The Queen!

So I met the Queen. Might as well get that right out there. After the initial invitation, I admit I wasn't sure the party was just at her house, or whether she'd make an appearance. She did. Let me start from the beginning a bit...

I had no idea what to wear. You know how I am. For someone who doesn't really care about what people wear, and someone who spends so little on clothes, and who generally dresses terrible, I really do worry about what to wear more than I should, especially for such occasions. I shopped a bit with the grandparents, but didn't find much. I even hit Oxford street on a Saturday, which is the most insane place in the world. For you Calgarians, think Chinook Centre on Boxing Day, then triple the people density and quadruple the frustration, and throw a road through the middle. Bloody hell, aint worth the trouble. Found a dress, but didn't really like it. But it was on sale, and fit, so I bought it.

Tuesday, then, the day of the reception, I still needed shoes. So I hit Oxford street again (better on weekday mornings) looking for shoes and a necklace, and a sweater or jacket or something... sheesh. Amazingly, I found a super pretty dress--not on sale, figures--so I bought that, and all the rest, before racing home to get ready.

Okay, that was a boring story. Moving on. The best part of the night (aside from the G/Ts--the Queen likes her drinks stiff, baby!) was just walking through the palace gates. Picture it: all these tourists hanging about, arms stuck through the fence bars trying to take unobstructed photos, a pile of police watching the gate. And you flash your invitation card, and walk right in. Wicked awesome! All these tourists look at you, wondering who the hell you are. No one, of course, but they don't know that, right?

Anyways, wandered around by myself, randomly talking to people, especially this one older lady who was also there mostly by herself. While waiting, checked out the bathrooms (very nice!) and wandered around the state rooms. At one point, a line up forms, heading out the grand, high doors, to another room. We get in the line, not knowing where it's going... as we get closer to the front, we realize this is the recieving line for the Queen.

Lady-I'm-with (no idea what her name is) starts to get nervous ("I don't know how to curtsey!") and I just try hard to focus on not laughing... We get up there, hand over our name card, so it can be read out: "Now presenting Ms Nicole Kobie..." I said, "hi, nice to meet you," while biting my lip to not laugh, while she mumbled something mumbly at me. Then I shook Prince Philip's hand, while he talked to someone else and didn't even look at me. A moving experience, let me tell you.

As we're walking through the next room, to get to the reception room, random lady I'm hanging out with says that apparently Bryan Adams is here somewhere. As the room we're walking through is the VIP room, I take a quick glance over my shoulder to see if I can spot him (from years of my mom's Bryan Adam's fandom, I should know what he looks like...) and look right at him. Laughing, I tell the lady, and when she turns, point right at him, and say, "That's him." right then, he looks up, looks right at me, and smiles. So I laugh (it was all too funny) and he does the little raised eyebrows thing, which I knew right when he did it, that my mom would be excited.

Anyways, we mingled for a while, drinking super awesome gin and tonics, and eating appetizers from the plates of well-dressed british servers (some with military experience, judging from the medals and ribbons on their coats). Then, Bryan Adams comes out, and starts mingling. So went and said hi to him. He's short, shorter than I thought he'd be. Also a genuinely nice person. This one girl was so excited to meet him she had tears in her eyes, so he kissed her on both cheeks. Knows how to work a crowd, that guy does. But a laid-back, nice guy. I liked him, even if his music is... the kind my mom likes. As I said to him: "I grew up listening to your music!" I meant it in a good way. Mostly.

Even weirder, then the Queen starts to mingle! Who'da thunk the Queen mingles. It was seriously controlled mingling, with her handlers vetting every person she spoke to. I didn't really talk to her, but did talk extensively with Princess Alexandra, whoever that is.

Anyways, it was a cool night, and apparently, the Queen does these things very rarely, so I'm lucky, or something. See the story here, headlined: Palace Reception for Talented Canadians