Source::AP
LONDON,
The cobblestones are deserted at the Tower of London. A biting wind blows and there is no sign of life. Even the storied ravens are nowhere to be seen.
England’s top paid attraction, which normally draws more than 3 million visitors a year, has been closed for all but a dozen weeks since the pandemic began and international tourism to London came to an almost complete standstill.
The quiet has been surreal for Amanda Clark, one of the Tower’s famous resident guards known as Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters. The affable Clark, a retired sergeant major, lives for interacting with people: directing tourists, telling them stories, posing for their selfies. Before March 2020, she would have been doing that happily every day as crowds streamed into the attraction, also home to the Crown Jewels.
Despite the global pandemic, London's ancient tradition, the "Ceremony of the Keys", carries on. Beefeater Amanda Clark describes its lasting appeal. “It’s really quite extraordinary, how something so big and popular is just so quiet and empty,” said Clark, 46. “Don’t forget, we are classed as a prison. And these past few months have felt quite claustrophobic because there’s just been nobody here.”
Plagues, fires, war — London has survived them all. But it has never had a year like this. The coronavirus has killed more than 15,000 Londoners and shaken the foundations of one of the world’s great cities. As a fast-moving mass vaccination campaign holds the promise of reopening, The Associated Press looks at the pandemic’s impact on London’s people and institutions and asks what the future might hold.
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