Keep Skating, Laila!

Another day, another update.

Today was pretty much a jet-lag recovery day (though, by about 8 PM GMT, I was ready for bed)—meaning this will be a pretty boring update, I’m sad to say.

After waking up at 10 AM, I started the process of finding housing for the bulk of my stay here. I think I’m starting to see an uptick in prices (possibly related to the Olympics?), ’cause some of the more reasonable prices I found prior to coming out here are as long gone as John Dean—and the things that do fit my budget frequently have restrictions based on gender, student-status, etc. Blah.

After banging my head against that wall, I joined KG and MM for a nice, long walk—I think we went about 5 or 6 miles total. We walked along the coast of the Thames for a while, and then cut through the village of Barnes. Finally, right before completing the circuit, we had a scrumptious dinner at the Red Lion Pub (where I enjoyed a nice, frothy Guinness—how I’ve missed you, real(er) Guinness)!

When we got home, and shortly before I spoke briefly to Nic and Aki and prepared to conk out for the night, we watched “Dancing on Ice.” Now let me ask you: Do you know who this contestant is?

Laila Morse and Łukasz Różycki

Aside from being on “Eastenders,” a local soap, she’s the sister of friggin’ Gary Oldman! And she was dancing…on ice! Okay, okay—she wasn’t good, and she got kicked off her first time out (probably because I liked her). But she’s a soap star, an older woman, less than petite, and the sister of a fine actor, so I had to give her a special shout-out. (And it didn’t hurt the show's chances, in my eyes, that they also featured the guys on the left and right below—woof!)

Matthew Wolfenden (L), Mark Hanretty (R)...and some others.

Well, that’s enough blathering about nothing for tonight. Tomorrow’s the first of three orientation days I have to attend this week, and I’ll have to get up by 6:30 AM GMT just to make it on time.

Until next time: keep skating!