"Life of Surprises" - Prefab Sprout, 1992

I had a wonderful surprise today. While out running errands at lunchtime, in Oxford, I saw The Queen!

Queen Elizabeth was in Oxford today for several reasons. I didn't know anything about it until I read it on the BBC's website this morning...although it was obvious, as I walked from the bus stop to my office just before 8am, that somebody important was visiting Oxford today. The police were much more in evidence than usual, and the doors to the grounds of Christ Church was closed and barricaded. Christ Church -- the cathedral and the college (part of Oxford University) -- is just a few blocks north of my office.

Anyway, when I left the office around 12:30pm, everything looked fairly normal on St Aldates....although there were clearly a few people standing around the entrance to Christ Church. Here's what the view looked like, as I approached Christ Church...


(Click on each photo for a full-sized version.)


Once I got a little farther north, I realized that clearly something was going on. Suddenly, police swooped in and blocked the streets. And here came a motorcade. And as the sidewalk ("pavement", to my British readers) is narrow in this part of Oxford, I was standing right on the kerb (British spelling!) and very near the passengers in a big car which suddenly appeared...and in the back seat was a lovely lady dressed all in pink...The Queen! I was so amazed but picked up my "mobile" again...and took the following shot...




The Queen is in the burgundy-colored car with the flag flying from it...and if you are able to click on the photo to make it full-sized, on the right side of the back seat you'll see a pink hat. That's Queen Elizabeth! (Well, not the hat itself...the woman in the hat!)

She was waving to the crowd, and of course we were waving back. The bells at Christ Church were pealing in celebration. The car, and the entire motorcade, all headed into the Christ Church property. The Queen apparently had lunch there today.

Just to show you what a beautiful day it was in Oxford, here's one final shot that I took of the Christ Church bell tower -- which I believe is known locally as "Old Tom"...




I just can't tell you how thrilling and exciting this was....what a life of surprises I have!

If you like to read more about Queen Elizabeth's visit to Oxford today, here's a link to the BBC website and to one of the Oxford newspapers.

WOW....I still can't believe it!

Janet

PS Oh...and Happy Cinco de Mayo!