David J. Rose

By djrose007

Remembrance Sunday - London

Set off just before 06:00 this morning to get to London for the Remembrance Sunday veterans parade, which is after the 2 minutes silence, the service and the laying of wreaths, tons of wreaths by the Royal Family, politicians, representatives of the Commonwealth countries etc.
It took a bit longer than usual to get to the 'Solo Motorcycles Only' parking area on Victoria Embankment due to the multiple road closures which were in place to stop the Pro Gaza protesters getting to Westminster, where the Cenotaph is and where the parade takes place. 
I asked a very helpful police lady how I could get to my destination and she got her phone out to look at a map. She suggested I go over Lambeth Bridge, to the South side of the Thames, and then left to get to Westminster Bridge to get back to the North Side. That worked, brought me out right where I needed to be, the Victoria Embankment.
There's a lot of waiting for the 10,000 veterans and serving members of the forces. We start off on Horse Guards Parade, getting into position and waiting for about 1.5 hours. We then get formed up and march out onto Westminster where we have another hour to stand around until all the ceremony is over. However, we were quite a way back in the parade so it took some time for the front columns to march past the Cenotaph before the columns in front of us started to move.
I was pushing our association chairman around, but he didn't seem to mind! He has problems with his knees so can't stand for long so he had a wheelchair provided which I took back when we got back to Horse Guards Parade. The Princess Royal, Princess Anne as some people refer to her as, was taking the salute as we all passed by at the end of the march.
I keep saying I don't think i'll do it next year but it is a really great thing to do so I probably will.
And the mounted police? I snapped them on the way back to my bike, you can Just see a little of the group of bikes in the background to the right, that's where I was parked.

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