I'm a bit of a royalist these days, although I didn't used to be. The Queen has worked so hard for so long, always doing her best, doing her duty and just ... well... reassuringly being there, like a mother or granny.
I have decided I prefer her to the kind of rich, powerful people who got where they are by sucking up to the likes of Rupert Murdoch, or doing all the other things ambitious, ruthless politicians do.
So despite various very loved friends and family members who are republicans, Socialist Workers etc. I've come down in the royal camp this weekend. Today is Diamond Jubilee day, sixty years since she was crowned. The country is celebrating and for the past few weeks, I've been going round snapping photos about the Jubilee in both London and Surrey. I thought you'd like to see some of them.
Albury, Surrey, had a royal garden competition, and one garden featured HM herself. Cardboard version, of course. That is her in the photograph above.
Below we have a patriotic post office...
Patriotic earrings
Patriotic gumboots - the children at this nursery school are growing red and white geraniums in these boots for the jubilee, and they all did paintings of the Queen...
And an appropriate bow tie (below) can look very stylish...
No doubt the kids would enjoy a giant gold coin with a Lion and a Unicorn on...
Parents might like a cup of Jubilee Tea 
The tea is from Fortnum and Mason (one of my favourite window-shopping shops). It has great Jubilee decorations, with a 1950s style, and nearly all of them are out of my price range. Still, if you are in London I do recommend you drop by and see them. A version of this crown adorns each of their shop windows.
There are signs of the Jubilee everywhere. Road signs....
signposts, traffic directions.....
And bus shelters...
I loved this toy windmill in someone's garden.
I suppose you can still be patriotic even if you are selling manure...
Or making a "statement" with the rubbish...
We were on the South Bank in London yesterday and everyone was getting ready for the flotilla celebrations. The weather is typical for a British celebration - cold, grey and wet. Still those who were camping out opposite St. Paul's did not seem to mind.
The great strange creature that is currently outside Tate Modern is an art work. I feel it should have been draped in a flag, like so many people were.
I liked the many reflections in this shot of a man in a Union Jack hat and a NY teeshirt. 
Now, I'm about to brave the rain to see the boat pageant. It sounds wonderful but I will have to return after about an hour because we are having family members over later for a jubilee tea
and I need to get the food ready. (No - not this family.)
