We have just enjoyed (?) a two day visit to London and I had forgotten how chaotic and lively our Capital is. It really does seem to have returned to normal.
I particularly liked the sign on the Underground asking travellers to keep their distance whenever possible. This was on a train where we were packed in like sardines without a centimetre of space to call our own. It was a very unpleasant experience. I had forgotten how unpleasant the tube can be.
Tomorrow I will have some photos and a little more about our trip which took in both the West and East Ends. They seem strangely to be connected although they are always spoken off as if they are different countries. The lights were on along Oxford Street and Bond Street and to all intent and purposes Christmas is upon us, although I refuse to acknowledge this fact until at least the beginning of December and not really before Boxing Day!!!!
But today let's talk about an amusing and chance encounter on one of the bridges. Can't actually remember which bridge it was but it's the one leading to St Paul's. We were staying in the Leonardo Hotel close to St Paul's and our bedroom had a view of the cathedral's dome.
So there we were trying to take a selfie on the bridge looking back towards Tower Bridge. We were quite tired by this time having pounded the Streets of London (see how I got a song title in there) for over eight miles.
Two young ladies offered to take a photo of us and we got talking to them. One came from Canada and the other from Southern Ireland.
"How long have you guys been together?" they asked us.
I quickly did some maths by taking how long we have been married and adding on a couple of years for when we met and came up with 48 which actually was wrong. It should have been 46 but what's a couple of years between friends?
They almost let out an audible gasp. I should imagine that 48 years was well over their combined age and they could have no concept of just how long that was.
"Wow," one of them said. That seems to be a staple exclamation for young people.
"Wow" replied the other. "And you still like each other" said one in a thick Southern Irish accent.
"No" I replied.
They both laughed but had no idea whether I was telling the truth or not. Not sure I have either - the mind tends to go when you've known somebody for almost 50 years!
Anyway we had a nice chat about flooding in Vancouver (where one of them came from) and Cork in Ireland (where the other came from). We told them that we have been to both places which seemed to amaze them. They both seemed to be in awe of London.
I didn't tell them that personally I'm not a lover of either Vancouver or Cork but then I'm a miserable hard-to-please bugger anyway.
We parted the best of friends as they left to contemplate just how long 48 years is and probably to say things like "weren't they a lovely couple" or perhaps they were more truthful!!!!
We were left with a photograph of us on the bridge and the amusing thought that they would have absolutely no knowledge that they would be the subject of my blog today. Had I have told them their response would almost certainly been in unison "WOW."
More about our trip and some piccies tomorrow.