What a day this turned out to be: it went from a great high, to the near-depths! It was another cold and damp London day, with occasional sprinkles and gusty winds. I woke up very early, in order to get to St Pancras International station on time, to have breakfast with my friend, the eminent British historian Sir Martin Gilbert.
I arrived between 7:45 and 8 am, and went to our pre-arranged meeting spot, across from the exit for the Eurostar trains. To pass the time a little, I went into a nearby Foyles Bookshop and purchased a UK country map, and then it was back out, to sit and wait. I watched many people go by: mostly British people commuting into London for work. But there was also a good-sized group of young Asians chattering away nearby. Couldn't tell if they were Chinese or Japanese at first. But I think they were the latter.
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| Sir Martin Gilbert. |
The photo at left is not, unfortunately, one I took of Sir Martin. I think I was too overwhelmed at meeting him in person, that I totally forgot if I could take a photo of him. But then again, that might have also been a bit rude of me to ask.
We found a table in a corner, and ordered breakfast. While we waited, we began to chat: I inquired about how his wife, Lady Esther, and his three children, and Lady Esther's daughter and son-in-law in Israel, were faring. He told me the latter are expecting their first child next spring, which was wonderful news.
Sir Martin told me that he, and his Iraq Inquiry colleagues, had recently met with families of UK soldiers who died in Iraq--and, that the Inquiry's work will be going on until at least spring 2011! I was really shocked at that: I'd heard previously that their work would be done in November 2010. But it's better to be thorough than fast, especially in this instance.
The Inquiry's met with the families a couple of times, and Sir Martin has said it's a difficult thing to listen to. I've watched some of the public hearings online, and they're very detailed and complex--and I almost never get to see Sir Martin ask any questions!
He inquired as to what sights I'd seen in London since my arrival. I mentioned Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. Sir Martin and Lady Esther have attended invitation-only services at the Abbey--including the one in November 2009, marking the passing of the last three surviving First World War "Tommies". I saw excerpts of this service on YouTube, and it was so incredibly moving. He likes attending such services at the Abbey, in comparison to St Paul's. And I wondered aloud if it was because the Abbey is so much more ancient, whereas the current St Paul's Cathedral has only been in place since the 17th century. They attend these services, even though they are both Jewish.
As to the London Eye: Sir Martin told me he doesn't like heights very much, so I imagine he's not gone up in the Eye. When visiting Israel, he said he's not crazy about going to Masada, the former Roman palace-fortress by the Dead Sea. To get to the top on the south side, visitors can take a gondola ride to just below the summit, and then climb a series of stairs--or walk up the Roman siege ramp on the north side. I've done both myself, and I prefer the south side! Sir Martin also told me that his son Joshua has flown in a small plane over the Judean Hills and Jerusalem: something he himself would not do, either!
I asked him about his contacts with the Royal Family, and specifically if he'd ever met the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He did, twice: once, just after her wedding--and second, in the last year of her life, while working on an Atlas of British Charities, including several that Diana was the Patroness of. He liked her very much, and was particularly impressed with her work campaigning against land mines.
After the Princess died, Sir Martin said he noticed all the flowers piled up against the gates of Buckingham Palace, and was at first afraid that Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, had passed on; the Queen Mother was aged 97 that year. At that time, he didn't know that Diana had been killed in that Paris car crash.
In 2009, I'd read Sir Martin's book, Letters to Auntie Fori, which is a series of letters written to the mother of one of his University of Oxford classmates. Fori is Hungarian-born--and Jewish--but married an Indian man, and lives with her family in India. When Sir Martin was a young man, he and Fori's son were trekking through the Middle East (including Iran and Afghanistan!), when he fell seriously ill while in Iran. He recovered enough to get to India, but fell ill again--and Fori saved his life. Sir Martin emails Fori often (and she's over 100 years old!), and he'd also like to visit her in person more often. But Sir Martin and Lady Esther's schedules are pretty full right now: they're going to Israel at the end of the year for a few days, to see family and friends--and Sir Martin's giving some lectures at various places, too. Plus, the Inquiry is taking up a lot of time, too.
The conversation also turned to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which will be in London. Sir Martin told me that the Women's Beach Volleyball games will be held at--of all places--Horse Guards Parade!! He says that beach sand will be brought in to cover the grounds, after I remarked that the little stones being crunched underfoot would make it hard on the competitors' bare feet. He's not thrilled that the Olympics are coming to his home city: I imagine that they will cause a lot of disruption of 'normal life' in London (traffic issues and the like). He doesn't see 2012 as an Olympic year; instead, he's more interested in the fact that it's The Queen's Diamond Jubilee!
Lastly, we chatted about both World Wars. Sir Martin had a cousin who had been in a Japanese POW camp--and how the cousin wouldn't discuss his experiences. And even today, there is still great resentment against the Japanese among surviving UK Pacific War veterans and former POWs (and I'd venture to say among US and Australian/New Zealand former POWs too). After reading and seeing what was done to Allied POWs by the Japanese, there's small wonder at that. Sir Martin and his father made several visits to First World War battlefields on the Western Front; his father's brother fought in the Battle of the Somme, and he would never share his experiences either. I told Sir Martin about my German-born mother's family, and her growing up in Germany, during the First World War. This knowledge has increased my desire to learn more about that War.
By now, it was time for Sir Martin to depart, and go off to join his Iraq Inquiry colleagues. I thanked him for breakfast (he paid!), and for his time. He asked when I would be returning to London from Belgium, and we made plans to meet again at the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall, on 16 November. (I'll share the results of this later.) And with that, he left. And I went back to the hotel to change clothes, and get my backpack.
When I got back to my room, I sat down and cried, and thanked God for the privilege of spending this time with Sir Martin. I still couldn't believe it had happened, and was just overcome with emotion. I then changed clothes, grabbed the backpack, and off I went to St Pancras again, to get my tickets for the Eurostar.
That was when the day got a little darker. And it wasn't because of the weather, either.
Unfortunately, I was under the impression that my travel agent and I had made reservations for the Eurostar. I had a printout of what I thought was a reservation. But when I got to the Eurostar ticket office, they could find NO RECORD of any reservation in my name! It was hard to understand at first. But I had to call my agent in the States, and find out what was what. But because of the time difference, the travel office wasn't open yet, so I needed to do something to fill the time. So I decided to visit the British Library. And I am glad I did.
The British Library--or the small part of it I saw--was SO cool! I only visited one exhibition hall, but what I saw just took my breath away. For instance, I saw the original score for Handel's The Messiah, Ludwig von Beethoven's tuning fork, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's marriage license, the score of Franz Joseph Haydn's "Miracle" Symphony, Ralph Vaughan Williams' score for the film Scott of the Antarctic (a portion of which he used for his Sinfonia Antarctica)--and that was just in the classical music display! Next to this display, I saw original song-scribblings of The Beatles' songs Help!, A Hard Day's Night, Ticket to Ride, and Michelle.
In a Literature display, I heard a recording of a reading from Shakespeare's Hamlet by Sir Laurence Olivier, and a poem of First World War poet Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est, read by former Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. If I am not mistaken, I think there was a book that Owen used to write his poems in, in the display case too. I also saw the diary that Antarctic explorer Sir Robert Falcon Scott kept on his ill-fated expedition there in 1910; I could read the final page where he had written just before he froze to death: "For God's sake look after our people....".
In other cases, I found a scroll with a prayer written by King Henry VIII, a Gutenberg Bible, some awesome illustrated Jewish and Christian manuscripts (there were also illustrated manuscripts of Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic writings as well)--and two of the four extant copies of Magna Carta, which were in a small separate room off the main exhibit hall. There were also some drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, and an original copy of the book Birds of America: drawings by American naturalist and artist John James Audubon. THAT book was really impressive: Audubon's drawings were incredibly detailed and colorful!
If my toes hadn't been hurting so much--and the Eurostar thing didn't need to be settled ASAP--I would have spend the entire day at the British Library. It is like a virtual Aladdin's Cave of historical artefacts!!
When I left the British Library, I thought about returning to St Pancras at first. Instead, I crossed Euston Road and found an Internet cafe, thinking I could email my travel agent. When I managed to get online, I was having a lot of trouble with the computer; the keyboard wasn't cooperating with my fingers. After sending a couple of emails to my sister and a dear friend, I gave up and went back to my hotel, to call her on my room phone. I knew it would cost some money to do that, but I didn't care at that point.
I did make contact with my travel agent, and she told me the bad news: we had NOT made Eurostar reservations at all! The printout I had gotten was for information only. I had totally forgotten that I would get back to her when originally making trip reservations in August. I felt really, really stupid at that point. And the agent felt very badly for me. What the heck was I THINKING, anyway?!?
But in the end, it all worked out okay. After the transatlantic call was ended, I went back to the Eurostar ticket office and told them what happened. Thankfully, I had enough money on hand to make reservations right there: I got a round-trip ticket from London to Lille, France--where I would change trains for Ypres. The Eurostar staffer was very helpful indeed, and I thanked this person for their assistance. I went back to my room, and used my UK/Europe mobile to leave a message for my Canadian friend Steve Douglas in Ypres, as to my arrival.
After this call, I didn't go out of the hotel room again that day. My big toes were badly bruised from my shoes (the right one was worse than the left), and I didn't want to chance being lame for my trek to Belgium. So that night, I packed up and got prepared to catch the Eurostar for the Continent.
And--unknown to me--another, even more bizarre, 'adventure' was about to begin....
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