Judie and I just got back from the Lord Mayor’s Parade. As faithful readers will recall, this televised ceremony marks the event, 800 years ago, when the King granted the City of London the right of self-government (via a Lord Mayor) on the condition that the Lord Mayor come to Westminster each year to swear allegiance to the crown. Back in those days, it wasn’t easy or safe to travel overland between the City and London, so the Mayor would take a special barge up. And that is how the whole celebration begins today–with a ride in a ridiculous barge up and down the river. As the whole thing evolved over the centuries, the Lord Mayor became elected by the Guilds, which would annually swear allegiance to him at Gulidhall. So that became part of the ceremony (although the election process has changed over the years and there aren’t exactly functioning guilds, which doesn’t stop them from existing in some honorary form and having individual halls–more like clubhouses–around the City). Now a new Lord Mayor is elected each year (in a process I described in an earlier post). It is generally some rich business type from the City, who, in addition to making a huge pile, has done enough good works to be knighted. So the ceremony had to add a swearing-in component, which includes a stop at St. Paul’s. So it is all very complicated. It starts with the morning barge trip. Then it is back to Mansion House (where the Lord Mayor lives) and the parade begins around 11:00 with the newly elected Lord Mayor bringing up the rear. It proceeds to St.Paul’s, for the blessing, and then on to the Royal Courts of Justice for the swearing-in. Then they all parade back to Mansion House n the afternoon.The parade itself lasts close to an hour and half, since there are countless marching bands, universities, business groups, charities, representatives of the old Guilds wearing silly robes and wearing funny hats, various branches of the armed forces carrying guns and waving, lots of groups on horse back and in uniform (including a band on horseback wearing lovely red velour capes), dignities in Rolls Royces and horse-drawn coaches which get increasingly ornate as the parade passes by, until the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s over-the-top coach comes along. And when you think that nothing can top that, the Lord Mayor’s coach absolutely does. The photo doesn’t do it justice. It was lots of fun to watch, even thought there was a light rain which essentially never stopped the whole time. (Brits watching next to us assured us that it always rains on the Lord Mayor’s Parade. No one seemed to care.) The whole thing usually ends with fireworks over the Thames, but they were cancelled in light of the terrorist attacks in paris the night before.

I was planning write about the Spitalfields Market bomb scare the other day. (Two unexploded WW II bombs were uncovered by a crew demolishing a building next door.) But after the real bombings and terrorist action in Paris last night, the old bombs seem quaint. It is truly horrible and very creepy to have this kind of thing happening relatively nearby. It makes one wonder if Europe may be looking at a series of incidents like this. And it certainly makes one think about personal safety in a different way. In a sense, it makes Europe more like America, where you are always wondering if some heavily armed lunatic will spring up and start shooting at people. (Of course, in the USA, we go for “Made in America”. We don’t have to import terrorists from global hot spots to terrorize us. We do it perfectly well ourselves.) Judie and I are scheduled to got to Paris in two weeks for a weekend visit for my birthday. On the one hand, the recent events freaks us out a little, if Paris has become a terrorist focus. On the other hand, after this carnage, Paris will probably be over-policed and very safe. We’ll see. We are also taking the kids there after Christmas.