..... and a spare

Today I waited to pay my respects to the late Queen as she was driven past our house. I'd missed all the other opportunities, so was quite determined.
We picked up the girls from school, as they had closed early, and spent the afternoon in the front garden.
Isobel had a notebook I'd made her and the pencil I bought for her last week in St Paul's. She rather delightfully had decided she would write about what was happening and draw some pictures for her class to show them!
The security staff arrived around 2pm. I chatted to the man posted outside our house over the period of waiting and topped up his water bottle a couple of times. He was standing in full sun for over 3 hours. He was delightful with the children, chatting away to them and answering all their questions. He also kept us up to speed with the events as they came through on his headset.
I found the coffin going past to be very moving. The glimpse of Princess Anne who unusually for her. has been so very in the public eye, brought back memories of my own mums death, although I was only 25 at the time. I've been so impressed by all of the Queen's children, but particularly by the Princess Royal.
As the cortège went past I thought how well our little country has shown itself over the last few days. I'm glad the Queen died here as it has given us a chance to be involved we would not have had otherwise. I can't imagine that in London we would have been able to be so close and without barriers. I should say that Operation Unicorn went smoothly to plan.... Don't you just love that our national heraldic animal is a mythical beast?
Tomorrow, life here will begin to return to normal once again as everything now will be happening at a distance.
My blip is not of the coffin, but of the second phase of the procession, the back up vehicles. There were spare cars including escort vehicles and even a spare hearse - in case the other broke down I presume.
To quote Paddington, Thank you ma'am, for everything.
If you haven't seen the full version of the Paddington sketch, it's here. Do watch it, it's very tender.
https://youtu.be/7UfiCa244XE