[COMPLETED] Ellen and her twin brother, Aaron, are time-travellers. They don't know why they have this ability, they don't know how they got it and don't know how to control it. For now they just know they are stuck out of time.
With the help of fri...
Sure enough Nelson led them in the right direction and they found themselves on the embankment a little east of the Houses of Parliament.
'Which way now?' asked Billy, taking in the wonderful views along the famous river.
'Left,' said Aaron, somewhat surprised to find himself in the role of tour guide. 'Now let me think. We travelled from Westminster, round Canary Wharf and finished at Greenwich, where the Cutty Sark is. We got on board the boat over there under Westminster Bridge and we went across the river to the South Bank to pick up people at the London Eye –'
'Cutty Sark, London Eye, what on earth are they?' asked Marianne.
'The Cutty Sark is a really old sailing ship and the London Eye is a big wheel,' replied Ellen.
'Is that the same as a Ferris wheel? Like the ones you get at a fair ground?' asked Marianne.
'I've never heard it called that, but yes like the ones at the fair, only this is monstrous. Instead of dangling seats it has pods which are like egg shaped rooms that can hold ten to twenty people. It's very popular as it allows people to see for miles over London, when they reach the very top.'
'Anyway,' interjected Aaron, with his eyes closed trying to remember his boat trip from two years earlier. 'We picked up people from the Eye, went under a few bridges and then we reached the Millennium Bridge. That had Shakespeare's theatre on the South Bank ... now what was that called again? But on the north side, further inland was St Paul's Cathedral.'
'I think we might have a problem there,' said Ellen. 'The Millennium Bridge is unlikely to be there, considering it was built for the Millennium.'
'When was that?' asked Billy.
'The year 2000. They built loads of things to mark the Millennium. The bridge was one of them.'
'I'm glad you asked, Billy,' said Marianne. 'I'd never heard of it either.'
'Also the Globe Theatre, that was the one on the South Bank, was recently built, so that won't be there either,' Ellen continued.
'That's a bummer,' puffed Aaron. 'Well we'll know if we go too far, because afterwards we went past the Gherkin, the Tower of London, HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge. So we don't want to go that far.'
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
'That was pretty impressive,' said Brook. 'I see you have your grandfather's memory.'
Brook gave a nudge towards Billy, who was secretly pleased, but still felt strange thinking that almost everyone was his direct descendant.
'Yes, impressive,' added Ellen. 'Strange how you can remember a 40 minute boat trip two years ago and yet you struggled with some of the subjects for the exams a couple of months back.'
'Tell me about it,' said Aaron. 'I've always wondered why I can remember pointless stuff and forget, or can't take in, the things that matter.'
'Well in this case,' said Brook, 'it wasn't pointless. Well not if it gets us there.'
The five of them set off on the river side of the road, heading east and looking for the location of the yet to be built Millennium Bridge. They also searched for a sighting of the dome of St Paul's above the high white, cream or grey buildings along the Embankment.
This stretch of London was the busiest they had seen for traffic. The road bore the weight of more cars than the twins had seen since arriving in 1941. Yet it was still a small number compared with its counterpart seventy years later.
'Hang about,' said Aaron, coming to a stop. 'Brook, didn't you say, not long after we first met you, that you grew up in the capital. If that's the case then how come you don't know your way around?'
'Ooh, he's right,' said Billy. 'I definitely remember you saying that. You said you were born in the capital.'
'I did,' admitted Brook, encouraging everyone to carry on walking. 'But I didn't mean London. I've never been here.'
'No,' said Billy. 'You said you were born in England. In the capital. Tell me how that's possible if you've never been to London?'
'Simple, said Brook, in a near whisper. 'It's because London is not the capital of England. Well not in my time. I was born in New Birmingham.'
'What, Birmingham's the capital ... of England?' asked a shocked Ellen. 'So what happened to London? Did it just fall off the land? Because it would have to be something major to hand that title over to Birmingham.'
'New Birmingham,' corrected Brook. 'And you're right, something fundamental did happen. This all happened in the years after the digital revolution. As I said before, it was one of the areas of social history that I specialise in. You would never believe what becomes of Dear Old Blighty. But that's another story. Quite a heavy one.'
'You might as well tell us. At least some of it,' said Ellen, interested. 'We've got a bit a walk and we'll have to talk about something.'
With the warm sun on their backs, Brook filled their journey along the embankment with tales from the future.
