Day in London
Wed 11 Feb 2009
Tip of the day: Don't take photos in a London train station
Done with the South coast, I was off to London and enjoyed catching up with a couple of Couchsurfers that I hosted on the boat during December 2008. To revisit them so soon was a wonderful chance to play "remember when"…. And this is a difficult game to play when your friends are distributed lightly and evenly around the world, akin to a perfectly prepared vegemite on toast. There were photos, stories and a comfy warm bed.
During a full day I had in London, I headed into town for some site seeing and random opportunity to meet up with journalist friend, Evie Warmington. She was working in London at the moment… having moved up from Queensland regional coffee shop mag, "City Life" to the hustle and bustle of "Biscuit World", a journal for the baking industry.
First up, I found my way to the Science museum and Natural history museum, where the "Free admission" banners were betrayed by chargeable exhibits indoors. The Japanese cars of the future, Darwin and Wildlife photography of the year displays were behind ticketed doors… Of these the photography display was the one that I was going to miss most, but I went and a sticky through the window.
The free displays were wonderful though. A tour through the history of plastic, using steam for power, and the simple grandness and diversity of the displays. For mine, the CRAY-1 computer from the seventies was an interesting sight, its power now dwarfed by an average home computer... and sooo much wire. The European love of cars was on display, along with a suggested way for them to deal with the parking issues they now face - the cars stacked to the roof.
Next door, the opportunity to pose next to something very old… which you tend to do on holidays, more so than visits to aged people's homes. The Darwin statue watched on…. I hope that one day we don't find out that he was wrong about natural selection… We will look a little silly.
Enough time spent on history, I was off to Victoria station where I would meet Evie. Such a grand place and teaming with people, it deserved a photo. Lumbering my SLR sized Lumix in full view bought the attention of the local fuzz. A rather formal chap wandered over for some "Hello, hello, what's all this then." It must be now illegal to take photos in train stations… I was explaining away the situation, as Evie arrived at my side. Well at least I had made myself conspicuous so she could find me. I was used my broadest Aussie accent to explain my tourism oriented intentions, the innocence, to finally clear the air by Evie saying that she would "vouch" for me. Once again I was saved from a body cavity search! (read arrival in UK story).
Heading outside, the London evening rush was in full swing and we swam against the tide to try and find the oldest pub in the town… Evie started confidently, but that quickly ebbed as it was not where its should have been…. Enquiries with some people in the street, the news stand fellow, all drew a blank response.
In place of the old pub, we would instead settle for the nearest one.
Sitting down, we finally got the opportunity to get to know each other. Evie was a wonder. Back in 07' she was the reporter charged with doing a cover story for City Life about the then fledgling ChannelWhitsunday.com. Charles and I hooked up with her over the phone, and we never had the opportunity to meet. Charles and I had joked our way through the interview, so how she did such a good story was a credit to her.
Evie, now the assistance editor for a number of journals, including the much celebrated "Biscuit world". She suggested that it was a world away from her North Queensland life, and upbringing on the Sydney North shore, but seemed a girl very keen to embrace life's experiences. Good luck Evie.
