The Eaton Diary of London 2001
Thursday, June 14. On
the Street Where We Live
As I contemplate the street where we live, I can't help thinking it would
make a good subject for a song, but I guess that's already been done about
far more famous streets in London than ours.
There is nothing terribly noteworthy about our street. It is just a very
pleasant street in suburban Putney,
with many lovely but very expensive
homes down one side,
and the council estate flats where we live on the
other.
But remarkable things sometimes happen close to home. Like this morning,
after catching the 424 bus halfway down to the corner, I was stirred from my
usual early morning stupor by an amazing sight. There on the pavement was
Superman in his Clark Kent disguise, running for the bus. I could tell it
was Superman by the clear 'S' logo sculptured to the back of his otherwise
shaven black scalp. His identity was further confirmed to me when he
athletically jumped on board, (although I must say his rather portly figure
almost put me off), because his fly was clearly still undone. He was
obviously the genuine Clark Kent, but he had just missed the last vital
finishing touch to his quick change in that dying London icon, the red
telephone box.
On the very same corner, we had another 'only in London' experience. I
didn't have my camera handy, but we saw a London cab waiting one morning at
these same traffic lights with just three aristocratic canines sitting up
like royalty in the back seat. No humans, just the 3 dogs. We didn't see
them hail the cab or notice how they were intending to pay for the ride, but
one can only assume that were dogs from the affluent side of our
street, who perhaps make a habit of hailing cabs up to Putney Heath or Wimbledon
Common for their morning constitutional, unlike the Mollie's of our
community who have to suffer the indignity of being escorted by humans on
leads.
© Copyright 2001 H Grant Eaton Contact: granteaton@usa.net