Tuesday, May 13: Evacuation Day

This morning we left the hustle and bustle of London to evacuate to the countryside. We packed our suitcases and rolled them to the Elephant and Castle station where we jumped on a bus heading to Waterloo Train Station just a few miles down the road. We boarded at Platform 7 and settled in to enjoy the changing scenery.
Across the aisle from us sat a sweet, elderly woman named Marian Smith, who was returning home to Exeter. She noticed that I was reading a book about the Children of War and, once we started chatting, her curiosity got the best of her. Eventually we were talking about WWII and the town of Exeter during the war years. She was not an evacuated child herself, but she gave me the name of a dear friend who was, and Marion was sure that this friend would be more than happy to talk with me if I had the time. She advised us of all the charming places to visit in the area, and she made the three hour trip a very pleasant journey indeed.
We pulled into the train station and our rental car agent spotted us as Americans right away because of Tim’s Old Navy tee shirt with the tiny American flag on the front. He led us over to a miniature car, made Tim sign on the dotted line, gave us the key, and wished us luck. He had good reason to be concerned……
We sat in the front seat trying to get comfortable with the fact that everything was backwards, and Tim focused on the fact that he needed to stay on the left side of the road, approach the traffic circles clockwise, watch for traffic to come at you from the right side, etc. Then we backed out of our parking space and proceeded to pull out of the train station into a traffic circle going the wrong way. Suddenly we were circling around counterclockwise and approaching cars head-on while they swerved around us. Every time Tim tried to get out of the circle, we were facing head-on traffic because he was exiting American-style. Everyone in the roadway just stopped while Tim swerved this way and that and got us straightened out. Now I’m sure this whole scene lasted no more than 10 seconds, but we were exhausted by the time we landed on the right side of the road, which is actually the left side. At that point we decided to just stay behind the little red car in front of us, and, providentially, that car drove straight to the exit we needed for our hotel. Had it gone in another direction, I don’t know where we’d be sleeping tonight!
After pulling into our hotel parking space, Tim started laughing about it all, but I still haven’t reached the point where I think it was funny yet. Maybe in ten years or so. We then WALKED down a small winding road that led to a village pub where we feasted on a dinner of braised steak and vegetables. It’s amazing how a near-death experience can make you so hungry. On the walk back we met a nice couple who were delighted to hear we were visiting from America, and they told us of an historic area called Slapton Sands that we should visit to help with my research.
Tomorrow we are going to bravely get back in the saddle again and drive into Exeter. Stay left, stay left, stay left! Our friend in Plymouth (James Stanger) has arranged for us to meet a pigeon fancier who is a veteran of WWII. Tim just called Mr. Bob Reece, who is very excited that we are coming to see him. He told us to knock on his door anytime after 10 am, and if he doesn’t answer we’re to come around the back where he’ll be working on his pigeon coops. Now, how exciting is that?!
After our visit with Mr. Reece we hope to travel into Hemyock to visit the Hemyock Castle grounds and eat dinner at a local family farm/restaurant while celebrating 25 years of marriage. Yes, May 14th is our anniversary and we have much to be thankful to God for: Jesus Christ our Savior, four children who love and serve the Lord, a granddaughter who is being raised in a covenant family and church, and our own dear family and friends who love us with all their hearts and whom we love more than we could ever express. It is God’s faithfulness to us that we celebrate, not our own accomplishments, and we want you to know that you are all a blessing to us by His grace. We are rich beyond all measure. Hugs and kisses from very far away – we love you!

Monopoly

Today we spent the morning at the Imperial War Museum. It turned out to be the best WWII experience we've had while here, and I gained a lot of insight into the life of an evacuated child. Some things were funny - (one child wrote home to his mom that apples grow on trees!) but most exhibits and letters just made you want to weep from the saddness of it all.

Inside the museum was a two story replica of a house in London during the war. We got to walk through each room and see actual furniture, decorations, black-out curtains, and toys. I bought a book that shows many of the exhibits, so you'll get to see what we saw once I get home.

The rest of the day was pure sight-seeing!

When I was a little girl, my Uncle Bill served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. All I knew was that he had a cushy job on a big boat somewhere near England, because my Uncle Ozzie complained about it all the time since he had to live in the jungles of Viet Nam. When Bill returned home, he brought me a Monopoly Game, and I spent many years purchasing property and building hotels at Piccadilly Circus, Charring Cross, St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, and Victoria Street Station. I didn't even know that Monopoly came in an American version until after I married Tim. What fun we had today just riding the underground and busses all over the place and walking around my old Monopoly Board.

Here are some surprising facts about London:

There is no circus at Piccadilly Circus. Circus is just their funny way of saying traffic circle.

You can spend hours walking through London before you hear someone speak English.

All the buildings are covered in soot. When you blow your nose over here, soot comes out of your nose.

There are no trash cans along the streets or in the subway stations. When people are finished with something, they just bend over and put it on the ground, then keep walking. Trash is everywhere in little piles, and middle-sized piles, and big piles. I told Tim I want to call the Queen and ask her why her country is full of so much trash. I had to chew my gum for an extra hour or so because I couldn't find a trash can to throw it in! I refuse to throw my trash on the ground. When I look around I keep getting an image of an Indian with a big tear running down his cheek.

You don't see very many children here. Personally I think they've all been killed by double decker busses, but I can't prove it.

Everything is shockingly expensive. A small teapot costs $66. A small, tin Christmas ornament costs $13. A tee-shirt is $40. We spent a lot of time today picking things up, turning them over to look at the price, gasping, then putting them back down again as if they were hot potatoes.

Jaywalkers scream pretty loudly.

You can buy a pencil sharpener in the shape of almost any building in London. Tourists must love pencil sharpeners.

There are no window screens anywhere. Even Buckingham Palace does not have window screens.

There are no dandelions. Wild, teeny-tiny daisies grow in the lawns instead.

Hotel rooms are really small. I'd write more interesting facts about London, but Tim is ready for bed (he keeps sighing rather loudly) and we can't use the bed and type on the computer at the same time - there's not enough room.

Well, tomorrow we pack our bags, Tim will carry them down four flights of stairs, then we'll drag them to Elephant and Castle to catch a bus to Waterloo Station. Off to Exeter and clean air and a slower pace. It will be a nice change.

Bacon Cheeseburgers and Other Delightful Things

Sunday mornings in England start alot like every other day here. Rise and shine, have breakfast served to you by the Iranian man who bows and thanks you very much for everything, then get on the subway. This time we headed for Ealing, the extreme west of London, and upon arriving we were picked up by Paul Meiners (MTW-England). A short drive later we were walking into International Presbyterian Church for their Morning Worship. It was wonderful to be there and the service was very similar to NCPC, so we felt right at home. Unfortunately, Sunday morning is when my jet lag kicked in so the ride on the subway and the hour or so in church were spent desperately trying not to fall asleep.

After the service was over we were served tea and met many of the locals. They are fascinated by American politics. A quick drive later we were outside the home of the Meiners and about to meet our first children of WWII. Mrs. Pam Hallett was the matriarch of the group, and she sat in the chair and took total control of the conversations. She had a lot to share and loved having a captive audience. She was 14 years old, living in Exeter during the war, and her family housed evacuated children. She related a story about a surprise Blitz on her town, and how she had to search for her older sister and niece to make sure they were okay. (Her dad and her sister's husband were both away at war, of course.) The roof of her sister's house was somewhat destroyed, but she found them both safe and sound with the next-door neighbor. Upon her return trip to her house, where her elderly mother was anxiously waiting to hear news of the family, she found that her street was closed off due to an unexploded bomb. The police officers were amazed that she had not been blown to bits earlier in the day.

Terry and Janet Seaber were the other couple, and they were both young children living in London during the Blitz. They did not have personal bomb shelters in their homes and had to sleep in the Underground to be safe. Terry also told me about a day when he and some buddies all realized they had enough points in their ration books to get an apple. They went to the grocer, handed over their coupons, and spent quite a few minutes trying to find the biggest, juciest apple. Before they picked one, the sirens went off and the shopkeeper told them to run along to a shelter as fast as they could. After the bombs finished falling and the all clear sounded, they ran back to the shop to get their apple, but the shop was gone. They were very upset that they had used up their coupon and gotten nothing for it!

Terry and his mother and baby brother were evacuated into the country and lived in a very difficult situation with a host who did not like having them there. Some months later it was his little brother's second birthday. His mother had been saving her ration coupons for quite a while in order to have enough sugar to bake him a birthday cake, and she was able to do so and store it in a tin until it was time for the celebration. When she went to get the tin, she found that the lady of the house had already opened the tin and served the cake to her own children - the cake was gone.

Lots of memories like that were shared around the dinner table, and Tim and I, along with Paul and Liz, were enthralled. It was a wonderful time together.

Eventually we caught the subway back to the southeast district, and had to find a place to eat our last meal of the day. I pointed out a Burger King, and Tim shook his head and lectured me on how disappointed everyone back home would be to find out that we ate normal 'ole stuff. He kept walking me past burger joints in favor of pubs. We chose a very English pub called the Rising Sun and sat down to look at the menu. Lots of English fare. The waiter asked for our order and I chose Shepherd's Pie so that Wendy Lankford would be proud of me, as this pie was made with minced lamb. Tim then ordered his food - a bacon cheeseburger!!!!

More Pics of London from Saturday

Walking Tour of London

I'll continue this blog about our day on Saturday, as we did a lot more than dodge busses. We left our hotel around 9 am and headed down our road, which leads straight to London Bridge. In the tunnels by the entrance to the bridge we came across a lovely farmer's market and we milled around there for a while. On one stall table there sat the largest pile of brownies I've ever seen, and a little boy about Matt Schley's age stood there transfixed. Ever so slowly he reached up and touched one of the brownies in the middle. I got my camera ready so I could snap him, because you could just tell he was going to do it again. But before I could get the shot his father made him stop. We then climbed up the stairs to cross London Bridge. Tim was surprised it was such a plain, modern-looking bridge until I reminded him that the original one "fell down". Ah!

We then took the Queen's Walk along the banks of the Thames as we headed for the Tower Bridge. Tim was pretty sure that the Queen had not walked along there in a long time. Just before we got to the bridge, we came across the Tower of London. It was built in 1078 A.D. and is truly a magnificent building. From there we climbed up onto the Tower Bridge, which is the one you see in most movies. We crossed back over and made our way to the Britain at War Museum, where I saw real-life displays that will be very helpful as I write my novel. I even had the opportunity to sit inside a bomb shelter and hear the sounds of approaching bombers.

After leaving the museum we crossed back over the London bridge and headed west towards St. Paul's Cathedral. From there we hopped the subway to Hyde Park to look for the Animals of War Memorial so we could snap a picture and show it to one of the men we'll be meeting in Plymouth. He asked us to do him this small favor as he has always wanted to see it but never gets to London. Hyde Park is huge and reminds me of Central Park in NY - brimming with flowers and full of people lounging with books or playing soccer. Lots more walking and gawking, and all in all a great day. I'm still trying to find a store where I can purchase a Monopoly Game so the next time we play we can remember visiting so many of the places on the board.

Double Decker Dodge

Tim wanted to call this installment "Day Two", but I thought that was too boring and suggested Double Decker Dodge. What is that, you wonder? It's the national pastime here in London and there are two teams who compete. So far, we have been on Team Footwalkers, and the opposing team is known as the Red Devils.

The rules are simple and painted out for you on the street. As you approach the game field, an ominous message tells you to LOOK RIGHT and they mean it. There are no safety corners, just traffic circles that give the Red Devils an advantage because there is never a reason for them to gently press on the brakes. The Footwalkers gather in mobs at the entrance to the cross walks and wait, wait for it, ready, set, GO. Run, run, run to the base in the center of the road. Slide in if you have to. Don't let your foot come off the median strip or you may lose it! Anything coming from the other direction? Run!

You would think there is safety in numbers. London is the most crowded place I've been, and I've been to Camden Yards back in the good 'ole days of Cal Ripken. But..... the busses never travel alone either. They come at you three or four behind each other so that when they hit you, the first one knocks you over, the second one flattens you down, and the third one knocks your body back out of the bus lane. It is a form of legal homicide and they take it very seriously. Tim saved my life three times today, and I saved his once.

We've decided to get a bus pass on Monday and ride around London on the top deck of the Red Devil, just to see what it's like to play on the winning team.

Sardines

We've arrived safe and sound. The best word we could use to describe our first 24 hours is "sardines". Let me explain. British Airlines loaded us onto what can only be considered a moderately-sized plane. My ticket drew seat number 27D, so I had to squeeze into a teeny, tiny seat right smack in the middle of the plane. Tim got an aisle seat, not a window seat, and he had a pouty lip for quite some time. In fact, I still don't think he's over it. There was just enough room in my seat to breath shallow breaths - yes, we were packed in like sardines. We boarded right on time - 8:30 pm - and settled in. We sat on the tarmac for two more hours while customs pulled 21 pieces of luggage belonging to one passenger back out of the plane, then triple-dog checked to make sure they had it all. Normally, that would be annoying, but the pilot gave us updates with his British accent every 20 minutes or so, and Tim and I both agreed that it was so politely done and sounded so nice, how in the world could you we be upset about it? We took off at 10:30 pm twenty-one suitcases lighter.

Guess what happened at 11:45 pm? They fed us dinner. First the children got stimulus packages filled with crayons and fun puzzles, so that kept all the little critters wide awake. Then came the children's trays full of something that the little girl directly behind me did NOT want to eat! She cried and cried about it for a good solid hour while I tried not to waste my food with Tim sitting so close by. Then the little girl got tired and started kicking the back of my chair, but she had a cute accent too, so I didn't mind that either.

We arrived at Heathrow an hour or so late, so I guess that means the pilot was speeding. We were traveling over 600 miles an hour and the temperature outside our craft was negative 61 degrees. That information kept popping up on my little screen, so I thought I'd share it with you! The very first thing we saw out the window as we came out of that little accordian hallway that leads you off the plane was - seriously - a row of pigeons. Of course we stopped and snapped a picture.

We then spent the next THREE HOURS lugging our four suitcases, purse, camera bag, and laptop through a maze of undergroud subways as we headed to our hotel. Do you know how fast those doors open and close? Too fast for the amount of luggage we were handling, but Tim pulled it off somehow. They call it the underground because you are hurtling through the bowels of the earth, so for each connection I had to stand with two suitcases at the bottom of the large staircases until Tim carried two to the top, then I'd run up the steps as he ran down to get the other two. People here use the subway ALOT, so we were smashed inside hovering over our luggage - yep, sardines.

We arrived at Elephant and Castle station at 1:30 and could not figure out how to get out of there. They like little stuff over here so our suitcases would not fit through the turnstiles. Someone who must have been in a back room laughing at us on a video screen suddenly emerged with a special key and let us out through a wider gate. Another fine English gentleman took notice of our bugged-out eyes and pointed us in the direction of our hotel, which was about seven blocks away. We walked.

Upon arriving at our hotel we discovered is was everything I thought it would be and nothing that Tim expected. It is set up in one of the old buildings that survived the blitz and whoever built it way back in the 1800s had hobbit people in mind. The room is smaller than anything you could ever imagine, so I won't even try to think of a picture for you. But, there are no mouse droppings and it only costs $150 per night, so we feel like it's a good deal. We have to shift around the room in order to open our suitcase, and I think I drove Tim crazy because I kept forgetting to get things out that I needed before bed. It's located on the third floor, which over here means the fourth floor. To get to it, you have to climb winding, narrow stairs that go up-up-up forever, so poor Tim had to drag all our stuff to the top by himself. I followed behind with just my purse and had to stop halfway up to catch my breath. It didn't matter that I had to stop because Tim was pointing out all the fire hazards and figuring out our escape plan in the event of a fire. Should a blaze occur, we will be climbing out the window in the stairwell on the second floor landing, onto a smallish metal balcony, then jumping over to the building next door - kind of like Jason Bourne does in the first movie. I ageed to do it, but I really didn't mean it.

Hey, we're packed in this room like sardines but we don't mind. We're in ENGLAND and that is really cool. After settling in we were able to take the subway across the Thames to visit Westminster Abbey, gaze at Big Ben, and avoid getting run over by red-double decker buses. We then walked across the way to visit the Churchill War Rooms, St. James Park, the Queen's guards, and a small pub. I ate shepherd's pie with onions in it, and I know you are all very proud of me for being so grown up about it.

We then walked back to our little nest and we're sitting here enjoying the sounds of England as we prepare to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thank you all again for sending us over here. The rest of the blogs will not be as long and wordy, I promise. Tomorrow we are going to the Britain at War Museum, then...... who knows?

Take care my fellow Americans and here's a shout-out to my dearest friend, Laura N. - God bless America and God save the Queen.

Lots of love,
Tim and Lori