The Diamond Jubilee (and Dorset celebrations)

I'm a long way from the River Thames, in the Pindus mountains, 1000 metres above sea level, but I note that The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant has officially started.

The Queen is on the Royal Barge. The flotilla is 1000-strong.

Oh well, I remember the Coronation (June 2, 1953)!  Can't be everywhere...but watched the Thames Pageant Live on the internet. A pity about the rain, but "nothing dampens the spirit". Very impressive.

Commentators spoke a lot about "The Canaletto Moment" and "The People's Pageant" as a democratic event.

Read tweets that suggested there was quite a lot of argy-bargy (on the banks, not on the barges) between Monarchists and Republicans. A shame. That's democracy: including this dissident view (Polly Toynbee, The Guardian: see also the comments, many removed by the moderator). Strange that the Republican protesters (shouted down) did not feature on the BBC live coverage of the event? That was not the reason for criticism of the coverage. I thought it was pretty good, as I watched it on the internet on my old laptop.

On the wider front-

The Daily Telegraph pays an appropriate tribute.

Meanwhile, in Dorset...

and in Upwey...

and in Lyme Regis

and Poundbury , BBC News, Photo by Neil Crick:

Back in London-

Highlights from the Diamond Jubilee Concert (BBC)

Diamond Jubilee Concert (Sky News)

The Telegraph

This takes some beating! Over in Corfu, celebrations continue, a week later:

The cakes didn't last long.