Battle

It was a beautiful day, my first Battle of Flowers, I was a marshal, terrified as usual of such a public role, but delighted to be doing my bit.

A group of us stood at the barriers at the St. Helier end of the Avenue, it was warm and the sky was Jersey Blue. We were waiting for the day to start, and the marshals were talking to each other.
I was with a girl who was either late teens or early 20s.
I was really quite surprised by what she told me, she said that she had never been off Jersey in her life, which I could not imagine, even Jerseypeople get Island fever and need a break. But the other thing she told me was that she was normally carer to her severely disabled brother.
While we were talking she had to speak to the relief carer who was looking after him for the day so that she could spend the day marshalling for a change.
My heart went out to her.

Anyway, we stood there enjoying the sun until people started to arrive, then we had to man the barriers because so many people thought they had the 'right' to get through without paying :( especially visitors from Guernsey and the UK, who said that 'It wasn't fair' that they had to pay! And tried to get past us.

It was a lovely day, but very tiring, I remember the little girl from church, who the churchwarden used to pick up and cuddle and play with was 'Junior Battle Queen' or whatever the tile was, and she waved as she went past on her float.
What a day. It was all very exciting for me, and such a glorious summer day, and all the beautiful floats.

Thank you to the people who have validated my memories and allowed me to share this.