A blast from the past (London)

Yesterday, I went to Totteridge and  Whetstone (second last stop at the northern end of the Northern line, in Zone 4) with my student Sharon because she suddenly had a call (even before we started the lesson) from her daughter's school, saying the daughter had nits, so could Sharon go and pick her up and take her home (so as not to pass it on to the other kids).  

I said I'd go with her, so that we could at least do some Chinese on the journey.  After she dropped me off at Totteridge Tube station, I decided to jump on the bus as the weather suddenly cleared up and it was a nice sunny day, and I had no teaching until 5pm.  Also, I love bus (/train) journeys.  

It turned out to be a treat: the whole place really felt rustic, with big houses and lots of ponds by the road, all private, really like being in a village.  I took the bus to the end of the bus route, which was Edgware, from where I was going to take another bus to a big supermarket to get some sesame oil and soya sauce for Sharon.

As I sat at the Edgware bus station waiting for the onward bus to the supermarket, something went "Ping!" in my head:  

"I've been here before.  It was at night, when someone gave me a lift from somewhere, and dropped me off here to catch a bus home."  

Can't remember who it was, can't remember where we'd come from (probably somewhere outside London), nor when, but the visual image of the bus station at night, with its bright lights and its layout, came to my brain screen most vividly.  

As the bus drove out of the station onto the main road and I looked back, it was indeed as I'd seen it those many years ago when we approached it in this person's car.

Funny how memory works.

(London, 2018)