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Last week, I enjoyed the new series of All Creatures Great and Small, but both Anne and Tina liked the older series — so I’ll have to see if I can find that. Anne tracked down some information about her ancestors in Wales from the 1700s using census and church records as well as the papers of an attorney. Tina discovered a new-to-her series of police procedurals set in Ireland and started with a review of the first book, The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan.

I turned 60 yesterday and the Queen of England has been on the throne for 70 years.

60th birthday balloons from my brother

The Queen’s official accession anniversary was the 6th of February. I wrote a post at that time about the Platinum Pudding competition, a contest sponsored by Fortnum and Mason to choose a national dessert to serve at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The five finalists were revealed earlier this month. All five puddings sound delicious, but with my interest in a multicultural society, I have to root for the baker with an Indian heritage who based her recipe on a favorite of her grandparents. The bake-off was televised on BBC One last night. Since I pre-scheduled this post, I may or may not get back here to announce the winner.

Now, I want to look ahead to the big celebration the first weekend of June, an extended bank holiday weekend. Many Brits will get four days off to celebrate from Thursday through Sunday, June 2-5.

Here are some events that we might be able to watch from the US:

• Trooping the Colour, Thursday, June 2. This pageant and parade of British regiments has all the pomp and ceremony one could wish. The BBC shows this live on its YouTube Channel.
• Thanksgiving Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Friday, June 3.
• Platinum Party at the Palace, Saturday, June 4. I don’t imagine that we’ll get to see this concert live, but I’ll watch for excerpts on the BBC website.

The culminating events will be on Sunday — a national street party called The Big Jubilee Lunch, a pageant in front of Buckingham Palace, and a parade along The Mall. I don’t know if we’ll get to see live broadcasts of any of that, but I’m sure that the BBC will show highlights.

For my birthday, I bought myself The Royal Teatime Gift Box from Fortnum & Mason. The shipping cost almost as much as the tea and biscuits (cookies), but you only turn 60 once. They were not very quick about shipping it — perhaps there’s some cost efficiency if they save up a bunch of US orders and ship them all at once. If it arrives on time, I’ll enjoy tea and biscuits on my birthday, of course, but I’ll also save some of each for the first weekend in June.