Event

[rejectomorph]

BBC America is running a live broadcast of the procession in which the Queen Mum's coffin is hauled off to lie in state at Westminster Hall. I must say, it is quite a spectacle. It looks as though it is a lovely spring day in London, somewhat overcast (my favorite weather,) and the pearly light hanging over the towers of the city is delightful. The buildings along the route look to be mostly late 18th-early 19th century and are splendid. The music is enjoyable, though periodically interrupted by a rather obnoxious and probably fulsome voice-over describing exactly what we are seeing. For the benefit of the blind, perhaps. At noon, we got to hear Westminster chimes, and Big Ben bonging out the hour. Still, I can't help but think of the words penned about a hundred years ago by a poet whose name I have thankfully forgotten, on the occasion of the death of Queen Victoria:

Dust to dust, and ashes to ashes,
Into the tomb the great queen dashes.

but what the hell is the deal with that hat the queen is wearing? it looks like something from the bill sykes collecction.

Comments

[scottfreeman.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a parade quite as extravegant as the ones Britain performs. Not being big headed, or anything, but they are extreemly grand.

Do they show the parades for November 11th? Those are my favourite - thousands of service men and women, young and old, pay their respects. Really moves me sometimes.

[rejectomorph]

I've never seen the Armistice Day parades on that channel, but we've only been getting it for two years now, and I only found this parade by accident, flipping around the dial at 2:00 AM. If they do run those parades, that would probably be the time of day we would get them.

Re:

[scottfreeman.livejournal.com]

Afraid it would be, yes. The parade you saw started at 11:30am BST (GMT+1). The main parade starts before 10am GMT, with the silence at 11am.

If you've never seen it, I do recommend you set your VCR.

[prawn.livejournal.com]

BBC America? I know they have world service Radio, I didn't realise there was a television channel too. Is it new, or has it been around for ages?

[rejectomorph]

They have a satelite and cable channel, which I began getting a couple of years ago when I upgraded to my cable company's digital package. Mostly, they run BBC shows that are at least a year old, but they also run live feeds of BBC news and some special events. The program I like most, though is Red Dwarf.

Re:

[prawn.livejournal.com]

Red Dwarf is great, especially the older episodes (series 1 to 3 or 4, or at a push: 6). I used to have them all on video until my sister's evil friend stole half of them.