London Bridge is falling down

I wonder why epiphany hits you only when you are driving. I am willing to bet that it is due to the inactivity of it all. In the US at least, driving is more or less a mundane activity. There are no trying to squeeze into the square foot of space beside you, or a lorry truck driver barelling toward you on the highway. You are on auto-pilot here, so the car essentially drives itself. All the driver needs to do is stay awake and brake once in a while while listening to music. So the brain is free to do other things.
In this case, it pondered the meaning of the song emanating from the car's speakers. It is my daughter's favorite rhyme:"London bridge is falling down". Boy how she loves that song. It is fun to listen to her as she makes up words in the lyrics, and she makes me sing along too. The first time I heard it, i did not think anything of it. After the 10th time, I paid close attention to the lines of the song. This is how it goes:

London bridge is falling down
Falling down
Falling down
London bridge is falling down
My fair lady.

Presumably its sung by one of the lackeys of the queen of england, worried that the bridge was about to fall, probably after years of neglect. I can only imagine the panic the person felt to run up to the monarch to complain and/or seek refuge. Lets see what the fair lady said.

Build it up with iron and steel
iron and steel
iron and steel
Build it up with iron and steel
My fair lady

Thats what an engineer would also say. Assuming that the bridge was all brick and mortar, it would make sense to think that an iron bridge would fair better.

The smart-alec lackey replies with a very practical answer

Iron and steel will bend and bow
bend and bow
bend and bow
Iron and steel will bend and bow
My fair lady

The resourceful queen is all ideas though. She continued, without stopping to gather her thoughts. She decrees again;

Build it up with silver and gold
silver and gold
silver and gold
build it up with silver and gold
my fair lady


Expecting this from a rich queen, who knew not how expensive gold and silver can be, the henchman (or woman) responds

Silver and gold will be stolen away
stolen away
stolen away
silver and gold will be stolen away
my fair lady


I have to appreciate the honesty of the henchman. For he could have said "right away mlady!" and built the said bridge. And then gone on to chop up a bit or two for himself and blame the public for it. The queen, the patient woman that she has to be, to have to put up with such insubordination, persists to dwell on the issue, and comes up with another good idea,

Build it up with wood and clay
wood and clay
wood and clay
build it up with wood and clay
my fair lady


Her henchman, still unconvinced, retorts (almost haughtily)
wood and clay will wash away
wash away
wash away
wood and clay will wash away
my fair lady

By now, the queen, probably exhausted from all this thinking and the tiresome rebuttal from her servant who ought to obey her wish and command, gives up.

Join your hands and
all fall down!!

Its almost as if, she thinks "To hell with it! I give up"

I had a good laugh about it afterward, just narrating it to my daughter. She didn't care. She was just happy that someone else appreciated the song and was game to sing it whenever she wanted. I am sure she didn't care what the fair lady thought either.

Just an epiphany that's all.