On Sunday 18th of September the What’s On In Team was camping with the crowd on The Mall. A strong feeling of coming together like The Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt described it (Farnham Herald 22nd of September 2022), he wrote “people of all ages, background and even countries, which somehow felt like what the Queen would have wanted”.The crowd was feeling united in the sadness of Her Majesty Elizabeth II death and joy of being at The Mall in the front row paying tribute to Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II. An extraordinary sense of sharing the same emotion and camaraderie with everyone. Only Sky News presenter Katerina Vittozzi and her cameraman Adam Cole were baffled by this. “A bunch of nutters” said Adam Cole from Sky news to the group of women from Manchester and from Scotland spending the night together sleeping on the floor with strangers like one of them said, who can sleep on the floor with strangers on The Mall? Nutters responded Adam Cole from Sky news. Katerina Vittozzi said to us ” you know that they opened the other side next to the Media Centre facing the Buckingham Palace this morning at 6 o’clock, no need to camp all night long. Katerina Vittozzi from Sky news seemed not to get that sense of togetherness on that historic day which was felt by those women from Manchester and from Scotland. Some in the group of campers were puzzled by Katerina Vittozzi from Sky news and by her Cameraman Adam Cole, for not getting that feeling, not everyone wanted to give that interview to Katerina Vittozzi from Sky news and Adam Cole her Cameraman.
Moments later, adding to the disconfort, the Media centre announced that the campers should stop sitting on their chairs to let more people come in. Some campers were sitting on the chairs to allow more people to see like they were in the front row, but this was not what the Media Centre and the presenter seemed to have understood. People felt they earned it by spending more than 20h (for some) waiting for the Queen’s cortege. The crowd was unconfortable with what the Media Centre was asking, but they still were happy chanting and laughing to be there on that historic day on The Mall, like they seemed to say; “Keep Calm and carry on laughing and chanting” nothing will disturb us from waiting to pay tribute to The Queen. Wonderfull was that night (Sunday 18th of September 2022) and that day (19th of September). What an historic moment! No one regretted camping on The Mall, instead some fantastic friendships were formed and also some fantastic camaraderie moments were shared. Some went to the distribution centre bringing free fresh water and free clean blankets to the new campers, some tips where shared to get the shortest way to find facilities, food and drinks or sharing seats on that night with strangers.