England, Day 4: When Harry Married Meghan

Random arsehole: hey man, we're just going to stand up there against the rail?
MJR: uh, no. We are standing there.
MJR to ALR: we're up. See I told you, if we weren't right against the rail, someone was going to think the spot was open.
ALR: Well, come on, we are a foot away from it. I didn't think people would be that dense.

After hours (literally) of shivering, we "woke up". It was a little after 430, it was cold, I was stiff, and we both weren't feeling very royal. My hair bands had snapped in the night and my soaks and bottom of my pants were soaked from the dew. I was lucky to have my travel purse, which had necessities like a toothbrush and hair ties. Matt went off to find something to eat. I sat in the blankets and watched the crowds start to gather around us.

Three girls came up beside us, for the rest of my life I will never forget them - EJ, Emma, and Jilley, from Northern Ireland. They all looked daisy fresh as they set up their spot. They each had three tote bags and in their tote bag they had a bag the size of a loaf a bread... all
tubes and tension wire that came together to form a chair. Soon they pulled out a thermos and made tea - poured milk in too. They had bread rolls that they offered up to us. So aside from that, Matt had brought back a cup of tea and cheese on toast. It was a food truck - an English cheddar and the place made their own butter and cheese and they were the esteemed winner of the best cheese in Sussex - or at least that's what their sign said. And that morning, I believed it. Emma shared some of their milk with me to add to the tea.

It was still chilly, the girls all had leggings on under their dresses and Emma had donned on Beauty and the Beast Mrs. Potts socks to which showed thru her sandals. The morning drug as we waited for the sun to raise. We watched
the constant brigade of the bobbys (with and without guns), Matt watched them work the horses and the planes come into Heathrow. We watched the tv crews come thru and relied on the girls to tell us who was famous. When Phillip, the "Silver Fox" went past - they went crazy! I didn't recognize any of the reporters - was all ITV and BBC. Matt made friends with the camera guy, Jezz (to which EJ said "well, that's fancy"), who gave us some info - including the fact that we were in the right spot to see Meghan enter the castle before the ceremony.

For lunch - we had food truck hotdogs. I had one with cabbage, Matt's had mustard and sauerkraut. Those Northern Ireland girls didn't disappoint either; they shared blueberries, Thai flavored crackers, and curly-whirlies - they were willing to share it all. Which was beneficial because all we had were three sad granolas, that had been mildly crushed because they were stored in my purse/pillow.

Matt and another husband were standing there and was approached by USA Today as the two of them didn't appear to be partaking in the festival. His quote was basically that he was there to support his wife and partake in the history of the event!

There will things that I won't forget about the day - there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the cold that crept into the heat, the bobby's that covered the crowd - including our personal favorites Neal and George, but I will forever remember the catch that happened in my throat when Meghan's car popped into my horizon and the tears that came into my eyes about the magnitude of the moment and the piece of history that we were witnessing. Her car seemed to fly by into the castle and I remember turning my eyes to the screen and settling in to watch the ceremony. My favorite part of the ceremony was the initial vows. As they said I will, you can see them sort of look at each other and giggle - that giggle was because they could hear the crowds - 150,000 people roll out a cheer. I was part of that.

The ceremony continued and at one point I remember feeling the sun bake, I sat down against the rail to listen to the cellist. And among the crowds, I remember feeling very relaxed.
EJ: Is she sleeping?
MJR: She wouldn't sleep during the royal wedding.
ALR nodded a bit.
ALR: In and out.

I remember the listening to "Stand by Me," and "God Save the Queen," the kiss, and the waves from Harry & Meghan and Charlotte, and the anticipation of the carriage starting at the beginning of the trek. I remember looking down the walk and waiting and knowing she was getting close because the exuberance that was exhibited in the flags... it was like the wave at a sports event - they started in one spot and began to roll across the crowd.  When they came by it was just seconds as the horses had time to pick up speed. The pomp and circumstance at it's finest and the highest level I've ever seen. The horseman decked out with swords with their heavy uniforms, the coordination of the colors of horses, the clanging sound of hooves and gear, and the cheers all around me. It was seconds and in that glimmer of me waving my flag like crazy, while I stood in front of that green camera box, Harry looked at us... for just a second.

It took hours to get out of Windsor - time to get out of the area we were in, hours to get out of the Long Walk - we even sat down and ate a pizza in the shade while the crowds (and the protest on biological cleansing) settled, took time to get from our spot to the edge of the train area by the castle - the roads were still blocked, the block parties were happening, the pub (the Corner Pub) was filled with sounds
and dancing, the barracks were still pouring out troops and bobbys, when we got to the castle (where the first turn happened) it was like nothing I've seen - people everywhere. I did manage to get a t-shirt, the shop was a mad house. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into - the line for the train was intense. We were told it was better than it was but we waited in line for an hour - that was just to get to the platform. With Windsor being a spur off of Slough, there wasn't solid trains coming through it was one train going back and forth - and the train that went from Windsor to Slough was the most packed/congested crowded I've been on since we went to the Cubs game in Chicago. The station was handing out water to everyone and they were trying to keep the majority of the crowds in the shade - the empty trains coming in were bringing in the cases of bottled water.

We got back to the AirBnB at 5:00 - and went to bed.

MJR: okay, how do you want to do this?
ALR: What do you mean?
MJR: what do you want to capture?
ALR: Well, I'd like my picture with them but I don't think that's going to happen.
MJR: You just watch, I'll record and I'll try to get a picture of you and them. You just watch.

When we watched it later, Matt couldn't believe how close to the castle we actually were and just what the view from the sky and will the crowds looked like. It was one thing to walk through them but to see the masses gives a whole surreal feeling to it all. We also noticed that we both made it onto the screen, one way or another... that's Matt's white hat and that's my flag.