I also decided that I would try to find a cheap airline ticket to southern Spain for a long weekend before leaving Europe to visit my friend Elena in Granada. I had planned on making it down to Spain in my campervan but Betty’s troubles (having to replace her engine near Bordeaux) caused me to run out of time. So I booked a flight on Aer Lingus to Malaga, Spain, about an hour and a half from Granada and also a one way ticket on Oman Airways from London to Delhi. Alright...the next phase is set.
Having easily cruised through many European countries with my UK passport and the fact that many borders no longer exist in the European Union, it suddenly dawned on me that I needed a visa for entering India. Unlike many countries, you can’t just get the visa when you show up at the airport. I hastily searched the Internet for information, hoping that I hadn’t left it too late as technically I had one and a half weeks to get the visa but I was going to be away for half of that in Spain. I was slightly dismayed when I read on the Indian visa application website that they strongly advise against making any travel plans before obtaining a visa...d’oh! I spent a good half an hour going through the online application and at the end of it I tried to schedule a time to go to the office in London. I essentially had Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to get it done and initially I couldn’t get a slot for any of those days but with some persistence I somehow got a spot on Tuesday. It turns out that you don’t actually need the appointment time however it does make your wait a lot shorter. So Tuesday it is...I’ll head into London and make a day trip of it and by a slight miracle it may be ready before I fly out to Spain on Thursday, otherwise I’ll pick it up when I come back...but it will be touch and go then.
Around this time, I received an email from my stepsister Corinne in Canada with a different kind of request. Corinne’s daughter Paige just started Kindergarten this year and they’ve been reading a few stories about a rabbit called Knuffle Bunny. I guess Knuffle gets lost in one story and it got the class talking about how big the world is and all of the places that there are to visit. The teacher, Amy, thought it would be a great idea if the kids tried to see if they knew of anyone who lived abroad or was traveling and whether they might be able to take Knuffle with them to some famous places. Well, how could I refuse? I’ve seen other people take gnomes on trips and photograph the little fella so here was my chance to do the same. Amy emailed me a picture of Knuffle so I printed him out and his first port of call with me would be London.
I hopped on the train into London on Tuesday, November 2nd to London’s Waterloo station, transferred to the tube and headed to Victoria station. I couldn’t help but notice how caught up everyone was in their own little busy worlds on both the train and the tube. No one said a word on the packed, standing room only, train in. Once it arrived at Waterloo it was as if the starting pistol had gone off and it was rush, rush, rush. I strolled along, smiling inside at the craziness of this stressful commute for thousands of rat racers but made sure that I stayed out of their way. It’s kind of sad that it’s easy to feel pretty lonely in a large city like London, when you are in fact surrounded by people...
It took a little while for me to locate the Indian visa application office, no thanks to my SatNav that couldn’t seem to figure out where I was. The office was quite large with about 50 people scattered across row upon row of grey plastic chairs that were connected together in fives. There were so many sets of chairs that it was in fact difficult to move around or find any that had enough legroom...a bit silly really. I was only in the office for about 20 minutes before submitting my paperwork and heading off for a day of wandering about.
Buckingham Palace was close by so I decided to check it out. It’s been many years since I’ve seen the Queen’s city pad. I watched the guards on duty perform their mini ritual of marching back and forth in perfect synchronicity. I wondered how the two of them, without looking at each other, knew when to begin their little walk, first away from each other and then back to their posts which were located on either side of a vehicle entranceway. Did they count seconds in their heads all the time? If so, isn’t that taking away a bit of their mental resources that could be used for sussing out potential threats? Yes, I know it’s all just ceremonial. Poor guys, a guard shift must seem like forever. While watching, suddenly a couple of fancy royal carriages trotted by followed by a fancy black Bentley and a horse mounted police officer. The carriages had a drape with some royal ensignia blocking the windows so it was tough to know if there was actually anyone inside of them.
Buckingham Palace:
The guards:
Statue of Queen Victoria:
The front gates:
Knuffle Bunny at Buckingham Palace:
The strange horse carriage:
I walked to the nearby Queen’s Guard’s Museum. The Queen’s Guards are a specific branch of the military whose purpose is very much what it sounds like although they do also enter into combat when necessary. The place was pretty empty and the older gentleman working the entrance couldn’t help but chat up almost anyone and everyone who came in, including me. He was a nice guy, obviously an ex-Guard soldier himself and a wealth of knowledge. There was a variety of memorabilia ranging from back in the 1600s when the Guards were formed right through to today’s Afghanistan. Of course there were plenty of the trademark red uniforms with the monstrous black fur helmets on display.
Lunch was next at a pub near Oxford Circus and then I headed down to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben before tubing to the banking district to go to the Bank of England Museum. It wasn’t a bad little museum and I’ve always liked looking at money...new and old...but who doesn’t?
Knuffle and the London Eye:
Big Ben, meet Knuffle:
The Victoria Tower:
Enjoying a stroll around the Parliament grounds:
The Houses of Parliament in the early evening:
I trained home near the tail end of rush hour which definitely wasn’t as hectic as the way in this morning and there were a few more people talking and smiling...good to see. Arriving back at Sid and Sonia’s place, Sid convinced Sonia and me to practice a bit of guitar. We only know a few chords but he taught us a couple more, allowing us to attempt to play “Wonderwall” by Oasis...Liam Gallagher, lookout!
Sonia strumming her axe:
No comments:
Post a Comment