The Royals are here!

I walked with a neighbor from Mission Beach to downtown Auckland to see the Royals.  No not a musical group but the team of Kate, William and George.  George has not been in evidence since the prince and princess arrived, which is a relief.  The walk was lovely, but hurried as my walking mate wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time to get a good gander at the duo of Kate and Wills.  At the last mile we succumbed to catching a bus to Britomart, the downtown area. There were many white haired riders on the bus with us, so as we left the bus we just followed the crowd in the direction of the wharf. 

View from my bench perch

Kate and Wills were to stage a race against each other in two different sail boats from the wharf.  Each would have their own captain.  As we moved about the crowd trying to find a good view point, our fellow gawkers were quite friendly and seemed to want to verbally share their excitement.  What became apparent was that the topic of conversation and greatest excitement was KATE!  I thought, if Wills tripped and fell no one would have noticed as all eyes would be on Kate.  We settled for a small area near where the two sail boats were to exit the docks.  I planted myself on a small plastic bench behind the crowd.  My neighbor wheedled her way in amongst the royal stalkers closer to the railing. A large woman in a very chic gauzy dress asked if she could share my bench.  I assented and felt the bench sink in the middle as she brought her 250 lbs to bear on it, which brought my eyes to her plastic thong shod feet. 

I am amazed at the dress of South Sea Islander descendants here in NZ, which always seems to include plastic sandals, regardless of the rest of the clothing.  Then the poor royal’s weather changed from scattered overcast to ominous grey towering clouds, a chill wind and finally a torrential down pour.  At that point my bench mate opened a large umbrella and I asked if we could be ‘new best friends’. She assented saying I had shared my bench so it was right.

The well dressed welcome committee of thousands!

This is when the ‘Beatles Mania Atmosphere’ broke out.  A young woman with very large, powerful spy glasses began to scream, “She’s coming! She’s talking to them! She’s shaking their hands and smiling!”  The crowd lurched forward to get a glimpse of the royals amongst people lined 6 deep on the other side of the wharf.  With my naked eyes I saw nothing but more rain and my neighbor coming back to inquire if I wanted to walk back to the bus, as we probably wouldn’t see anything and the rain was soaking us.  As we walked away we could see the crowd pulsating with excited cheering and I thought about the royals and wondered how anyone could live up to this intense adoration. My question is, “What do the people expect of them, what can that young couple give?”

This was the last real rain, gosh I miss the rain.  Soon I hope. J