Tower Bridge

It was a crisp autumn morning in the year 1894, and the good people of London were abuzz with excitement. After eight long years of construction, the grand opening of Tower Bridge was finally upon them. The bridge, with its iconic twin towers and magnificent bascules, was unlike anything the world had ever seen.

As the hour of the opening ceremony approached, crowds began to gather on either side of the bridge, craning their necks for a glimpse of the proceedings. Meanwhile, on the river Thames below, a flotilla of boats was assembling, decked out in their finest bunting and flags.

At last, the moment arrived. With a fanfare of trumpets, the Lord Mayor of London stepped forward to cut the ribbon and officially declare the bridge open. The bascules began to rise, creaking and groaning as they lifted into the air, and the boats below sounded their horns in celebration.

But just as the bridge was at its highest point, disaster struck. One of the mechanisms that controlled the bascules malfunctioned, causing them to jam in place. The bridge was stuck, unable to move up or down, with no way for the boats below to pass through.

Panic swept through the crowd as they realized the enormity of the situation. The bridge was an engineering marvel, but it was also a potential death trap for anyone caught in its jaws. And as luck would have it, a young couple in a rowboat had just entered the bridge's span, unaware of the danger that lay ahead.

All eyes turned to the rowboat as it drifted closer and closer to the jammed bascules. The couple, a pair of starry-eyed lovers, were completely oblivious to the chaos unfolding around them. They only had eyes for each other, lost in the throes of their own passion.

But fate had other plans for them. Just as the rowboat reached the midpoint of the bridge, the bascules suddenly gave way with a deafening crack. The rowboat was thrown into the air, its occupants tumbling into the river below.

A gasp went up from the crowd as they watched the couple flailing in the water. But before anyone could react, a figure appeared on the bridge, running towards the edge with reckless abandon.

It was a young man, barely out of his teens, with a shock of unruly hair and a devil-may-care grin. Without a second thought, he leapt from the bridge, hurtling towards the river below.

For a heart-stopping moment, it seemed as though he would miss his mark. But then, at the last possible instant, he reached out and grabbed hold of the young woman's hand, pulling her to safety.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the hero of the hour emerged from the water, clutching the drenched and grateful couple in his arms. And as they looked up at the towering edifice of Tower Bridge, they knew that it would forever hold a special place in their hearts - a monument to both the ingenuity of man and the power of love.

John Wright

Fine art photographer and civil society expert, currently in Kyiv Ukraine.

https://www.photojohnw.com
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Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

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