A experience in LondonDARKNESS AND LIGHT
Many years ago, I left Scotland to go to London for a Tony Robbins 4-day Course. My book had been published, and it had been mentioned in the Tony Robbins newsletter.I arrived at the hotel, put my luggage in my room and rushed downstairs to the bus that was booked to take us to the Canary Wharf. The bus driver drove us right up to a bus park. It was quite a distance from the river and the driver told us we would be picked up at 11 pm.
It was 8 am and I thought I’d never last to 1 pm. It was an amazing experience and I never left the hall, even to get lunch, in case I missed anything. What an exciting day! People from all over were sharing their experiences and Tony spoke to us about how to change our lives for the better. He told us many stories about the people he had helped and asked us to look at ourselves and think about what we wanted to change.
What kind of relationships were we in? Are we happy? Were you afraid to start a relationship? If so, why? Who had hurt us? Who did we hurt?
There was a lot of laughter, tears, music, and you just felt it was good to be alive. Tony is a living legend who became rich and then lost everything. He was in the depths of despair and turned it all around. Now he helps Presidents, the military, and anyone who needs to have a good look at themselves.
He told up about arriving in his private jet and looking down at the crowds of people waiting for him and wondering how it had all happened. After an amazing day, I went out of the hall at about 10.50 pm and started to walk along the river to catch the bus back to the hotel. During the day police had been lined along the pathways safeguarding a huge yacht owned by some celebrity. However, no one was in sight. I couldn’t understand why everything was so dark and no one was around. Walking along beside the river in the dark was a scary experience.
Eventually, I saw a huge building with all the windows covered in black blinds. It was scary passing it to get to where the bus should have been parked. I thought I could get murdered out here and nobody would ever know. Eventually, I reached the bus park and stood shivering. It had been a warm day when I left but now it was cold. I was standing on my own in the middle of nowhere. Ages passed and everything was deadly silent. Occasionally, I would be aware of something running across the dark. It could have been rats, foxes, or aliens for all I knew. It was just dark creepy, figures. I shuddered.
It dawned on me that I never even knew the name of the hotel I was in or where it was, as I had been in such a hurry. I’d left their business card on top of my bed and my purse. I was in trouble. Imagine standing in a strange area of London without my purse and no idea what hotel I was booked into.
Eventually, I knew the bus was not coming and made my way along the river through the darkness towards the hall. I immediately stopped at customer services and begged a man behind a desk to help me. To my utter relief, he told me his next-door neighbour was the driver of the bus I was looking for. He phoned him and I was told to walk along to the other end of the vast hall and I would get the bus there. I quickly rushed to the other end of the hall with some difficulty opened a huge door and started to down a steep flight of dark stairs heading right down to the river. Every step I took made a loud noise and the water splashed up against the side of them. I was terrified. Eventually, there was a long, eerie, tunnel and when I hurried through it. I was just in time to see the end of the bus leaving.
I was left standing alone in total darkness. Now I was afraid again. I had to get back up to the light again, which meant I had to go way up those creepy stairs. This time the waves were lashing against the side of them making a terrifying noise. Looking up I could see a dark figure up at the top of the stairs. thought there was no way I could pass by him. Horror filled me. I thought, ‘This is it, Cecilia. This is the end of the line’.
Suddenly, he shouted down to me and asked if I had been waiting for the bus and replied ‘Yes’. My teeth were chattering between cold and fear.
He took out his mobile and started phoning the hotel. I couldn’t hear what he was saying my teeth were chattering so much.
I thought he could be phoning anywhere. Any minute now a car will turn up and I’ll get dragged up the stairs and disappear.It was even darker now. ‘You shouldn’t be on your own down here. The bus has gone but the hotel is sending another one in an hour. We could go back up to the bar and get a drink.’
Anything would be better than standing in the dark. I quickly raced up the stairs, passed him, and started sprinting with him rushing behind me.
‘It’s one scary space out there’, he shouted. I was still trembling until we got inside the hall. I was sitting at the bar with my hands shaking trying to hold a glass of white wine.
The man was talking to me and truthfully, I had no idea what he was saying. All I could think of was that I was safe. He said we could go for the bus together the next few nights as it was too dangerous walking about out there in the darkness. I just nodded. He was a lawyer and lived in St. John’s Wood. I had lived there so suddenly I was able to talk and relax.
I looked up at the amazing brightness in the bar and thanked God I was back and out of the dark. We were talking away and I spied two females sitting at the bar eyeing up my rescuer. One of them stood up and deliberately tripped up and landed on his lap. He ignored her and she stumbled off to her friend with disappointment all over her face. I sat shivering trying to hold my glass in my trembling hands thinking this was all I needed.
Suddenly, the bus driver rushed into the main door of the hall. His neighbour had given my description and told him to collect me and make sure I got back to the hotel safely. I could have kissed him.
When we arrived back at the hotel the hotel my rescuer asked if I wanted to go into the lounge for a drink. I gladly accepted as I had to try and calm down. It was very busy with other people doing the four-day course. Five young, well-dressed men sat on the table opposite me. The company they had worked for had sent them. They started whispering and then one spoke. ‘Are you the lady who is mentioned in the Tony Robbins Newsletter? I was dying to laugh. ‘Yes, that is me’. They started asking me questions. I was famous.
I felt someone touching my arm. A man said, ‘There is a man up at the bar who keeps shouting to get your attention.’ Just then my rescuer rushed over to check what drink I wanted. When he came back with the drinks, he asked why I had not answered him. I smiled, ‘That’s not my name, it's my non de plume.’ We burst out laughing. While sitting sipping my drink I was thinking about the tales I would be able to relate about my adventure when I got back home.
I had moved from the darkness to the light in more ways than one. I would remember all the men who had helped me, especially the man I met who had rescued me. I learned so much on that one day and couldn’t wait to listen to Tony Robbins the next day. I would not miss the bus to the hotel again. Being lost in a vast area near the water in the dark in London, not knowing the name of the hotel I was booked into, and not having any money or phone with me was not something I would ever want to repeat. I never want to go through anything like that again. Truthfully, that is one horror story I want to erase from my memory.
Cecilia Barrie