Wednesday, June 18, 2003

 

Day 55. Wednesday 19 June 2003. London Visit.

We left reasonably early this morning for London with Ian. He took the day off work and took us up for our visit and I think he enjoyed the trip too.

Our first port of call was Harrods again to see the things we didn't see on our last visit in 2000. I noted changes had taken place since our last visit. The cramped souvenir area had gone and a more spacious up front floor space had been allotted. We moved among the counters in this area and bought the inevitable tins of tea both Darjeeling and Assam. We can buy these teas at home locally in Hamilton, NZ but we buy it here in Harold’s and transport it home! I think it is the attraction of the fancy container and the Harrods name. Something bought at Harrods. I'm not at all sure that I like the new layout, it is now just like another shop, it could be anywhere; with the spaciousness the uniqueness seems to have disappeared.

Now for the food hall. In our hurry phase last visit we only passed through the food hall and glimpsed the marvellous layouts. This had changed too, the spectacular layouts had gone, it was now just an up market shop selling produce to its customers, but still worth a visit.

Through the news media I had gathered that Harrods had lost the royal seal of approval and customers too. Even though the Egyptian owner is a billionaire he still needs to make a profit and so changes are made to reduce costs. What next I wonder?

Was it the basement... I may be wrong? We found the shrine to Princess Diana and Dodie. Dodie was the son of the owner of Harrods and in his grief had erected the shrine in remembrance. The shrine consisted of to separate pictures of Dodie and Diana with 2 wine glasses below, one laying on its side with dried traces of red wine still visible within the fallen glass. These were the 2 glasses said to be last used by Diana and Dodie at their final meal before being driven away from their rendezvous and to their accidental deaths within the road tunnel. I wondered afterwards, did the fallen glass symbolise the finality of the lives of these two young people? Grief is a powerful thing and Dodie's father could not leave his grief alone. Was the fallen glass, the spilt wine a symbol of the spilt lives of Dodie and Diana? I think they were.

Pat in her conservatism thought the shrine a little tacky; I was inclined to agree with her to some extent. Everyone expresses their grief in different ways, some is private and at the opposite end of the scale other express their's publicly.

But this is a Journal of our travels, not a discourse of emotions. I continue.

Lunchtime came and we searched for the in house restaurant we visited last time and eventually found it. This had changed too and again with change, the magic cosiness had gone. In its place glass and chrome tables and chairs and it was now seemed more a glorified lunch bar. Not many people present either having lunch, just a spacious emptiness.

As we paid at the counter I asked for a ticket to the toilet otherwise it would cost you a £1.00 to pee. This had changed too, the toilet was now free. Going along to the toilet the dressed-up doorman had gone and so had the toilet assistant waiting to hand you the towel after the washing of hands. Another Harrods institution gone.

We slowly perused the other floors and among the outdoor furniture we came across a mighty BBQ, all £5000 plus of it and as big, no bigger than a kitchen. And it was on special too, knocked down from £7000+. Specials at Harrods? Yes, there were other ones too.

There was nothing else of note except the high prices and we went out into the hot afternoon sun.

To be continued.

posted by OldEric 11:58 am