View from 5'2"

A Bloggy Day in London Town - 12 November 2006

Breakthrough: Today, I finally learned a foolproof method to making perfect runny-yolk poached eggs. it took me a few tries (and a few sacrificial eggs) to get it down, but i am absolutely pleased with myself and my discovery. Thank you, internet.

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I write the remainder of this blog from the Dizengoff Centre in Tel Aviv, where the WiFi is free and the mall is very New Jersey.

My last few days in London went well - almost too well, as it made leaving yesterday very difficult. After the first 5 days or so being spent with myself, existing in my own comfortable skin, I started getting into the groove of jolly ol' London, and found that everything I love(d) about it coming back to me in full-force. Still, I needed those days of ambiguity prior to that, of not even knowing how I felt towards London, if I was in love with a memory, or the present. Last Sunday, I realized that it's the present, which was a wonderful discovery, but - like I said - made leaving only three short days later all the more difficult.

On Sunday, I walked from Camden Town to Waterloo. It was a lovely walk, through Regent's Park, and, of course, Queen Mary's Gardens, which is magical. Very interesting to see the roses bushes that were gone for the winter, too.

At Waterloo, I met up with Trevor, and his sleeping 2 year-old, Jermaine, and together we took the train to Staines, where Jermaine's mom lives. (Of course, all i could think of is that Ali G is from Staines, and that was exciting to me - in a way.) Then Trev and I got a drink at a pub and had a lovely evening together, which is just what I needed.

My last few days were jam-packed with meetings, which were, for the most part, pleasant and useful. If I do ever decide to move to London one day, I have built up an impressive network of contacts to call on. Yippee!

Monday night, I did a Pub Quiz Night with a new industry friend, and impressed everyone by knowledge of all that's useless and, well, trivial. (We didn't win, but could you have known how many curls Shirley Temple always wore on her head? I can, now...) That was fun, and terrifically authentic. I needed that.

Tuesday, I had meetings all day, and then when my phone battery died, went back up to Archway to cook myself a farewell feast that I couldn't finish eating! I packed up my suitcase to the point of nearly breaking (why, oh, why, did I buy stuff in London?!? Is the answer "because it was mega-cool" legitimate?). Then at 5:30 in the morning, got into a smelly cab and off to Heathrow.

Tel Aviv is quite different from London, which is quite different than New York, which is just what I needed. It's great to see Gaddy, and to spend time as a real tourist in a city, rather than the wanna-be local that I suppose I am in London.

Now I'm off to explore the city - and spend some time on the beach. Woo Hoo!!!

Will publish more of my photos later - the connection here isn't too fast, and I don't see an outlet, in case my laptop battery runs down. Here's one of my favorite shots from my walk from Camden to Waterloo... The London Eye at around 6.30pm:

posted by view from 5'2" @ 7:33 PM