Early purple orchid. Confined largely to the town I do not often have the chance to see the wild flowers of hedgerow and woodland. This one gives me the same sense of the wild as the rare sight of a fox or heron.
Heidi is home to day. Still uncomfortable after her operation but chipper. We walk out on the pavement and brave oncoming pedestrians. She has my arm and one crutch. She mustn't bend over but has me and one of those lever operated clamps on the end of stick with which she she can pick up objects which she has dropped on to the floor.
On my way home I enter the concourse of Charing Cross Station to find it packed like a giant tin of biscuits. There has been a "fatality" in the Chelsfield area. Chelsfield is a station on the way to Tunbridge Wells In front of the announcement board people are lined up side by side, their heads angled backwards in the hope of seeing a reference to their trains. But nearly every panel has a cancelled sign. Suddenly over the loudspeaker comes a standard announcement: "Customers are reminded that skateboarding is not allowed." An ironic snicker runs through the crowd. If only there were room.
4 comments:
They're usually a bit coy admitting to fatalities. As you know, when I arrived in London last Tursday the Bakerloo Line "terminated" at Piccadilly due to an obstacle on the line further south. An obstacle sounded to be rather more substantial than a corpse; perhaps two corpses; perhaps a suicide pact; perhaps two minor figures in government. London always charges my imagination; always a place of extremes, never Occam's razor. Whatever it was was still there when I returned to Waterloo sixish. That didn't of course rule out corpses. Time drags underground; things just don't get done.
Delighted to hear Heidi is chipper. Wonder if that word's understood in the US.
I too am delighted that Heidi is chipper - I know the word but not sure of its origin.
Your description of the tube station sent me right back there! For both of us, it was quite a new experience traveling on those and dealing with the crowds - exciting, a bit nerve-wracking, and those scary edges over the tracks which certainly made me think of falls and suicides.
Welcome home Heidi! i have visions of those concertina mechanism things called lazy tongs which it was always a challenge to try to make with bits of card and paper fasteners...
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