06:55 I'm awake, it's the big day, why the hell not? 07:30 At Embankment station the disembodied voice of the King advises me to mind the gap. 07:32 Crowds are surging up towards Trafalgar Square through gaps in a ring of green roadblocks. 07:35 Trafalgar Square is pretty nuts.
Seen in Trafalgar Square
Hundreds of police officers from across the country, a very substantial army of stewards in yellow hi-vis, a wall of citizens at least three-deep lining the processional route around one corner of the square, a pink and purple Princess Diana flag, ladies wearing plastic bowler hats, far more rucksacks than you'd normally be able to carry unchecked into a high security area, various items of headgear augmented by golden crowns, News International lackeys giving out Union Jacks with 'The Sun' printed in the centre, tourists with smartphones poised and recording, a Westminster littercart decorated with the Coronation logo, several flappy banners, an American news anchor in a vibrant blue outfit giving commentary live on camera, a lot of quite ordinary people and families just here for the experience of a lifetime, press photographers sampling the atmosphere, bulging M&S shopping bags, a toddler with a flag who ain't going to be seeing anything, Union Jack hats and waistcoats and culottes and waterproofs and wigs and tights and skirts and scarves, ample space around the fountains, no screens to watch, intermittent council trucks and street cleaners, metal barriers blocking a sideroad providing direct access to The Mall, TV cameras atop a camouflaged tower, the flags of many Commonwealth nations, a cluster of huge yellow banners bearing the message ABOLISH THE MONARCHY, a bunch of coppers eyeing up those sporting the yellow banners, hashtag NotMyKing, further hi-vis reinforcements swarming down past St Martin-in-the-Fields, a steward reading a booklet open at a page titled 'Run. Hide. Tell.', a reporter from Greatest Hits Radio interviewing a couple wearing crowns, a fast-evolving weather forecast, a man attempting to give away free Great Conspiracy paperbacks from a table outside Charing Cross station, a steady stream of provincial arrivals clutching brollies and provisions, plenty of room to stand if you don't mind a mostly restricted view, still three hours before anything passes, and still they come.
07:45 Enough of this madness. 08:30 Back home with a cup of tea, watching it on the telly.
