Diamond Jubilee
 

No doubt the monarchy haters will curl their lips like the British Rail sandwiches of blessed memory.
But this sounds like a good "do*
http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/

I does sound fun. But the website wording is very odd, don't you think ? It sounds to me as though it's been translated from another language ! Or possibly another era :-)

Good lord that text is dreadful; it's not even grammatical in parts. 'there are an exuberance' - dear God. As a ex-copywriter I'm depressed. How did that writer get such an important job? Hmmm...the company that produced the website is looking for freelance writers. *dusts off CV*

I went to the 1998 Thames River Festival (it was called 'The River Alight' or something like that, back then?).

Really great evening - parades along the embankment at dusk with dancers and floats and lots of lanterns (a sort of twilight Mardi Gras meets Day-of-The-Dead), then a flotilla of fairy-lght decked boats on the water, finishing with fireworks launched from barges.

It was on my birthday - so nice of Ken to lay all that on for me. ;-)

The Thames Festival is still there every September, so far. THe Jubilee flotilla sounds like fun, though a lot depends on who puts in a boat (and gets selected), rather like the Golden Jubilee parade up the Mall, which was a bit variable. The "floating belfry" was in the last Thames Festival river parade, and barely audible, by the way, so that will need some work.