Pania Goes to the Changing of the Guard

Friday 30th July

Today they decided to leave me safely parked in the drive at Sevenoaks and catch the train to London for the weekend. The plan had been to drive me back around the M25 to stay at Northolt, but Sue said she could take them to Knockholt which was in Zone 6 and they could use their Oyster cards to get into town, The Oyster cards will deduct money for each trip until it reaches £7.50 on any day and then cap at that price, so it works out far cheaper because each single tube ride can be up to £4.00. It would have been a lot more expensive to catch the overland train at Sevenoaks which is just out of zone 6, so it is worthwhile to try and get into zone 6 and use the cards on the same train.
To get the cheap price you can’t touch in before 9,30am as that is when the off peak rates start for the day. So Sue dropped them off on her way to work, (well she had to go quite a way out of her way actually) at about 9am. This gave them time to top up their cards with credit at the station and plan the route for the day.

Packing everything into one small wheelie bag and one back pack called for careful planning and packing as they didn’t want to be managing too much luggage in London for the day. But as they were going to Buckingham Palace as privileged guests for the Changing of the Guard on Saturday they had to pack all their formal clothes so it was a bulging bag. Pania was the lucky little kiwi chosen for this trip because she is the tiniest and takes up the least room.

Pania Takes the Train to London

Lots of fast trains sped through the station without stopping but finally the 9.44 to Charing Cross arrived right on time and they got onto the train. They had decided to change at Orpington to get a train to Victoria as it was closer to Buckingham Palace. The night before they had decided that it would be a good idea to go and watch the Changing of the Guard from outside the gate on Friday as the RAF were doing a dismount on Friday and a mount on Saturday. That means they were marching in first down the mall to taken their guards off and then the Guards would march in second to bring their guards on.

They had hoped to be at Buckingham Palace by 11 am and the train timetable seemed to look okay for this. So at Orpington they left the Charing Cross train and walked across the station to the Victoria platform only to hear that the train to Victoria was running between 5 and 10 minutess late. It was too late to jump back onto the Charing Cross train, so they did wonder if they had done the wrong thing by deciding to change. But it was too late. So they waited and finally the train to Victoria came along. The plan was to meet Joyce at Buckingham Palace and she rang to say she was already outside the gates of the palace at 10.40, but Mary and Alan were still on the train. However in the end they all met in plenty of time. (Thank goodness for mobile phones)

The RAF Central Band could be heard coming down the Mall and they marched in through the gates that Mary, Alan and Joyce they were not near! So Mary fought her way through the tourists to the fence near where the band had finally stopped. Somehow she managed to fight her way through a crowd about 10 deep to be about 6 feet away from where Hamish was standing. It is helpful that he is right marker in the front row. Having the option to take some still photos on the video meant she tried to get a few snaps of him. At one stage he looked straight at her but made no acknowledgment that he had recognised her and she assumed that he was on his on his best military behaviour. Later in the day when he found out that they had all been there he said he would have looked out for them had he known! All this time I was still safely hiding in Mary’s bag. I would have got lost in the crowd if she had got me out. There were policemen on horse everywhere keeping the road clear and lots of police walking around making sure everyone stayed in the right places and didn’t climb up the railings. The people in the real front were trying to take photos by putting their cameras through the railings but Mary didn’t get that close. She did manage to get through 7 layers of crowd by asking nicely if she could get through to take a photo of her boy who was in the band. She sort of knew that she would not be allowed to use a camera on Saturday when inside the gates, a point Hamish confirmed later in the evening.

At the end the RAF did a wonderful slow march to the Royal Air Force March Past out the gates nearest to where Joyce and Alan had stayed to watch. Mary and Alan were left thinking; is this really our boy from Wanganui New Zealand marching out these gates and off down the mall from Buckingham Palace?

Then they all had to find to each other again. Joyce and Alan sensibly stayed still and Mary eventually found them. Joyce is a friend of the Royal Academy and was able to use her friend membership to get them into the Summer Exhibition. She was sure they could all check their little wheelie bags in the cloak room there. However when they got there the bags were slightly too big and the attendants wouldn’t bend the rules. So the only way to get rid of their bags for the day was to take them to Charing Cross station. So after a light lunch in the friend’s area at the Royal Academy they got the tube from Piccadilly Circus to Charing Cross to check the luggage in for the rest of the day. Each bag cost £8 to store but they had no choice in the end. Then they had to catch the tube back to Piccadilly Circus.

Finally they got into to see the exhibition which was extensive. Anyone can submit their work and have it accepted, and most is for sale. Joyce had the catalogue and prices ranged from £120 to £290,000. It took most of the rest of the afternoon to look at it. Joyce had decided that after the exhibition she would take Mary and Alan to Fortnum and Mason for afternoon tea. This is the beautiful department store in Piccadilly. They each had a silver tea pot with the tea of their choice and cream scones. It was a real experience with at least a dozen table waiters constantly serving customers.

After purchasing some rather nice cheeses from the deli in F and M, it was back to Piccadilly circus tube to Charing Cross to get the bags, and then the tube to Oxford Circus to get onto the Central Line tube to Ruislip Gardens. They were getting to know this bit of underground quite w ell by now. Once on the tube Mary sent Hamish a text to organise the key for the house at Northolt and Hamish and Louse joined them for Chinese takeaways. Louise had had one of only two days off guard that morning, but as they both had to be up early for the next day they didn’t stay late. They did explain the Changing of the Guard ceremony a bit more fully and the difference between the alternate days and the mount and dismount, information that would have been useful before going this morning. They also told them where to assemble at the Wellington Barracks to be taken into the Palace grounds on Saturday morning. Now all they need is a fine day as if it rains they can cancel it.