For most of my life when I commenced a journey my concern was to reach the destination quickly and safely. I can remember little of what occurred during the travel. Between 1999 and 2004 when I travelled first to help support my birth and care mothers in their home and then to visit my mother in the residential home where she had been placed, making the log journey to outer London from the North East and back at least once a month, I grew weary of the hours spent driving focussed on the behaviour of other motorists and of the hours spent on the M25 nose to bumper for mile upon mile, I broke the journey with an overnight stop at a Travel Lodge, especially when the firm started to offer amazing concessions at certain times of the year but available at the least popular locations.
The stop over mean that I could start the day leisurely and go the cinema en route before making the stop over, having a good meal, and then the following morning also make a visit, perhaps to the property of National Trust or English Heritage.
It is only since deciding to write about my experience on a daily basis that whatever kind of journey is being made, I find myself always on the alert, observing, listening, making notes which I can sometimes read back, thinking about what I am seeing or hearing and trying to draw conclusions which anyone else faced with the same situation would also make. The extent of random coincidence always interests, as well as situations which have a similarity those which have been experienced several decades earlier.
The weather was unkind but the journey by car last Thursday was surprisingly good, having slept well and risen early and packed everything the night before. I had also simplified the usual mixed packing arrangement. I use medium size soft rectangular bags with a carry handle rigid base. In one I placed some reserve tined, a jar of olives, some decaffeinated tea and coffee and the carton packed croissants and Danish pastries. The second contained the two lap tops, one to watch DVD’s and the other for the internet and writing, The intention had been to use the internet on the DVD use but I forgot to bring my code for the spectrum registration which is automatic on the older laptop. There is also the digital radio and clock and my camera, plus map, guides, reading book, and DVD’s. There third is for clothes. The Marks and Spencer’s Cold bag has the milk, large salad box mixture and made up salad for journey, two packs of ham and two of salami, two packs of grapes, and three of fruit salad. There is a compartment at the back for the utensils and sheets of kitchen roll. The rucksack contained a flask of coffee, notebooks, tissues and a tea towel. There was also a hand towel loose at the back of the car and a spare pair of shoes.
There were heavy showers from the start and I regretted not having delayed for a coffee and croissant. The first change of mind occurred as I drove towards the AIM via the John Reid Road and Newcastle Road and could see a significant traffic build up at a stand still. I reversed directions at the roundabout and headed into the Whiteleas estate and Bolden and with a sun burst I turned off into the Azda car parking area and on to outside the Cineworld for the coffee and croissant. The croissant was good but the coffee was lukewarm. A puzzle which suggested perhaps the kettle had not been allowed to boil. I poured it onto the already wet surface and set off, driving without stopping down the A19 and then M1 to the Wakefield service area to eat lunch. As I went to the toilet I was accosted by a man on crutches who claimed he was a diabetic and wanted a lift to Leicester. I declined The situation did not look right, no coat, no luggage, I looked for a TV camera. I was polite but firm and he was angry and abusive which confirmed the wisdom of the decision.
I stopped again for a cup of coffee mid afternoon within half an hour of the M25 junction. There I again saw the same man soliciting drivers of parked vehicles, The M1 has been winded to four lanes and the heavens opened and rain fell sheeting reducing visibility and driving speeds. I dread the M25 as it is rare when one does not have to slow down to standstill for mile upon mile during the stretch from the M40 to Oxford, Heathrow Airport, the M4 and M3 junctions. This time I had a clear run, but traffic was close to standstill for miles in the opposite direction. My route on paper appeared simple. Through the time of the M25 I had usually taken the M25 to the Purley, Croydon junction which is also the start of the M23 to Brighton and on to Wallington or to the Premier Inn at Waddon, or the Innkeeper’s at Purley Oaks. Occasionally I took the route through central London or along the North Circular passed Wembley to the Ealing and the South Circular, Tooting and Mitcham.
This occasion I had to take the next junction (six), where the Travel Lodge was located at South Whyteleafe with a railway station a few meters away. This part of Surrey is full of wooded hills and long valleys, including one called Happy Valley. The Travel Lodge was easy to see on the other side of a dual lane highway with a central reservation but a right turn exit into the entrance of a once farm but is now a large complex of ugly institutional looking apartment blocks with the turn into the Travel Lodge car parks immediately to the right. The building has three floors and about sixty rooms. The Lodge is similar to that at Croydon central with its own food and bar facility. I unpacked and was soon ready for bed although it before 9.30. The consequence was that I woke with the dawn and was able to write then.
I had set aside the Saturday for a visit to central London, unaware until just beforehand that this was a day which the environmentalists had set aside for a march and rally in support of Government’s taking stronger measures in advance of the G 20 meeting next weekend. They were assembling on the embankment and going to Hyde Park. The forecast bad weather could affect the situation in either way.
I had earlier in the visit crossed over the main road and walked the few metres to the railway station to work out that this was on the mainline via Purley Oaks, my sometime place of stay and then on to East Croydon where it was of advantage to change trains to the a fast one from the south coast stopping only at Clapham junction before Victoria. There was only one more station to the end of the line at Caterham, with in the other direction, Whyteleafe central a straggling town, then Kenley, with its small airport for private flying, and Purley, where my former independent Catholic school is located and where the south coast trains branch off to Brighton, Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. Do they also go in the other direction to Newhaven, Eastbourne and Hastings? I must check out of curiosity. From Purley there is Purley Oaks and South Croydon before East Croydon and from there three overlapping routes to either Victoria or London Bridge with for me the most familiar route Selhurst, Thornton Health Streatham, Balham (for entry to the London Underground system and the Oval Surrey County Cricket ground), Wandsworth Common, Clapham Junction, Battersea Park and Victoria, having come from Wallington, Waddon and West Croydon, a route travelled throughout my life with the first trip the day after the V E day parade when the most of London took to the streets. I did travel a few months when I was 19 years on the London Bridge Line when I worked for British Olivetti with our office in the City but I cannot recite the names of the stations on visualise them in the same way. Now there is a train from Brighton to East Croydon which goes to London Bridge and then over the River Thames to St Pancras and if wanted onward to Luton.
Next to the railway station there is a bus stop going into Purley, Sutton and Croydon and a petrol garage which I used on the Friday morning where there is an excellent store attached which includes fresh rolls and cakes and a coffee and snack outlet as well as the usual range of sandwiches and other food supplies. So although the Travel Lodge is out of town there are all the essential services within a few metres and with restaurants and a fish and chips take away in Whyteleafe itself
Although I was going to bed and sleep early I was also managing to sleep on after the dawn for me I was also sleep through so that it just before 10 am when I was ready to go for arraign into London on the Sunday, The ticket office appears to be closed on a permanent basis but there is an automatic machine which takes cash and cards so I purchased a one day all zones travel card for £7.50 which entitles one to travel all day throughout greater London and is exceptional in its value just as the ability of those over sixty to travel free throughout the system and use trains, the underground system buses.
Apart from enjoying seeing familiar places from the comfort of a train seat once more my attention taken up with how two ticket checkers dealt with a young man who claimed he had a student concession to justify his ticket but could not produce the concession card and claimed he had no money and no credit card. I suspected he was an anarchist en route to the demonstration and whole believed his commitment and concerns meant that he did not have to work, claim benefits, or pay for his travel and other aspects of his lifestyle. He said he lived with his mother and that she would pay. He would given a note to give to the ticket collector guard at the end of the line. I wondered what the outcome would be and if it was true he was travelling to London without any cash on him.
This dependence on a parent was reflected very differently in the next overheard conversation after I changed trains at East Croydon and sat behind a Spanish young man and the young woman with whom he had a difficult conversation in which she was doing her best to engage, sympathise and understand his negative and pessimistic viewpoint which he insisted was realistic but which masked a disturbed, hurt and bitter young man where he needed such a companion partner but she would be wise to steer clear of him me thinks he would betray her in the same way he argued that everyone one else had betrayed or would betray him.
Just before Victoria Station a new block of flats is in the process of construction hidden from view by a covering and appearing to advertise a new luxury development, but I wonder if the sales literature makes reference to being close to one of the busy stations of London?
There was plenty of time before the film and with rain again I made by way again since the hastily arranged visit for the funeral of a relative to the seating at one end of the floor of the restaurant and fast food outlets and where I passed another meeting taking place before a lap top. This reminded that on the afternoon coffee stop on my journey to London I had also encountered a meeting at a adjacent table between three men who appeared unconcerned that their conversation could be head by me and another man who was also sitting closer to them. I learnt how one of the three had set a new business with others after some failure or problem with a previous enterprise. One of the three posed the questions. I speculated was this a secret millionaire; was he a venture capitalist or considering a take over or partnership in the business. I was reminded of some twenty five years before when I was privy that a Take over bid had been agreed at a motorway service area meeting. Perhaps the view is that in such a public place media attention, competitors or others who could benefit from the knowledge of meeting was unlikely.
I could see outside from my location and although I was tempted to write more notes as soon as the rain stopped and skies commenced to clear I decided I needed to do some walking and made my way across to Victoria Street to where Billy Elliot the musical was showing at the Palace Theatre. I was tempted and added this to the list of possibilities for the day if I changed my mind from the morning plan. It was at the road junction close to Catholic Westminster Cathedral on the other side of the road that I was stunned by the new glass edifices that had risen since my recent visits.
I have known this area for fifty five years. Between 1955 to 1957 I had walked from the station to a bus along the Vauxhall Bridge Road to Middlesex House where I worked and which is now Random House the publishing company, now within view of the iconic intelligence building but then around the corner from the Tate. Some lunchtimes I would make my way on foot to Victoria Street returning via Horseferry and Masham or vice versa, sometimes just for a walk, sometimes to visit the Cathedral or to the Army and Navy stores where once I had said hullo to Sir Leonard Hutton and bought a signed copy of Just My Story. I had continued to visit this way, sometimes on foot when I attended committee meetings at the Home Office in the 1980’s or by car making way through central London from the North East along the across the Vauxhall Bridge on way to Wallington. I had seen conventional tower blacks of flats rise up but these new buildings are something special and worth exploring although a further rain shower was in the offing.
There are four new buildings with three main glass covered walkways to a central street level glass covered Piazza. There are several fashionable restaurants and with fashionable prices. Two of the new buildings are offices and but the third with some twenty storeys high is apartments. There is also a Mark and Spencer’s with a roof level Piazza of stone and grass and which is reached by the upward of two escalator and where there is a large oriental restaurant and an empty art gallery and other office type facilities plus behind this further interesting looking apartments. It was evident that the development had been designed for yesterday’s economy, so what was the position to day and in the immediate future?
It rained again so I made my way to nearest bus stop stopping off at Trafalgar Square. Along Whitehall there was considerable police presence among the usual weekend tourists. The queue to visit Westminster Abbey was considerable. While the Cathedral remained a place of Christian worship, the Abbey has become a tourist attraction along with the Vatican.
I had debated visiting the Cathedral out of respect for my birth and care mother, but to do so would have raised an issue which I did not want to consider and which was brought to my attention again as I passed by the offices of the Department of Health to the premature and preventable death of my care mother caused by a range of failures by a hospital authority, and community health authority and their individual officers together with a medical practice, regarding the premature and preventable death of my care mother in 2003. The failure to achieve justice will haunt me for the rest of my life.
A candlelight concert was taking place at St Martin’s in the Fields in the evening at 7.30 with two Brandenburg Concertos and other pieces. Tickets were reasonably priced but I wanted to avoid staying out so late after being out and about during the day.
A major refurbishment of Leicester Square is planed and is out for public consultation. A similar consultation is underway in Sutton and both Councils are proposing to change what has been a comparatively recent area restricted to pedestrian use by the reintroduction or increase in more trees and plants and less concentre. There is obviously government euro money available for what is essentially an environmental improvement and is probably similar to that used to upgrade civic parks. Will I try and find out?
Where has the Swiss Clock gone together with the Swiss centre? A new building is rising from where the old one was. The Trocadero building remains an odd concoction. The public toilets cost£1. If one walks a few yards on the same level along the classy underground passageway where now the trendy bars and stores have all closed and into the Piccadilly Circus underground there are large, clean, bright, supervised public toilets as good as any anywhere, for free.
Back at the Trocadero the external escalator to the Cineworld Cinema was not working and in order to get to the right level it was necessary to go down and around to then go up to reach the entrance. My memory was good for once in that after buying my ticket which only cost £5.90 because a concession for seniors still applied for midday showings on a Saturday, I was able to find myself a seat in the lounge area out of the view of the ticket desk and sweet pop corn, coke, hot dog seller in order to surreptitiously eat my mixed green salad with ham and fruit salad. Another old and single men also had brought sandwiches which he eat discretely at a table. There were signs offering a pop corn and drink deal for more that the cost of my ticket. There were no signs forbidding taking food which had not been purchased at the cinema into the waiting seat area as in some cinemas now, as more and more people buy there goodies at the nearest supermarket and save a fortune.
I was going to see Che Guevara Part 2 based on the Bolivian Diaries. There were four others who joined me, three young men and a young woman, all singles. More on the film another day
Outside there was sunshine again but moving clouds indicated a day of showers. Mama Mia was showing at a nearby theatre. I decided to walk back to Victoria station and consider options on the way. Along the Haymarket I was amazed to see that there is a stage production of On the Waterfront. Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen will appear here in May in a new production of Waiting for Godot. The following day on a visit to Brighton and Worthing I learnt that the National Theatre production was on national tour prior to the London performances and the two had appeared there earlier in the week.
Alas it was five minutes after the 3pm matinee had commenced and a few minutes earlier I would have bought whatever available ticket. There was also a trendy restaurant where a bowl of soup cost a fiver and the rest of the menu was upwards.
In Trafalgar Square a rally was taking place. It was a small one where the speakers was not using the natural platform of the plinth and where I had once stood alongside Lord Russell as members of the Committee 100. I went close to investigate and it was about autism and a man was speaking who still believed there were links between the disease and the vaccination programme.
Whitehall was closed to traffic although temporary barriers were being cleared and walking on the East side was difficult because of pavement improvements and work on the roadside underground services. I had wanted to take a close look at the monument to the contribution of women in wartime. It is a more striking and moving construction to the Cenotaph.
As a reached the end of Whitehall it commenced to rain again so I quickly went into Westminster underground entrance along the Embankment and discovered the significant improvements that have been made to the entrance hall and ticket offices. About time too.
The rain decided what I was to do. I would go to Clapham Junction by train and Wandsworth to the Cineworld Cinema to see film about the Life of Brian Clough. I caught a train immediately and then a bus arrived within minutes with a stop just by the entrance to the shopping mall. How I stop to look at the price of meals at an American steak restaurant where once a day it was possible to enter the steak challenge. If you eat four pounds of steak in an hour you did not have pay the cost of £59.95. This only took a minute or two thought.
On arrive at the cinema ticket centre there was a good queue but also several staff and to my frustration I found that I had noted the wrong times and I had probably missed the start of the film by a matter of minutes. Although I had a free admittance voucher I hate missing the start of a film. Instead I decided to see the second Clive Owen film in a matter of weeks (previously the International). This time it was Duplicity with Julia Roberts, a caper involving two former intelligence officers who decided to go private and make $40 million dollars to give themselves the lifestyle they had become accustomed. More on the film another day.
Afterwards with rain spots falling I was luck again to catch a bus back to Clapham within seconds of leaving the shopping centre and crossing the road to the bus stop. At the station entrance I visited the Sainsbury’s Direct for a small baguette. A soft light twist filled with chocolate and Danish pastry. I would have a feast back at in my Travel Lodge Room with salami and strong coffee. There was no train to Caterham listed one the departures board at the Station so I guessed I had missed one so I caught the first fast train to East Croydon and there had only to wait a few minutes for a train from London Bridge. There were more people on board than anticipated. Back in my room I enjoyed the feast and then watched the highlights of England’s game and Slovakia. At least I believe I watched most of it because I came over very tired and got into bed. I do not we scored four goals and had to keep changing the centre forward because of injury. I switch everything off without listening to the after match comments and went immediately to sleep.
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