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 0 comments

Alrighty, Blighty...


There's loads that I should probably be out doing on this sunny-for-now London Saturday, but I'm taking a lot of time for myself, just feeling comfortable in my lovely little flat (on the 6th floor, its a perfect "Get Off Of My Cloud" song cue. Where's Mick when you need him?).

I didn't realize how much I needed this time away from my whole life in New York, but it's come in quite handy. For as unsettling as it was, on the one hand, to be on a plane bound for London 36 hours after my last day at the job I've been at for four years, now that I'm here, there's something awfully right about it. And it's not necessarily London, either... I've really gotten past the whole "Yippee! I'm in London, Land of Happy Memories!" thing. Now, it's another "home," of sorts, where I feel both comfortably assimilated and appropriately distanced - not much unlike how New York is to me.




75% of the time, I actually look the correct way before crossing the street, and 50% of that 75'%, i can do it without looking at the "LOOK LEFT" / "LOOK RIGHT" signs on the street, which is more than I can say for when I lived here for 6 months.


I love this city, and I know I'll always be able to make a home here, whether its for one night, one week, or one year. I don't know if its the right place for me right now, but its an enormous comfort to know that option is there. Being here is helping me to feel like a more fully-realized adult, which, at 26 years old, may or may not be a good thing. but it's there, and I'm trying to enjoy it the best I can.


I was feeling badly about spending so much time in my flat, but I know that I need(ed) it. Some people go to the country, some go off to Tuscany, or India, or some exotic, tropical locale to get away. I came to London. And to sit and stare out off onto the rooftops of London (I can also see the London Eye and St. Paul's from my view) and let my mind wander feels healthy. Of course, now that I've been here 5 days, it's probably time to venture outside of the flat prior to mid-afternoon... but it just so happens that all those meetings I talked of setting up have landed on Monday and Tuesday, and the weekends, of course, are Market time! I have an itinerary for today - I just need to motivate myself to get showered, dressed, and out of here...

I leave you with a few of the sunsets and sunrises that I've enjoyed from my window, and a few other goodies from the week so far...
love from london,
mandy

























You can see more photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/viewfrom52/sets/72157594370269567/

posted by view from 5'2" @ 7:43 AM 1 comments

I am slowly returning to my "life" here in New York, following a delightful cruise to Bermuda aboard Celebrity Cruises' MV Zenith, with my friend Laura. 7 nights, 2 crazy girls, 2Gb spread out over 2 cameras and 4 memory cards, and a boatload of foreign crew to take advantage of.

As all good trips, it was utterly indescribable, but here are some visual highlights...

posted by view from 5'2" @ 7:04 PM 0 comments