DC Editor Adam writes…
From time-to-time, I spot a famous musician along the route of my London Music Tours. This is London and, as I state in the voice over for the Rock'n'Roll London video, all roads lead here as the capital of the music biz in this country.
But the most memorable sighting along the route of any of my tours involved not a star, but an ordinary person.
On any other day, she would have been as anonymous on any London street as you or me. And on any other day I wouldn't have given her a second glance.
I was leading a private musical London tour for a family from New York. It was an all-morning tour and we had taken a taxi to finish at the famous Abbey Road crossing.
We were waiting for the traffic and the crowds to calm down a little so that I could snap the obligatory photo of the family on the world's most famous cross walk.
As we waited our turn, I noticed that one woman was crossing back and forth. Not in a conspicuous way. She would walk, at a regular pace from one side of the road to the other, pause for a few moments, and then cross back.
It's not uncommon for fans to pose for two-or-three "takes" - if you've come a long way to get this shot then it would be a shame if it wasn't right.
But as we waited for our turn - it was a particularly busy morning at Abbey Road – something caught my eye as the woman, in her 50s, maybe her 60s, crossed again.
It first glance I thought she was smoking - a cigarette or vape contraption was creating wispy clouds from her hand (Paul, after all, has a fag on the go in the famous sleeve picture).
But the cloud wasn't drifting up. It was falling down.
It was then I realised… she was scattering ashes. Solemn and discreet, she was carrying out the last request of a loved one.
A most moving scene. Elegiac and strangely joyful.
With my colleagues Richard P & Andy I'll be leading the special Abbey Road 50th Anniversary Walk on Thursday 8th August 2019. Meet us at Tottenham Court Road tube 9:30a.m.
Keep In Touch…
