Meet you under . . . ?

This is the clock at Waterloo railway station, a traditional place to meet from long ago.

I was in London for a reunion of chaps from my house at school, boys who left in 1972, so it was the fiftieth anniversary.  The rail drivers' strike nearly put paid to it, but we met in the Prince Albert on Albert Bridge Road, just opposite Battersea Park.  It's a great pub, attractively traditional but entirely suited to meeting people whom you haven't seen for years.  There is a group photo in Extra; it's very difficult to equate people who were boys for most of your acquaintance with the mature adults of today.  The large chap in blue was my companion hitching around the Continent when we were 16.  My parents gave me an allowance of £120 for the three-week adventure, but I spent £80 of that in the first three days, staying in London, joining the Youth Hostel Association and buying a rucksack and sleeping bag.  We met nothing but friendliness and assistance between Paris and Copenhagen: when we got off the ferry from Puttgarten in Germany to Rødby Havn in Denmark, we couldn't find a hostel, but a chap let us sleep in the floor of his (spotless) garage and gave us breakfast in the morning.  Fantastic!

The photo is a little blurred.  A very pretty American girl offered to take the photo for us in the pub and her grip was a little unsteady; however, she made sure that everyone was in the shot, facing the camera.  Good girl!

The journey to London from Crewkerne was fine, but the return was awful: no air conditioning, delayed on the approach to Salisbury where the platform canopy was damaged and 40 minutes late into Crewkerne (that reminds me, I must claim compensation).