I WAS INTERESTED to read that London Bridge is Falling Down - a headline-writer’s view of the fact the original bridge built in 1831 is showing wear and tear. That bridge is now in Lake Havasu, Arizona. It was transported there in 1967 after it was dismantled, with the granite blocks numbered and then conveyed to the new planned resort.

It was rumoured that the Americans thought they were buying Tower Bridge but we are not talking numbering errors in an Ikea Dispatch Department. The good ole folks in Arizonae did not unpack the haulage lorries and scratch their heads, wondering as to the whereabouts of the metal for the tower and the bridge. They knew what they were getting.

I remember the objections that were aired back in the swinging 60s when the Yanks came over and bought something that had been a London landmark for over 100 years.

I may have seen the Bridge when, as a child, I was taken to London but my first remembered visit to see London Bridge took place in 1978 when I travelled down with Watford fan Steve Kitchen and his pal, journeying from the Grand Canyon. We had met by accident in the bar in the Canyon, just a few days after bumping into each other outside the Vicarage Road stadium, when we had told each other we were off on holiday and did not name our destination. They were heading for Los Angeles and so was I so I hitched a lift and accepted they were planning on seeing a couple of things on the way, including Lake Havasu.

I well remember the lounge area, which was how I described the back seat of their hire car, and looking out at the dirty yellows and browns of the seemingly endless desert scrub. It was uncompromising scenery but then we came over a hill and there before us like an oasis was Lake Havasu and stretching across the Colorado River, was London Bridge. The canal off the river had been re-directed to run under the bridge, once the concrete clad structure was completed.

It was truly bizarre because at one end of the Bridge was a railing-surrounded piece of the green, green grass of home: supposed to constitute little England, replete with a red double-decker bus sitting incongruously by the side of Ye Olde Taverne.

It was a strange novelty concept. We went into the bar and ordered some beer - English beer. An American spotted us as being English and asked politely: “How do you drink this s—t?”

We explained we did not. I for one would not go for Red Barrell or anything but real ale but such differences in taste, quality and a reduction of chemical and gas inputs, were lost on the Americans, who like their beer with gas and chemicals.

It seemed a little pointless but we downed our beers and headed over the bridge and walked across the sandy beach and swam in the lake. It was lovely and refreshing.

What made someone think he could make Lake Havasu a real attraction back in 1964 when he founded the community, by bringing over a granite bridge from the UK, presumably by ship and then transporter, because not only was Ryan Air not around back in those days, but they would have had you over a barrel with excess baggage charges.

The bizarre concept seemed sufficient for me to take Ellie when we went there in 2000 on her USA debut. I had benefited from a legacy and, while she would have preferred heading east, I opted for the West and the United States. The next year we headed east.

She was not much enamoured with the idea but became a total convert and now would prefer to go back to the States every year for its natural beauty.

She was somewhat underwhelmed by Lake Havasu, however. The double-decker bus had gone and the railings as well. Instead we had themed areas, all with British connections. The menu sported such as a Piccadilly hamburger etc.

London Bridge obviously worked for the place was much, much bigger. Not only that, the mixed architecture of the resort represented a confusion of ideas. Blocks of flats rose out of the desert with castellated tops and turrets.

The Medieval look had been adopted but just to add a “genu-wine English” feel, they added pieces of Tudor-type wooden beams appearing to show through the rendered fascias of modern buildings.

It was baffling.

Now the Bridge is in a state of disrepair but they should not go blaming us Brits. Having a structure that dates back 183 years is not unusual for us, but in America they take great pains to point out the fact the bridge we are going over, was built in 1903, would you believe. The fact the Bridge is worn, is not surprising. It was built to last, not for repeated self-assembly.

Then of course, it is not entirely our old Bridge. They did not bring it all over. They padded it out with American concrete, which may explain why it is not faring so well. Added to which, the USA leans more towards an instantly disposable society. It is just as well they were not allowed to buy something truly iconic.

Presumably the Bridge has served its purpose now and they are talking of tumbling it down. Who knows it might get a buyer to help boost another wannabe resort.