Back in 1979 I had several interests that kept me going. Tennis of course was my priority but art was a close second. I was painting oils well enough to be accepted at exhibitions in my province and had exhibited several times. I was also very keen on learning about the great masters and had a library of books on art which kept me well informed. I was able to identify artists at a glance and tell the school of painting they belonged to and I still retain that knowledge until today.
So keen was my interest in painting that I decided to travel to England and visit the major galleries in London. So, during Christmas 1979 I set out for Europe on a flight that would take me first to LA, and onto London.
I spent two nights in LA and stayed at a hotel across the road from the Forum, home of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. It was also overlooking Hollywood Park Raceway (horse racing). I think it was the first night there that I went across the road to watch the Lakers play the Portland Trail Blazers. I don’t remember much about the game, I was so far up in the cheap seats that the court was the size of a matchbox; however the goings on around me were enough to entertain. I do know that the Lakers at that time included Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson
The flight across the Atlantic from LA took the regulation time but by the time the plane got near London’s Heathrow Airport we were told that snow had created a backlog of flights and we had to divert up the Scotland, eventually landing at Penrith Airport and sitting on the runway for close to 3 hours. Three hours doesn’t sound that much time but coming on the end of a flight from LA most of the passengers were exhausted. Finally we were given the all clear to take off for London’s Heathrow and once we arrived still had to circle for quite sometime. The details are fuzzy now, probably because of my tired state at the time but there then came another 3-4 hours of waiting for our bags which according to the airport authorities were delayed because the baggage compartment on the plane was frozen and couldn’t be opened.
When the bags were finally in my hands the next problem was finding transportation into the city, as all transportation was closed due to the weather. There were no trains running and with the backlog of people trying to get into London from the airport I was in trouble.
Finally I was able to jump into a private van commuting people into London for cash. I already had a hotel booking before I left New Zealand and the guy seemed to know where the hotel was. At last we arrived at the hotel, I paid the van driver and wearily walked up the steps to the front door only to see a notice taped to the window announcing that they had changed address! My night was just beginning.
I remember standing at the top of the stairs, snow was softly falling and of course it was bitterly cold. The body however seems to have reserves for times like this and I felt a charge of energy run through my body as I decided to find the new address given on the door and walk through London to find it. Hell, I was young and this was an adventure!
With the help of my trusty map of London I began the journey and quickly realized that even if I wanted to hail a cab they were all busy taking people to New Years Eve parties and, I imagined, warm homes where their families were waiting. It soon became apparent that I needed to break my journey in half and try to find the hotel the next day. For tonight I needed rest badly and started going into every hotel I passed. Every hotel was full; I couldn’t have landed in London on a worst night! Finally one hotel took pity on me, the lady behind the counter obviously saw I was in a state, after all I had been on a plane for 33 hours continuously and then spent several more hours getting into London and walking the streets. I must have looked a sight!
She told me they had one room that was under repair, a window was broken and hadn’t been fixed yet. I was keen to sleep and convinced her that the room sounded fantastic. That night I remember turning the TV on and watching a few minutes of England celebrating the New Year, a refreshing breeze swirling over the bed (and the odd snow flake). When I woke in the morning the TV was still on and the room was even colder than ever but I was in London and my adventure had just begun. I couldn’t wait!
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