I'm stumbling blind with no destination, at an unholy speed. I must keep on moving
On Sunday night, Lynne & I had a hotel room at the Conrad International in the Chelsea Harbor area of London. It was actually a suite – thank you Gary and the Hilton Points. We didn’t pay anything for the room and it was great for us.
Gary had gone back to his apartment in Basingstoke, about 40 miles outside of London, and Lynne & I spent the day at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and shopping at Harrod’s (where we shopped next to Simon Cowell.) After dinner we headed back to the hotel. I didn’t want to spend the night doing nothing, and we did have the ride-all-day pass on the Tube, so I mentioned we should do some site seeing at Parliament and Big Ben.
We get on the Tube and change to go to the Westminster Station. When you leave this station towards Parliament, you come out right under the Tower of Big Ben: it is quite impressive to be standing underneath it as you come out of the exit to street level. And it was about 10:30 pm, so it was lit up to make it look quite grandiose.
I decided I wanted to try and get some more pictures from across the Thames, so we started walking across the Westminster Bridge. What we didn’t notice at first is that about half way up the bridge they are doing some construction work on the side, and 2 or 3 of the lamps are out, so the bridge gets pitch black.
As we approached the dark area, I was putting my camera away, as I had taken many photos of the buildings. We looked up and saw that there were 4 men standing there talking. Lynne again is sure that it was Russian they were speaking, I just know it wasn’t English.
As we approached them, two broke off and walked ahead of us. As we passed, one of them, the taller one, held his hands up about eye level with fist of one hand in the palm the other and cracked his knuckles while staring me straight in the eye.
This is when our sixth sense came into play. Lynne & I started walking a bit faster, and I knew that we were being followed. Just as we were coming to the end of the bridge, up from the street level came 2 couples, and that is the first time I looked back and there were 3 men behind us. When the two couples came up the stairs the men stopped walking as fast. We made a left to walk on the sidewalk next to the river, as I remembered that the London Eye, the large observation wheel overlooking London on the south bank of the Thames, has security all the time. We tried to keep in the light, but it was tough in that area. The 3 men paced us the whole way.
Once we got to the London Eye, we kept to one side near a security guard, pretending to read a plaque and looking across the river at the buildings. The 3 men walked just past us and started taking pictures upwards of the London Eye. I noticed one of them sneak a look our way. Then they just starting walking the way we had come here, and we watched them walk up to Westminster Bridge, the same spot they were at when we first saw them.
Had we kept walking towards Hungerford Bridge along the Thames we would have been in darkness again. Had we made a made the left at the end of the building next to the London Eye to get to Waterloo Station, which was our destination, we would have been plunged back into darkness for a part of the walk. And I am sure that these guys meant us harm, at the least a grab and run of our two bags.
This was the first time in all of my travels that I have come across something like that. I have long wondered if this was because I was always such a bigger guy, and now, 50 pounds lighter, maybe I’m not as intimidating looking. Not that I was before, as I’ve never been a good fighter, but a guy who is like 6’3” 260+ pounds is a bit more threatening than a guy who is 220 lbs.
Or maybe this is because I was walking like such a tourist, camera out, young lady next to me. I might be less likely to fight if what they think of as “my lady” could get hurt. I don’t know why, but I am glad I didn’t have to find out, and I’ve learned something for the future in travel.
Gary had gone back to his apartment in Basingstoke, about 40 miles outside of London, and Lynne & I spent the day at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and shopping at Harrod’s (where we shopped next to Simon Cowell.) After dinner we headed back to the hotel. I didn’t want to spend the night doing nothing, and we did have the ride-all-day pass on the Tube, so I mentioned we should do some site seeing at Parliament and Big Ben.
We get on the Tube and change to go to the Westminster Station. When you leave this station towards Parliament, you come out right under the Tower of Big Ben: it is quite impressive to be standing underneath it as you come out of the exit to street level. And it was about 10:30 pm, so it was lit up to make it look quite grandiose.
I decided I wanted to try and get some more pictures from across the Thames, so we started walking across the Westminster Bridge. What we didn’t notice at first is that about half way up the bridge they are doing some construction work on the side, and 2 or 3 of the lamps are out, so the bridge gets pitch black.
As we approached the dark area, I was putting my camera away, as I had taken many photos of the buildings. We looked up and saw that there were 4 men standing there talking. Lynne again is sure that it was Russian they were speaking, I just know it wasn’t English.
As we approached them, two broke off and walked ahead of us. As we passed, one of them, the taller one, held his hands up about eye level with fist of one hand in the palm the other and cracked his knuckles while staring me straight in the eye.
This is when our sixth sense came into play. Lynne & I started walking a bit faster, and I knew that we were being followed. Just as we were coming to the end of the bridge, up from the street level came 2 couples, and that is the first time I looked back and there were 3 men behind us. When the two couples came up the stairs the men stopped walking as fast. We made a left to walk on the sidewalk next to the river, as I remembered that the London Eye, the large observation wheel overlooking London on the south bank of the Thames, has security all the time. We tried to keep in the light, but it was tough in that area. The 3 men paced us the whole way.
Once we got to the London Eye, we kept to one side near a security guard, pretending to read a plaque and looking across the river at the buildings. The 3 men walked just past us and started taking pictures upwards of the London Eye. I noticed one of them sneak a look our way. Then they just starting walking the way we had come here, and we watched them walk up to Westminster Bridge, the same spot they were at when we first saw them.
Had we kept walking towards Hungerford Bridge along the Thames we would have been in darkness again. Had we made a made the left at the end of the building next to the London Eye to get to Waterloo Station, which was our destination, we would have been plunged back into darkness for a part of the walk. And I am sure that these guys meant us harm, at the least a grab and run of our two bags.
This was the first time in all of my travels that I have come across something like that. I have long wondered if this was because I was always such a bigger guy, and now, 50 pounds lighter, maybe I’m not as intimidating looking. Not that I was before, as I’ve never been a good fighter, but a guy who is like 6’3” 260+ pounds is a bit more threatening than a guy who is 220 lbs.
Or maybe this is because I was walking like such a tourist, camera out, young lady next to me. I might be less likely to fight if what they think of as “my lady” could get hurt. I don’t know why, but I am glad I didn’t have to find out, and I’ve learned something for the future in travel.
posted by Mike at 10:19 AM
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