U.K. Day 14 - Houston Day 116

I've had a lovely few days in London, staying at my fourth cousin Emma's place. Monday evening some rellies came over to hers for dinner - her parents Claire and Paul (my third cousins), her grandad Sid (my second cousin) and her cousins Felicity and Zoe (also my fourth cousins...although every time I see them it is fairly standard for us to have a disagreement about what our relationship is).

Emma was working and also unwell, so Zoe was my guide most of the time. She met me at the airport and on the Tube back to Emma's we talked intensely the whole way. I've only seen Zoe half a dozen times in my life, but we have so much in common that every time one of us visits the other one we just connect instantly. She's a professional choral singer, and her final dissertation in her theology degree was about whether music can convey spiritual truth. We've always had similar interests, even when those interests have changed over time - for example, we were both violists the first and second times we met, and now we're both singers (although because I'm not as classically inclined as she is, and because I don't specialise just in singing, I daresay I don't "count" as a singer very much in her head!)

Tuesday morning Zoe took me out on the town. I'll say it again, I love London. All of the old buildings are spectacular, and there's something wonderful and grounded about being in a place with so much history. America and Australia seem a bit flighty and aritificial somehow by comparison. We went to an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, which was one of those wonderful "this is either a really boundary-pushing, socially perceptive piece of art, or an expensive load of crap" installations. It was in the form of a labyrinth, made mostly out of cardboard and mirrors, and invited the viewer (well, the placards said it did, and I did feel invited) to reflect on themselves, religion and society, and was supposed to have representations of the four major religions. We enjoyed walking around spotting each of them but only found three. Not sure what was going on there. Then we hopped into a peddle boat and talked intensely, non-stop about theology for an hour while we peddled around the Serpentine River, and crashed a few times.

We met Felicity in her lunch break. She studied opera at the Royal Academy of Music and teaches music at a posh girls' school. It's a shame I didn't get to see her more, but like with Zoe I'm sure next time we meet we'll just click again and we'll feel like it's only been a week. Then I went back to Emma's and had a nice afternoon & evening in with her - she works from home for a medical equipment company.

Wednesday I took a tour through part of Buckinham Palace, including an exhibition of the royal wedding dress. Spectacular, fascinating, beautiful. I'm not sure I could say which bits of the tour were my favourite, but I did like the White Drawing Room, which is decorated in white and gold and has a "secret entrance" for the Queen which connects directly to her personal part of the Palace. The royal wedding cake was on display as well, and it's still complete except for the little bit where they cut it...it wasn't eaten at all! I met Zoe for lunch in South Kensington and then went out again in the evening with Abby, one of my best friends from St Andrews, to see Jason Robert Brown's "Parade" at the Southwark Playhouse Vault. They did a great job of the show, which meant that my heart was pretty well shredded by the end. One of Zoe's friends played the lead and she had suggested that I go for a drink with him after the show, but he was obviously exhausted when I introduced myself to him, which is fair enough coz he'd just been lynched on stage. Southwark seems a like fun place. The theatre was built under a bridge, which meant that it was pretty cold and damp.  Sometimes you could see the actors' breath fogging, which was a bit incongruous because the show is set in the American South, which I know from experience is pretty bloody hot. Abby and I went for a walk and a cuppa after the show, and had a really good heart-to-heart, and a good gawk at Tower Bridge. She's been living in London for six months, finding it a bit lonely, working as an interior decorator and set designer. She wasn't into theatre when we were at St Andrews together, but apparently after I left someone liked her drawings once, and then she came to be the only set designer in the whole university! Going to see a show with her was great - I forgot how smart she is, and she'd just notice little things about the show that were so perceptive and really increased my enjoyment of it.
I'm on the plane now, and I'll post this when I get home. I've slept a little bit, which is nice, and I woke up to spectacular views of the northeast coast of Canada. A few days ago I was thinking that I was having such a good time in London that I didn't want to go back to Houston, but I'm looking forward to it now, actually. I get to see (and hug, and talk to) Lucas, and I know I'm going back to my own bed, the rest of my wardrobe, my house which feels like home now, to two new jobs, to warm weather and to roads that can comfortably fit two cars. I enjoy England's soft muted polite loveliness but I also like boldness and colour and friendly, outgoing, forthright people. I've had so much heart connection with old friends these past few days to keep me going in working on my new friendships in Houston, I think.
 
Check out my London photos by clicking here.