David writes…
Just another day (Dec. 10,
2017) on the bridge of GSLW (the Good Ship London Walks).
08:00 Harry rings. He sent his text at 6.48 am. It read:
“We’re snowed in here [he lives deep in the countryside – has over an hour’s
drive to get to London]. Our road is blocked as it looks like it’s been snowing
for hours. I’ll not be able to make my tours [Old Jewish Quarter at 10.15 am
and the Unknown East End at 2 pm] today. Sorry for the short notice. Will call
later. Harry.”
ACTION STATIONS.
OJQ – which is on the launch
pad and the countdown as begun (it starts in 135 minutes) – gets top priority.
It’s pde (pretty damn early)
Sunday morning but The Boss – the little English rose, the world’s greatest
organiser-cum-multitasker aka Mary aka “Poppins” (she’s “practically perfect”)
– gets phone bashing. London Walks guides get rung.
Hit a wall – then catch a
break.
The wall – none of the half
dozen or so London Walks guides who do the Old Jewish Quarter walk – can come to
the rescue.
The break – the wonderful
Richard Burnip – who also lives way out in the country – is doing the Dickens’
Christmas Carol and Seasonal Traditions walk. Like the Old Jewish Quarter walk
it starts at Tower Hill Tube, but half an hour later, 10.45 am. The Sunday
morning Old Jewish Quarter Walk starts at 10.15 am. (Forgive me, it’s a bit of
operational Royal Navy procedure that London Walks embraced a long time ago –
repeating orders back – just to make sure that the order, the information was well-received.)
Richard Burnip – is it any wonder he’s the star he is? – set out before 6 am
this morning to make sure he could get to his 10.45 am Christmas Carol walk.
Richard says he’ll make sure he’s at Tower Hill Tube a few minutes before 10.15
am to try to make the emergency landing an easy safe landing for anybody who
turns up for the guide-less OJQ walk.
My (David’s) Action Station
is to haste post haste get the info up on www.walks.com
that we won’t be able to run the OJQ walk this morning but there will be a
guide there to look after you and if you want you could go for a coffee and go
on his, Richard’s Christmas Carol walk at 10.45 am. Or indeed the Tower of
London Walk, which goes at 11 am from the same station.
That hole in the hull sealed
and the pumps expelling the bad stuff Captain Mary moves on to the next “taking
on water’ part of the GSLW, Harry’s afternoon walk.
That gets fixed immediately.
Steve will cover it.
The red Emergency Phone rings
again. It’s Molly. She’s not going to be able to get to her Ripper Walk
tonight.
Organising – effortlessly,
gracefully, it’s like watching this former ballet dancer do an en chainment –
Poppins backburners the Molly emergency – that’s hours in the future (7.30 pm)
– and gets straight to work on No. 3 Cargo Hold, which has also been holed.
I.E., BB Steve (Blue Badge Steve) has just rung in to say the bus he’s on has
broken down and he’s going to be late to his Introduction to London Walk. In
the way of these things, BB Steve’s call comes in two minutes after a group of
ten has rung in to say “we’re a group of ten and we just wanted to let you know
that we’re going on the Introduction to London walk.
Mary rings Steve back,
“Steve, there’s a group of ten going on the walk this morning now – I’ve got a
contact number, which is priceless in the circumstances – it’s important that
you give me frequent and regular updates so I can keep them posted.”
Steve: “a friend of mine is
going on the walk, she’ll be there.”
Mary: “give me her number.”
When the crunch comes the
friend says, “I’m not a guide but maybe I could start the walk – do what I can
– while Steve’s getting here.”
Mary: “no, take them into the
pub – Steve’s probably going to be 45 minutes late. A ‘sort of walk’ in the
cold for 45 minutes with him trying to catch you up isn’t a good idea.”
45 minutes later Steve rings.
“It worked a treat. Got them. We’re underway. They’re very happy. Couldn’t have
worked better.”
So: No. 3 Cargo Hold sorted.
[And where am I in all of
this? Having got the Jewish Quarter Walk Announcement up on www.walks.com I’m hoofing it to Hampstead for my 10 am Old
Hampstead Village walk. Getting there was a saga in itself. Made it with five
minutes to spare. No walkers. Waited 35 minutes because there were severe
delays on the Northern Line. Then walked home. A fair old bit of to-ing and
fro-ing – lots of trek – but I got some great photographs, overheard a
priceless moment (a mum saying to her three-year-old “Snowmen don’t feel the
cold”) and loved every moment of it. And you know something – was supremely
confident that whatever it would take Mary would find a way of bringing it
about. Making it happen. Fixing it. Making it all ok.]
Which she did. Got Andy to do
Molly’s Ripper walk.
So every single below the
water line fixed. Water pumped out. GSLW completely shipshape.
I got back about 12.20 pm.
Mary on the phone.
ME: “What are you doing now?”
MARY: “Trying to sort out
Japan.”
[Author’s note aka explication
after the exclamation: we’re going in January.]
MARY: “Sorted.”
A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
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