Canadian Poet Christy Ann Martine once said that, “The sound of your voice reminds me that the world can be a safe place.”And it was so true for London resident Margaret McCollum till she lost her husband.
After he passed away she found a new way to hear his voice in all the world’s noise. She takes the tube every day and sits on the dock only to listen to his announcement from 1950.
Margaret sits on the bench following the death of her husband, Oswald Laurence, waiting to hear this tape, which became one of London’s most famous “Mind the Gap” songs (note the space between the train and the dock). Margaret’s heart was left a tremendous emptiness after Oswald died in 2003. As a result, Margaret discovered a method to experience his presence at its most intimate level.
But, after more than a half-century, this voice has been replaced by an empty electronic recording. Margaret requested this cassette tape from the London subway transport company in order to continue listening to her husband’s voice at home.
Knowing the moving history, the company decided to restore the announcement in the only stop near the woman’s home, specifically at the Northern Line’s Embankment stop, where all passengers can listen to Oswald Laurence’s voice today and believe that eternal love truly exists. The officials made a wonderful gesture.
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