Not having heard from Connell, I talked to Malcolm about what he thought about coming down earlier the morning of the day he was coming to London (to stay the night in anticipation of his brother’s early arrival the following morning) and spending the day with us – in other words, taking over as tour guide: he was game! I had chosen the hotel I did as it was where Malcolm was staying (and had previously) – a known factor. (It was a ways outside of London, near the airport actually, but I went for it as I had gotten such a good deal – plus Becky and I could drop our luggage off very soon after connecting at the airport and get on our way into town. My original plan had been for us to have half a day that first day, the night and then the next day before travelling back to Weymouth late afternoon/early evening – probably by train. But after discovering Malcolm could give us a ride back home if we were still around, we opted to stay over a second night.
Back to the day before – moments before I left
from the hotel to catch the coach for London, I happened to check my emails, one
last time, and wouldn’t you know it – there was an email from Connell, saying
sorry for the miscommunication, had just found my email, etc., ‘very much
planning on showing you guys around.’ Great - as I had just barely given up and
made arrangements with Malcolm! (Would have much preferred Connell’s company as
London is his stomping grounds, and also I’d had many opportunities already to
spend time with Malcolm.) I called Connell on the way to London, confessing my
regret, that as I had not heard from him we had lined someone else up to escort
us about. He said, ‘okay – well, how about if I come in early and we get some
breakfast together?’ (before Malcolm was to arrive later in the morning.) ‘Sure,
let’s plan on that!’
Had a nice comfortable overnight rest at the
Comfort Hotel, with the morning expectation of connecting with Malcolm there
sometime between eleven or twelve – but first breakfast with Connell. Good
thing he gave us a call saying he was on his way, because it was earlier than
we had anticipated and we hadn’t even begun getting dressed. For once, hurrah
for traffic delay! In the meantime we got a call from Malcolm, saying he’d been
in a ‘crash-up’ the night before, that his lovely pink Honda was out of
commission. He was fine but would have to rent a car to get up to London, and
therefore, wouldn’t be arriving till early evening. Hhm. ‘Hello, Connell, this
is Debbie. Remember how you offered to show us around London? Well, how would
TODAY work?!’ (How about that? We had now come full circle!)
So when Connell arrived, we did NOT go out to
breakfast, but sat in our room, and Becky and I shared the vittles we’d
brought with us – cereal and milk, fruit and juice. (Those Florences – they are
ALWAYS prepared!) And Connell was available – AND willing – to give us his day
– just hadn’t come prepared with the right shoes or coat or gloves or hat – so our first
stop, once we got going, was to the charity shops! (I know, I know – it was a
sacrifice, but I went there anyway! What’re gonna do? :) We had studied the map
of London and had more ideas about what we might like to see –plus Connell went
down the list of possibilities, as he knew them. (‘Yes, we’d both seen the Tower
of London, Big Ben and West Minster Abbey.’ Becky had been to England 15 years
previously when she and her husband had picked up the first of their four
missionary offspring – Ray Jr, from the Birmingham England Mission.)
Besides all we could cram into a single day, I said there were a couple things I REALLY wanted to see and share with Becky – to take in a bit of London’s lovely English gardens/parks (pretty open on possibilities there) and secondly, to enjoy the splendor of St Paul’s Cathedral (very specific in this instance). It is wondrous to behold – besides it’s always fun to imagine the bird lady of Mary Poppins’ fame standing on the Cathedral steps, feeding the pigeons. A couple of other things we considered – though they never did happen – were taking a barge ride down the Thames (but then you mostly only get to see sites that are right along the river) and visiting Greenwich (pronounced Grenich), home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Meridian Line – where time begins and ends for the known world.
Besides all we could cram into a single day, I said there were a couple things I REALLY wanted to see and share with Becky – to take in a bit of London’s lovely English gardens/parks (pretty open on possibilities there) and secondly, to enjoy the splendor of St Paul’s Cathedral (very specific in this instance). It is wondrous to behold – besides it’s always fun to imagine the bird lady of Mary Poppins’ fame standing on the Cathedral steps, feeding the pigeons. A couple of other things we considered – though they never did happen – were taking a barge ride down the Thames (but then you mostly only get to see sites that are right along the river) and visiting Greenwich (pronounced Grenich), home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Meridian Line – where time begins and ends for the known world.
After loaning Connell my long-sleeved shirt and
scarf (never did get them back), we were off in Connell’s car for the outskirts
of London . . . AND outer wear for him from the charity shops. We parked the
car in a carpark in Wimbledon. (Ever heard of that place?!) You should have
seen that Connell whip us around the Underground – oh man, your head would have
been spinning! (At one point Becky misplaced her day pass and, even though she
explained her situation till she was blue in her face had to purchase a new
one. Ugh!) We could not have done and seen all the fantastic things we did
without the expertise of our personal escort, Connell - a perfect, and patient,
companion for our day of exploration.
Of eight royal parks and gardens situated
throughout London, covering over 1975 hectares (whatever the heck those are!),
St James’s Park is the main one we strolled through today – us and a LOT of
other people, plus plenty of water fowl. Those peripatetic Canada geese seem to
be found everywhere, all over the world – definitely here! As lovely as a
park can be in the winter, I was completely surprised to find that the elements
of my own Cannon Hill Park, very near my old lodgings in Birmingham,
that I frequented often, was every bit as stupendous as the renowned London
examples we walked through today (we also took a look in Hyde Park, known for
its Speakers Corner, where early Mormon missionaries took advantage of that
location’s acknowledged invitation to stand and state ones’ beliefs).
We also DID find our way to St Paul’s Cathedral. Oh,
man, what a mouth-dropping edifice – inside and out! The incredible thing was
that we showed up 10 minutes before a performance of their evensong service was
about to begin (evening Anglican service of Bible readings and prayers prescribed in the
Book of Common Prayer). How fortunate was that?! We were directed into the
furthest choir seats, if we wished – from where we were privy to an astonishing
view and sound.
At another point during our wanderings, we
suddenly found ourselves close to the Thames (pronounced Tems), as it winds through London, near
one of its many smaller bridges. (Why not take advantage of that?!) We walked
up some steps and onto the smaller suspension bridge, to peer down over the
side. Pretty spectacular – the river, especially right there in the middle of one
enormous teaming city. Towards the end of the day, after innumerable
transfers on the Underground to bring us back to where we started – all credit
to Connell – we found the car and began ambling our way back towards the hotel.
In one London neighborhood/borough (said burÉ™) called Southall – known
by its epithet, ‘Little India’ – the high street led us through row
after row of Asian eating establishments. I said, ‘Say, this looks promising – how
about if we eat here! I’ve been wanting Indian food for the longest time.’
Screetch! I surmised that the restaurant with the most customers would be the
best indication that theirs had the most authentic, sumptuous food. (‘Course
all you fire-breathers out there will say, ‘hah, how can anything be considered
authentic if you dumb-down the heat?!’)
Having parked and started out by foot on our quest
for the perfect dinner, we walked past one place that had all kinds of colorful
Indian sweets on display behind glass counters. (I had never had Indian sweets
before – hadn’t really ever even SEEN them before.) I suggested, ‘how about if
we go in and just have a wee look.’ Turned out serendipitously to be ‘The RIGHT
PLACE!’ though there were only two diners inside. Oh, my gosh, personal
attention to the max (which the owner kept reminding us we would NOT have
gotten at the other, more commercial places). In fact, Dilip (rhymes with
‘Felipe’), the extremely friendly owner, kept bringing out small servings for
us to sample, to get an assessment on our ‘heat’ tolerance, plus treated us to
a number of full servings of some of his specialties. (He even sat down and
talked with us while we enjoyed his food – at one point got on a diatribe about
Indians and Pakistanis, and we began to wonder if there would ever be an end to his
explosion of emotion) Before leaving, as I went to sample some of the sweets,
and purchase several, Dilip (who joked about his marriage during dinner, and I
could never tell if his remarks were said in jest, good-natured like, or meant flippantly,
realistically) said teasingly while I was up at the counter by myself that he
would be happy for me to be his sixth girlfriend. I’ll never know what part of
the things he joked about he intended seriously – or not.
Back in ‘Comfort’ we said goodbye – and thanks! –
to Connell (during our time together he said he would be happy to show me some
sites in France before I left for home – an unbelievable offer at the time,
but, believe it or not, with the time I have left in England rapidly ticking
down, I can’t honestly imagine fitting such a trip in – sad!), went up to our
room and then checked in with Malcolm to make sure he had arrived okay – he had.
One amazing thing about those two days of convivial felicity was that it did no
more than sprinkle just a bit and the temperature was even halfway decent. (Wish,
oh, wish you could all have been there with us, but . . . it is not yet the end
of the world!)
[It dawned on me much later that if Becky hadn’t come
to visit me in England, I would never have had this awesome opportunity to
revisit London during my present sojourn!]
Photos_
1- Happy 5th
birthday to ‘my Charlotte’ – Chloe’s artwork on its way to the post box (pic on desktop)
2- After
the crash-up - with Malc, the perpetrator ('Hello, insurance adjuster?)
3- bundled-up
Connell - in my long-sleeve puce knit shirt (covered up), the cotton woven shirt he arrived in, Becky’s hoodie, a charity shop jacket, my scarf, and the lovely thrift beret
Becky and I had to talk him into (looks like it was made for him, doesn’t
it?!)
4- St
James’ Park – as seen in a more brilliant season
5- spring
visitors to the gardens
6- St
Paul’s Cathedral exterior – amidst the London skyline
7-8 St
Paul’s interiors (the first showing into the iconic dome - the other down the )
9- evensong
at St Paul’s (we are sitting next to the girl in the photo – the youngest
members of the choir can be seen in the center)
10- bridge over the River Thames – the London Eye
(huge Ferris wheel built to commemorate the millennial year – gives spectacular
views of London, as you can imagine – 25 mile vista, for approximately 15 minutes)
to the left – the Tower (of London) to the far right
11- three friends – same location
12- Tube mates (with exhausted commuter)
12- Tube mates (with exhausted commuter)
