Abbey Road

It’s a famous picture. It’s simple, but elegant, and evokes the idea of an exciting time.

I’m not much for hitting a lot of tourist spots, but when Kyle said he wanted to go to Abby Road, it just sounded more exciting. We checked the map and then headed out on the tube to St John’s Wood, a few blocks away.

As we got close, for some reason, “With a Little Help From My Friends” came into my head. The melody kept playing for me as we looked on to a fairly unimpressive Abby Road site. I knew we were close since an inordinate amount of people were taking pictures in an otherwise ordinary neighborhood. There are no shrines, no large signs, just a white wall on which people have written something about the Beatles on it. It was the end of March, and we checked the dates people had written. It looked as though nothing was before Mar 1, so my guess is that they paint it every month.

The building itself looks like an ordinary building. My guess is that it’s some sort of office now, and they must be Beatles fans to put up with people walking by and snapping shots. There’s a live feed that you can check out as well.

Then there’s the crosswalk.

We weren’t sure if it was the one from the photo at the time, but it’s close and it’s a crosswalk. And there’s lots of traffic. A constant stream of cars moving along, none of whom are likely very happy with tourists. I’d think that they’d learn to move through a different route, but I don’t know what’s around. A few times someone would start crossing and then stop in the middle for a photo. Usually someone ready to snap a shot of them. More than a few times I heard someone honk in annoyance at the delay since cars must stop at those lighted crosswalks when people are crossing.

We let the kids write on the wall, and Kendall and Kyle each too a turn on putting something down. Here’s Kendall’s, right above the “Here comes the sun"!”

Then it was time for our picture. We couldn’t decide what to do and finally Tia took charge. She had us line up, telling us where to stand and how to look like we were walking, arms swinging. Kendall said she didn’t walk like that, and so we tried to her to pose. With a break in traffic, we headed out, trying to get into line quickly, and ending up with a few pictures that looked a little funny.

We got the crosswalk right, but we took the picture from the wrong side. We should have let Tia go to the statue in the background and get one facing this way.

A funny few minutes in London, and perhaps the thing I’ll remember most.