Time flies. It always has and it always will, I think. And I think this often. But after spending a wonderful weekend in London, my weekend wasn’t over yet. I had planned to visit the radio studios of the BBC World Service in the centre of this lively city and while I’d still have some time, I figured (having seen almost everything a tourist should) I could do London Zoo in the afternoon. No actual plans after the interview at noon though, which felt good.
When we were talking about it over ice cream and beer in the Union yesterday, we’d suddenly agreed to do it all together. Els would still be around with no actual plans either and Tom, with his more-or-less flexible job, would like to spend another day with us girls from abroad. Geoff couldn’t make it, so after checking e-mail in the morning and feeding the ducks in his garden, I thanked him for letting me stay in his guestroom and went to find Els on Crossharbour station. We took a ride in the Mickey Mouse train again, to change it for three stops along the Central line to Holborn.
I had announced to my BBC contact person that Els was accompanying me, which turned out to be a good move. After officially checking in, we were allowed to pass security, followed by a lot of doors and hallways. You don’t get in there very easily – or out for that matter! But the people were very laidback and the interview was recorded before we knew it. The nice presenter complimented me with my ‘radio voice’ and excellent explaining skills, looking a bit surprised maybe, but it wasn’t the first time I was in a radio studio and it certainly wasn’t the first time I explained something. Anyway, we were escorted back to the entrance and headed for the Zoo – a ‘real’ Zoo.
Els (who I met through Galaxy Zoo) and I found a nice – organic – place in Regent’s Park to have lunch and waited for Tom (also a Galaxy Zooite) to join us. London Zoo is great – part of the entrance money supports the Zoological Society of London, a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. And it’s a nice visit too. After we thought we couldn’t figure out the map, we managed to see almost every beautiful creature on it for real anyway. I felt watching some of the animals was like looking in the mirror. There was this kind of monkey feeding its baby, watched by a mother on the other side of the fence giving hers a drink. And this park has some pretty signs with educational statements on them to think about too.
Els’ trip back started a little earlier than mine, leaving Tom and me to find some food at London Liverpool Street station again – my portal to England. We summarised the weekend and concluded we had a lot of fun – again. We called our other good friend Graham names for not showing up, although we knew he was feeling rotten about not being able to make it himself already anyway. Anyway, after kissing Tommy and London goodbye-for-now, I got my English book out of my backpack again on the train back to Harwich.
I was first in line to give my passport to the nice guy at the harbour border control, who started to ask questions like if I had a good time and what I did for a living. “Oh nice”, he continued, “my mother’s a teacher too – what do you teach?” I answered him, amused by his friendliness and kind of hoping he wasn’t interested because it’s in his job description, but rather had a genuine curiosity. I couldn’t ask him though; there were already people behind me waiting to go through. The ferry seemed to have had a metamorphose, but the Stenaline crew was horrible as usual. I decided to hold on to the carefree feeling though, had some fruit in the still familiar restaurant and after a look-around I quickly fell asleep in my cabin.
And even though my super-glued-together flip-flops had lasted all weekend, I didn’t take them to the beach after arriving at the Dutch harbour again. Instead I took the first train back, still feeling pleased, and read the last chapter of my book right before approaching Heerlen. Thanks all for a wonderful weekend!
The BBC World Service radio studios.
Isn’t nature just awesome? (Can you spot the little fella?)
Yours truly reading Pooh Bear’s story. (Pictures: Hanny van Arkel).
