London

I was pulling a suitcase behind me that must have weighed a thousand pounds.  I was spending a month in Europe, so I had to pack accordingly.  I had taken the train from Heathrow to a stop where now I was calling Andy, my friend in England.  Andy lives near Stratford on Avon, I was going to stay with him and his girlfriend for a week.  Andy told me to take the subway to my next stop (I'm sorry my memory just isn't good enough to remember all the names of the streets and stops) and he would meet me there. 

 

So here I was dragging this monster of a suitcase behind me, looknig for where I needed to get on the subway.  At one point I saw someone that worked for the subway.  I asked him where I needed to go.  He explained that I needed to go back out to the street, down a block and down to the underground there.  I sighed and lugged my luggage back up the stairs.  Down a block and down the stairs.  I should admit that I'm one of those people that can get lost walking across the street.I wandered around, up some more stairs and who should I see?  The guy that helped me before.  Somehow I had circled around and was back where I started. 

 

He looked at me and at first didn't recognize me, than I could see the light go off in his eyes.  He looked upset.  Why was I back here?  He apologized, even though it wasn't his fault.  He gave me directions even an idot could follow...it must have worked cause this time I was able to follow them.  I won't go into the rest of the nightmare that it took to get to Andy...the subway line was closed farther down, we had to get on a train, than a bus, and finally made it, like three hours late.  To find Andy still waiting for me, now that's what a friend is.

 

After spending a week with Andy and his girlfriend I went back and spent a week in London.  There was a lot I wanted to see.  Andy told me that the best way to get around was the underground, the subway.  At first I was a little hesitant.  Everywhere I've lived in the States has not had a subway...but I've heard the stories about the subways in New York and other cities.  How bad they can be.  (I know they aren't all that bad, but you now how something like that gets hold of you.)  But I figured that if I wanted to get around I was going to have to take the subway.

 

About five blocks down the street from my hotel was a major hub for the subway and trains.  It was almost like a mini mall, stores and places to eat as well as entrances to the subway and the trains. 

 

Andy was right.  Getting around London was easy with the subway.  I loved it.  Sometimes I had to get off at one stop and get on another route, but it was cool.  I saw all the sights.  The farthest I went on the subway was to see Abbey Roads studio.  You don't think I was going to be in London and not see Abbey Road.  I even took a picture of the crosswalk from the cover to the album.

 

I also took a double decker bus while I was in London.  How could you not take one of those great old double decker buses when you're in London?  The wind was whipping through my hair was I sat on the top and listened to the guide describe the sights as we drove by.  What a way to travel.

 

All these thoughts went through my mind when I heard about the bombings in London today.  I couldn't believe it.  I might have been sat on those same seats that were blown up.  I probably rode one of those subways. 

 

But what I thought about was that old guy that helped me on my way.  He worked on the subway, he might have been down there when the bombs went off.  What did he do to deserve to die?  He was just a nice man trying to help people. 

 

I'm not going to get into politics in this post, I might write more along those lines later, about what I think of this situation and Bush and...I'm sorry I said I wouldn't get into that on this post.  

 

Everyone I meet in London was nice and friendly.  I never saw any of that "we hate Americans" while I was there.  I'm sure it exists, but everyone over there was more than nice. 

 

I was touring Warwick castle, Andy had to work and it wasn't that far from where he lives, so he just dropped me off.  After the castle I walked over to visit Shakespeare's home and village.   But while I was at Warwick, there was one tower that was supposedly haunted.  I was about to start up it, to check it out, when this group of grade school (at least grade school here, I'm not sure of what it is in the English school system)(around 7-8 year old) girls, out on a school field trip, came up behind me.  They were all talking about how scary this was going to be, there were ghosts.  Some of the girls were saying they didnt' want to go.  One of the girls saw me and asked me "Hey mister, can we go up with you."  So we all trooped up the tower and looked for ghosts that we didnt see.

 

I know that story has nothing to do with the subways or the bombings.  Except that those girls live in England.  They'd be in their teens now, maybe in London, maybe riding on the subway, maybe on there today when the bombs went off.  What did they do to deserve to die?

 

Of course the answer to this is nothing.  None of these people did anything to deserve to die.  I dont' understand a God that would want his people to kill others just because they dont' agree with you. 

 

Ok, I'm not going to go off on a rant about God on this post either.  I wanted to try and keep it personal.  Too often when we see these type of things on the news we feel saddened by it but it's had to feel that personal connection.  We don't know these people, we feel for them, but it's still not that personal connection.  This time I felt that connection, even though I can't say that any of these people were there when the bombs went off.  But it made me feel like I might have known some of them. 

 

I could go on and on here.  It's easy to just write and write, not try to think or feel too much about the whole situation.  Everyone in London has my deepest sympathies.  There's a few people in blog land from that area that I've talked to on here and I feel bad for them and hope for the best for them.  I wish I could say my prayers were with everyone, but I can't offer prayers to a God that would allow such suffering in the first place.