Soothing mornings

Strange start of the day, when I saw the fast train to Euston leaving before my eyes, had to take the tube, and took a wrong change at Baker Street, only arriving at the library at eleven-fifteen. Which didn’t matter, anyway, because about ten security men were just busy evacuating the building when I wanted to enter. I took my refuge in the coffeeshop on the premises, but after two minutes that also was cleared out (luckily I had already ordered my cappuchino). What’s one to do in such a situation? Keep calm, I guess, like always (I remember myself keeping calm when our restaurant was robbed in Rome by two guys with guns and we had to hand over our wallets; in true Dutch style I put 50 euro on the table, more than enough for a simple robbery, I decided, not wanting to give up on the 300 euro I had just cashed). Sipping my cappuchino behind the gates I thought about the changes I wanted to make to the first chapters of my book. Still, it feels strange sitting in the reading room, later, with no explanation being offered. Fire? Bomb-scare? An hour later the situation is explained after all: it was just a rehearsal. But this is London, 2007. Yesterday, my train station was also closed long enough for me to take a bus back home. No mentioning of that in the papers, today, so I guess Euston Road is just very busy rehearsing, these days.. Soothing, ain't it?