NOSTALGIA......

....in London today, as I got stuck with the crowd outside Buckingham Palace at the Changing of the Guard. The Mall has been sectioned off - you can't cross it, there are great barriers - because of the Tour de France cycle race taking place this weekend. Rows of chairs facing giant TV screens in the parks, and a general air of great preparations. All this plus lots of police because of bomb scares (anniversary of July Incident coming up) and it meant that the Guard Changing, which always creates mild traffic chaos, brought things to a complete standstill.I got stuck at what is normally a routine crossing-place to Green Park. But I didn't mind, as seeing the soldiers marching about filled me with sudden nostalgia...the Queens' Birthday Parade in Berlin in the 1980s...parades at Catterick with new recruits and Jamie anxious and rehearsing the words of command over and over again the evening before... actually, in the Britain of 2007 with all its daft ideologies, and a horrible war in Iraq, it feels somehow odd that there can still be this ceremonial parade in such traditional style. I wobbled off on my bike feeling rather thoughtful.