Earlier this year I left Orkney to return to London – but only for a few days. I spent 24 years of my life living and working in the UK’s capital and, according to Mrs Brown (Kathie Touin), this was my first visit since 2014. I went on my own as Kathie was looking after our elderly pooch, Roscoe.
As you might imagine, London is quite a contrast to Orkney: busy, noisy, lots of people, buses, underground (and overground) trains, endless restaurants and bars, so many shops. Well, you know how it is.
I also spent time in the south of England beyond London, specifically the town of Horsham in West Sussex and the village of Headley in Hampshire.
To start with a conclusion… Would I move back to England? Well, I have no plans to leave Orkney but if I was forced to return I would, perhaps surprisingly, prefer London to “rural” England. The appeal of jumping on-and-off frequent buses and underground trains in London for free (I would be old enough to qualify for free travel if I was resident) would beat driving on the crowded roads of the south of England, which I did not particularly enjoy.
Anyway, about my trip. Fear not, this is not a day-to-day, blow-by-blow account, but some highlights and impressions…
The gentleman on the bus
For the London part of my trip I stayed with friends, first in Ealing (my old home patch) and then in North Finchley. To get from one to the other, with a suitcase, it was easier to get the tube to Victoria, then take a number 13 bus along the entire length of its route to its terminus at North Finchley bus station. The bus ride was about 80 minutes long, past many famous spots in central London and then the sights and sounds of a busy Saturday in the suburbs.
The double-decker bus had a luggage rack at the front where I put my suitcase. I wanted to keep an eye on my belongings so sat immediately behind the rack in seats meant for the elderly and less able. I decided I could move if necessary.
As the journey progressed a handful of older folk got on, sat next to me, travelled a few stops, then got off, as well as a young woman who waved a cheery “bye” when she got off.
Then, in Golders Green, an elderly but sprightly man with a walking stick got on and asked if he could sit next to me. As the bus set off he spotted the case and asked if I had been on my holidays. No, I explained, I am on holiday. We chatted about this and that, about how he used to live in east London, how he used to love holidays in his caravan, about my career and home in Orkney.
When I mentioned that, before moving to London and the BBC, I worked as a journalist he said that he had been interviewed by a journalist. I asked him why and he said: “I’m a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor.” What can you say in reply? I think I blurted something about him looking much younger, which he did.
In the short part of the journey left to us before he got off I discovered that he had spent the early part of his life in Hungary before being taken to Auschwitz. The interview with a journalist came about because he wrote a book to record his experiences so they could be handed down to his family.
He was a lovely, apparently cheerful, man who did not exhibit any anger or bitterness but a smile and friendship.
Fortunately he mentioned the name of the journalist who interviewed him – Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian – so I was able to look for the article, which was published shortly after my return home…
I have since bought and read the gentleman’s book, “Chicken Soup Under The Tree” by Ivor Perl, and it is a remarkable story. He came from a family of 11, only Ivor and his older brother Alec survived the war. I would recommend his book as a wonderful example of humanity over horror.
Foxed by the wildlife
Orkney is more than 500 miles from London as the crow flies, though it might not choose such a long journey, and more than 700 miles by car. This distance, and the Pentland Firth between Orkney and mainland Scotland, means our wildlife is different.
So it was good to see two familiar distinctive species in London that you would never see in Orkney: a fox, when walking back from the tube station in Ealing one night; and several examples in Ealing’s extensive parks of ring-necked parakeets, noisy and colourful birds that have made a home in England. I also spotted magpies, very rarely seen in Orkney, such attractive and intelligent birds.
Sound effects
During my stay in Ealing I found myself singing “(Remember the Days of the) Old Schoolyard”, a hit record for Cat Stevens in 1977. It is curious how certain songs seem to pop (no pun intended) into one’s head.
After a day or two the penny dropped. My bedroom overlooked trees and a footpath, beyond which but out of sight was a schoolyard. The sound of the children playing was reminiscent of the sound effects used on the record. That was why I was singing the song.
Speaking of music
The original reason for my trip was to go to a concert. For many years I have enjoyed the songs of Gretchen Peters and I have seen her play live on numerous occasions.
But Gretchen, and her husband and pianist Barry Walsh, announced that they were going to stop touring. They will still make occasional live appearances but no longer undertake long and exhausting tours.
And so it was that I went to see the final date of their final tour at a venue that was new to me, Cadogan Hall, off London’s Sloane Square.
The concert was full of Gretchen’s wonderful songs, she has such an amazing catalogue, and it was beautifully performed by Gretchen, Barry and their small band. The review by Helen Pocock captures the event well.
If you don’t know Gretchen’s music do seek her out. The review above was published on a country music website and I know this might put off some folk. To be honest, I wouldn’t put Gretchen into the country category, or any other for that matter. Perhaps Americana if you insist.
And, yes, one of the songs mentioned in the review, Five Minutes, is essential to Gretchen’s fans. It tells the story of an ordinary woman’s life, and how it didn’t quite work out, in the most moving way. Take a look at the lyrics and listen…
https://gretchenpeters.bandcamp.com/track/five-minutes-2
Gretchen and her husband Barry have always been very good at communicating with fans via social media or, when the opportunity arises, in the bar after concerts.
Nevertheless I was surprised, and delighted, to receive a message on the day of the concert from Barry to say stick around afterwards as he hoped to get a few folk backstage.
So, as promised after the show, my friend and I were whisked up some steps to the side of the stage by Barry and into the depths of the theatre to a small reception room. I got the impression that many of us invited had travelled some distance to the gig.
Barry was very much the host, laughing and chatting, whereas Gretchen at the end of an emotional tour looked happy but exhausted. I spent a few minutes talking to, and thanking, them before leaving them to unwind.
Among the other guests behind the scenes, and looking suitably glamorous, was the actor and singer Elizabeth McGovern, better known to many as Cora, Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey.
My old office
When I lived in London I worked for the BBC in various locations but mostly in Shepherd’s Bush at Television Centre, which you may have seen on TV, a 1960s building with a bowed frontage. Our office was on the second floor and right at the front of the building, looking out over Wood Lane.
Television Centre still has BBC premises at one end, and TV studios at the back, but much of it has been redeveloped, to create commercial offices and, including my former office, expensive apartments. The old reception area is now the entrance to these homes where there is a 24-hour concierge service. Other facilities include a private members gym, swimming pool and screening room.
I ventured into reception with my friend, an ex-BBC colleague, who had the bright idea of telling the receptionist that between us we had worked nearly 50 years at the BBC. So we were humoured while we asked questions and took photographs (as long as we avoided the residents).
Afterwards we had a coffee in one of the cafes on the site. Outside, in the old horseshoe car park at the front of the building, people were lounging in deckchairs. It was very surreal but I rather liked how the building has been developed and given new life.
A search online shows prices from £625,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to £1.6million for a three-bedroom with a parking space.
Incidentally, I also went further back in Beeb-time by stopping at Savoy Hill, off The Strand in London, home of the BBC from 1923 to 1932, somewhere I had never visited before.
All aboard!
I love a steam train so I took the opportunity for a day on the wonderful Bluebell Railway in Sussex. It was the first standard-gauge preserved steam railway in Britain, opening in 1960, and its 11-mile countryside route has atmospheric period stations which have featured in many TV and film dramas. Like all steam, or heritage, railways it is largely run by volunteers.
The locomotive I travelled behind was almost new when the Bluebell Railway opened. For those of us who like this sort of thing, it was a British Railways Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4T, number 80151. Appropriately, like me, it was built in 1957 (at Brighton, in the case of the engine). This was the time of British Railways’ final flurry of steam locomotive building before the engines were hurriedly scrapped in favour of diesels, or electrics, and 80151 was withdrawn from service in 1967. Happily it has found a new life in its retirement home.
I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the Bluebell Railway though it is not cheap – they have considerable running costs – so arrive early and take advantage of your ticket which allows you to travel up and down all day.
Old friends
There were many other highlights in my trip including …
Long walks in the English countryside with my aunt and uncle, who live around the corner from Headley Grange, a former workhouse where Led Zeppelin rehearsed and recorded;
Marvelling at the beautiful art in London galleries, on this trip the famous National Gallery in Trafalgar Square and the fabulous Wallace Collection in Manchester Square;
Enjoying the history and nature in Highgate Cemetery, now given peaceful beauty by the trees that have grown around the graves and monuments since Victorian times – so many famous people are buried and remembered there, notably Karl Marx, as well as more recent losses such as George Michael, Douglas Adams, Malcolm McLaren and Alexander Litvinenko.
But the highlight of my trip was the people, notably the gentleman on the bus, Gretchen and Barry, my relatives, and those whose names and photographs do not appear in this blog – my friends who I stayed with, or met for meals and drinks. Old friends, good friends, people who I have not seen for years in some cases, but who I am immediately at ease with as if we only saw each other the day before.
I am reminded of the Paul Simon song, performed by Simon & Garfunkel, Old Friends, which has the lyric:
“Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be 70.”
For some of us that day is not so far away. Thank you everyone for a marvellous trip.
Finally, at a time of fear and uncertainty for many in the world, some lines I read on a monument at Highgate Cemetery:
“Behold I know not anything
I only hope that good may fall
At last, far off, at last for all
And every winter change to spring.”
Graham Brown
To find out more
There are more photographs of my adventures on my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/grahambrownorkney/
Graham Brown Orkney 