2 years and 66 days since the start of the 1st lock down in March 2020
Today is the start of the long Platinum Jubilee weekend as it is a double bank holiday. An official flypast including the Red Arrows was scheduled for 1.00pm in central London. Although I had braved the RAF centenary fly past a few years ago up in St James and in front of Buckingham Palace, it was so packed that neither of us fancied going up town. Instead we thought that Richmond park and in particular Sawyers Hill could be a good place to watch it. We took. The bus into Richmond and walked up the hill. We both had rucksacks with our picnic lunch and I decided to take my massive 70-200mm lens with extender as we lugged them up the hill.
When we first arrived in the Park there were only a few people. We found a good location with a view of the London Eye and the Shard over nine miles away. By the time the flypast was over there were literally hundreds of people behind us. The view was not quite as good as we’d hoped as the Red Arrows and other planes did not fly directly over the park but we still got a good view and here are the Typhoons still in formation in ’70’ celebrating the Platinum Jubilee.
Afterwards we enjoyed our picnic and headed back down the hill in the heat. This evening was the very last meeting for me at St Lukes as I will be away for the last two and then we are back to Zoom.
