300 words. A couple of minutes.
My last word on why those five superstar British guides and their town, London, deserve your vote, deserve that award. I’m speaking now as an American. 1) They embodied London’s and London Walks’ long tradition of constancy and fidelity. 2) They kept the flag flying through the long night, through the perilous fight. Not just the London Walks flag, the London flag. Moves me, as a Yank, close to tears when I think about what London Walks guides Adam, Fiona, Karen, Russell and Simon did and how perfect the fit is with some of the lyrics from the American national anthem. Phrases like “what so proudly we hailed” (our town, London), “at the twilight’s last gleaming” (our beleaguered, locked down town, London), “through the perilous fight” (no explanation needed), “o’er the ramparts we watched” (the ramparts of a locked-down, battered, besieged, much-loved, great old city), “so gallantly streaming” (the flag the five of them flew – essentially, London), “gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” (their carrying on, finding a way to carry on, carrying a torch for London…) – the five of them were and are superstar-spangled. Please vote for them [he said, heart bursting with pride and affection]. “Oh say, can you see…what so so proudly we hail…” – and having seen it, vote for them by clicking on the link at the top of the www.walks.com homepage. And that’s my last word on this fight – though if we – all of us – can win through for them “that superstar-spangled banner will yet wave o’er the land* of the free and the home of the brave”.
The land of the free-spirited and the home of the brave five.
And for that matter, the land of hope and glory. We hope we’ll win. It’ll be glorious if we do.
The home of the brave five is of course London Walks and London. London. The home of all of us –
because wherever we live London is in some sense our home. Thanks again.