It was one year ago today that I stepped foot on British soil for the first time in my life! It had been a life long dream to go to Great Britain and my excitement was truly palpable.
I was traveling with my two sisters, my sister-in-law and my 18 year old niece. The trip was a graduation gift for my niece.
We landed at London's Heathrow Airport at 7am (3am California time!). Our flight had been uneventful and luckily we had all been able to sleep because we had a busy day ahead of us.
We had all decided prior to our arrival that we would make our way to our rented apartment via the London Underground. We all felt this was the best way to get ourselves oriented with the Tube since it would be our primary mode of transportation while in London.
Our first ride on the Tube was memorable for many reasons! But I have to say my favorite was watching a young couple in an argument on the train. You may be wondering "Why on earth would an argument be her favorite memory?" And the answer is quite simple......it was literally the funniest thing ever!
So we arrive at a stop and the doors open, a young man mid-twenties, enters the train and tosses a large package containing a child's push toy into the corner. Just behind him a young woman, also mid-twenties, enters the train behind him pushing a young baby in a stroller. She stands to the opposite side of the train from the young man. We are sitting next to the young man and to the right of the young woman. At first we didn't know the two were even together, until after about 10 minutes on the train the young woman turns to the young man and say's in a very load voice with a very heavy British accent, "Fuck you, Charlie! Just fuck you!" The young man, Charlie, gave no acknowledgement of this comment. My travelling companions and I on the other hand had to carefully replace our bulging eyes and pretend as if we had heard nothing.
Few minutes later, the young woman once again turns her attention to Charlie. "I have to make dinner and wrap gifts, but fine Charlie, fuck you!" Again said in a load heavily accented British voice. Charlie once again gave no acknowledgement of this statement. At this point my traveling companions and I have deduced that this young woman is clearly not happy with Charlie for making her make dinner and wrap gifts.
After another few minutes, Charlie rises from his seat and walks over to the baby in the stroller, who is about a year old, and moves the stroller over next to the seat where he was sitting. Never acknowledging the young woman, who up until this time has been completely ignoring the babbling baby. In response to this move by Charlie, the young woman proceeds to Charlies seat and retrieves the stroller and returns it to her side, however this time faces the child away from Charlie. Upon this display of clear annoyance by the young woman in response to Charlies action, my traveling companions and I are beginning to find it hard not to laugh out right.
After a few minutes, Charlie rises again and this time removes the child from the stroller and returns to his seat with the child on his lap. Again never acknowledging the young woman. At this point my companions and I are eagerly anticipating the young woman's next move. After a few minutes we see her ruffle through the diaper bag hanging from the stroller and retrieves a bottle. With bottle in hand she moves towards Charlie's seat. The baby upon seeing the bottle immediately reaches for the bottle. As the young woman goes to remove the baby from Charlie's arms, Charlie snags the bottle from her hand and hands it to the baby. The young woman, clearly annoyed by her attempt to snag the child being spoiled by Charlie's quick action, returns to her spot on the opposite side of the train. "Fuck you, Charlie!" we hear once again, although quieter this time.
After a few more minutes, and a couple more stops, Charlie, baby in arms, package in hand exits the train followed by an annoyed young woman. Upon their exit my niece leans over to me and says in a British accent, "I wonder if Charlie bit her finger?" I nearly peed myself laughing!! If you have no idea why this comment is funny, go
here and you'll understand!!
After our encounter with Charlie, we made our way to check in at our rented apartment. After checking in we made our way to a local pub, name of which I can't recall, and my niece had her first legal beer ever!
After the pub, we made our way to our apartment and settled in for a few hours before making our way to the area of Whitechapel for an evening
Jack The Ripper walking tour. This tour was by far the best walking tour I've been on! Our tour guide,
Lindsey Siviter, was incredible and really knew her Jack the Ripper stuff! Anyone heading to London who has an interest in learning more about the story of Jack the Ripper, I highly recommend this tour group, and maybe you'll get lucky and have our same tour guide!
As Day One of our trip came to a close, we looked forward to the other adventures we would have as our trip continued...........
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