QE2

 

On what was possibly the hottest day of the year I decided to clean my windows.  I have not forgiven our resident window cleaner Richard (I am not the quickest) for wrapping in his hand and concentrating on the floor cleaning side of his business which is time consuming but lucrative.  I got out my window cleaning accoutrements and set to.  It was wasted effort because even at 8.30am it was too hot to get the stuff on and polished off before the sun set it like shit to a blanket.  I kid myself they look better but only in the dark and only then if you are wearing sunglasses.

The current art/photography challenge is anything connected to her Maj the Queen, it being her platinum jubilee.  I was trying to find some photographs with a royal connection from John's time in the Royal Navy, she was, after all, his boss for 27 years!

We were very fortunate to be invited to a Royal Garden Party when the Fleet Air Arm celebrated their Centenary Year.  We were living in Married Quarters at the time - 2009 and we went en masse from Yeovilton to Buck House.

It was an amazing sight to see thousands of Fleet Air Arm Servicemen in their best uniforms with partners and wives striding up the Mall and into her Maj's gaff!!!

I wore an amazing dress which was part of the 'Sex and the City' collection created for Marks and Spencer and I had a fabulous fascinator which my friend Alex had loaned me.  Our lovely friend Laura took that photograph - we were standing in the garden of our married quarters ready for the off.  It was certainly a day to remember.  I had never realised that the buildings of Buck House formed a quadrangle and inside they had flown in a couple of Fleet Air Arm helicopters.  It was the first and I think only garden party to serve alcohol as a benefactor had provided those attending with champers!

On the subject of helicopters (this is not my photograph) we are being buzzed by two which are taking part in a joint Cypriot/Israeli military operation.  They were night flying which took me back to my married quarters days and living in Yeovil when we were often entertained into the wee small hours by a variety of aircraft doing it in the dark!

The unseasonably hot weather continues - we sat out in the garden till really quite late but realised that we had not seen Charlie for quite some time.  Earlier in the day Savvas the Electrician had paid us a visit - he loves Charlie so Charlie had come to say Hi and then I couldn't remember seeing him again.  I had visions that the had hitched a ride in Savvas's van.  I asked him once before to check that Charlie was not being nosey and in his truck and Savvas joked that if he was then he would take him home with him and keep him.  John and I searched everywhere and found that when Savvas had gone to look at some electrical job John wanted him to do Charlie had followed and got locked in.  Fortunately not for long but long enough for me to realise he was absent without leave.  Anyway as it turns out the job John was enquiring about Savvas thought would reap us no benefit so that is money we don't need to spend.  John was thinking of having our solar panels laid down flat like the PV panels but Savvas said we would be better saving our money so we will.