We were in the small, but prosperous part of London, as tourists who find everything is new, unusual, and frighteningly expensive.  We felt it was somehow familiar, yet, the crampness of the streets, and the way they would suddenly turn or just end at a roundabout made us fearful of becoming lost.  We held on tightly to our maps….  This was the time before GPS truly existed, let alone being able to log into one on a mobile phone.

It was day, and soon it was becoming evening and dinner time.  We were tired, but we felt safe enough to wander further from each other, and we almost became single, unattached tourists, wandering alone.  It was becoming increasingly crowded…. something that must be typical in London, in the part of the Entertainment District that is populated by theatres, clubs, restaurants of style rather than substance, and stores selling things that require second mortgages on your principal home.

I began to be drawn to shop windows filled with mannequins in chic and trendy dresses, the best colours, and made for those size zero petites.  In my mind I knew I would soon lose track of my friends, as they were drawn to the other side of the street, which, like many of the streets around there, would suddenly turn or end in a square where several streets would all intersect.  There were shops lining the square too, and we could easily not notice each other at all despite the proximity of each other.

As I wandered in random directions that my sense of direction suggested, I soon found myself on a street where steel railings lined the space between the broad sidewalks and the road the cars drive on.  People on the sidewalk were already pressing against the portable, temporary fences as they lined up three or four deep. The biggest and most pleasant surprise about the sight of this situation, was the fact that I was wandering down the middle of the two sides of fenced-in road.  It was startling.  The first thing that happened was that my face flared red in embarrassment, but despite the instantaneous dawning of understanding, nobody else seemed to notice.

All of a sudden, my friend’s voice was by my ear, in a tone slightly louder than normal human speech, he said, “I think we are on the red carpet!”

My head swivelled around in almost 360 degrees, and yes, it definitely looked like we were on a red carpet, despite the fact that it was only asphalt beneath our feet.

No one was cheering.  In fact more people were not even facing the centre road, where, with nothing there, they would have to gaze at the other side of people, also gazing back at them.  This incongruous situation with the fact that there were police officers on the inside of the railings in yellow reflective jackets and tall, bobby helmets, made me alarmed at first, but I soon re-awoke my senses and answered my friend.

“How did we get in here?!”  My friend looked at me in amazement.  Obviously, we both did not know how we had wandered into the centre of London, England where everyone would stare at us.

We did not spend any more time lingering on this “red carpet.”  We obviously could just walk back through the direction we came in…  which we did.  As we backed out, the people started thinning and my friend walked up to one side of the fences.  At first I had no idea what he wanted, but then I saw him ask a young woman what the fencing and red carpet was about.

“We’re waiting for Brad Pitt!”

We both came away completely awed by where we were.  It was opening night in London, England for Brad Pitt’s movie, “Snatch,” directed by Guy Ritchie.  My friend and I started debating the issue.  Should we stay and catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt and the rest of the cast, or should we go and satisfy our hunger and have a nice dinner?

I couldn’t resist, so I took a picture of two of the bobbies standing by the railings, and, by chance, a woman was walking through close by as well.  The photograph looks like a picture of the woman, in fact, although, in reality she is no one famous.

We left the centre of attraction quite quickly after this.  We found our other two friends, wandering close by.  Despite our surprising story about the red carpet, none of us were tempted enough to stand by and try our chances of getting close enough to Brad Pitt for a handshake, autograph signing, or even a picture.  We were fans, but, we were also very aware and conscious of not being in a circle in downtown London, England that hounds the royalty of Hollywood.

We walked away from the way we came, and soon found a trendy sushi restaurant on the second floor of a two story building.  We overate and over drank and stayed till closing.  At the time, I did not know, or give a lot of thought about this particular night of our travel.  It is surprising to me now, that this is one of the clearest memories I have of our time in London.