1) The Queen's Diamond Jubilee. This sounds really fancy, doesn't it? It is. The whole country was abuzz for the last few weeks preceding the Diamond Jubilee-- there was a Bank Holiday (read: a day off work/school), shops had sales, people planned barbecues....and generally got really excited about the Queen reigning for 60 years? As an American, the whole concept of one person being "in charge" (as much as the Queen is actually in charge of things these days...which is to say, not much) for that amount of time is just a little bizarre. But it did warm my heart to see all the red, white and blue decorations. Kinda made me feel a little 4th of July-y. (Which of course is the exact opposite of the sort celebrations that were happening over here. But still.)
However, I did notice a distinct lack of interest up here (that is to say, in Scotland). Shops are one thing, but individual people are whole different ball o' wax. Both Greg's family and mine were convinced there'd be some kind of event happening in our respective residences... And yes, lots of neighborhoods farther south were supposedly having block parties and neighborhood barbecues. But up here, not so much (with the exception of some epic party in Edinburgh castle. Needless to say, I was not invited :p). I did attend a party to celebrate, but it was thrown by an English girl. On the other hand, Scottish acquaintances of mine circulated things like this (pardon the crudity- it makes my point too brilliantly to withhold):
(dijibnet.com)
Conclusion: Queen's Jubilee in Scotland...Yeah, not the biggest deal. But that meme did make me giggle. Like, a LOT.
2) The Olympic Torch Relay. Okay. Now this was actually pretty cool. You know. How many times are you going to see the Olympic Torch run by your house, yadda yadda. I happened to be in Glasgow when it came through-- and everyone was really excited to see it! All the representatives from Coca-Cola were promising loads of free giveaways, music, etc. What we actually got was one 250 ml bottle of Coke, an a cappella serenade by 3 women dressed as Greek goddesses, and a really prime view of a man in a white van, waving a small stuffed creature that's supposedly the mascot of the 2012 games. Truly bizarre.
The mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville (Google images)
And then the torch runner came by. Being short, I really only managed to see the back of one eager student's head as he snapped a thousand photos, but Greg's camera tells me the runner was lookin' pretty bedraggled tackling a pretty epic hill. And carrying a heavy torch. That's on fire. I just don't envy those runners :)
Greg and I were interviewed by some news team about why we were excited to see the torch run by (this was, in fact, the second time a news team had asked us about the 2012 Games. The first was in London this winter, and I think they were disappointed when the realized we were Americans :p) After we gave our answers, we conferred with our friends, who agreed: well, it'd be pretty dumb to miss something so important. We're here, and it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime-thing, I guess, so we might as well...right?
So, maybe the Jubilee was kind of a bust up here. But one thing's for sure--the London 2012 publicity team seems to be doing a pretty good job whipping up national enthusiasm. Even the most apathetic of populations (postgrads? in Scotland?) got off their butts and watched the torch go by. They even woke up at 7 am to see it in St Andrews! (I didn't. Once was plenty, thanks.)
Even though people up here don't get quite as enthused about national happenings, I kinda love the chip-on-the-shoulder way I've gotten to experience all these events--Oh, sure, let's have some fun, celebrate some silly things. But let's not forget that they are, in fact, some very silly things :)
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