pretty Vacant' later that summer. I can vividly recall sitting in our kitchen eating cornflakes for a late breakfast with the radio on. Kid Jenson played 'Pretty Vacant' and I was instantly converted. I finished my breakfast, grabbed my pocket money and got the bus into Newcastle to buy the single. I still have it.
Would anyone 35 years ago believe that I could carry a computer around in my pocket? Or that I could watch a Dresden Dolls gig live in Sydney in Australia in the comfort of my own home on a Saturday morning? Or that I would be going to the Olympics and that they would be in London?
There have been so many changes in the last 35 years, so many wonders and horrors. I have grown up and grown older but inside I'm the same. Moments of joy and moments of sorrow, little sadnesses. I can still reach for the ecstatic in the paintings of Fra Angelico and the simplicity of a beautiful flower display at the Chelsea Flower Show. And this afternoon, in the Jubilee pageant on the Thames, a moment of happiness seeing Joey from 'War Horse' canter across the roof of the National Theatre and rear up in salute to the Queen. He's not a puppet, he's a horse and a very brave one.
I'm sort of pleased that I live in a country where some mad people get their boats out and row down the Thames in the rain. That I live in a rather pretty city with a ridiculous number of people living in such a small area but, generally speaking, we all get along ok. I'm looking forward to welcoming the world to London for the Olympics.
Will I remember this Jubilee in a few years time? Probably not. But I will probably still be playing The Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. I'm a big kid really...
I can't remember the Silver Jubilee at all. I have no idea what I did that day. I assume I stayed in my room and played records. That's what 17 year olds do, isn't it?
What did I think about back then? What were my hopes and dreams? I can't remember those either but I'm sure I didn't think I'd be sitting on the couch in my home watching a grand river pageant with the same Queen standing on her Barge 35 years later. I remember reading about The Sex Pistols playing a gig on a boat and being boarded and arrested by the police. It would've been a week later that I read about it in the NME. Who would've thought that Johnny Rotten would be a more mature John Lydon issuing his latest album with Public Image Ltd just a week ago and the BBC celebrating the occasion with a Punk Britannia series on BBC FOUR and BBC6 Music. For that matter, who would've thought there would be more than just two BBC telly channels?
I hadn't heard 'God Save The Queen' by The Sex Pistols at the time of the Silver Jubilee. I think I heard it for the first time when I bought 'Never Mind The Bollocks'. The record that turned me on to the Pistols was 'Pretty Vacant' later that summer. I can vividly recall sitting in our kitchen eating cornflakes for a late breakfast with the radio on. Kid Jenson played 'Pretty Vacant' and I was instantly converted. I finished my breakfast, grabbed my pocket money and got the bus into Newcastle to buy the single. I still have it.
Would anyone 35 years ago believe that I could carry a computer around in my pocket? Or that I could watch a Dresden Dolls gig live in Sydney in Australia in the comfort of my own home on a Saturday morning? Or that I would be going to the Olympics and that they would be in London?
There have been so many changes in the last 35 years, so many wonders and horrors. I have grown up and grown older but inside I'm the same. Moments of joy and moments of sorrow, little sadnesses. I can still reach for the ecstatic in the paintings of Fra Angelico and the simplicity of a beautiful flower display at the Chelsea Flower Show. And this afternoon, in the Jubilee pageant on the Thames, a moment of happiness seeing Joey from 'War Horse' canter across the roof of the National Theatre and rear up in salute to the Queen. He's not a puppet, he's a horse and a very brave one.I'm sort of pleased that I live in a country where some mad people get their boats out and row down the Thames in the rain. That I live in a rather pretty city with a ridiculous number of people living in such a small area but, generally speaking, we all get along ok. I'm looking forward to welcoming the world to London for the Olympics.
Will I remember this Jubilee in a few years time? Probably not. But I will probably still be playing The Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. I'm a big kid really...
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