Three small words.

They’re simple words with profound meaning for a British woman in north London whose story has touched the hearts of people around the world.

That story began in the early 1950s when family physician Dr. Margaret McCollum fell in love with actor and voice artist Oswald Laurence. They quickly built a life together.

In what seemed a small job at the time, Oswald was hired by London’s transit authority to record a simple message that was to be played each time a subway train pulled into every stop on the Northern Line.

The message was, “Mind the gap” — a reminder to passengers to be careful not to accidentally step into the space between the train and the station platform. Little did Oswald know at the time that his recording would be played for more than 50 years.

But he and Margaret often took the tube, and the iconic message was like an inside joke for the two of them, one of many small things that cemented their relationship. Then Oswald died in 2003.

Bereft and heartbroken, Margaret found herself drawn to the subway station each day, just to hear his voice, lest she one day forget what he sounded like. Hearing the familiar tone was such a small thing, but it brought her great comfort and helped her deal with her grief.

So Margaret made the pilgrimage to the London Underground every day for........

© Sarnia Observer