Scribbles from a hotel room window ✍️

Do you ever ‘just write’ seemingly about nothing, nothing sensational, exciting or particular – so it gets forgotten about until you flick back through some of those old or forgotten notebooks?

It might seem like nothing to everyone else, but to you it brings little memories back to life? Well that’s pretty much what’s going on in this post.

I’ve been flicking through some of my own forgotten notebooks whilst having a good clear out and might make this a bit of an ongoing theme – we’ll see what I can dig up! 🔎

This one was a few simple notes scribbled down whilst looking out of another hotel window.

I manage to remind myself of a few insignificant details that would normally have been long forgotten. Not that anything interesting happened, it was just interesting to remember a little of what did happen while looking out of that window with a nice hot cuppa! ☕️

Good morning

I woke up at exactly 5.55am to the sound of one of those road sweeping vehicles, with black fuzzy antennae type bristles rotating underneath it like a strange giant insect.

I don’t need to be up this early but I’m wide awake. It’s still dark outside.

The hotel room window is open and the morning buses are up and down, just buses though, there’s hardly any other type of traffic on the roads.

Somewhere nearby a church bell chimes twice.

Looking out

The scene across London from the eleventh floor is vast and sprawling. It’s impressive how neatly aligned the rows and streets of houses are built, and there are a lot more trees in the concrete jungle than you realise from ground level.

The odd house has a yellow or amber glowing light, including a few attic/loft rooms, but most are all dark, everyone’s still fast asleep.

I’m staying in a crane free zone, but over in the furthest distance, to the left of me, it’s impossible to count the number of red crane lights, too many to count, and bright yellow lights twinkle on the horizon like Christmas lights, all clustered together.

There’s a strip of pink across the skyline, the sun’s coming up.

Down below

The occasional pedestrian walks by, presumably off to work for an early shift. It’s Saturday morning.

A train pulls into the station below, like a silent snake with two headlight eyes lit up at the front. Two more glide past each other, moving in opposite directions. The city is on the move.

Up Above

Some birds are nesting in the hotel nooks and crannies or roof. I could hear the odd chirp before I went to sleep the night before and more chirping the next morning.

A helicopter goes by, blades rumbling in the air, with a flash of red and green lights, probably mistaken for a UFO or giant drone by those still half asleep.

Later

Just after 7am four birds fly across the sky, one behind the other, like follow my leader.

The sky starts brightening up and a little milk float weaves in and out of some streets ahead – I think it’s the first time I’ve seen one in London, I didn’t know they were still in action these days…. do people still leave the empty bottles on the back doorstep in a crate for the ‘milkman’ to take away? Apparently there are still some companies that do it. 

 

Wakey Wakey 🎶

As if to wake those still sleeping, an accordion begins to play, outside somewhere down below, probably a busker – there’s a bit of a French feeling in the air, I’m thinking  – maybe some croissants for breakfast! 🤔

‘Lever et briller’