I was in quite a bad temper when I set off to use a day exploring the Jubilee celebrations last week. On foot, by a fluke, I avoided jammed roads and found myself in time for lunch in a green oasis with a small group of eccentrics, as it turned out (Wittgensteinian, cellist, Virginian, orientalist), surrounded beyond the tree by packed crowds in funny clothes and good humour.

When the Jubilee parade ended three days later without the forecast downpour, Joanna Lumley exclaimed on television “It’s a miracle!” It was certainly providential. And unlike Ed Sheeran, who sang “Perfect” as a finale for the event, the Queen didn’t have to do anything to attract the roar of the crowd.