England, Day 3.5: The Union Jack Flag Blanket

So there we sat on Friday night, sharing our day with each other - the highs, the lows, Matt opened a Carling. It was then we decided to head to Windsor, we'd eat, get on the train, and be sure to get into town because we didn't know what the lines would be like, if they were closing down the roads into town, or what and we wanted to be better safe than sorry.

We had the meal at the Bell and got on the train. At Slough (again, not slew), we
took the line to Windsor - which is the way be train in and out of the town, that's an important piece of information for later. When we got into the train station - I was blown away by how empty it was... sure it was 11:30ish but there was nothing and no one. We walked right out and past the first string of cops that we saw setting up tents for the security check points. Aside
from that being the first thing we saw, the other big thing was that the castle was RIGHT THERE. like no joke, I feel like I could have looked right into the Queen's bedroom window because we came up the slight hill and we hit wedding central. There were trinket sellers and cops and masses of people. See when we came out, the first turn directly out of the castle was right there. People had staked their claim and were taking this serious. They had put up bunting ribbon to section off their
spots, cardboard down, coolers and bags, and sleeping bags - some of them thermal/industrial. We began to walk around to began to feel the buzz and the chatter... we walked a bit of the route to scope out where we wanted to be and strategize the aspects.

Once you got a couple blocks away from that main turn, the streets became empty, the dark settled in, and really it seemed like a quiet neighborhood - totally oblivious to the commotion that would assume in 12 hours time. We got onto the long walk and witnessed more of the campers/squatters and that's about when it began to hit me. How stupid and utterly unprepared we were.

Let me break it down for you...What I was wearing: a hooded sweatshirt over a tshirt over a cami with jeans, socks, and my converse shoes. Matt had on a thinsulate-ish mock collar half zip and a drywick underarmor polo with jeans and anklet socks. He did have a hat. I had thrown in 3 granola/Cadbury brunch bars and one of the delta blankets that we lifted from the plane.

We walked to the pub down the way... the Windsor Castle Pub. My goal was to sit there as long as they'd let us and maybe work them over to let us sleep inside. Matt got a pint of the Windsor Knot - the beer to celebrate the wedding (1/2 made in America, 1/2 made in England - hoppy as hell, Matt approved, not much to my taste buds). The pub had locked it's doors and were clearing people out as they pleased to go. Drunks were a plenty, one even started a fight in the road. We watched an Australian TV update and weather report and I even attempted to put my plan into effect - after a confirming negative - we decided to head out again and get out spot.

Again I realized this plan was completely stupid and commented that we should head back. Matt was still on antibodies from an ear infection and a sinus infection and there was a chill creeping in. He convinced me that we needed to stay, it was a better use of our resources, and it assured that we'd be there to not miss any of it. We decided to see what shops were open - to see what could pick up to assist us. One shop - a Scottish wool shop had Union Jack blankets for sale. These are the cheap blankets that are soft and fuzzy that Walmart usually sells by the palate load. The current price on the blankets was 40 pounds (approx. $55 American). Matt said absolutely not - what a waste, we'd be fine, and how bad could it be. We walked out.

Fifteen minutes and 2 blocks later, I put my foot down. We went back and bought the blanket. But here's the beautiful part, as I grabbed it off the stack, a sign came with it... "Wedding special: 30 pounds"... what could they do, say no?
ALR to the teller: So 30 pounds?
Teller: For you, I will do $25
ALR: Sold
MJR: I'll also take this tiny Windsor castle
Teller: Do you want a bag?
ALR: Yes!
Teller: and I'll take the cardboard out of the blanket.
ALR: No, we'll take those too.

Back to the route we headed... after some deliberation (bench on the street vs grass on the Long Walk). We settled on the Long Walk - on the right hand side, down from the porta potties, and slightly visible to a set up big screen. We laid the bag and cardboard down on the dew soaked grass, set the Delta blanket down on that, laid down together, and put the blanket on top of us. We could see our breath from the cold. The shivering started just about when the chatter from a German-station American couple, some Canadians, and an Australian started incessantly babbling down the way. They called their mum, their lost their food bag, they talked about their flights, and Matt and I huddled in the cold, shivering. At one point, the quiet had set in and I laid with my head on my purse for a pillow, with my hands tucked between my legs, my ponytail holder in my snapped, shivering wondering about hypothermia and trying to remember from hunter education classes what the stages and sever signs were. I couldn't control my shivering and would feel Matt shift and shiver behind me.

It got down to 37 that night.