Today marks my last day in the metropolis before returning back to the relative quiet of Marlow. Travelling back and forth, and spending each day among the millions has been fun, but I am also looking forward to a return to normality. The peace and quiet of the towns along the Thames through Buckinghamshire feels homely in much the same way that Tolkein described “The Shire” (except of course, Tolkein was writing about Oxfordshire).
Today is Friday, and I have noticed a change in London and it’s people. Everybody is more relaxed. Nobody is rushing quite so much. I actually managed to get a seat on the train this morning - which probably had more to do with no obvious fires / explosions / breakdowns / acts of god (insert as appropriate) than absence of busy / rude / ignorantpeople, but it was still unusual to find I could sit down for my half lap of London on the underground.
The calm has pervaded to the offices of the company I am working - whereas the staff were busy, stressed and focussed throughout the first part of the week, they are now chatty, telling jokes, and easily distracted.
Perhaps it’s just “Friday” ?
For lunch I wandered down to Bishopsgate and bought a sandwich from Pret a Manger - while on my way back I looked in at several bars and restaurants to see people in suits clustered around tables, laughing and joking - takingthe beginnings of along lunch, and relaxing. I was envious.
I walked back to my temporary residence (a beige desk on the ground floor of a mirrored building in a back street), and sat eating my sandwich on my own. In a few minutes time I’ll be expected to get on with my work.
It’s a strange thought - among all of these millions of people, I am alone. I will leave this evening and make the train journey home without speaking to any of the hundreds of people on the trains, and arrive in my home town too late to go to any of the fireworks celebrations (tonight is “Guy Fawks” night in the UK).