Meeting Andrew Lincoln in London; December 2020

We can all agree that 2020 has had its ups and downs and has affected people in many ways.

This year has been challenging for many of us, but it has been very difficult for me, as most of what I enjoy has been on hold. After nine months of lockdown and being unable to go anywhere, I decided to go to London.

After deliberating about this for a few weeks, I finally had some time to myself on the weekend, so I decided to take myself to London. On Saturday 5th December I left my house in Devon, at 4.30 am and drove to London. My parking was pre-booked and paid for, as well as a full tank of fuel in my car.

I was incredibly nervous because of factors relating to Covid-19 and the “what ifs” floating around in my mind. Still, after finishing work Friday afternoon and finding a lot, and I mean a lot, of bird poop on my car – which was just my car, the two cars parked on either side of me were left untouched, this was a very positive sign for me, for luck, which is what happened – I had luck my way.

Saturday, I arrived in London just after 8 am, parked up, and walked to where Andrew Lincoln was rehearsing for the remote Theatre production of “A Christmas Carol,” where he is playing Scrooge.

Upon arriving, I waited for about an hour, maybe a little longer. Still, it was not very long to wait, as sometimes I have waited hours before meeting someone, this was not one of those times, and Andrew turned up; he did initially walk past me as I was not expecting him to turn up so early. Still, I knew it was him, so I walked a little further down to where he was standing and waited for him to finish talking to someone, who I assume is in the production too.

Andrew turned around and saw me, so, being polite, I said, “Sorry, are you Andrew Lincoln?” (I had to ask as he had a mask and hat on and I was not 100% sure, I was about 90% sure but I like to ask to reassure myself and show politeness too). He responded with a positive reply where I followed on by having a quick chat with him before politely asking if he could sign my mum’s autograph book, and mine, with a few photos. He signed both books and then had a few pictures with me – socially distanced, of course! One picture was with our masks on, and then Andrew suggested one without our masks on as I had come a long way, to which I was happy with either photo but glad that meeting happened.

Upon meeting him, I was lucky enough to be on my own; no other fans or autograph sellers were there, and no one walking past stopped for anything either, I was fortunate, and I will always remember this moment, as it has summed up the end of my year, considering things in between this year have been very bumpy, this moment restored my joy in what I do and I now look forward to the new year!

If you are a fan of Andrew’s and want to see him playing Scrooge, head to The Old Vic Theatre website for a remote ticket, and watch the show from the comfort of your own home, anywhere in the world, it is an excellent show.

Following on from this experience, I decided to have a walk around the west-end for a short while and see what is happening, and while it was quiet, that is what I did. I managed to get photos of the statues in Leicester Square, as it is usually impossible to get good pictures with so many people around; I also had a good walk around M&M World as it was quiet. I initially planned to walk up to Piccadilly Circus, and then to Regent Street, but after coming out of M&M world and seeing large crowds of people forming in Piccadilly and further on, I decided to walk back to where I parked my car and made my way home. Luckily I did as the news in the evening showed London’s live images (around the areas where I had been in the morning) packed with people.

The images I have provided above are Leicester Square, statues around the Gardens (I could not get near Bugs Bunny because the area was not accessible), an image of how quiet it was at Trafalgar Square is provided, and a tree I saw around The London Eye area, it caught my eye with its autumn colours.

I am looking forward to what 2021 brings me, for now, enjoy this latest blog post. I shall be posting more stories of my previous experiences over the years, in the coming weeks!