Well, Saturday came and It's the Lord Mayor's Day. So a river regatta followed by a parade and fireworks at the end of the day.
So Saturday opened to a cold wet raining day.
But it was the Regatta to start.
I found the ideal spot as there was almost no one else present. It was just too cold and wet to be up at that crazy hour of the morning.
The boats came and the bridge went up on schedule.
Yes, I was there under an umbrella.
But I got to see a rare sight, The tower bridge going up for small boats.
The load Mayor's gondola with other row boats.
Some old powered barges
And of course 2patroll boats, Both of them had come in on the tide during the night. they didn't actually need the bridge up, but it was good to see. then to get warm and dry
So off I went to Borough Market again. With hot food and somewhere to go out of the rain, it was Ideal to thaw out.
The hot food was not crowded.
The vegetables were out on display
Even the other store were ready for the day.
But the fish looked good enough to eat, so I had a fish chowder to warm me up.
Well, I found a great place and camped myself there and it all started.
With the Coldstream Guard
These guys are one of the Best Marching bands in the world.
These guys are one of the Best Marching bands in the world.
Soldiers Marching
Horses trotting and they were beautiful, it's an English thing I'm discovering, they love their horses.
Real Army vehicles
Old ones as well
And guys on the horses, lots of them.
Boy playing bands.
and they had alsorts of instruments.
Steam Engines
The lord Mayor of Course
And plenty of Horses
Some of them must have wished they were deaf.
After the parade I went to have soup with a young family I had been helping out with.
That was the end of part 1