The Tower -- Age 1,000 and still doing OK

So, it’s come down to this now. Tomorrow we are to get the plane after having made it through the Heathrow melee (without incident, I hope). First we have to get from Greenwich out to the airport – a very big crosstown trip. I hate the thought in some respects that it has come to an end and mundane reality consequently will be approaching.

Today we did the 1,000-year-old (roughly) Tower of London after a brief river trip up from Greenwich and, in order to get us primed for home, we had lunch at KFC. It was almost good, although I won’t go to any extremes about it. The Tower itself was as riveting as it was when first I saw it many years ago. The Crown Jewels alone are worth the price of admission. The Cunanore Diamond is fully the size of a hen's egg. Astonishing. Needless to say, security there is just a teeny bit tight. But, I thought, if you did steal it, where the hell would you fence it? Meanwhile, we also trudged through the Bloody Tower, but didn't see the ghost of Anne Boleyn with her head tucked underneath her arm.

Now an abrupt and awkward seque.

Last week we had a couple of interesting incidents. Lying blissfully sleeping in our room in Bath at about 4 a.m. we were horribly rudely awakened by the unmistakable sound of a fire alarm. It was 4 a.m., for Christ’s sake, and it was arguable I was having the best sleep of my entire life. But, we followed protocol; grabbed whatever clothes were available to throw on, and within about 5 minutes the entire population of the hotel was huddled across the street watching the fire engines arrive. Fire engines arrived, firefighters poked around. Firefighters emerged and then drove away. Five minutes after that we were ushered back to our rooms.

Now, on the one hand the idea of evacuating a hotel in the early hours is a bit dramatic and elevates a trip above the commonplace to a degree. On the other hand it was, for us, getting a bit old. You see, that was the second fire evacuation we’d made in as many days. The day before, in Great Yarmouth, this time in the late afternoon, the alarm went off, and again we were evacuated to the street. In this case, as in the case of the first one, there was no apparent cause other than a malfunction in the alarm system.

Anyway, my friends, good Lord willing, next time I write, it will be from back in Canada, jetlagged and cranky, no doubt.