Royal Wedding

Last night I vowed I had better things to do with my day than watch the Royal Wedding. So did Sihle. But come 11.00am, we were sitting in the lounge watching the princes roll down the Mall in their cars. It just "happened". I logged on to the Internet to do some work, and saw something on MSN that said there was a live feed - so I took my computer and sat in the lounge, thinking I'd work and just "glance up" every now and then. Sihle came in to offer me some tea, perched on the edge of a chair - just "briefly" - and was still there an hour later, tea forgotten. Nolwazi arrived to visit, and was soon sucked into the spectacle - we were together in London 4 years ago, and she kept saying, "We were there!" Lindi stumbled in after her shower, and soon she was also engrossed. And then we got an SMS from Andiswa who was also with us overseas, saying why did we go in 2008 - why didn't we wait till now?

We "oohed" and "aahed" when we saw the lovely bridesmaids dress and then saw Kate. We laughed at the crazy hats - how about that one that looked like "tongues of fire" stuck to the side of her head. She should lend it to the Archbishop of Canterbury for Pentecost! - we giggled at the buses bringing the guests, we wondered where the little flower girls had gone during the service. Lindi, Nolwazi and I had all sung "I was glad" at ordination about 5 years ago, so that was a special moment for us. We enjoyed the choir boys - especially the Oriental one with glasses - and all four of us sang along to "Jerusalem."

How was it to share something so essentially British with 3 young African people, far away from where it was all happenning. I think we shared in it all, because we all like Fairy Tales. And this was a fairy tale of note - beautiful bride, kind-of-handsome-if-balding Prince, trumpets, carriages with horses all in formation, people shouting and cheering, the odd glimpse of a celeb - it was all there. Even the ugly step-mom. (I will never think of Camilla as Queen material, although there was a lovely scene with her and her grand-daughter, the youngest bridesmaid, on the balcony - it made her almost human.)

About 20 mins into the spectacle, I closed my laptop and said "Who am I kidding - I'm enjoying this!" And I'm glad I did.