In the good weather, visitors to London congregate at an odd turn on Grove End Road, usually for a photo and sometimes just to watch the proceedings.
At that location another road continues north, coming off the turn in Grove End Road and creating an odd intersection as yet another street meeting at this location.
Looking south it is an odd agglomeration of streets twisting here, there and everywhere. Very English, a city built in the Middle Ages for pedestrians, horses and hock carts. But seen from the middle of this intersection, looking north the street scape is very familiar. It forms the background of a famous still photograph. It is not terribly obvious unless you are standing just so, angles being what they are and all.
The photograph, a picture of four young men crossing the road, evenly spaced in a line waling to the right, has the leafy suburban street stretching out behind them.
Unless it is approached from this angle most would never associate that photo with the location. It is not found by accident. It is out of the way, and those who go there are there on purpose and are usually armed with a camera. And this purpose is complicated by the steady flow of traffic moving through the intersection from all angles, and the other groups of people looking for the same shot.
Because it is out of the way, once there, people tend to hang around and watch the world go by. And in the good weather, the world does go by, as tourists from all over are there to recreate the famous picture. It can be quite comical as they try to get the look just right, the timing and the cadence.
It all sounds easy but try it sometime. And then try it with cars honking, impatient locals rolling their eyes or worse, or tossing off snark. Drivers who come through here are used to it, and most accept it, but if you are in a great hurry, waiting for some foreign buffoon to line everything up is a danger to your timeliness and blood pressure.
I work in the area, not at Abbey Road Studios, about 50 yards up the street, no, I actually work at a real estate office about 200 yards in the opposite direction, just out of sight around a soft bend in Grove End Road.
Like all good roads in London, it does not go straight. I have a theory, the roads turn here and there because when they were built they were going from somewhere to some other where. There was nothing in between so they just went, perhaps curving around a fence line or a pond or a stand of oak. Now the road remains but the reason for its lay out has vanished.
Anyway, I often come out here and eat my lunch sitting or leaning up against some brickwork while watching the show.
One particular afternoon, my lunch consumed and the packaging neatly folded and replaced in my jacket pocket, I was just getting ready to leave when a family managed to get their shot. As they spoke to the local photo tout about payment and details, a young woman hustled up to the intersection along the eastern extension of Grove End Road, and started across after only a quick look. She was obviously in a great hurry, and carried a package, protectively clutched up across her body.
Half way across she took a peak and saw a local driver moving at speed to get into the intersection, headed south. Local drivers know if you slow down you've just invited someone to cross, usually four someones or more. She took a couple of aggressive steps to get across but once she had cleared the southbound lane she caught her foot and lurched forward. She didn't fall but lost the grip on her package which spilled onto the northbound lane with papers scattering in the breeze.
The car hesitated only briefly and then zipped behind her, the way clear.
As everyone else was already using the moment to take care of their own business nobody really noticd until they heard her squeak and saw loose papers spilled on the road and beginning to fly away in the light breeze.
YOU ARE READING
Came True, Today
General FictionThe Abbey Road crossing in London - is the location of a number of personal interactions, from the mundane to something more. 'Came True, Today' is a medium length short story of serendipity, set in a well known location, one that draws people from...