Lord Mayor of London's parade, November 2005

There is the 'city' of London, which is the original city that seems to have been demolished during WWII because most of it consists of brand new, financial buildings. Then there is the 'Greater London' area which takes into account the several boroughs of London (I live in Camden or maybe St. Pancras - there are too many signs where I live to tell!) = larger area. The mayor of Greater London is different from the mostly ceremonial Lord Mayor, of the city, of London. Confused?

Here all wait in front of St. Paul's where the Lord Mayor will come as they've done for hundreds of years to receive the 'blessing of the Deacon of St. Paul's'.





There is a large parade that accompanies the Lord Mayor on this trek from Mansion House to the Royal Courts of Justice where they swear allegiance to the Queen.

This was fun to see a Rotary float in the parade.










The 'Pearly Kings and Queens' were part of the parade. I never knew what those 'biker-gangster' people were in 'Mary Poppins' (you know the 'Superfraj...(?)docious' song part) until my friend Chris told me that those were the Pearly Kings and Queens. I read up on their history a bit, they were kind of a group that sold stuff on the streets, but that protected one another. Kind of a proto-gang I guess, but without the modern negative aspects, I hope!

They're cool though and apparently they're the ones who speak 'Cockney' as well as other Londoners (or something like that).