London is a huge, bustling, multi-cultural capital city with a population of over nine million people.
In cities such as this there is usually little opportunity to enjoy any solitude or peace and quiet, especially in the central area where the tourist hordes add to the local population numbers.
The cafes are filled with the sound of tourist chatter in multiple languages and the streets are full of traffic – buses, taxis, private cars, bikes and pedestrians.
But during the pandemic in 2020 things were very different for a while.
London was forced in to lockdown and the people were confined to their homes, only allowed out for one hours exercise per day.
Covid was spreading through the city and London was preparing for the worst.
Plans were made to convert the Excel exhibition centre in to a temporary hospital.
It was repurposed as a hospital and named a ‘Nightingale hospital’ after the British nurse Florence Nightingale who became famous in the Crimean War.
Volunteers were required to staff the hospital as the nation’s health service was under immense strain.
I volunteered together with others to be trained as temporary nursing assistants.
The training took part in the O2 concert arena in East London.
To get there I had to make my way across London from our then home in Wembley, West London.
The streets were empty as I walked toward our local underground (tube) station and there was a sense of foreboding in the air.
At the station there was a tannoy announcement on loop telling people not to travel. ‘STAY SAFE. STAY AT HOME.DO NOT TRAVEL’.
Strict lockdown measures were in place. The authorities did not want people out of their homes.
Rather than a busting capital city it felt like a film set for George Orwell’s 1984.
Liberty had been curtailed. Freedom seemed like a distant luxury.
I entered the station and stood on an empty platform waiting for the train.
When it arrived, the carriages were empty.
The journey through central London was eerie. The stations were silent and the city felt abandoned.
It was peacefully quiet but a little sinister at the same time.
At the O2 arena the training involved attending a number of different ‘stations’ with each set up to teach a different aspect of medical care – CPR, turning patients over and similar.
These work stations were set up in the main concert arena and also in what were normally the changing rooms or rehearsal rooms for the bands.
It was a strange experience being taught medical procedures in a famous concert venue surrounded by photographs of famous rock and pop legends.
Things were to get even more surreal later that day.
Having finished the training for the day we were allowed to leave the arena.
On the way home I decided to get off at Westminster Station.
I intended to take my government approved one hours exercise by walking from there to Baker Street station and then continue my journey home.
Westminster Station is where the British Houses of Parliament are situated and where the tourists flock to take photographs of the historic landmarks.
It is usually one of the busiest areas of the city.
On this day though there was nobody at the station.
The escalators were still running but they had no one to carry.
The ticket turnstiles stood unused.
I had a confused feeling, swinging from feeling excited at having the place all to myself then nervous, remembering why this was the case.
I stepped out in to the street and again in to an empty space.
I saw that I had one of London’s most popular landmarks, Big Ben in front of me and nobody around.
.
It was difficult to take it all in at first.
Did I really have this place all to myself?
Should I really be here?
Is this a movie?
I gathered my thoughts and began to walk.
I walked along some of London’s most famous streets, on to Whitehall, passed Downing Street , Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Regent Street and eventually on to Baker Street.
There was the occasional security guard or essential worker in the street but it was largely abandoned and strangely, magnificently quiet.
One or twice a police vehicle would slowly pass by, adding a sense of foreboding to the journey.
They moved on, leaving me undisturbed to enjoy the uniqueness of an empty London.
I knew that I was experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity to have a private viewing of London, my capital city.
I continued walking slowly to Baker Street underground station, not wanting the moment to end, knowing full well that I would never get the chance to witness London like this.
I couldn’t help but think that this was a unique chance to see London without people and in all its beauty.
At Baker Street I got in to the tube and headed home, leaving the empty city centre behind.
I sat on the tube reflecting on what a day it had been.
It’s said that volunteering can give you self- satisfaction and is rewarding.
In my case the reward was the best, never to be repeated, London walk ever.
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