Terror On The Tube

It happened at Acton Town.   I was on a Piccadilly Line train on my way to Heathrow to meet a friend who was arriving early evening on Friday.  I'd left town early to avoid the rush hour crowds, because as I have mentioned before I hate crowds.  My strategy proved successful.  I was in a carriage with only fifteen or twenty people on board.

The train came to a stop in the station.  A couple of passengers got off.  And, then he boarded.  I think it was something about the way he looked around, eyeing up a number of seats before choosing one.  What ever it was, my fellow passengers' faces showed that they were nervous.  You could tell they were hoping he wouldn't sit next to them.  I knew I didn't want him next to me.

He chose a seat opposite me and next to the only woman in that half of the carriage.  The doors closed  and the looks on everyone's faces transformed.  They weren't nervous anymore.  Terror now filled the train.

The man opened up...

The British Can Be So Polite

Rob and I went to a fundraising event at the National Portrait Gallery yesterday evening.  It's a wonderful gallery and the Jubilee exhibition using paintings and other images to trace the Queen's 50 years on the throne is fab.  The fact that we were viewing it all with champagne in hand didn't hurt either.

While the drinks were fun, the canapes weren't enough.  We decided to go to dinner.  Rob had been to a nearby pub that he thought was good.  He said it was a bit pricey, but why not?  So, off we went.  It was almost nine and the Angel & Crown was packed in the main pub room.  We decided to go upstairs to the dining rooms rather than fight the crowd.

We climbed the narrow stairs and looked into the first dining room.  It was empty except for a devout Jew doing his prayers.  Well, I assume he was devout.  I mean, after all, he was standing in an empty pub dining room at 9 pm on a Wednesday evening praying.