Sir Whathisname

Written 04 June 2012

Sipping green tea, watching - of all things – the Diamond Jubilee Concert in London. Tom Jones singing Delilah. I must say, hats off to the man for looking so dashing with his naturally grey hair and for his still-amazing voice. Unlike poor Sir Cliff, who appeared in his pink suit, his body doing something that vaguely resembled moves he used to make sixty years ago. He was introduced as someone who’d had hit songs in every one of the decades of the queen’s reign, so that would make him round about her age, right? Round 80?

Oh yeah – Robbie Williams singing Mac the Knife! With all the right attitude, pizazz, great energy, just the right amount of cheekiness, irreverence. Changed some words to include names of some of the royals.

Interesting line-up, some really funny presenters. Cute song by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Sing”, being sung by about 200 voices from “the Commonwealth” on stage, with visuals of the queen’s life in the background.

Shirley Bassey – wonder if she’ll sing in tune tonight. Looks like a dream, as the light starts to fade in London. Ok, she sounds strong. Diamonds are forever. Ooh, what a line: “Unlike men, diamonds linger.” :-)

*************************************************************************************Woke up at 5 this morning, without an alarm. Usually I lie for a few minutes, drifting out of my dream world and easing into the new day, but today as soon as I awoke, I realised I had a problem with my back – some of my muscles had seized up and I could hardly move. Not nice. I tried all kinds of ways to slide myself off the bed, and eventually got it right. Took a mild painkiller, heated one of those beanbags and got back into bed, applying the heat to the painful part. Fell asleep again and woke up about 3 hours later, feeling much better.

Oh, dear, looks like the older royals are not having a good time. Wonder if the queen will go home early. Shame, she’s 86!

Ooh, cool song, “Somewhere”, being sung by Ian Fleming’s daughter, Renee, and a baritone, Alfie Bow(?). From a balcony. Logistical nightmare, I’d imagine. Strong voices – operatic.

This time I got up without having to slide off the bed and had breakfast, after which I took a strong anti-inflammatory painkiller, which sorted out the back pain, but gave me a huge headache.

Sir Elton John, resplendent in his pink suit and matching sunglasses, belting it out, playing the piano like the timeless genius he is, singing “I’m Still Standing”. Oh, sweet, he spoke to the queen, and now he’s singing “Your Song”. I’ve always loved this song. Reminds me of my college friend, Alfreda. Oh my goodness, he’s doing “Crocodile Rock”! Go, Elton! And letting the audience of 70 000 sing the la la la part. And even the royals are rocking. Ok, Harry and Will are rocking, not their gran. She must be quite preoccupied – her husband’s in hospital again. He must be in his 90s.

I often wonder how her son, Charles, feels - waiting in the wings his entire life.

Stevie Wonder!!!!!!!! Yes!!!

A band playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace – Madness. That’s the band’s name. “Our house, in the middle of our street” – when last have I heard that song? Very clever technical stuff projected against the palace façade. “It Must Be Love” – aaah! Bizarrely-clad saxophonist. Cool!

Back to my sore back – at first I thought it was from clearing out heavy boxes from the shed on Saturday, but I think it’s more likely from carting the television set from the lounge to one of the bedrooms. For you to understand how that could’ve caused me to pull a couple of back muscles, I have to tell you that my tv set is really old and big – in fact, it’s about the same size as my second car, a Morris 1100.

I’m tired. Watched the whole concert, and now I need to heat the beanbag and get it up against the sore part of my back – in bed.

Today was a good day; I acquired a new guitar student and a possible English teaching opportunity. I made some significant strides in a few other aspects of my life.

Off to bed. To the mysterious and delicious world of sleep and dreams.