To which I replied, "Excuse me?"
"You are veddy lucky. Your forehead is wide and open and the lines on it tell me that you will have good fortune."
"Thank you." I didn't think that the lines in my forehead were that easy to see from a distance, but I was wrong. So I smiled and moved on. It reminded me of the other week when a lady in a store stopped Nedim and said, "Sir...excuse me sir, but I have to tell you that you have beautiful hair."
Anyway, back to the torch...I stood on the curb opposite Selfridges and waited. There was a small group of Spaniards trying to drum up business for their Spanish speaking tours. The banging on the paella pan got a bit much, after standing across the street for only a few minutes. The rather dapper guy behind me told his friend, something like, "I am finding my deep reservoir of patience running a tad thin at the moment." I couldn't have agreed more.
The aspect of my personality that enjoys rules and order was in conflict with the situation. The police kept asking the crowds to stay on the sidewalk and not to crowd the road because, "You don't want to be the one on the evening news because you were the cause of this torch getting to Buckingham Palace late, do you?" To no avail. It was like a wave, as soon as they moved down the line, people flowed back into the street. I got irritated, no big surprise.
But I did get some pictures of the police on motorcycle with their cute blow-up torches on the inside of their windshields.
And the Wenlock strapped to the back.
A sponsor bus that was part of the relay advance team.
And the torch. I don't know why on our stretch of road, it was on the bus and not on the ground, but it was.
It was a bit anticlimactic, but still, I saw the Olympic Torch. How cool is that?! Feeling a pit hungry and thirsty from waiting out in the sun for a half hour, I went into Food Hall in Selfridges. I bought a rice salad with lentils, avocado and tomato salad, a slightly too cilantro-y puy lentil salad with chopped peppers and cucumber, and some yummy crackers for some needed crunch.
For dessert, I bought rose and lemon Turkish delight and pariya - a Persian snack of sugar coated pistachios spiced with cardamon. Oh. My. Word. I'm going to have to mail a box of those back or get a bigger suitcase. They are out of this world good. I'll have to hide them in the room so that I don't sit down and eat the entire container at once.
Speaking of food, I ate the best veggie sushi for lunch (no picture). It had tofu, avocado, cucumber and red pepper. I bought a sampler, but I could have eaten just that. The reason that I got something fast was that I had been walking around, finishing up the route from last night. I had four more Wenlock and Mandeville statues to find. And I did.
The Cycling Wenlock was just up from the Canada House on the north east corner of Grosvenor Square.
From there I walked along Brook (?) Street until I came across the Dog Walker Wenlock. It was in a shady part of the street where construction workers were eating their lunch. I don't think I was successful getting a guy-free shot. Oh well.
I continued on to Hanover Square I found the Builder Mandeville. So cute!
The last one in the series was just plain Wenlock.
But by the plain Wenlock was a beautiful fountain/water pool that must be stunning at night. It is one of those "endless" pools with two trees in the middle and the water runs over light fixtures. I don't want to be walking in the dark by myself to see just how spectacular it is; I'll just have to use my imagination.
Tomorrow I start shift work and I'm taking the early hours. I have to get up an hour earlier tomorrow. Wish me luck.
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