ST.PAULS CATHEDRAL - 23RD JUNE
I was going to write this the night I got back, but I thought that would look too
up-to-date.... so here we go, this is the day that was 23rd June 2001, AKA St.John
Day.... and please excuse any stuff that sounds rubbish
I woke up at about 6.30am, 29 minutes before my alarm was due to go off, again... and
watched the absolute rubbish that is Saturday morning TV, even at 7 ish! Anyway, did
all the usual stuff that you would do, carefully packed my un-ironed uniform into the
boot of my dad�s car and seeing as my parents decided that I wouldn�t be able to get to
London and back myself, they decided it would be a good idea to have a �family day
out�, and why this didn�t set alarm bells off in my head as soon as I heard it I have no
idea. My parents, my brother and me set off about 8.30am ish in my dad�s car (which
has some bearing on cadet of the year related stuff as whenever I turn up to go
somewhere in the county they assume I am being chauffeur driven - �oh so the cadet of
the year gets a chauffeur does she?�) which was great fun (note the sarcasm). My mum
is a total fool and she insisted on being extra foolish during this car journey telling her
usual unfunny stories about her work and how this bloke stopped at a round-about to
read an �atlas� - although I don�t think that would get the person very far do you? We
then continued to London - I busied myself by sending quite a few text messages to
COTY people like Suzy Whitaker, whilst we were listening to various CD�s - I have
started writing a sitcom since Buckingham Palace (called �An Average Day In The Life
Of A Teenager�) and as it is based loosely on my life I have collected plenty of
material from this 2 hour car journey... but that�s besides the point - the first episode is
floating around via e-mail somewhere, and there may be a special St.John episode....
lol how much I joke. So anyway we get to London at about 10.30, and if I hear my
dad say �I was really looking forward to today and you�ve ruined it� again I will kill.
him... and we go to park near some shopping centre called Whitelys in Bayswater, I
did half an hours shopping (well all I did was eat a McDonald�s meal) and then I went
back to the car, collected my stuff and we went and hailed a taxi, and we got into this
bright orange taxi, which was kinda cool.... anyway, I arrive at St.Pauls at about 12.45,
and I see a couple of people that look COTY like so I meet them and they said �oh we
haven�t gone in yet� and I rushed off to get changed into previously mentioned
un-ironed uniform which took me relatively no time (laughs out loud)... I saw people
going inside so I follow them in,(giving all my worldly possessions except my mobile
to my parents) and the cathedral is sooo big inside, and then you remember all of the
royal things that have happened there and think �wow�. I met with people that were
there too, esp making sure that people who knew about my site had visited it... I also
saw Sian (Warwickshire COTY) that I met at the regional first aid comps in April - I
did competitions for 5 years and as I am now too old and I thought our team need
support (although I now think they are not as good as they seem.... this is a long story
and seeing as I have enough space I can tell it.... I am one of 2 cadet leaders in my
division so I would like to think that I am respected amongst the younger cadets... oh
how wrong I was.... I got one of the cadets (Kirsty - who you can assume to be the
ring leader) to show me where the food was, so I go downstairs, get some food and go
and sit with them because they had finished their tests by this time, anyway it came up
in conversation that I will eat anything (see B Palace write up) and they go �ugh!!�...
they go to get a drink and I said casually - �can you get one for me� and they come
back with what looks like orange squash type affair, and I have a sip and they burst out
laughing, nothing unusual there, so I have another big gulp and they are almost rolling
around on the floor with laughter, I look down into the drink and see something
floating around, I ask them what it is - �cheese quiche� - I was like �what?!� - anyway,
just to annoy them I drank it all - quiche and all, I then noticed a hot chocolate
machine...I live on hot chocolate... and I asked them politely to get me one, a couple of
mins later I am handed a cup - it looked perfectly normal, had a sip and then.... argh
there�s another taste in there, turns out to be half a cup of coffee and 6 sugars with the
hot chocolate, it was like wake up drink of the year and so I drank it all and was sooo
hyper for the next 20 mins and then went into the sugar depression.......... apologies to
people who have heard this before) we casually stood around near the back of the
cathedral, and then lined up in height order and put with one of the guys... and then
were told how to �slowly meander� in time and shown where to sit etc. etc.(with
demonstrations from Steve and Wendy). We go behind this blue curtain thing, and
loads of people were talking to us - about the St.Pauls organ which is in 4 bits etc. At
about this time I saw Ms.Annabel Winter, who glared at me as if to say �oh no - why
did you invite her?� (but she didn�t really she asked me if I was OK - before I am
accused of being mean) and we were chatting in the back, and just checking my mobile
again to see if anybody had texted me.... and then we had to march round to the back
of the cathedral with me trying to keep in time with the people at the front, and failing
miserably, I apologise to the people that made me cadet of the year for Worcestershire,
because I cannot march in the slightest. We get back to basically where we started
from and we do the synchronised sitting down thing - which probably failed miserably.
We then sat and watched all the top St.John People like the Priors etc. all walk past
and then it was time for the service. All I can really remember (bearing in mind this is
now 4 weeks after the event-when I started this it was 2 days after - hey I�ve been
distracted ;-) if you need to ask �by what?� you obviously don�t talk to me on MSN
and it should be �by who?�) was wondering how the scaffolding opposite us was held
up as it just seemed to float of its own accord and the singing(of course this is no
disrespect to the service OK?), well I suppose the term singing is used very lightly
here.... tuneful mumbling or miming (I know at least 4 people guilty of this - you know
who you are) is more correct... by the time you could have a good stab at the tune the
song was over - typical eh? The service finished about an hour and a half later, after
about 10 songs and a few speeches... we are then taken outside and I �steal� my
programme from the event, and the St.John uniform was especially useful here because
you can either put it up the sleeve and make it look like you have fat arms (in my case
it doesn�t really show you see, lol) or at the back which makes you stand up straight...
it makes no difference. We were used as barriers to stop the �peasants� trying to watch
the ambulance dedication (or at least I think that is what it was for - it could have just
been for their own entertainment...) which was the same as the one they had in
Worcester a couple of months previously (where I handed out programmes - any other
cadets of the year may recognise this type of request) so anyway, that finished and we
all congregated outside and were chatting for a bit. It was about 4 o�clock by this time
so I rang my dad�s mobile to get him to meet me - it was off! This is nothing unusual
so I casually forgot that I had told my parents it finished at 5pm.... I was chatting to a
load of people (and definitely NOT promoting my website) and was surprised that
people found my Buckingham palace page (complete with pictures and sound bites)
quite good and depressing myself about not getting a message from a certain person...
and wondering where the hell my parents were - they had my money, both my cameras
(which I was going to get pictures for my website - i.e.: here) and my normal clothes -
hey the uniform is great - I�m not dissing it, its just that when you want to wear your
Sexy B T-shirt to let everybody see it and when it is hot black is not the colour to be in
if you know what I mean! so basically to cut a long story short I was the last cadet to
leave.... Steve and Wendy asked if I had a lift and I said yes and they said they would
go to the shop and then if I was still there when they got back they would wait.... I was
still there when they got back - and although I know that its their job to make sure all
the cadets get away safely I always feel really guilty - I�m sorry - I know I am the most
hated cadet of the year! I chatted to them for a bit and I had the �shut up about your
website� look from Wendy (no offence lol) and I took a picture for them and just as I
was doing that I see some vaguely familiar people that look like my parents and my
brother and they were! hooray I can look normal again! its very intimidating sitting on
the steps of St.Pauls Cathedral in uniform OK? So anyway I say thanks to the people
waiting with me - I owe you one - I get changed and we get a taxi back to the car and
drive off... on the way back we do a bit of sightseeing around the Fulham area (mainly
because we were looking for somewhere to eat) including the street where Jill Dando
was murdered and this very trendy restaurant which looks like a train carriage near the
Thames (v expensive v average food apparently) and we find this cool little pizza
place. I had my usual cheese and tomato pizza - I�m boring sorry - but why is it
whenever you are depressed about something, for example straight off the top of my
head, a bloke, you always hear the song that most reminds you of the thing you are
depressed about - and Gabrielle�s �Out of Reach� (a prize for the person who can�t
guess why it is this song) seemed to be played through every speaker that I passed all
day! It was quite bizarre.... anyway we have the meal, drive home and I fall asleep as
per usual worried about the usual teenage stuff and we get home to our house (in the
middle of our street - ahhh Madness) and I just collapse on my bed.... waking up the
next morning thinking �oh pants I am on duty in half an hour�.....