Thursday April 2 – Nostalgia in London

When I left college in Edinburgh, I went to London to work in the Foreign Office. I lived in the FO’s residential hostel for ladies for the first year, but for the second year I lived with three flatmates: Prue, Charlotte, and Katie. On Thursday Ray and I travelled up to London from Reading on the bullet-fast electric train, took the tube from Paddington Station where we arrived to Covent Garden, and walked the few steps past the crowds waiting to see Michelle Obama to Le Deuxieme to meet Prue and Charlotte and Leonie, another one of our good friends from our London flat days. Sadly, Katie lives in Edinburgh and was unable to get the time off work to make the trip. As Prue so appropriately said: “I guess when you have lived with someone, you form a bond that lasts for life.” There is no strangeness, when you meet; no need to get to “know” the person again, you just carry on the relationship from when it stopped, catching up on each person’s life experiences – some happy – some sad- since your last meeting – for us, although the memory is dim, we think it was around 1972/73. I haven’t worked out yet why it’s important to reconnect with the past. Perhaps it is just the wonder of new technology which makes it possible, perhaps its curiosity, or perhaps it is an inherent need to join the circles of life.

After saying our goodbyes, with promises of seeing each other again (we have been in touch via Christmas cards and letters over the years), Ray and I spent 2 hours wandering through the streets of London. For both of us it was a walk filled with memories of experiences from the past. We thought of visits to the theatre, as we walked down Drury Lane; drunken nights in a pub, as we passed the many quaint city pubs; walks through the “royal” parks when we walked down the Mall; interviews for jobs; being stuck in traffic; and of course umpteen trips on the infamous London “tube”. Our heads were swirling with experiences from a time long gone.

I also couldn’t help thinking forward and wondering how the sights in the world’s other large cities will shape up against the magnificent and beautiful city of London which shone in the brilliant sun and blazed with the colour of pink and white cherry blossoms, golden yellow daffodils, and rich purple aubrietias.

Through our walk, our thoughts were constantly interrupted by police cavalcades whirling the participants of the G20 meetings from one location to another at top speed, making sure there was not a single moment along the route for terrorist action. At one stage, we watched a helicopter touch down at Buckingham Palace and take off again moments later. Ironical that when on our South American trip our day in Montevideo was impacted by George Bush’s visit – and once again we find ourselves in town with the American president – who incidentally, seems to be very popular in Britain amongst the people.

Around 6 p.m. we alighted from the tube at Russell Square for a short walk to an historical pub called The Lamb, built in 1729. Here we met up with a group of 8 from our 2007 South American trip. We were astounded that this was nearly half the group considering that many of the group live outside London and even outside the UK. It was exciting seeing everyone again and hearing how their lives have unfolded since the trip and the significant changes that have occurred : marriage for one, birth of a baby for another, a solid relationship for another 2, further education such as PhDs, teaching certificate, training as a paramedic. What a lively, intelligent, group of young people all out there making things happen in their lives, and in the lives of others.

We caught the 10:48 p.m. train back to Reading, picked up the car from the deserted parking garage, and drove quietly home on the windy, country roads.