texans on the autobahn

Watch out while in the streets of London!

Going to London has always been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember, and this past weekend, I finally got that chance. We took this trip with our great friends Tom, Vera and their son David. Tom has a good friend in London, Sebastian, who is a huge Gooner (name of Arsenal crazies) and he helped secure 6 tickets so that he could join the Haines boys and the Glagow boys. Now to secure this number of tickets was a major feat as most games, including this one, are sold out and generally tickets go only one at a time to members of the fan club. However, it’s all in who you know. Sebastian had a friend who had a green grocer who knew a guy who worked in the ticket office for Arsenal, so there you go, we ended up with 6 tickets. Four of the seats were together and 2 others were in the same vicinity. A true English miracle. So, our trip to London was set. We decided to have the boys skip school on Friday and we took an early flight to London so that we could squeeze in a few things, one of which was to shop at The Gap! We stayed at a hotel near Hyde Park and about 4 kilometers up the road was The Gap – it was a small shop, but none the less The Gap! We shopped to the tune of too much money to say, and somehow it was Joe who got the most. Now Robin would say that maybe I didn’t get that much, but mine cost more..

After a visit to the London Eye, the adults ate at the Bombay Brassirie which was recommended to us by our neighbors. The food was really good but quite spicy as Indian food is. Tom decided to order the same dish but he asked for the dish to be made “extra” spicy. Later in the evening, Tom was having difficulty with the spice level and was turning red in the face and sweating a bit, but he loved it. We ended the evening with plans to meet for breakfast and head out for a bit of sightseeing before all the boys headed off for the Arsenal game. Little did I know what lay ahead for me in the streets of London. .. .

After eating breakfast and watching Joe experience the traditional English “beans on toast” which is basically pork and beans served on bread that has been fried in ham fat (oh my god, a heart attack on a plate and totally disgusting looking to me), we headed out to walk to the nearest Underground tube station to catch a train to Piccadilly circus. Now, one thing that we all know about London is that they drive on the opposite side of the road from America, Germany and most countries in the world. So it is incredibly important to be careful when crossing the street. We are used to looking left then right but in England you must look right then left or you’ll surely have the chance to be hit by a car when you step out into the street.

We had reached a cross walk where we needed to cross to get to the Underground. As there were 7 of us, it was a bit of a crowd, and as I can’t walk as fast as my German friends, I was at the back of the pack with Joe. When you cross the street in London, you cross half way then stop, wait for another light then cross the rest of the way. So . . .Joe and I followed the pack through the first half of the cross walk when suddenly I heard a car honking it’s horn. I turned my head left to see the car then gun his engine and head straight towards me and Joe. I turned to grab Joe who was right behind me and basically threw him the rest of the way out of the street, dropping my tourist book and reinjuring my knee that I had injured three years ago playing indoor soccer. We suspect that maybe the driver was in a bit of a hurry or had run a red light as there were no other cars with this one. When I begin to tell my story to people the first thing they assume however is that I didn’t look the right direction before crossing the street, but that isn’t what happened.

As the pack of 7 of us stood at the midway of the street crossing, I realized I had hurt myself to the extent that I couldn’t walk. My dear friend Vera knew something was wrong as all the men and boys just sort of looked at me with their mouths open not knowing what to do. Vera apparently told them to help me get across the street, which is where I fell apart because I knew I was in trouble with my knee. We found a place to sit at a café and next to a drug store where they got me an ice pack. Vera and I had a cappuccino while the men went on a search to another drug store to see if they had crutches, to no avail. So, we hailed a cab and headed back to the hotel where they provided my with 1 crutch, the other was broken, and a wheel chair. My knee was in such bad shape that a single crutch was virtually useless.

Here I was in a place I had dreamed of visiting and now I was going to have trouble doing anything at all. I stayed in the hotel with ice on my knee for a few hours while the boys headed off to the game. After a few hours I told Vera we had to go shopping at this one store, called Next, because I had been wanting to do this most of all. We took a taxi and the wheelchair and headed off. It was difficult shopping in a wheelchair but I managed to spend some money. However, I never realized I might have to try to defend a young girl in the process. While waiting to try on clothes I was talking to a young lady working the dressing room. She was very nice, and obviously it was a chance for me to speak to someone in public and have a great conversation in English. However during this time, a thug came in and started harassing her. She did her best to be pleasant but he was being incredibly aggressive after she had told him several times, no, you can’t have my phone number, no, I can’t help you but I can have someone else, etc, etc. Finally it became too much and from my wheelchair I told him to leave her alone or I’d call the police. Not that I knew how to call the police in London, but I said it nonetheless. After a few ugly comments from him the store managed to FINALLY remove him. The young lady was very thankful. . .I was having some interesting experiences in this city I had wanted to visit for so long.

After shopping Vera and I headed to a tour bus for a ride around London to see the major sights. We later met all the boys back at the hotel and left again to see the show “We Will Rock You” a musical using music from the group Queen. As I was still in a wheelchair, I received special treatment, having to use a special lift to get up and down the stairs. It was a great show and getting to sing along with We are the Champions and Bohemian Rhaposody helped to minimize my pain somewhat.

On Sunday we took the bus tour again with all the boys. London is really a beautiful city, but a lot like New York City in that it is very crowded in the heart of the city and quite expensive. We paid 20 pounds for 4 bagel sandwiches, 2 bags of chips and 4 soft drinks which is equivalent to about $40. Soon we had to head back to go to the airport where I was picked up in a wheelchair and taken to a special check in area, then changed to a different wheelchair, and taken to a special waiting room, then picked up again and wheeled to the gate. Upon arriving in Munich I was met with another wheelchair. It was good to be back but I was not looking forward to climbing all the flights of stairs in our house.

So although my first trip to London was not all that I wanted it to be, I plan to return. We are talking about going next summer and letting Sam and Joe go to Arsenal soccer camp while Robin and I tour London. And as we had planned a quick trip to Berlin this coming week, we have had to cancel it because of my injury.

posted by stuckinthemiddle @ 3:59 PM