SCINTILLATIONS IN HISTORY

I don’t know what it is tonight, but I am boiling. I mean I’m Mediterranean-heat, like an Italian afternoon - a proper Vesuvius.

We went to Windsor today. No Queen this time; she’s in Balmoral, waiting for whichever unfortunate soul has the job of being the next Prime Minister. The flag was down.

There was still lots to see though, including her actual coronation dress, jewellery, and robe. The outfit was on full display in St George’s Hall.

The past fascinates me. It glistens in a way that no photograph could capture. As we walked around that famous dress, we saw how the light scintillated from a thousand tiny gems woven into the duchesse satin silk and the delicate embroidery. She would have looked magnificent.

Then the jewels: the brooches, earrings, and the necklace of the garter - today behind a brightly lit cabinet; but that day, turning and moving with the Queen as she walked through Westminster Abbey, glittering in blue, purple, yellow, silver. You don’t get a sense of that from a static photograph, or grainy film. The past was alive, just like this moment is.

I’m still baking hot. The weather app says it’s 17 degrees out there but it feels more like 25. Our hosts get back tomorrow from their cruise - meaning our second real week of this adventure is beginning. It is so tiring. We just did a massive sort out of clothes (I have too many for some reason) … mostly because I was having a crisis about not having a clue where anything actually was. When they get back of course, this will be their house again, and we’ll need to be more organised about all of that.

The great thing is that with each day we get a little closer to our own house. Instead of 4-6 weeks we can start saying 3-5 weeks, and that sounds almost as good as 2-4 weeks, which is hopefully where we’ll be this time next week. It’s good to keep dreaming about it. And this first week hasn’t been all that bad.

I couldn’t help thinking about the life of the Queen today. As Royals, they’re each expected to be something, to do something, to pass on something that consumes their past, their present and their future. They can’t dream of a future of their own making, they can’t be anything they want to be, even though they do have the palaces, the guards, the wealth and the security. It’s a rough deal, especially if that’s all they’ve known. Privilege is invisible to you if you’re born into it - and as Jarvis Cocker pointed out, it always will be, which is food for thought for all of us middle-class white people.

Whatever, the past leads unchangingly to the exact present, and our actions now lead inexorably to the future. We scintillate through it, whether trying to poach an egg (which I messed up) or defending and uniting a country while wearing a sparkly dress (which the Queen definitely did not mess up).

It was a good reminder to take each day as it comes, moment by moment, and to do the best we can, even in the middle of this Unsettling Adventure. Though I do hope tomorrow I feel a little cooler. I am boiling.