1) My wakeup call at 5:15 AM gave me time to write my pages, shower, dress, and go to the dining room for breakfast. Disembarkation is always involved and a little fraught. I don’t know how the crew manage it.
2) Like embarkation, there are lots of lines involved. And they are full of confused people carrying far too much luggage. I overheard one man say “This is not well organized,” but the only people who didn’t know what to do were the passengers who did not read the instructions sent to them. Don’t blame Cunard, honey!
2a) One woman clearly thought she was too important to have to queue with everyone else, expressed in her voice, demeanor, and plastic surgery. A crew member firmly explained that she needed to get in the queue, and that was that.
2b) I was toting my laptop bag over one shoulder, my valise, and a suit bag — and there were moments when I didn’t think we’d ever get moving. But soon enough I was walking across the gangway, recycling my key cards, and finding my suitcases in Customs. My goodness, I was off the ship! Farewell, Queen Mary? I hope we meet again.
3) Departure for London was delayed because (I gather) one of the motorcoaches was delayed getting there from London. I was seated in an increasingly stuffy motorcoach, alternately reading Chasing Beauty and fanning myself like Sidney Greenstreet in Across the Pacific. Oh, did I mention I had on my seersucker suit? That’s where Sidney comes in. Daddy’s figure is getting a little bulky.
4) After about an hour, finalmente, we were off! This gray day brought out the green of Southampton’s parks as we drove by.
5) After . . . after forever, we were in London, and I was getting glimpses of the river and Mrs. Pankhurst’s house, and then recognizing Earl’s Court and parts of Kensington (where I had stayed in 2023). And then it felt like we circled Victoria Bus Station for ten minutes until at last, we pulled into the terminal. I was seated near the back, and I let everyone go ahead of me so I could wrestle my book into my valise.
6) London’s weather was hot and steamy as late spring can be. Several of us stood with our piles of luggage at the taxi stand, wondering how much the traffic up the street was keeping taxis from getting to us. One gent was asking me about books I’d referred to on board; it made me realize how much in the past the crossing already was.
7) After about ten minutes, a taxi showed up for me, and I wrestled my bags into it. And off we went through a busy international city. The cabbie and I had some good talk about all sorts of things for the first half. After awhile, all the twisting and turning was starting to frustrate me. Just when I thought I would snap, there at last was my hotel.
8) My room was ready — just about as tiny as my room at the Jane, but with a full-size bed surrounded on 3.5 sides by wall. At least all my bags fit in here! Out the window is a view of an old-fashioned slate roof with the Union Jack fluttering away at left; it makes me think happily of The Scarlet Pimpernel with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon.
9) After I got settled and zonked out for a couple hours, I had to sally forth in search of some dinner. Setting off with some vague ideas from ye Gyygle, after a couple blocks I let out a little squeal when I realized I was walking by the Warburg Institute! “Now Robert,” you are probably saying to yourself, “what the hell is that, and why would you care?” A research library established by one of the Warburg shipping family in Hamburg, it was spirited out of Germany in only six months in 1934, and completely reestablished here in London. I read about it in The Exiles, and it’s a gripping tale.
I can just hear Dame Sybil Thorndike in Stage Fright saying “You know, the Ah Wray Dee Ay.” ❤️
9a) Not too long after, I squealed again to recognize the façade of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts — where a scene was filmed in Hitchcock’s Stage Fright!
10) I never did find the Italian restaurant I set out to find, but I found The Spaghetti Club (?) (no, not the chain with a similar name), which was fine. When you order what you think is pasta and end up getting a pizza, you eat the pizza and resolve to look at the menu more closely next time.
11) Somehow I ended up at Kings Cross station trying to make it back to my hotel. Beforehand I noticed homeless people sleeping in pup tents in front of very swish interior design showrooms.
12) So, Stage One of this summer adventure is now complete. Stage Two includes London, Coventry, Scrivelsby, and Manchester. Stage Three will be a further week in London. And after that . . . I have yet to determine.