We saw them!

We saw the Parade!  They performed at the grandstands around 7:20 am our time -- 3:20pm London time.   Scott and I got up at 4:30 am and watched it from my laptop on Channel 21's Livefeed.   It took a little while to get access-- lots of people watching.   We watched the parade with clear sound and image until about 7:10 when we lost bandwidth and the image became patchy and blurry.   We unfortunately could not make out the faces very well.  The sound still came through pretty good. They played the New Years song-- 'Auld Lang Syne'  -- very fitting for the last band of the parade on New Years Day.  

A few items of interest that were pointed out by the commentators or we noticed ourselves.  A band from Kansas was delayed by 3 days because of winter storms.   A band from Tennessee was not allowed by British Airways to bring their sousaphones (Tuba's)-- another band that had already performed earlier lent theirs to them.   Some band got identified as Santa Monica Vikings--- but about 15 minutes later the Santa Monica Vikings came marching down the street.  How sad for the unidentified band.   Lots of US bands-- many from California.  The British love Marching Bands-- they do not have bands like that.  They also like the cheerleaders.  They had good things to say about all the bands.  Unlike the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade that just briefly shows a band-- the London New Years Parade really showcases the band and gives them great airtime.  It was wonderful!  Hopefully with a copy of the DVD a local station will broadcast-- at least showcasing the Band .       A few other notable items--The bands are judged-- we did not know that.   The parade raises lots of money for charities.

It was a surreal moment to see my son (at least know he was in there) playing his trombone in a historical place with it being broadcast around the world.  It was a proud moment.  The moment when all the time, money, and efforts converge and you say-- that was so worth it!