So what are we doing instead of watching the Royal Nuptials?

[non sociopath skin]

Or is the lure of watching Wills and Kate tie the knot in the presence of Liz and Phil, Chuck and Camilla, Dave and Sam, Posh and Becks and Mills and Boon just too much to resist?

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

1. The wife has been watching it

as she loves all forms of theatre.

I hate all weddings not just royal ones so I am not really an unbiased judge.

Fortunately, I am getting so old I mainly go to funerals now.

To be honest as long as I dont have to dress up and go in person but just have watch it on TV while having a beer it does not really bother me.

At least it is cheaper than staging the Olympics

[Matilda]

2. I'm in sympathy with your wife.

And I'm an Aussie Republican. But if you're going to have pomp and circumstance, let it be British.

Mr Matilda was mocking me from the dining room, until he heard the music start up. He came out and said he'd just watch for a few minutes - "Of course you will; you're a Pom." He muttered things that sounded like "parasites, etc., etc.", but he watched until they went to sign the register.

And number one son thinks Pippa Middleton is hot.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. I tidied the flat

and watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD.

[Hopeless Romantic]

4. Estimated one million people out in London celebrating

That's around 4 times the number who marched for the alternative last month.

[non sociopath skin]

5. Bread and circuses have always done the business, sadly.

The Skin

[T_i_B]

6. Estimated 2 million marched aginst Iraq war in 2003.

Watched the wedding myself, but mainly because there are those close to me who have a professional interest in seeing what the coming wedding fashions will be.

The main thing I'll take from the day is how many men were drooling on Facebook and Twitter over the maid of honour.

[mackerel]

7. While the UK was busy watching the royal wedding

the Tory's were quietly busy cutting 37% of NHS funding.

http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/04/30/new-tory-plans-to-starve-the-nhs-of-money-come-to-light/

[tjwmason]

8. Played with my nephew and niece in the garden

It is always a delight to attend the wedding of a friend, however as I have no acquaintance with the new Duke or Duchess I see no reason to stick my nose into their happy day.

[oldironside]

9. Is it safe to come out yet?

I spent the morning hiding in here.



It has a music shop inside and the walls are three and a half metres of reinforced concrete.

[non sociopath skin]

10. Fraid not. The Happy Couple are still in the UK.

If you can get a signal in there, I'll text you when they've gone.

The Skin

[T_i_B]

11. I'm going to check the TV news next...

...to see if wall to wall coverage of Bin Laben's death has replaced wall to wall coverage of the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.

[fedsron2us]

12. That is a Second World War German Flak Tower

I went round the ruins of one in Berlin last summer.

I did not know there were any surviving that were that intact.

Is that the one in Hamburg ?

These things were massive with air raid shelters for thousands plus underground hospitals etc.

Even the biggest allied bombs barely dented them.

In fact it took specialist munitions teams from France, the UK and the USSR several attempts even to partially demolish the ones in Berlin after the war.

[oldironside]

13. It's known as the Medienbunker

but was originally Flakturm IV in Altona. It offered shelter for 18,000 people but was unfinished at the time of the Operation Gomorrah raids in 1943. People still sought shelter in there, but the sanitation system wasn't finished, so they were forced to stay in there in pretty awful conditions until it was safe to leave.

It is now used as an arts centre with music shops (the best, if not biggest guitar shop in Germany is where I spent the Royal Wedding hiding), dance studios, etc. It's ideal for the task because the walls are 3.5 metres thick and the roof 5, so it couldn't be more soundproof. I rather like the whole thing. You know, swords into ploughshares. Oh, and they have an extremely liberal policy on the handling of instruments.

There are actually two in Hamburg still in existence, the other one is in Wilhemsburg, although it is currently disused. Here is the link to Wikipedia, although there is only a German language option.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Flakt%C3%BCrme