Upmarket London

I arrived late afternoon at Gatwick Airport.  I think it had been close to fifteen years since I had been here and I found the enormous bridge connecting the two terminals to be a very strange and unexpected sight.  My frequent trips to the UK had ended after I left the law firm.  I had always expected that I would be going back and forth to the UK far more, but that combination of employment change and the coronavirus had stopped all of that.  It seemed like the world had been thrown completely upside down since those days.  There wasn't much in the way of any plans which had survived, even being here in the UK was a bit of a surprise to me.

I was here for work, but I had a day before everything started so I went to see my brother.  I had been years since we had caught up.  In fact, we hadn't seen each other since he had gotten married back in Australia.  Since I had last visited him, he had moved twice.  He was still in West London, so we were able to walk around some of the old places I remembered around Bayswater near his old place.  His new place around Hammersmith Grove was a lovely example of the English terrace houses that make up most of the inner city of London.  The weather was chilly and we walked everywhere with our heads down as the wind and light rain lashed at our faces.  It felt like real UK weather.

After my short stay with my brother, I moved on to very different surroundings.  Work had me staying in a boutique hotel in Mayfair close to the office.  It was small, but extremely luxurious.  The staff took my bags and immediately led me to my room.  I sat inside for a little while and thought about where I was.  It was a far cry from the backpackers I used to stay in.  We were right next to the good end of Hyde Park.  I stepped outside the hotel and had a look up and down the small street of the hotel.  Everything just exuded wealth and money.  

The evening of the event, we were all invited to the Royal Automobile Club for dinner.  It was a suit and tie affair.  I had brought with me a collection of ties to wear for the event.  As I tied my tie, I realised it had been years since I had worn one.  There has been a major change in men's work fashion in the last ten years and ties seem to be slowly leaving the realm of "necessary" for office attire and very much into the optional basket.  Inside the club, we were confronted by more grandeur.  It was all classically beautiful.

We were taken to a private dining room for our dinner.  Champagne and canapes were served as we all stood and talked.  As I stood waiting, my good friend Corinne appeared.  By a strange change a fate, we had ended up working in the same organisation.  This strange serendipity has been elevated by the good fortune we had of being all together here in London for this event.  Dinner was fine, but nothing could compare to the surroundings.  Before I left, I walked into the main dining room of the club and looked up at the ceilings.  It was all awe inspiring.

The next few days went by quickly.  The work events took up most of my time and I had little time for contemplating anything else.  I arrived back at the hotel at a reasonable hour most nights and tried to sleep.  I was still trying to provide cover for the Asian business hours, so I found myself waking in the early hours to answer emails and respond to questions.  It started to take a bit of a toll and by the end of the trip, I was starting to feel tired.  On the very last night, a dinner was arranged for us.  We had a private dining event set up for us on the Thames river.  Once again, we all felt fortunate for the opportunity to enjoy such glamourous and beautiful surrounds.  

I stood by the water with a glass of champagne in hand looking out towards the water and the city.  I thought about my first trips to the city and also about whether I had any regrets about never living in London.  I think I did have some regrets.  My life hadn't played out exactly as I had planned or expected.  Living in the UK and in Europe had always factored in very highly on the list of things I wanted to do, but that probably wasn't so likely now.  A combination of personal and global factors had made those options less ideal for me.  Still, standing here now I felt that I was getting some of the good parts of what that life could have been like.