Had a pleasant day in London yesterday. Lunch with a friend, dinner with a son, visited favourite picture in the National Gallery. I saw an oriental man trying to eat soup with a knife and fork ( it was chicken and mushroom. It was labelled as such. But he picked out all the mushroom). I left my umbrella in John Lewis. Got wet. Saw lots of policemen with guns. "Are those real?" husband asked. "No we got them in a cracker," one of them chortled. Well, he asked for that.
Travelled in the Quiet Carriage. I love the Quiet Carriage. Very peaceful, but everyone ready to pounce if there is a whisper of mobile phone or text. I love it when that happens; the sudden cocking of ears, newspapers put down, rolling eyes and Looks exchanged. Then - POW! Someone takes the initiative and tiptoes up to the culprit with the chilling words:,"do you realise that this is the "Quiet Carriage?" Then the breathless wait for the response. And the rest of us all feeling/looking sooooo smug.
It didn't happen yesterday.
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Fascinating overview of your jaunt to London, Frances! Shame about the guns. Friend and I travelled back from the RNA conference in the Quiet Carriage - but we did talk a lot (not too loudly)!
ReplyDeleteYou're allowed to talk, Rosemary!
DeleteSounds like a great day- loved the policeman's quip!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of The Quiet Carriage - it sounds like a good title for a story :-) x
Teresa, you haven't lived! The carriage is phone-free and very subdued, and you can read in peace. Only downside is its usually miles away at the back of the train. Don't all trains have them now?
DeleteOh! I love the idea of a quiet carriage! No obnoxious cell phones. I was recently at a concert and people all around me were on their cell phones and texting, but they won't let us bring in a bottle of water. Guns everywhere. Sounds like America.
ReplyDeleteIt did look a bit like America. All because of the
DeleteOlympics, I guess. Everyone's Olympic mad at the moment. (Everyone but me...)
No. I'm totally apathetic about them.
DeleteDoes the 'Quiet Carriage' ban headphones? I can cope with cellphones just as easily as conversations of which I can hear both sides but I do find headphones beating out heavy metal or whatever a trifle irritating.
ReplyDeleteI find people always seem to speak twice as loudly on mobiles. No idea why.
DeleteI have to admit that some people I know speak very loudly on mobiles - but they also speak very loudly on their ordinary phones. I once had a colleague who could be heard offices away. It's just that people don't have their 'ordinary' phones on the train.
DeleteThey do offer Quiet Carriages on the Deutsche Bahn, too, but I don't think I've ever travelled in one. Sounds good, though!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your favourite picture in the National Portrait Gallery?
Christ before the High Priest, by Honthorst. It's a stunning picture. Do Google it. We sit and look at it for hours (it's huge).
DeleteOh, that was my question too, Meike! Please tell us your favorite in the National Gallery!
ReplyDelete(And I am happy to know that he means like a prize in a Christmas cracker, most Americans don't know "cracker" in that sense.)
Kay, what on earth is an American cracker??
ReplyDeleteHa! The policeman was referring to Cracker Jacks, Frances. It's caramel coated popcorn with peanuts that comes in a box. Inside the box is a toy prize. I'm a yank.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that, Em-Musing. I'm surprised the US allow them, since they arrest people carrying Kinder Eggs!
DeleteWhat an interesting day and an informative post.
ReplyDeleteHadn't heard of the The Quiet Carriage - don't travel by train much - but sounds a sensible and welcome idea.
Googled the painting - wonderful!
Anna :o]
Anna, the quiet carriage is the best innovation since.....I don't like sliced bread, but you get the idea. And that painting...so glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteYou have made me nostalgic for London. We lived there for a while but haven't been back for ages. Probably wouldn't recognise some of it. Never heard of The Quiet Carriage - what a good idea.
ReplyDeleteLondon never seems to change much, Maggie, but at the moment it's swamped by Olympic tat!
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