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Sameday National Courier Services
Driver Jatt
Well, considering it was touching 4pm, leaving London at this time is a futile exercise. That is unless you really enjoy battling endless queues of traffic coupled with various flavours of aggression. Not for me thanks.
Now before I begin I shall make it clear that this is ‘Tower Bridge’ and not ‘London Bridge’. Easy enough to confuse the names. Tower Bridge is a magnificent structure as you can see in the pics below. London Bridge is a bit ‘meh’ in comparison. Tower Bridge lifts up in the middle. London Bridge does not. If they were sisters, Tower Bridge would be the hot one and London Bridge would be the one with all the cats.
And while we’re at it no, Tower Bridge doesn’t house the Crown Jewels.
That’s the other Tower. The Tower of London (note, no mention of Bridge). That big castle-looking thing about 500 yards away that’s actually older than my dad. The one with all the ravens and beefeaters. Yes, tourists mix this up constantly. As do many locals.
However, just to add a dose of confusion when the bridge opened in 1894, they did store the Crown Jewels in the basements for about 20 minutes. True story. The Queen (Victoria, at the time) took one look at the damp and said ‘Absolutely not’ and now they’re safely locked up next door with about 47 layers of security, Mi5, Mi6, SAS, etc.
So back to it. What’s so special about Tower Bridge?
Apart from:
The entire vicinity surrounding it is buzzing with life, activity and has a pleasant vibe about it (on the basis that the weather is decent). There’s a lot of tourists and they take a lot of selfies. Then you get the Uber Boat going to and fro both sides of the Thames and under the bridge. It’s quite cool and a decent experience for under a tenner.
It’s fascinating though as you can see in the pictures below.
Here’s a proper tip. Head down the stairs near the north tower and you’ll find yourself in this little lookout area where you’re basically standing in the Thames. It’s one of those secret-ish spots where:
Now here’s a bit of history worth knowing. Back in 1952, Albert Gunter was driving his good old Route 78 double-decker across Tower Bridge like it was any normal day. Then suddenly, because London’s full of surprises the bridge starts rising with him and his passengers still on it.
Now, most sensible people would:
Not Albert. This absolute legend floors it. He invented 2Fast 2Furious before it was a thing. His bus literally jumps the growing gap as the two sides separate, like some sort of budget James Bond stunt. Lands with a proper crunch on the other side, suspension wrecked, passengers screaming, probably a few old ladies’ shopping everywhere.
What happened next?
And guess what? It wasn’t even the first time this happened. There’s records from the 1920s of buses getting stuck mid-lift, dangling over the river like teabags while everyone panics. Only in London!
Back in the day (we’re talking proper olden times), this was where all the fancy ships came in with their fancy goods. Now it’s where fancy tourists come in with their fancy cameras. The bridge itself has been doing its opening and closing routine since 1894!
During the war they painted it green to try and hide it from bombers. Didn’t work. They might as well have painted “BOMB HERE” on it in big letters.
At the end of the day, despite the crowds and the traffic and the general chaos, there’s something proper London about it all. When the sun’s out and the bridge is up and you’ve got a rare five minutes to actually look around, it’s not half bad.
Then you remember you’ve got to climb back up those stairs from the lookout and the moment’s gone. If you still want to know more then visit the official site https://www.towerbridge.org.uk
Anyway, I’ll let the pics do the talking. I’m officially tired.
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April 15, 2024
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