Back to London:
So, as I was saying, the Tower of London was much larger and more extensive than I imagined. Honestly, I don't know that I ever gave it much thought before other than an ancient place that tourists were sort of required to visit. "Tower" seems a misnomer, for one thing. "Fortress of London" might be more accurate. I had no idea that it was comprised of so many buildings, and the moat surrounding it is impressive. (Kudos to the Tower administrators/governing body for planting beautiful wildflowers in the moat to promote a green environment).
Before I go on to yet more blow-by-blow accounts of "things seen, places visited," I will take a step back and just mention fun or funny occurences that don't generally make the travelogue:
I was walking down the street towards the St. James's Park Underground station when I saw this 30-something bloke rapidly approaching me from the other direction. His face was buried in his phone (yep, this is a universal predicament with smartphone obsession) and he wasn't watching where he was going. I didn't know when or if he'd notice me and was trying how to plot not running into this guy head-on. At the last second, he noticed me and skipped out of the way and said a quick, "Oh, sorry, mate!" Being addressed as "mate" made up for almost getting plowed into.
Yesterday, Will Sergeant's new memoir Echoes was published in the UK. Since the autobiography of Echo & the Bunnymen's guitarist is not nearly as cared about in the States, the release date there isn't scheduled for at least another several months. (I can't even find a listing for it). It was beyond fortuitous to be in London on the publication date, so I placed a hold on a copy at the Victoria Street Waterstone's, about a kilometer from our rental on Greycoat Lane. As soon as we returned from Kew Gardens yesterday, and after I purchased the requisite Starbucks "London" coffee mug to add to our now massive Starbucks "place mugs" collection, I was off like a shot down Victoria to Waterstone's. (Avery and Calder tagged along). When I got into the store, I immediately went to the counter. In the sing-songy Midwestern (but trying not to be too Midwestern) voice I adopted when talking to Brits here, I said, "Hel-loow, I should have a book on hold here?" The young woman replied, "Surname?" It took me a slight delay of a half-second or a second to process what she'd said. I'm just used to Americans/Michiganders saying, "Last name?" Or, "What's yer last name?" Thankfully, I gathered myself enough to not look like an idiot. As I have learned to do, I didn't even reply with my name, but immediately spelled it out because nobody in the U.S. ever gets it right and I figured there was no chance of them getting it right in Britain.
The upshot is that: YES, I got my book and I'm very happy about that...AND I found another book, too (Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes, part of his London Trilogy and definitely the most famous one due to the 1986 movie, but oddly the only one I have yet to read). Oh, and Calder bought a book about the English Civil War, so we all won!
Stay tuned for more vacation adventures...
No comments:
Post a Comment