Today we took the train to Greenwich, which is the town where Rick stayed in a Hostel when he first arrived in the UK. We heard that there was a great market there, Greenwich Park, the Nautical Museum and, more importantly the Prime Meridian. Rick really wanted to stand on 0 longitude and have his picture taken. Greenwich is a lovely town and it was nice to stroll along the streets and check out the various shops, pubs, and restaurants. We chose a Mexican food restaurant, of all things, to have our lunch. The food was terrific and the sangria filled our bellies for another day of walking. I was optimistic that is wouldn’t be nearly as much travelling on foot as it had been for our tour of London and I prayed to God not at all like our excursion to Bluewater.
In order to reach the area where the Prime Meridian is located, we had to trek through Greenwich Park and up this steep path about 1,500 feet long. I felt sorry for the older folks trying to make their way as even for the three of us that are all in reasonably good shape, it was a workout. As I huffed and puffed up the path, I asked Rick if he thought that people had died of a heart attack trying to get to the top. He agreed that there probably had been a few. Once up there, it was worth the effort as we got a spectacular view of Greenwich, the harbour, and Canary Wharf (the business district in London). Rick stopped in the souvenir shop and picked up a t-shirt and then we waited our turn as so many other tourists snapped photos of friends and family standing on the world renowned site. Chan seemed to be fixated on a Tragically Hip song and wondered where 100 Meridian would be. Neither of us had an answer for him but I think it was more because Rick was so thrilled to be at 0 and wasn’t in the frame of mind to consider 100.
After the photo op, we found another gift shop (probably why all those seniors were almost killing themselves to get up that hill) and Rick got the perfect Science teacher tie with stars and constellations on it. But what made me the most happy was the collection of Dr. Who memorabilia and I couldn’t resist picking something up. Chan got a Dalek poster and I settled on four buttons with different shots from Dr. Who. My favourite was the one with just David Tennant, the actor who currently plays the Doctor. I told the guys that David is most definitely on my “what’s hot” list as I pinned the button on to my right lapel. I thought about starting a collection of crime fighters since I also love Yannick Bisson, the Canadian actor, who plays the lead character of a detective from the late 1800’s, called “Murdoch Mysteries”. The Doctor fights crimes of time and space and Murdoch, those of the past. Chan asked if I had a present day favourite. Nothing came to mind. Well, dry wall guy did but...okay never mind.
When our touring of Greenwich was over and we were on the crowded and noisy train back to Dartford, a group of what I thought were police officers boarded at one of the stops. I had also seen other officers perusing the platform back in Greenwich, and I wondered if they were looking for someone in particular. I kept turning around to see what they were doing as I was hoping to catch them taking someone down and some exciting scene suddenly evolved so I could have a present day crime fighter button. As the train emptied out with each subsequent stop, I was able to change my seat so that I was looking in the direction of where the law makers were standing.
As I shifted in my seat, Rick looked at the guy now sitting next to me (this broad bald fellow who was quietly listening to his MP3) and tapped his nose and mouthed the word, “Nosey”. The big bear of a man laughed then removed his ear buds and explained that they were simply transit officers just doing standard checks. It turns out that he was a Southeastern employee just finishing his shift. Rick saw his ID badge, gestured to him in a steering motion like a five year old boy playing car, and yelled, “Do you drive the train?” I imitated Rick and said sarcastically, “Yeah, Rick, he drives the train.” No, the man said, clearly amused by our antics at this point, he was a shift supervisor.
So I told the guy that I wasn’t being nosey, that I am a writer and I am always looking for a good story. Not only that, but we have to find ways to entertain ourselves since we don’t even own a television. We can’t watch Dr. Who, I explained. I talked about my “what’s hot and what’s not list”, and I pointed to my new button just above my right breast. Rick craned his neck forward as if to get a better look and said, “Oh, that episode’s a rerun anyway. I’ve seen that one before.” After several swats to my moron husband’s shoulder, a good laugh from the man, he pulled out his cell phone to show me something. He said that his son had downloaded this for him. He played the opening theme for Doctor Who and the Dalek saying “Exterminate” for me and then he got off at his stop.
So what I really need to know now is do shift supervisor’s fight crimes?
