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A Weekend in London
Tuesday, February 17th, 2004 19:23As my father was one of the last people to do national service before it was abolished in the 1960s, he was eligible for membership of the Victory Services Club. So as he is allowed to take guests, I paid under £50 per night to stay in central London, just round the corner from Marble Arch and Hyde Park!
On Sunday I went over to Greenwich and finally got to walk through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which I have wanted to do ever since I first heard of it. The tunnel was built in 1902 so that dock-workers could get from their homes on the south bank of the Thames to the dockyards across the river without having to rely on the vagaries of the ferry. The strange thing about the walk through the tunnel was how noisy it was, with the voices of the people walking through echoing round the tiled walls. A couple of girls coming the other way were chatting and one of them started a sentence just as they passed me. The word 'So' boomed into my ear and the echoes seemed to bounce around inside. And my ears popped as if I was in an aeroplane coming in to land.
I travelled back to central London on the Docklands Light Railway. I hadn't been on it before so I didn't realise that this is mostly an elevated railway, so I had very good views of all the redevelopment of the former docks.
And finally, for a long time the kings of England had a menagerie in the Tower of London where they kept the exotic beasts received as gifts from foreign monarchs, including lions and even an elephant. Once the Norwegians gave a polar bear to the king, which was given a licence to fish for its own dinner in the River Thames!
On Sunday I went over to Greenwich and finally got to walk through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which I have wanted to do ever since I first heard of it. The tunnel was built in 1902 so that dock-workers could get from their homes on the south bank of the Thames to the dockyards across the river without having to rely on the vagaries of the ferry. The strange thing about the walk through the tunnel was how noisy it was, with the voices of the people walking through echoing round the tiled walls. A couple of girls coming the other way were chatting and one of them started a sentence just as they passed me. The word 'So' boomed into my ear and the echoes seemed to bounce around inside. And my ears popped as if I was in an aeroplane coming in to land.
I travelled back to central London on the Docklands Light Railway. I hadn't been on it before so I didn't realise that this is mostly an elevated railway, so I had very good views of all the redevelopment of the former docks.
And finally, for a long time the kings of England had a menagerie in the Tower of London where they kept the exotic beasts received as gifts from foreign monarchs, including lions and even an elephant. Once the Norwegians gave a polar bear to the king, which was given a licence to fish for its own dinner in the River Thames!
