Ok people!! Here is the account of the Buckingham Palace Day on the 7th March 2001. To all those who doubted me - you really shouldn't because I am an expert at deadlines and typing loads and even more really quickly.... See Ya!!
By the way - any references to Annabel Winter are strictly non-mean, non-nasty, non-jippy, non-untrue and generally for entertainment purposes (after the quotes "did u have 2 write some many mean things bout me in the passage (on your page)" and "please dont take the mick out of me on yr site!")and you are my best friend - I would so never take the mick out of you on my site or at any time and everybody loves you because you are the bestest bestest bestest person I have ever met - i think all the nice things written about the fantasticly amazing Ms.Winter here say it all! WE LOVE YOU ANNABEL!!! YOU ARE LIKE THE COOLEST YEAH!!!
Are you sitting comfortably?? Yes?? Then I'll begin.....
The night before I tried to get to sleep but I couldn't because I was really excited!! I watched a cheesy thriller film - where this woman had a lodger, and the lodger turned psycho and took over her house or something strange like that - it was called "Total Stranger" I think, this took me up to about 1.30am and then because there was nothing else on I decided to watch the learning zone on BBC 2 - and I fell asleep watching it. Woke up a 6.27am (i.e.: like 4 hours sleep) 3 minutes before my alarm was due to go off - I really hate it when that happens, and if you?re wondering why I was awake this early when London is only 2 hours drive away from Worcester (well ish) my dad was working in London over night and he had to be woken up at 6.30 in the morning to go to a video conference with some people from Australia so I woke up because I knew that my mum would have problems using the phone - and she did. First she decided that she would try using 048..... prefix (even though all the numbers with that prefix were changed like 5 months ago) so she came storming into my room saying "I've tried his number 15 times and theres no answer, do you know his number? (huff and sighing)" and I asked what number� she had been trying and she said 048.... and I said "You fool" , replied with "What?", "get my phone and I will show you the number" *note I am still in bed at this time* "oh how do you turn your phone on oh, ok I'll try that then"and then proceeds to try and ring a couple more times and then left a message in her best annoyed voice and then complained at me for not being helpful - the cheek and after I gave her dad's number as well. Anyway it was 6.45am by now and I decided to have a bit more of a lie in and to watch the Sesame Street (presented by the letter S) until the Big Breakfast was on at 7. I also had to remember that the taxi to the train station was at 8 but I had plenty of time. I got up about half 7 and got dressed (in my specially made Sexy B T-shirt....you can buy one if you contact me - either by payment of an agreed price or if you send me sweets I might be interested) etc. and went downstairs with all my stuff (carefully packed at midnight the night before) and had some breakfast, whilst my mum came round moaning about me not doing anything round the house for the 8th time that week - bearing in mind that it was Wednesday it's quite good going... Had a look through the papers and got ready to leave. The taxi pulled up at 8 with my mum screaming� "Is that the taxi?"" I don't know mum" "well jolly well look then" with her frantically hurrying around the house. To be honest the taxi just looked like a normal car, but after the horn beeped I was convinced enough. I went outside and mum came storming out shouting "you left the lounge door open!!!" yeah whatever. I got into the taxi (which had leather seats) and was too busy laughing at my mum wearing a red duffel coat thing - it was so funny! haha!! And the taxi took us to Shrub Hill Station, of course during the journey my mum was telling the driver about what was going to happen at Buckingham Palace (i.e.: what gate I would be going in) and stuff that I bet the organisers didn't even know - she has a habit of doing that, I mean if she?s ever on the phone I sit there and think "you're talking rubbish" that fact that she does that all the time is besides the point, but anyway - an example "my Nikki's got 5 A*'s, 2 A's and 3 B's in her GCSE's" this was two months before the results actually came out (and they weren't even right)....see what I mean? Anyway we got to the station 40 mins early, so we went into the little coffee place and mum had a cup of tea and got a paper so that meant she wouldn't annoy me that much. We stayed in there for about 10 mins and then sat on the platform. I got myself a Twirl from the machine and had a bit of a look around. There was this really fit guy who was on the same platform (well there?s only two so I had a 50/50 chance), but then my mum had a panic attack about my dad not waking up - i.e.: a subtle hint for me to ring him - so I texted him saying mum was going mad and after which my mum said "Well, I hope he's up else we'll be in dire straights (??)" and then my phone rang (which is good cos it doesn't cost me money) and my dad said not to worry that he was up and mum spoke to him and then she was ok....for a while... I had to make sure we were on the right platform so I decided to wind my mum up (her navigational skills are as good as my cat with a mobile phone - she went to Coventry from Worcester via the centre of Birmingham which is like 30 miles more) and she was making such a big deal out of it, which was quite amusing. The train arrived at 8.47am and I got on the train and decided to sit about 5m away from my mum on the opposite side of the carriage. We left Worcester and had our tickets stamped and then this bloke who looked exactly like Dr Truman from Eastenders came down with the food trolley - and I had some Pringles. That was the height of excitement, so I decided to try and beat my record of 1287 on snake on my mobile during the two hour journey, with not much success. I also looked for the best looking people station - Moreton-in-Marsh is the best for fit blokes. Only other thing was counting how many people went to the toilet (24) and how many green rectangles there were on the chairs (156). We arrived at Paddington about 10.50am and walked out into the main bit with all the shops and out of the corner of my eye I saw a Millie's Cookie shop - yum is the only word for it. I got 8 (4 white and 4 double chocolate) cookies and they were so nice!! I rang my dad and asked where he wanted to meet us and he said to go to the entrance and wait. However, my mum was convinced that this dark alley was the entrance, but I guided her to where there was a street in the distance and she said "this must be the exit" - so I walked the usual 5 paces behind her and we went out to outside of a restaurant called Garfunkel's and told my mum she looked like Paddinton Bear in her red coat. Rang my dad and he was in the main bit, so we walked down where we just came up and saw my dad. Then went back to my dad's car and whilst doing so we went past a paddington bear teddy stand thing and my mum looked like one of the models. Went back to the car - and then we drove towards the Buckingham Palace part of London. It was really surreal going up the long road to the place - and thinking "hey cool I'm going inside there" so we went upto it and around the side and looked for the Buckingham Gate sign to try and find the police feeding centre (58 Buckingham Gate), but we went the wrong way so we drove about for a bit going up and down the road trying to find it - eventually did and managed to get a parking space quite near. Dumped my bags in the boot of the car and went for a walk around the semi-surrounding area. First of all though my mum had to eat and go to the toilet (oh don't get me started on that) so we went past this Italian restaurant and the menu wasn't that good (i.e.: too expensive) and then proceeded to go past restaurant after restaurant as none of them had toilets (including a pub called the Feathers - which I believe to be a close relation to the Royale Family) and then dad decided to get mum sorted by going into a pub to just use the toilet, and then we went to the restaurant next door called EAT which was one of these trendy London cafe types where I had a huge hot chocolate (ok I have lots of space this time...I will tell you the hot chocolate story - however don't read if you have just eaten or a weak stomach - and no ANNABEL WINTER it is nothing rude (see later)� - when I was on the NCO course in 1997 I put so much hot chocolate in this cup I made about 12 cups of the stuff from one lot of powder....and then on the Cadet Demonstrator course 1999 I had even more hot chocolate but this time there were some of these cheesy flavoured colour changing crisps (ones that turned your tongue blue) and somebody bet me or something to put these crisps in a mug of hot chocolate - so I did and it turned green which was quite cool and as we were video recording at the time I took huge slurps of this cheesy hot chocolate angleing the mug towards the camera and I managed to finish it - thats the story - but then I am the kind of person who eats strawberry syrup after we had used it in an experiment to test the viscosity of sweet things in physics - I know - it is true - it's a whole module in my physics syllabus - cool eh?) and texted Annabel and Natalie saying this at about 12.30pm. I collected souvenirs from the cafe and bought some mini-eggs to give to people at the feeding centre and then we went on walkies to look at some of the sites of London. First stop was Westminster Abbey and then we went on towards Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament - and if you didn?t know - March the 7th was Budget Day so there were loads of camera crews about which was cool - I did think about showing off my sexy b t-shirt but it was too cold. We then walked near the Cenotaph and near 10 downing street. It's really freaky cos there were all these camera people and then there were all these people walking around with signs on them saying stuff like "we'll commit suicide unless we get a fair budget" and "Listen up Gordon Brown". We had a quick nose around there and we could also see the Millennium Wheel. It was turning so slowly!! I really could not hack being on something that slow for like an hour! We walked back up that road and went onto the bridge to look at the river and all the cool buildings, and we saw a load of politicians on the riverside balcony of the Parliament building and then we realised it was 1pm and I had to be at the feeding centre in 30mins so we walked back. I collected my stuff from the car and took a picture of the centre and got my mum to take a pic of me in front of it for my website. We spotted people like Nicola Davies and other people and we went inside....and like everybody was there in uniform. I went in and got a name badge and a group list. People like Paul said that I wasn't allowed to get a badge cos of my t-shirt but I persuaded him. I got half changed� into my uniform after remembering that the other half was in my other bag in the main room, so then I went back, moved all of my stuff to a safer location and got totally changed. I then decided I would record sound bites of people on my Dictaphone that had curiously found it's way into my Reebok bag...funny that...and went around finding people I knew... It's at this time my mind kinda of goes blank - like I was asleep with my eyes open or something... very unusual considering that I remembered 48 hours of chronological stuff from the C.O.T.Y comp...Anyway - whilst I was there I chatted to� Annabel and Nick/Natalie Evans and other people...We had lunch where the queue was like a mile long so I took a few perspective photos and waited until the queue was 4 people long when Annabel said that she wanted some chips so I decided being the good friend that I am I would get a chicken burger and chips and let her share them (even though they had a pizza hut meal) and we had a chat about college and stuff and how freaky my site and that she was on the whole is/was very scared of me. After a meal we sat and chatted for a bit and I tried to get people to record messages for a certain group b team leader but it didn't work... people ran away...however I have got quotes like "do you think the toilet water is drinkable?" which are on my audio clips page.... We were then told to assemble into our groups (I was in group A) with our team leader Annabel Winter who I knew sort of and I met the most cool Northern Irish people called Esther and Mark who have the COOLEST accents in the whole world - I also have them on tape too and we went into discussions about how to say people's names etc. and I also met a cool guy called Richard Holland who knows Annabel! We then had our uniform checked before the group photos were taken...it was at this time I also congratulated Anna Harrison - National Cadet of the Year by saying well done - and telling her about my website....hmmmm...thats later...and got a pic of her and Annabel and also in my group was Emma who had the room opposite mine in Oxford - see I am full of random chunks of information. We were then told to get some dessert stuffs - I wasn't hungry but I went and harassed a load of people with the camera and Dictaphone. It was at this time the PR person Ruth came up to the table where I was sitting and said "You have been in so many newspapers" or something to that extent - which is quite surprising seeing as I have not done anything up till now in the least bit media related (I'm not complaining tho - I mean it's nice to do but it's not my scene if you know what I mean) - so if you can elaborate it would save me worrying or something.... and when I asked if she had seen my site, she said "uhhh....oh is it the one with the homage to Laura then??" and I was like OH MY GOD people at NHQ have read my site because Yodit asked me if I used my Dictaphone to remember all of the stuff from the C.O.T.Y weekend - no I didn't. We then had our photos taken infront of a big green SJA board and that was cool and everything. During the photo's were being taken - somebody kinda fainted - Sara and she was helped by a couple of first aiders that just happened to be walking by (Sara explains "Well i had just had my group photo taken and Ruth Bennet said to me 'R U okay' and i said not really..... and next thing i know i'm on the floor with Paul on one side and Viki on the other saying it alright you'll b okay! It was just that i was soooooo hot!" lol) I decided I would ask more people if they had seen my site and from all of the NHQ people there was a very subtle tone of voice (I know all about this as I do English Language - and by the way today (Thursday) we did a lesson on politeness - and it was where have I learnt this before??) in the kind of "I've seen your website and I don't see how you could be cadet of the year for Worcestershire and you are in shed loads of trouble and you are a freak" tone (said with the words "Yes I have seen your website") - also apparent amongst (some/all) of the people I met as well. Oh well - I did consider removing my site - but where's the fun in that?? ;-) After all the photos we had the briefing session which told us how to behave and all the other arrangements for the palace - this also included the Steve Smith ways to courtesy and bow but we did learn how to do it properly in the end, and that we had to call the Princess Mam (rhymes with Jam) and not Ma'am. We then lined up in order in our groups and were given a card with our names on and I got chatting to people in my group like Richard Holland about what (I AM JOKING HERE OK) we could "remove" from there - you know serviettes and toilet paper (and definitely NOT Ming Vases, Tables and Water-colours, cutlery....nonono) and as I was a little bit hyper after 5 cups of blackcurrant cordial I decided to have a competition to find the top 10 things not to say to Her Royal Highness....more about this later but the best we came up with then was "I've got flu" - or is that what I came up with to not go on the till at work - I can't remember. We left the building at 4.45 and I was sooooo hyper - I was like screaming and going mad - and singing Bob the Builder, anyway we walked towards the palace and we had to cross the road and seeing as I was at the front - I counted 24 cars in the queue at the crossing. We walked up towards the gates and there were all these sightseeing people - most of them Japanese and it was so funny - it felt really surreal having video cameras, cameras and people pointing at us. We then had to have the obligatory how stupid can we all look picture - I was going to do hyper-eyes (where you open them really wide - and then when you look at the picture you say spot who's been on the e-numbers) but I didn't. After this we all lined up in pairs and marched into the palace - to have a bit of a laugh I waved at a group of 5 Japanese tourists and they went crazy and tried to get another photo of me - it was so funny. There were these guards who had to stand still and they didn't move and inch - that was weird - and we went under a tunnel and then into a huge gravel space and then towards the inside. It's really huge inside and we went into the room up the stairs and straight in front. The room was huge and it looked like it had mood lighting or something - anyway we assembled� into our groups into horseshoe shapes as instructed and told that whenever a certain door opened we had to be quiet. We were given drinks and all these service men (some of them were really good looking) brought food around - and as I am not a person to refuse FREE food from a place like this - I had some - Annabel didn't have any because she wanted to not get "cheesy breath" - but we found somebody with Polo?s so that meant we could eat stuff. Before the Princess came in we continued our competition to find the top ten things not to say - which was stopped abruptly by Ms Winter as she said "Anything you are thinking Nikki". oh well. We also had conversations about stuff like smoking (hahahahahaaaa how subtle am I ANNABEL WINTER - if anybody at NHQ is reading this you have to hassle her soooooo much about this....she'll have no problem telling you the story heheheheee! "Oh no!!! Nikki you can't put that on - you don't know who might see it!" in her own words (ishish) - just hassle her anyway anybody OK!) and what could have happened in the room (stuff like the queen etc.). Anyway - after all the top people met the Princess - she came out to meet the groups. She was in uniform which I thought was weird but alas. Our group was first, and she was introduced to Annabel who in turn introduced all of the group - all that practising and Annabel got Davidson wrong (we love you really though!!!).... I tried (and failed) to courtesy and then she asked if we had all met before and then (because I was nearest) and asked "Where are you from?" "Worcestershire" "Where abouts in Worcester do you live?" "Uhhhh....In...Worcester" "Oh, Worcester's not that big a place, were you flooded?" "Not me personally, but I did know people that were flooded, my house is quite high so" "How long have you been a cadet?" "6 years" and then she spoke to Esther who told her about her Grand Prior. After she finished talking to Esther we did thumbs up (well Annabel did as she is soooo cool and smiley - as if to say "my god Nikki you can actually be normal" and then we returned it back.) The Princess finished talking to our group and then we mingled with me having 6 drinks and almost everything going food-wise (why not??) the chicken and mango sandwiches, engraved ER insignia glasses and cocktail sticks for scampi just speaks posh doesn't it!! At one time - Annabel, Esther and Myself went to the toilets - Wow!! Posh or what!!! The first set of toilets were like pews with holes in - but really posh Shakespherianesque style with a dressing table (Kleenex tissues) and posh chairs and the next set of loos were more modern. I managed to get a souvenir in the form of a dishcloth (A.Winter classic) / paper towel. Went back in the room and we did DEFINATELY NOT in ANY WAY talk to the service men, ask them if they had a social life, say they were fit or even look at them... ;-) But that was about it - we stood around and got fed with royal food - not a bad way to spend a couple of hours eh? We then assembled into pairs and marched out to see more tourists and it was really weird yet again. We totally marched out and then Paul said fall out etc. and we walked back. When we got back I recorded said Northern Irish people talking...wow.... and gave people my web url so they can read this and gave my phone number out to various people. I then said a fond farewell to Natalie - with a hug - boy have I got some funny photos of you my friend!! and bye to everybody with hugs etc. Got changed into my Sexy B t-shirt and normal clothes - Annabel saw my watch and said - "oh my god everything about you is weird isn't it??" Went to my dad's car and we drove around looking for somewhere to eat. Walked about for a bit and then my parents decided we should go to a Thai restaurant - I have never had Thai food in my life - I had some chicken things on sticks and then egg fried rice and boiled rice - and I felt really sick that night going home in the car - not good. It took 2 hours to drive home and on the way I ate 2 remaining cookies and mini eggs which my mum had curiously forgotten to give me..... When I got back I had to check my mail and I tried to talk to Annabel but she seemed to go off-line....:-( Then I had a large hot chocolate - doesn't go well with Thai food - not in the slightest. And went to bed about 1 am after watching another cheesy film. Got up for college the next morning and it's really good that only 5 people knew about B Palace - I don't like all the questions - my mum tried and still knows nothing about the event!! hehehe!! OK 7 pm on Thursday 8th (24 hours after it finished - how quick am I - and today (20th May) there is still nothing on the official st.john site!!) - lets put this online people!!! See ya!! And if I have forgotten anything - even the slightest detail.. NHQ we love you...and...let me know and you can even get a quote on here!!! And by the way - I do have some very cool souveniers from the whole day.... lol
go back |
