Post card from London Xmas 2011

Westfield shopping centre, London

After 2002, the year my husband passed away, I find myself searching for a novel way of avoiding the great Xmas festive season which falls upon me like a ton of bricks; it is there whether I like it or not or whether I am Christian or not! Here is what I had to say to a friend of mine when I went to London for Xmas break in 2011:

24^th Dec. 2011 … I arrived at Marble Arch and headed towards Brick Lane to meet up with a friend who just arrived from Bangladesh, the roads were almost empty and underground bare, a bit scary to be in almost empty underground tube stations!! Brick Lane was full of Bangladeshi life, mostly men and it almost felt like being in Dhaka. When I arrived at my friend’s work place she was mopping the floor and had tears in her eyes. She came from a very wealthy family with servants and wondered how long she will last in England?

On Xmas day the first two people I bumped into, outside my hotel was a tramp (a bit scary!) and a lone man on a bench with his belongings and a radio to keep him company. There was very little sign of life in and around Regent’s Park where I was based which meant I could have the whole park to myself and rediscover my old haunts surroundings the park. The Lord’s Cricket ground, London Zoo, Muslim Mosque and little Catholic Church for the Xmas mass.

Boxing Day the sales started and the underground tubes went on strike too, thus adding to the chaos on the streets of London with rickshaw wallas to help ease the transport problems. I found way to the Covent Garden in the afternoon, enjoying the live street entertainment and two opera singers, thus avoiding sales and shops and spending my hard earned cash. I found myself caught in the traffic jam caused by stabbing of a young black man on Oxford Street, yes London is no longer the way it use to be when we were here many moons ago! In the evening I went to see Mamma Mai at Prince of Wales and the theatre was full of tourists and I wondered if they understood the show.

Boxing Day also included a visit to the London Eye, beautiful views from the air, cruising the Thames gave insight into the history from the river and all this enjoyment with lots of foreigners made me feel very much a tourist. Westfield Shopping complex near the Olympic village and it is the largest in Europe and fun to be there if I had wallet full of money and love retail therapy. I don’t.

Nearly all London for me this time around was full of nostalgia but next time I visit the great city I shall avoid the tourist spots and pretend to be one of the local and avoid Xmas break!