IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM/LONDON EYE

Is there life south of the river, I hear you ask, you cynical northerners. For historical reasons, most of old London is on the north side of the Thames, where Westminster and Londinium were founded and developed, but south of the river has its attractions. I am doing a walking tour of Brixton in a few weeks time - really must do some research for this, guides wanting to know everything - and yesterday had an excellent visit to the Imperial War Museum led by Alan Cross. Its name (and the big guns outside) suggest patriotism and even jingoism but the interior belies this. There is no shirking the horrors of war and they have a counter for the number estimated killed in conflicts before and since the millenium (100 million before,around 2 a minute since). They also have a model of the Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 - obviously the original lost - next to the Tamzine, the smallest boat used to take troops across the Channel from Dunkirk, a little wooden row boat with sails and no engine. (Better than being stuck in France with the Nazis rampant I suppose.) There you have the sheer destructiveness of innocent lives contrasted with the valour of the brave fighting for soemthing they believed in within a few feet of each other.
Would I have dropped the bomb as Truman decided to do so? Probably, bearing in mind what the American soldiers were going through in the Pacific and from Iwo Jima upwards to Japan, but I am glad it was not a decision I had to make. As Truman said - 'The buck stops here' (a sign on his desk).
Off to meet brother Richard and his workforce at Waterloo for the more obvious south bank attraction - the London Eye. Due to reopen today after winter closure it seems to have been postponed because of gale force winds through London, so we will have to do an extended walking tour instead. Should be fun.
Last posting for a while as off to Italy soon. Pick up in Feb...

TEACHING THE TEACHERS

Those can do, those can't teach, said Shaw famously, and someone added: those can't teach, teach others how to teach. I have never agreed with this, being the son of teachers, and obvioulsy having the pedagogic gene or impulse which led me to become a guide. I then wandered into tour directing and found myself hooked on the lifestyle and the income, without realising I would find myself twenty plus years later living out of a suitcase for the best part of half the year.
I have no regrets and have always tried to stay in touch with guiding through being a member of Tour Guides Ltd, the guide booking agency, which is almost my sole source of work in London. In my fifties it is now time to look for some new opportunities because I will soon be too old a fart to tour direct constantly. I used to often be the youngest person on the coach, now I am more likely to be the oldest.
Yet I get bored easily and need another activity. I will never be a best selling writer and even writing frelance journalism pieces has never got me anywhere, so guide training seems the obvious next step. I will need to invest the best part of a thousand pounds to qualify in this field through the next Institute of Tourist Guiding course coming up in March but I think it will be worthwhile if it does lead to an alternative (or probably suplementary career).
Who knows I may even get the job of running the London guide course - but that is a long way off yet...

TOUR DIRECTORS COURSE

Nothing like a bit of nepotism - got a job doing a London Eye and walking tour from my brother who can put my modest fee on corporate expenses. He works for Tyco whose previous CEO had gold shower rails inserted in his house and charged it to the company - so they can afford it!
The other news is that I have finally decided to revive the BRITISH ISLES STUDY PROGRAMME which was orginally run by Jim Lindsay who died last year. He had asked me to take over the course but Henry and Julia were young and I did not want to give up my weekends to run BISP, as we knew it.
I still don't- so I have decided to run a short fairly intensive two week course in a year's time - one week of talks followed by a one week tour of Britain. There will be big emphasis on practicality and even psychology involved in running a successful tour - how to keep a diverse group of people happy, organise seat rotation fairly, deal with difficult passengers, treat people fairly but individually, etc. I have been directing tours of Britain for twenty five years (God!) so I should know about it but I hope to learn some more and, like those who sign up for the course, have some fun.
It cannot be much fun for Lucy McMurdo at the moment. She is the 'guilty party' according to quite a few guides who has had the temerity to start a Westminster Course, which some see as a rival to the Blue Badge. We were told not to discus this matter at the AGM of the Association of Professional Tourist Guides as it is effectively 'sub judice' while a harassment case is under review. As stated before, I am not worried about this course, but I hope not to go through what she has, so am planning to do this by the book in consultation with the Institute, APTG, the Guild, not forgetting IATM (the tour directors' outfit) and all the other guiding bureaucracies.
Plenty of those...

AN EMPTY DIARY

There is usually at least one job in the offing, but at this time of year I have no work booked at all. I have just finished a week's work over New Year, a day job of London-Windsor followed by a six day tour, both of which went well and were lucrative enough. The tour leader on the one day job the last off the coach and handed me an envelope just as I had given up hope of a tip - sometimes they just do not appear - but there were three crisp ten and two five pound notes with a card, which was very pleasing. Tips on the longer tour were also good and I have been told by the Inland Revenue that I do not owe them any money as I overpaid last year - although I only paid what I was told to.
So now it is time to spend - some money (and work) on the house and maybe a new car. I have even seent he one I want, although the insurance for Brixton (with my not particuarly good record) is almost half the cost of the car. And then there is that sneaking feeling in the back of your mind that maybe they won't come this year and I will need what I made last year to tide me over. Still , it would be a shame to drop dead with too much money in the bank. So, if I am not earning, I might as well be spending.
Meanwhile off to the airport to collect Leena who has had a Finnish New Year - I am sure there is a pun there but I doubt if it is worth the search.