The Lord Mayor's Show

The Lord Mayor's Show begins with an early morning barge procession down the Thames River. Not wanting to miss a thing, I dragged John and some friends along, extra early, to make sure we could get there ahead of all the people.

"All the people", on the Westminster bridge, at 8:30am, turned out to be - us. I am quite sure I will never hear the end of that.

So, we had breakfast, wandered around Borough Markets, and savoured some mulled wine before heading over the Thames River to St Paul's Cathedral to stake our spot for the land parade.

This year marked the 799th Anniversary of The Lord Mayor's Show in London. (As we would say, "this is not their first rodeo.")

The Lord Mayor of London is elected annually and serves as an Ambassador for the City of London.

The "Lord Mayor of London" is not to be confused with the "Mayor of London", who's jurisdiction includes the Greater London Authority, and is currently held by the flamboyant Boris Johnson. (Don't worry if you didn't get that, its all a bit confusing at first.)

Speaking of Boris Johnson, I will digress for a moment.... I did a double-take one day when I saw Boris Johnson walking on the South Bank, by himself, with a rucksack (backpack) over his suit, and a bike helmet covering his trademark hair! But I digress...

Back to the Lord Mayor's Show..... A bit of history here - almost 800 years ago, King John granted a charter that allowed the citizens of London to elect their own Lord Mayor. But, the King declared that immediately after the election the new Lord Mayor had to swear an oath of allegiance to the King and travel from the city of London to the Royal Court in Westminster.

Historically, the Lord Mayor of London traveled by barge along the Thames River to Westminster. A festive flotilla accompanied the Lord Mayor on the journey down the Thames. Another digression.... this is where the name "floats" in a parade come from.

Over the years the procession traveled by land instead of water.

In 1757 a State Coach was commissioned and is now used to carry the Lord Mayor instead of the barge.

Along the land parade route was where all the action and people were. About a half a million people!

It was long with a combination of history, pomp and strong military presence.

At 5:15pm they had a large fireworks show on the Thames River between the Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. We felt very fortunate to be under the bridge to save us from the deluge of rain. (I'm starting to think this island gets a lot of rain....)

I am sure next year, the 800th Anniversary will be quite the show. Anyone game to join me for an early start, on the bridge, to watch the flotilla? John will probably happily relinquish his early morning spot....