A Look into my Life

First off, I seem to have screwed something up a bit. I put up some pictures with absolutely nothing about written. This past Thursday massive stars and some store fronts turned on their Christmas lights for the first time. For right now it is only along Regent Street but others will be following from mid-November to early December. The Christmas lights maybe coming on, but it’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit right now.

Today is Remembrance Day here in the UK. A little of what it is about:

“Remembrance Day is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War. It is observed on 11 November to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during war.”

I believe this was my last chance to catch a glimpse of the Queen out in public. I do believe that I have a picture of her! So I went out early today, 9 30am to head down to the memorial. When I arrived security was strict as an airport and the place was packed! I did manage to get a decent spot to see everything and was promptly sealed off by the London Police. Trapped! So Big Ben struck 11:00 and there was two minutes of silence to mark the beginning of the ceremony. The marching band played quite a few songs and sounded brilliant! Next certain important people, such as the Queen, placed wreaths on the memorial and then the parade of veterans began. My there were quite a few of them! The parade seemed to last forever while we were barricaded in along the streets. Finally the last of the parade passed and we were released into the streets and made a mad dash for the tube stations. It truly was a great ceremony to witness and I’m glad I braved the cold for 4 hours for a small glimpse of the queen!

Enjoy what is left of your weekend! Mine is pretty much over as it is 5pm and it’s very, very dark out.

Football, a Saturday, and rain. Yes I am in England! I received a ticket to attend a football match between the Queen’s Park Rangers, a local team, and Cardiff City, from Wales. We were told to keep a close eye on the spectators. It seems that the reserved British throw everything out the window at these games. They have quite a few chants saying not very nice things about the other team’s mothers. The most striking thing was boy behind me who couldn’t have been much older than 10 screaming to the opposing team that they are freaking crap (edited, I’d like to keep my site rated PG!). It certainly was a very interesting time indeed! It was a terrible day for it, it poured nearly the entire game.

I do have a bit of advice for attending such a match, research BOTH team’s colors. Turns out that I showed up wearing the opposing teams colors, GREAT. Noting came out of it but you do get quite a few dirty looks.

This past Friday I finally got to see Quantum of Solace. It was a good movie with an awesome car chase first thing. At the end I had quite a hollow feeling. It was a good movie, not a great one. Still go see it when it comes out!

Tomorrow I’ll be attending the Remembrance Day Parade. Remembrance day is about the equivalent to our Memorial Day. The Queen will be out to lay a wreath on the memorial in London. I hope to catch a glimpse to her! I’ll report back with my findings.

Pictures will be up shortly of the football game.