Lazy afternoon.

[curiouswombat]

I feel sorry for the people, including some from my Friends' List, who were watching the Thames River Pageant live as, sadly, it rained on the parade - but I enjoyed watching it on TV, in dry comfort. I spotted the racing Viking longboat from our island, complete with its Manx flag. The Queen looked as if she enjoyed the whole event too - which was the aim, so I am glad that they achieved it.

She was wearing a very interesting outfit - and the Duchess of Cornwall toned nicely (and had a sensible hat, too), whilst the Duchess of Cambridge contrasted beautifully, and also wore a hat that looked well secured! They all looked happy, actually, clearly an enjoyable family event for them.

Our weather has been a good deal pleasanter - not exactly sunny but, at least, dry. We aren't actually celebrating the jubilee this weekend - it clashes with TT - we are doing it in July, alongside Tynwald Day. So tomorrow is another, busy, race day. We will need more carrot cake...

In the past few days I have seen a lot of people complaining about the changes to the LJ Scrapbook system - so, as it is a nice quiet afternoon, I ventured to look at the pictures I have uploaded there - and lo! For the first time I have been able to easily sort them into albums - previously whenever I have created albums and tried to put pictures into them nothing happened and they all remained in one big heap - but now I could see those albums and, finally, move the pictures, easily, into them. So, although I really do commiserate with those of you who have had problems with it, for me it is a great improvement.

And now, to write - the next chapter of Immigrants has been somewhat delayed by WriterConUK, both producing my talk for it, being there (yay!) and writing up afterwards; I have had to go back, re-read, and get my head back to Valinor!

Comments

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

It all looks very cold and wet and nevertheless, lots of fun. I'm sure kortirion will give us a full, vivid report!
*scurries off to find pictures of the Viking ship*

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

She was very like this one;



Except that she had a mast in place to fly the flag, I think.

They don't usually bother with masts as they are used for rowing races annually.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Oooh, lovely!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very cool!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I had the same results with the scrapbook. Though I hadn't actually looked at the scrapbook in literally years; I had too much trouble and so had moved everything to photobucket and/or flikr.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I only began to use it again recently - when they added the little 'click to embed' icon to the posting box - but only for odd things that I wouldn't particularly want to go back to, as I expected to never see them again...

Most of the interesting stuff is on photobucket or flickr, like you.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I haen't used LJ Scrapbook in years, thanks to Photobucket. Most of my pictures seem to have migrated successfully, but some seems to have gotten corrupted. Oh well. I haven't looked at them in forever, so I suspect I'll live.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think the new version is more usable - although I mainly have mine on photobucket and flickr. I might use Scrapbook more now.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

We were able to watch the The Thames River Pageant here in Spain! But what sad weather...
Otherwise it was quite lovely.

I have always used scrapbook, even the old system which I found quite easy once I figured out the idiosycracies. It seems to be improved now but I have to look at it more closely. I have an insane amount of photos here.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It was sad that it rained so much - but it was still quite an amazing spectacle.

I used photobucket from before scrapbook existed - but the newer version of it does look more usable than the first version, that I could never get to grips with. I think I will use it more, now.

[caliente-uk.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed watching the Thames River Pageant from the comfort of my living room. The Royal Family all seemed to enjoy it - although I bet the Queen's feet were hurting by the end of it! :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Mind you they did make her a red velvet throne to sit on... :)

Someone gestured towards it whilst talking to Prince Charles and his face was so funny - he obviously was making a joke about not daring to sit on it.

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

Those red thrones cost so much - and were never used!

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

I know Kortirion was planning to go - I didn't see her in the crowd, though ;)

It was a wonderful spectacle, and encouraging to see people enjoying themselves despite the weather!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I didn't spot her either... what a surprise!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

It's a good weekend to be a Briton. :)

I haven't looked at the new Scrapbook yet. I use Photobucket now, but I have lots of stuff on Scrapbook, and I might go back to using some of it if it's easier to use now. It used to take a lot longer to get through the clunky insert-image process than it takes to do a quick copy of the Photobucket code & paste into the HTML tab.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is, finally, a bit faster to upload directly from computer to entry using the embed icon than it is to upload to photobucket and then copy and paste the code. Just.

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

I saw bits of it on our TV and it looked very lovely, and like everybody was having lots and lots of fun.

Your viking boat is a work of art.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It really did look as if they were all enjoying themselves.

Our viking boats are built very much as the fishing boats were until 30 or 40 years ago, with a pointy prow added - they are used in rowing races and also in re-enactments - here is a picture I took about six or seven years ago -

(http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/curiouswombat/Vikings/?action=view&current=Vikings045.jpg)

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have seen one of those re-enactements. They look like lots of fun.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They haven't done one for a couple of years - I hope they do another one soon.

[keswindhover.livejournal.com]

I went along and managed to have a good time, though it would have been better with a ticket to a restricted area, and a seat. And the rain held off from about 2ish to 4ish, so not bad really.

Put some pics up on my LJ, though they are mainly of me NOT seeing the Pageant.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It really does look as if it must have been fun to be a part of it.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

We've seen bits on the news. As they say, it looks as if a good time was had by all.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It did look fun. The Queen must have been enjoying it - she stood throughout the whole thing, even though she had a rather beautiful red velvet throne to sit on.

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Today, the news was reporting that people across the pond were incensed that Kate Middleton was wearing red and "upstaged" the Queen. Is this the way you and other British people viewed it? I don't always trust the media, and I found this hard to believe. I thought Kate looked absolutely stunning and very appropriate.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Is this the way you and other British people viewed it?

Absolutely not - and I haven't heard anyone saying it at all - nor seen it in any of the media! A few people have commented that she looked cold - she might have been better, like the Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall, to wear a coat, (and thermal underwear!) but otherwise I have heard nothing but praise.

And you can be sure that her outfit would have been checked out by the Queen or her advisors, for such a very public occasion, to make sure it wouldn't clash or, for that matter, overshadow - just as Camilla toned beautifully. Kate seems to have a much better innate sense of style than her late mother-in-law, and more inclined to take advice from the right people for very big public events.

Currently they are arriving at St Paul's for the service of thanksgiving - and again, both Camilla and Kate are in, respectively, grey and cream, with a pink tinge so that they tone with each other despite their outfits being very different. The Queen is wearing a very beautiful, shiny pale peppermint green - and so will show nicely, but not clash. (Her hat and her coat, are both dressed with chiffon held in place with tiny 'diamonds' too - how very apt!)

I feel sorry for her that Prince Philip is not with her - but her lady-in-waiting is travelling with her so that she is not alone in her car - and she will be an old friend.

Hee - you got the live commentary!

ETA - actually Camilla's coat is more 'old gold' - but it still tones rather well - even if it is 'unusual' fabric!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

With the advent of the Internet and contacts with people all over the world, I've learned that what I read or hear from the media can be incorrect, slanted, interpreted askew, or merely reported to cause outrage. And this is on the "hard" news shows! I expect gossip and silliness from the entertainment news shows, but I find it increasingly annoying that I have to question everything that is presented on the news programs. Journalism used to be a profession I respected--I wanted to be a journalist at one point. I was taught that a good reporter never speculated in print and always kept her opinion out of her work unless working on the editorial page.

I know it isn't just our journalists. I've seen the same around the world with other reporters stating patently untrue things about the States.

Thanks for the commentary! Everyone has looked beautiful and happy--even the bedraggled crowds standing in the rain!