I’ve missed this. The tiny things that make London so different from my regular small town life and experience. The street signs (and advice ON the street). The diversity. The “Mind the Gap”. The young people in their school uniforms. The food / snacks. The parks. The theatre (Ehm, one musical in particular, but more about that in due time…). The bookstores. *sigh*.
I’m still a bit overwhelmed from all the choices and decisions – what to do? where to go? What to see? What to have for lunch / tea / snacks ? – even more so than on previous trips. I blame my currently overwhelmed state of mind. But I’m doing my best and it’s always good to remind myself, that I do not HAVE to do anything. I don’t have to check off an itinerary. I don’t have to take more photos of the same old London landmarks I’ve taken dozen of photos of over the years. I can just… go with the flow. Pack my bag with a bottle of water. A book. My camera, my phone. my wallet. And off I go.
This all sounds much more chill than I am to be honest. But, I’m very glad to be back and have a change of scenery, because even in this a bit overwhelming state, that’s a good distraction from my worries and it does cheer me up. And that’s the whole point of a vacation, right?
Day 1 (Friday afternoon): I arrived at the hotel around noon, got settled it, spent some time in the park around the corner from my hotel and went to bed super early.
Day 2 (Saturday): I got up super early (go figure), had a stroll around my area and spent some more time in the park, grabbed a coffee at Pret and came back to my hotel for a breakfast of peanut butter sandwiches. I didn’t want to spend too much money on eating out each morning, so I brought my (leftover) bread from home, bought a jar of peanut butter here. Had the same today and will probably do the same tomorrow and then I’m out of bread ;-). I later had a tiny stroll along the Thames in Hammersmith, met friends for Lunch at an amazing vegetarian place and then finally saw Operation Mincemeat again. Like stated above, I need more time to gather my thoughts on this marvellous piece of theatre. I’ll be back on Wednesday for round 2.
Day 3 (Sunday / today): Another early night / early morning. Spent too much time fretting about what to do this morning (see overwhelmed by all the choices), but I think I’ve got a good plan for now. After 12 I’ll head over to Shoreditch to see Grace Petrie do her first stand-up routine at the ARGComFest, after which I’ll go all the way to Watford to visit a friend, sit in her garden and listen for free to Elton John in the Vicarage stadium across her street.
No distinct plan what to do over the next few days, but enough ideas for sure…
