Sort out the best method of getting to Gatwick on Wednewday. Settle on train from London Bridge Station and buy the tickets. It means we can get the tube from Swiss Cottage without changing and has the advantage of no stairs at the other end. Pamphlets at the station explain the "fall leaf" timetaboles. Autumn leaves on the track are mulched into a slippery coating that forces the trains to slow slightly for safety. The same problem occurs (as the leaflet points out) in North America, but I'm quite sure Canadian trains don't adjust the timetable. They just unapologetically arrive late.
From Southwark we walk over to the Imperial War Museum. There's an exhibit on the Great War in honour of the 90th anniversary, complete with photographs of the three surviving British veterans, now aged 108, 110, and 112. It's a very moving exhibit - letters from the front, photographs, newspaper clippings. A letter fragment reads "I doo not want to die...If it be that I am to go, I am ready. But the thought that I may never see you or our darling bby again turns my bowels to water." There is a photograph of the little family and a note to say that the soldier, Captain Charlie May, did not survive. There are paintings too, including a large one by Stanley Spencer and a Roualt. There are letters and paintings representing the German side as well and a German bread ration book next to a photograph of malnourished children. Also the reminiscences of a soldier who said that, to the dismay of the officers, soldiers from both Allied and German forces joined in games of football on Christmas Day, between the trenches.
Meet with the other Canadians staying in a Welby bedsit for a drink. Their first choice pub is too full, but we find a quiet if unatmospheric hotel nearby. They're leaving London on the same day we are but already making plans for next time. We exchange experiences, tips and email addresses and Paul promises to give us his stash of brochures and leaflets for museums, free events, lectures, etc. It's too late to use most of them now, but the website addresses will be handy in the future.
JAWORSKI TRAVELS