The Moat is now full

It’s Armistice Day and the last poppy is laid in the Tower of London moat. It is now full. Thousands of people have come to see and pay their respects. Officials direct them through a one way route round the edge of the sea of red. It was a peaceful crowd that moved slowly. As much respect for each other as for what the display of poppies represented.

We walked slowly across the rampart over the moat and under the poppy arch into The Tower. At the same time, a ship’s horn sounded. The enormous and tall vessel sailed through the lifted ballasts of Tower Bridge and past the Fortress.

 

 

The sun appeared. It shone through the poppies rising above our heads. Those below glowed with pride. We walked though and my mobility scooter bumped along the cobbles. It was like being on a roller-coaster. “Hope you’ve got good suspension on that” called a man we passed. “I wish,” I replied, as I continued my bone-shaker ride.

We looked through a cross shaped slit in the battlements. The poppies shone in contrast through the gap. Further inside there was an open area. The Tower had played a role in army recruitment during the First World War, and re-enactments were being played out in the courtyard. An officer wearing a uniform of the time was marching up and down. “This is where you join up”, he barked. “Ladies come over.” I laughed. “It works”, he said. “If the ladies come, the men follow.”

Later on, he was on the South Lawn opposite, instructing three new recruits how to march. He was a harsh task master.

We wandered around further. Outside Wellington Barracks, that house the Crown Jewels (the only building apart from the cafe that’s wheelchair accessible), was a guard standing in front of his little box. I thanked him for allowing me to take his photo even though I knew he wasn’t allowed to respond. In front of Chapel Royal of St Peter and Vincula, looking onto the Scaffold Site, was a Beefeater in splendid red and black uniform. Next to it, on the Tower Green, black Ravens were hopping about. It is said that if they leave the Tower, the Kingdom (or Queendom) will fall. Back round at the first courtyard, one was posing atop a cannon, as if to say “Look at me. Take my photo.” We all obliged.

On our way out, across another bridge across the poppy filled moat the scene was powerful. A sea of people standing along the edge of the moat, looking on. Behind them rose Tower Bridge. And below them, a swirl of red poppies.