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W. Earl Hall World War II stories, 1944
1944-08-22 Letter #9
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slug-Gets Lost 4--4 Passed for Publication 22 Aug 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter No. 9) London--(Air Mail)--It's said that cowpaths were the basis of Boston's street system. That may be history or it may be myth. Being a gullible soul, I'm disposed to take it, hook, line and sinker. By the same token I'm waiting for somebody to come along and tell me that London's streets were originally laid out by sheep rather then cows. Having a shorter wheelbase, sheep can turn more often and more sharply than cattle. The angles and he curves of London's streets, roads, lanes, terraces, squares, and all the other masks by which thoroughfares disguise themselves are really something strange and wonderful. I got lost 4 times the other day in a 2 block radius of one of the British Broadcasting corporation offices. It COULD happen to you. You see, I got mixed up with a circus--and not the kind where you see elephants and polar bears. A circus in London is the hub where a whole flock of roads come together. The opportunities for picking out the wrong one are simply overwhelming. That's what I did on this one occasion--and on several more. Besides Oxford and Piccadilly circuses in my neighborhood there are a number of squares--Leicester, Grosvenor and Trafalgar, to mention 3. They too can throw you for a loss if you're not watching but they're not quite as tricky as a circus. Then another little stunt of London's street-namers--designed I assume to make life interesting rather than easy--has been to attach 3 or 4 different names to different parts of the same street. We'll take one leading from Trafalgar up to St. Paul's cathedral. It starts off as the Strand. Then, all of a sudden, and for no good reason, it decides to become Fleet street. And finally, for the last little climb of 5 or 6 blocks up a hill, it assumes the name of Ludgate. There is, of course, ample historical reason for this maze of names, much of it going back to the time centuries ago when what is not London, was a village about a mile square with numerous neighboring villages round about. When these joined, a mélange of names was inevitable. Vehicular traffic consists of 3 principal elements--buses, taxis and military vehicles, including more than a few of the jeeps so familiar to Americans. Privately owned cars just aren't being used. Aged men serve as Bus motormen and teen age girls are conductors. The driving is on the left side, which is still stamped in my mind as the wrong side. I argue with my English friends about this--but never win. And I'm forced to admit that I haven't up this time seen either an accident or a near accident on London's streets. Officers and enlisted men who drive jeeps tell me that getting initiated into British left-hand driving is a terrifying experience. But all of a sudden, they say, it "comes to you" and is no more difficult than our way. -- 30 --
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slug-Gets Lost 4--4 Passed for Publication 22 Aug 1944 By W. EARL HALL Globe-Gazette Managing Editor (Letter No. 9) London--(Air Mail)--It's said that cowpaths were the basis of Boston's street system. That may be history or it may be myth. Being a gullible soul, I'm disposed to take it, hook, line and sinker. By the same token I'm waiting for somebody to come along and tell me that London's streets were originally laid out by sheep rather then cows. Having a shorter wheelbase, sheep can turn more often and more sharply than cattle. The angles and he curves of London's streets, roads, lanes, terraces, squares, and all the other masks by which thoroughfares disguise themselves are really something strange and wonderful. I got lost 4 times the other day in a 2 block radius of one of the British Broadcasting corporation offices. It COULD happen to you. You see, I got mixed up with a circus--and not the kind where you see elephants and polar bears. A circus in London is the hub where a whole flock of roads come together. The opportunities for picking out the wrong one are simply overwhelming. That's what I did on this one occasion--and on several more. Besides Oxford and Piccadilly circuses in my neighborhood there are a number of squares--Leicester, Grosvenor and Trafalgar, to mention 3. They too can throw you for a loss if you're not watching but they're not quite as tricky as a circus. Then another little stunt of London's street-namers--designed I assume to make life interesting rather than easy--has been to attach 3 or 4 different names to different parts of the same street. We'll take one leading from Trafalgar up to St. Paul's cathedral. It starts off as the Strand. Then, all of a sudden, and for no good reason, it decides to become Fleet street. And finally, for the last little climb of 5 or 6 blocks up a hill, it assumes the name of Ludgate. There is, of course, ample historical reason for this maze of names, much of it going back to the time centuries ago when what is not London, was a village about a mile square with numerous neighboring villages round about. When these joined, a mélange of names was inevitable. Vehicular traffic consists of 3 principal elements--buses, taxis and military vehicles, including more than a few of the jeeps so familiar to Americans. Privately owned cars just aren't being used. Aged men serve as Bus motormen and teen age girls are conductors. The driving is on the left side, which is still stamped in my mind as the wrong side. I argue with my English friends about this--but never win. And I'm forced to admit that I haven't up this time seen either an accident or a near accident on London's streets. Officers and enlisted men who drive jeeps tell me that getting initiated into British left-hand driving is a terrifying experience. But all of a sudden, they say, it "comes to you" and is no more difficult than our way. -- 30 --
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