Tough Tuesday

Every traveler has a bad day, and mine was Tuesday. I spent most of the day visiting museums. Using the tube [London’s term for its subway] didn’t seem to put a dent in my usual mileage, but it added literally hundreds of stair steps down to the trains and back up again. It worked pretty well earlier in the day, but by evening my healing leg was less than enthusiastic about it all. I stopped by the Leicester Square half-price ticket office to get tickets for a show and ended up with We Will Rock You, inspired by the songs of the British rock group Queen. The theatre was near the hotel where I stayed when I was here with friends in March, so I returned to a nearby Indian restaurant for some more okra. (Oh, stop making that face. Indian cooking does a good job with it.) I enjoyed the music in the show—I’d have to say the actors’ voices were better than those in Queen—but the plot line was too contrived and fanciful for me. (Yes, I know it’s theatre.) After the curtain call I headed straight to the tube, where a worker was yelling that we had 5 minutes to catch the last train of the evening. To get to the red line, I had to go down a spiral staircase into the bowels of the earth, with a throng of folks pressing behind me. As I tried to rush, I considered whether I might fall or be trampled. I got to the bottom with one minute to spare. It was a mob scene as everyone tried to force their ways into the train, and we all got overly acquainted before they managed to shut the doors. Several stops later, the conductor announced that the workers were now on strike, and we needed to find our own ways home. So after a long day, I had to limp another mile or so back to my hotel. On top of everything else, I found out that my best-laid plans for late November had disintegrated, and I am now faced with trying to figure out what else I can and should do for a week that will work with the rest of my arrangements. After Skyping Tom, who also had an awful day, I was so tired and dispirited that I actually checked my “horror-scope” to see if there might be any end in sight.

Karma gave me a well-timed reality check this morning. I was in the lobby waiting for some information when the receptionist answered the phone. Her end of the conversation went something like, “What?! A doctor?... A hospital?... An ambulance?... IS HE DYING IN THE HOTEL ROOM NOW?” I decided that a sore leg and screwed-up sabbatical weren’t so bad in comparison, and I headed out into a lovely fall day. The tube is still closed down, so I planned to walk to the Natural History Museum via Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. I shuffled through the fallen leaves, admiring the colors and watching all the folks and dogs out doing the very same thing. I came across an outdoor sculpture exhibition and then the Princess Diana memorial fountain. It is a low, undulating trough that goes around in a loop, with the water changing its flow from smooth and gentle to tormented. A woman commented that it wasn’t very pretty, but I thought it was an appropriate representation of Diana’s life experiences as a princess. Finally at the museum, I enjoyed an exhibition of wildlife photography that I missed when I was in London 2 weeks ago. I’ve been craving noodles, but I haven't been able to get past all the dead animals hanging in the windows of the Asian restaurants, so I settled for an early dinner at an Italian restaurant. I’ve done my laundry, and I need to re-pack. Tomorrow I’m off for the continent. I’m really looking forward to a happy reunion with Tom. (I’m bringing steak-flavored crisps for him!) Will update again post-chunnel.