Nelson Mandela et al ...

Had to go to the American Embassy this morning. Website said "Do not bring cameras, mobile phones, iPods, blackberries etc ... to the Embassy", so we didn't. Turned out I had two dead batteries in my handbag that I had to hand in, then collect again at the end. And everyone else just handed their phones in there. Anyway. Got there early, the security people were all quite friendly, and when I caught up with H at the IRS section, the man was very friendly and helpful. We were only there for about 20 minutes or so. Would recommend it. Although they are digging up the whole front section looking out over Grosvenor Square. Hmmm.

Then went to H's agent to hand in some documents. The first time I've visited, so very interesting to see it. Realised that his agent (well, the boss) reminds me of the editor I worked for. Quite severe and serious, but with a more humorous side.

While there, we asked what time the Nelson Mandela statue unveiling was at. I had thought it was around 1pm, but I had obviously missed out a 1 there. Turns out it was 11am, the time it was when we asked the question. Far west of Westminster. We decided to head down anyway - it would be nice to see the statue on the day it was unveiled. Anyway, we didn't have our camera or phones, so wouldn't have been able to take photos. Took the bus.

When we arrived, we could hear a choir singing "O Happy Day". We looked over the heads of the crowds - and there was the man himself! We could just make out Nelson Mandela and his wife, Graca Machel, in yellow. We moved round to another side, as Mandela left the stage to claps and cheers. Some people started going up to stand and have their photos taken next to the statue. Here are the people we saw during the time we watched:

Richard Attenborough; Naomi Campbell; David Lammy; David Miliband; Jesse Jackson; Tony Benn; Ben Okri; Benjamin Zephania; Kwame Kwei-Armah; Adam Boulton from Sky News; Brian May; Nicholas Glass from Channel 4 News.

I'm sure we saw other well known people but didn't recognise him, and H also saw Hilary Benn, but I haven't included him in the list because unfortunately I missed him. David Miliband was really working the crowd - talking to people, shaking hands, signing autographs, asking people how they were, smiling lots, that sort of thing. Kwame had a long golden-bronze gown on, and as he went along the line where we were, he stopped occasionally, smiled at the people taking photos, and gave a small bow. Brian May stuck his thumbs up a couple of times at those taking photos. Ben Okri spoke to a few people, he seemed very relaxed and chatty. His wife (?) stood quietly back to one side out the way.

We were quite excited to see Kwame Kwei-Armah, and a couple of people near us asked who he was. We got chatting to one - turns out she's a journalist, and she took our photo and sent it to us, which was good of her - we now have proof we were really there!

The police then moved us all along, so we decided to head to Covent Garden. Had fun wandering around the shops there. Eventually made it home. A nice day. Fun had by all!