Ten Years Ago This Weekend

Diana died, London mourned, and we just prayed the coverage wouldn’t interfere with Tuna Bowl V, Pete Carrol and the Patriots showdown against Bill Parcells and the Jets.

We were actually in London shortly afterward*, and we took some photos of the flowers left at the gates of Buckingham Palace. It was like nothing we’d ever seen. Photos below:


The Gates to the Palace, which tourists can ordinarily walk right up to, were unreachable.

Flowers stretching into infinity.

Yup, it was as high as a man's shoulder.

This is the final destination of those flowers that were so lovingly placed on the grounds - cut up and dumped into trash barrels. Since the Palace was surrounded by an acre of quickly-rotting vegetation, they had to dispose of them while the people were still hanging around the Palace. But they had enuff p.r. sense to do so in a dignified and elaborately staged manner. Note the giant photo of Diana and the care in which the guy is cutting down and disposing of the flowers. Anything less and he probably would have been savaged by an angry crowd.

*We weren’t there FOR her death. Please. People who know us knows there's nothing we hate more than a procession of complete strangers looking to interject themselves into a tragedy, bouquet and teddy bear in hand.

About London: we had such a great time in ’97, we gladly went back a few months ago. Great place, fun time. Expensive, but we recommend the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill Museum, the Changing of the Guard, any of the other London-area museums, and of course any pub that's more than 100 years old.

And for Diana fans out there who are reading this and may be headed to London, put down your High School Musical lunchbox and write this down: be sure to visit the wonderfully garish and absurd statue of Diana and Dodi Fayed reaching into the sky and releasing a dove inside the Harrod's Department store.