Jubilee Jubilations

It was amazing. I know I'm shocked, a die hard Republican entering into the spirit of a Royal love in. But I have to hand it to the Queen she is one hell of a gal. Not least because she melted my heart with her beaming smile and waved at the petit garcon, I officially jumped with excitement and amazement. It was a five day marathon starting with Ladies day at Epsom and ending with Pimms in Stratford by the Olympic Park with the annual transatlantic meet with Wendy Brandes

I give you in pictures a heck of a hard core celebration and include one picture from my friend Olivia who was amazed when the Queen went past her house but she got a great picture. Despite any reservations I have laughed, wept and enjoyed the company of wonderful friends - I think that is what a party is all about. When it comes to fashion this Diamond Jubilee will go down as a defining cultural moment. I look forward to the changes that result of community and the ordinary person dominating over a long weekend because it was the ordinary folks, the workers, the masses who made it and it was us whom the Queen thanked and recognised for making it such a wonderful occasion. There are a lot of photos so ...

 The day started with Chanel Blue Boy being applied

 I was sewing at the hairdressers to make my hairband in lieu of hat or fascinator

 The big hair prep underway

 The beehive completed with my home made hairband

My lovely dress from Penny Dreadful Vintage

 Attempting to pose in garden but Patches Valentino was after my bag

 Finally a proper outift shot - it was all Make Do with all item over 2 years old, 60s dress as above brought from Penny Dreadful Vintage in 2009, Prada bow kitten heels 2010, gloves John Lewis 2006, Accessorize bag 2008, hair band home made with ribbon and piece off an old dress.

 

Taxi from Epsom station with Prosecco in Wilko paper jubilee cups!

 At the races Ladies Day

 My friend Olivia and I

 My first winnings - I came home with more than half of what I took after betting, drinking and eating plus taxi fares - a result

 It was fabulous darlings!

 En route to Spanish Tapas bar at Tattenham - our feet had had enough of heels and I officially had Miss Piggy trotters

If only my shoes were as soft as the rose...

 We became fascinated by a woman who clearly had had too much to drink and slept through our meal, her friends meal and a whole heap of noise!!

 Day 2 - Derby day waiting for the Queen to go by after the races - her usual route home and this was before the crowds arrived. I didn't manage to take a photo as I had the petit garcon in one arm and his flag in the other. But we could have touched the Queens car as we were on the road by then and as I said she really smiled at the petit garcon - it was a beaming one and a decent wave. I was amazed, as was he.

Olivia's photo as the Queen passed her house en route to the Derby. You can see how engaged she was and we were closer than this photo. Her blue outfit was stunning as were all her choice such a great selection of colour in the outfits by her Majesty all weekend. Each one was fitting for the occasion.

Day 3 - En route to the River Pagent

 The hospitality bands - phew as it was freezing!

 The balcony area of the building we were at

 I made effort to wear red, white and blue but this is the one and only time you'll find me in white linen trousers, I found them in a pile of old clothes. Must have been from my surfing days in Cornwall around the campfire...

 How grey and cold!? No wonder Prince Phillip got taken ill, quite a few people suffered from hypothermia it was so cold and grey.

 Thank goodness for hospitality

We watched from the 7th floor in the comfort of the warmth.

 The 41 gun salute at the Tower of London - it was meant to be as she went past but they stuck to their 4pm schedule and her Majesty was no where to be seen!

 The Flotilla reaching us, just before Tower Bridge

 Cake

 The Queen's boat going past and below

 Day 4 - the bank holiday Monday and we begin to prep for our little street party - please note the Welsh flag!

 Let the party begin

 We were lucky we had one shower and then sunshine and a dry day and night as predicted for London by Countryfile - I watched it to find out the weather. They were only 10 minutes out ref the timing of the last shower, 15:00hr predicted, actual 15:10hr...

 Mandatory Gazebo

 Our Jubilee cake as baked by my friend who caters for Princess Michael of Kent - we therefore had a right Royal treat - it was yummy

Um there was a lot of cake & I have spared you the barbecue shots..

 Petit garcon and his puppy, Patches was a willing participant

 Eek Charles made an appearance

 Patches couldn't get enough of the party he was out at every opportunity

At dusk we got all occupy London ish

 The flames of warmth

 Boy and pup still going strong at 10:30pm

At 12:30pm next door neighbours father all the way from bonny Scotland was our guitar playing hero as we sang Let it Be and Angels to name but two of the many...

 Day 5 - pass the Pimms

 Sharon of  My Style Fashion and Margaret of Penny Dreadful Vintage in deep discussion on vintage matters

The gang, old and new additions in The Cow at Stratford over looking the Olympic park as we discussed blogging, gossiped and mentioned the Queen as well. I was amazed I managed my five day eventing - it was truly memorable and I did/do feel privileged to have been so close to all the action.

Back to Black 1.

After my last post proclaiming my parring down and style shift to black, the sorting out has begun. As per usual I've listed on eBay and will be dropping off other stuff to a local dress agency. I decluttered the rest to friends and a local man who buys textiles by the kilo. My wardrobe is a leaner machine. It isn't entirely black as there are some things I cannot bear to part with or I wear them a lot. It is mostly devoid of pattern and colour though.

My good work on this paid off last night when Mr MDS surprised me with a night out. Our first of the year. We have been so good and apart from taking the petit garcon to see JLS at the O2 Sports Relief concert and treating him to Giraffe, we've not spent a penny. I was quite pleased as it meant I could give my new sandals an airing despite it tipping down with rain. We decided to drive and park outside the place saving us money on public transport and drink. Parking was free and the only potential obstacle was Fulham v Chelsea but as it was Putney was fine to drive through and we finished our meal before the end of the match so got back through Putney before the crowds poured into the streets.

My sandal purchase was due to a style steal post I did back in February. I made the classic mistake of not getting something I thought really ticked my personal preference box at a great price right at that moment. Again I was being good and not spending money I didn't have. My ebay sales suddenly realised some funds and I tried in vain to get the sandals in London. But thanks to the power of twitter combined with the fact @marksandspencer is a really well managed twitter account I engaged in a very productive tweetathon which resulted in a couple of calls to M&S stores in Bath and Bristol as we were there for the Easter weekend.

At first a complete blank was drawn and both Bath and the Bristol Broadmead store advised me that they didn't have a pair. I completely appreciated the fact the system doesn't always reflect the actual on the floor stock usually due to 48 hours delays. I pushed my failed last ditched attempt to the back of my mind and thanked @marksandspencer for their help despite the outcome. Then halfway down the M4 I got a call from the Broadmead store to say they'd found a pair and they were put by for me. On Easter Monday on the way home I ran into the branch whilst Mr MDS waited in the car to get the £39.50 sandals. Now who says Twitter is just a social network in cyber space hey?! At the orders desk a lady was ordering some items so I waited patiently for probably only 5 mins and conscious of Mr MDS waiting piped up would someone be able to serve me as we were on the way back to London. Well the lady who was ordering (who I thought was a customer) said to me 'is it the sandals?' of course I replied somewhat taken aback 'yes'. Well a lovely conversation then ensued with me and Margaret (her name) because she had found them for me. She told me how busy they had been and she been given the message and the first person she'd sent out on the floor hadn't found them but she knew they were in the store so went and looked. Not only that she was genuinely pleased to met me and see the person who'd wanted the goods. It was truly delightful, of course the other staff were slightly bemused by our conversation but all I can say is that Margaret is a truly wonderful person who works at M&S in Bristol. I also know what bedding she was ordering too. All thanks to the power of Twitter!

 The M&S sandal haul en route back up the M4

Anyway I wore the sandals with an all black outfit for our diner date and as per Mrs Fabs and Too Many Shoes request to show my all black outfits I hastily snapped what I was wearing (badly of course!)

 The look - black jacket, black satin trousers, black top - actually all H&M, the tux jacket I have had for 7 years now, the trousers were from the Conscious Collection and the top is just a run of the mill number with a cowl neck

 The sandals

 The top and trousers

 The statement earrings

And I thought Faux Fuchsia would appreciate this simple flower arrangement on the table. Sorry for sharing my olive stones!