PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday 19 January 2012

Elaine does things which would have shocked her mother

Part II of Hijacked at Florence Airport

George and I were delighted to finally arrived at Gatwick, albeit 4 hours late..
so it was 2am by the time we arrived at Kings Cross Main Line Station;  the place was deserted, dark, and locked.  Metal gates barred our way, we wouldn't be going anywhere quickly.


We were treated to barely disguised sniggers and told there was nothing available when we tried to book into a nearby hotel for a couple of hours...I am a bit slow on the uptake, but it dawned upon me that they thought we wanted the room for just a couple of hours of fun.  At first I was cross - but then I had to laugh.     


We laughed  all the way back to the station entrance where we found a couple of other people waiting for the station to open its doors; we still had the best part of 3 hours to wait!


Grateful to have a patch of concrete to sit on and hoping that the patrolling police wouldn't move us on, we settled down.       Suddenly the place filled up with lots of noisy people wearing strange black clothing,  white makeup, weird hair-do's, lots of uncomfortable looking piercings  ...  Goths!
Borrowed image
They looked weird, they looked dangerous and my anxiety levels were high as they plonked themselves down on the ground with us but they turned out to be extremely friendly young people and we had a fantastic time chatting with them.


They had been to a Goth concert and were all beautifully turned out in full regalia. 


Yet again I had been guilty of judging a book by its cover.   
borrowed image
I was tired and all I wanted to do was sleep - but my head was teeming with the things that had happened in the last 12 hours - what amounted to a hijack at the airport, the debacle at the hotel, sitting out on the streets of London through the night - or sleeping rough as I prefer to think of it!


Finally the gates clanked open and we hobbled in to begin the four hour journey home.  


Home Sweet Home.  


I suppose I have led a very sheltered life, but I quite enjoyed that night - retrospectively.  


It makes me think that I have lived a little!!
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10 comments:

  1. John Going Gently19 January 2012 at 20:45

    well that title caught my attention...
    I was going to post as a reply to it
    "mucky cow!"

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  2. Ms Sparrow19 January 2012 at 22:21

    You had to sit in the street!? With all you went through, I would say you're one plucky gal!

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  3. Joanne Noragon20 January 2012 at 00:16

    What a great adventure--retrospectively.

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  4. Meggie20 January 2012 at 02:23

    Remember what Dorothy said in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz..."There's no place like home".

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  5. The Owl Wood20 January 2012 at 08:14

    Faced with t'choice of sitting on an empty street or burying myself in Goths I'd choose the Goths any day!

    You should have taken a lead from the Sicilians, hijacked the Heathrow flight and demanded that it land you at Number 23 Abercrombie Crescent, Lincolnshire - and please to land quietly, the chickens will be asleep.

    From my position as "relative" let me assure your readers that you have done many things Mother would have been shocked by, all of which she would have been proud of. You have lived!

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  6. Chris20 January 2012 at 09:09

    I've known some pretty scary looking 'Goths' in my time too Elaine and you're right, they are actually just nice folk wanting to be different and do thier thing in peace.

    OW please elaborate LOL...

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  7. Elaine20 January 2012 at 13:23

    John, It's always interesting to see how the number of page views leap when I use a slightly risqué title!

    Ms Sparrow, To be fair, compared to what so many people go through it was nothing. However, at the time it just seemed the last straw to be marooned in the capital city and unable to go anywhere!

    Joanne, It was a really interesting experience - I'd be happy to do the trip again, without all the added extras though!

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  8. Elaine20 January 2012 at 13:39

    Meggie, Home is a haven and we really appreciated it that day when we got in and could have a decent cup of tea(!), a hot bath, and began to relax.

    Owl, Being 'hijacked', spending the night with Goths out on the streets of London is probably as exciting as I need it to be - certainly as far as Blogland goes!! I am much more a mug of hot chocolate, cosy pj's, and a good book type.

    Chris, Please don't encourage Owl!
    This group of Goths were lovely, their parents would have been proud of the way they made us feel included and comfortable with them. I bet the Whitby Goth weekend attracts some interesting people and outfits.

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  9. Anonymous20 January 2012 at 20:34

    Sounds like an adventure! You are much braver than I, the city at night scares me!

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  10. Elaine21 January 2012 at 08:40

    Nilhuanwen - It was an adventure but we were very happy to return to our quiet life in the country!

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