Preparing to leave Hove for the Royal Garden Party in London on 15 July 2008

There was yet more excitement in my drab life in July 2008. I had been asked to represent Sense at the Royal Garden Party to be held in Buckingham Palace on 15 July 2008. Alice kindly consented to be my companion for the day. Although the weather forecast had been grim the day itself was very fine. In fact it turned out to be the sunniest day so far this month. We both enjoyed ourselves. We didn't have a lot of time with the Queen herself because as Alice remarked; "she's awfully busy assigning things". You might think that we sipped Pimm's and champagne all afternoon but no alcohol was served. Mind you, secretly, we did enjoy a noggin or two with the Queen in her private marquee. To our frank astonishment the sandwiches were square-cut and not triangular. However, we overcame this problem. The grounds are magnificent and we wandered around the tree-studded park-like garden with its rose-gardens and duckpond. I fell in the pond much to Alice's embarrassment. For some unknown reason she saved me from drowning. After lying in the warm sunshine for an hour I'd dried out enough to wander into the Palace. I found that queues melted in front of me. I can't think why although I did notice that Alice also kept her distance.