Another One Bites the Dust...

Yesterday was a sad, albeit eventful day: I said farewell to two of the lovely friends I’ve made here, AT and TvH.

The morning started early, as I was scheduled to join AT and EN in Soho for some coffee at 11 AM. Since I arrived a bit early though (big shock), I was able to wander around and snag a few photos of the gaybourhood. I’m trying to take a friend from back home’s advice and take photos of all the every day things that seem common now but which I’ll appreciate seeing again in later years. One thing I noticed while doing this is that the Diamond Jubilee decorations are really starting to crop up around London, which I think is awesome! It’s amazing being a part of history!

Diamond Jubilee decorations near Leicester Square

Diamond Jubilee and Pride decorations at Village

Eventually it was time to meet up with AT and EN for real, so I made my way back to the coffee shop. We spent almost two hours, just drinking, chatting about our time abroad, and laughing. It was great fun!

Me, AT, and EN at LJ's Coffee. (Whew, that's a lot of initials!)

Following coffee, we headed over to King’s Cross Station / St Pancras International (with a brief stop at Forbidden Planet to pick-up the second Game of Thrones book) so we could find Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. I have to say, I found the interiors of these two stations positively lovely! (Plus I’m a nerd, so I loved seeing the Harry Potter stuff!) 

Off to Hogwarts...

EN and I at St Pancras Inernational

With some time to kill still, the three of us walked next door to the British Library, which is both the UK’s national library and one of the world’s largest in terms of total number of items. Among other things, the library holds one of the only remaining copies of the Magna Carter (which I saw) and, in the middle of the building, is a four-story glass tower containing the King’s Library—65,000 printed volumes along with other pamphlets, manuscripts and maps collected by King George III between 1763 and 1820.

Alas, around 2 PM, it was time to say goodbye to AT. We walked to the Russell Square tube stop and said our farewells. It may well be that one of these days, when EN and I are back in Chicago, we will simply have to take a road-trip to Colorado to visit our friend. (What the hell, it’s only a 16 hour drive!)

EN headed out with AT, so I had about an hour to kill before meeting up for my last hang-out session with TvH, so I took that time to wander around the British Museum for a bit. I wasn’t too fussed about spending so little time there for two reasons: (1) I spent an entire afternoon there with Nic back in 2008 and, (2) I find the fact that so many of their treasures were imported (read: plundered) from other lands highly problematic. Nonetheless, I cannot deny that I enjoy being around such significant items as the Rosetta Stone—plus the Great Court within the museum is one of the most stunning museum spaces I’ve ever seen!

A flawed panoramic shot I tried to take of the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court.

What the Rosetta Stone really reveals is that I'm HOT (in the sweaty sense)!

 Around 3 PM I started heading back toward Soho Square, where I joined TvH for a bit of much-enjoyed sun-tanning, and to say goodbye.

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Technically speaking, this was the second time this week I’ve said goodbye. He was originally supposed to leave the day before, and we had gone out on both Saturday and Tuesday nights to celebrate, but an airline strike of some sort delayed his actual departure. 

You can read about Saturday night here. As for Tuesday night, we went to Village for a drink or two, followed by a private karaoke place called Lucky Voice (it was awesome—the five of us in attendance had a private room for a whole hour), and then to Lupo where we met a group of lovely women from Chicago and New York (and where I had to push-off an overly aggressive Italian who was harassing one of our new female friends. That's right, I'm a bad ass—a big, queer bad ass!).

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Anyway, getting back to yesterday, I feel like it’s been ages since I saw and felt the sun properly, so I loved getting out there and just relaxing under its warming glow. Plus, I had wanted to spend some proper time chillin’ in Soho Square for a while now, but just hadn’t had the opportunity.

I look tan here...but where did it go once I left?

TvH and I spent a good two hours bakin’ (the hair on my arms bleached successfully, but I don’t feel like I’m all that darker). At one point, I even dozed off for about twenty minutes—it was wonderful! Eventually, TvH’s boyfriend joined us and we headed off for a quick nosh before I had to leave for my third engagement of the day. We grabbed our food, headed into Golden Square, and enjoyed one another’s company in the open air for a bit longer.

Finally, I couldn’t delay any longer, and had to say goodbye to TvH as well. This goodbye was a bit hard for me, as TvH was one of the first new friends I made here—we started talking the first week of class, and started hanging out during the second. I have him to thank (along with his boyfriend and all of the other amazing friends I’ve met through them) for the resurgence of my late-night partying ways. I’m so very grateful for all that he and the others have done to make this hermitish soul feel welcomed!

From there I hopped on a bus and began the trek to Hackney, where I was supposed to meet one of my UEL instructors—DS—for a celebratory drink. Though it took ages to get there by bus (the National Rail system frightens me for the ridiculous reason that I’m afraid I’ll wind up trapped somewhere for over an hour while waiting for the next train), the place we met at was quite nice. 

It was called Pub on the Park, and it was just that: a pub overlooking a park.

Pub on the Park--we sat outside, around the back. [NB: This image is not mine!]

We spent about two hours outside, just hanging out and talking about everything from the state of the education system, to our mutual penchant for getting lost, to Chicago taxi drivers and the inaccessibility of London’s southside by public transport. 

Of course, conversation was slightly hindered by my annual bout of laryngitis and the fact that for some reason I turn into a gibbering idiot when I try to talk to DS. I have no idea why this is. She’s bloody brilliant, but I don’t have the same problem around my other incredible mentors from back home—just her and SM, one of my other instructors here. I think it might be because they’re bloody brilliant AND British. The combination may simply be too much amazingness for my mind to process.

So, all in all, it was both an incredibly fun and busy day, but also a very sad one. I’ve said goodbye to two good friends and I don’t know when I’ll realistically see them again, and by sharing a pint with DS I’ve quasi-officially transgressed from present- to former-London-based student.

This experience really is drawing to a close… :-(

Barbecue, Gardens, and People of Iron

What an exciting, fun week it’s been! 

In the last 7 days I have visited France, Belgium, and The Netherlands; spent two delightful evenings and one lovely afternoon with various friends; and proudly watched from afar as my sister graduated from MC to UMBC, my parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary, my partner competed in and conquered his very first Iron Person race, and my Aunt Peggy celebrated her 50th birthday!
 

I’m positively exhausted!

I’ll speak more about my travels anon, but for now I want to focus on a few of the things I’ve done in the London area this week, specifically yesterday.

In addition to being my parents’ anniversary, yesterday was Nic’s big race! I knew I would go stir-crazy if I just sat there refreshing the athlete tracker all day, so I decided to try and keep myself as busy as possible. (This was a wise choice on my part since the stupid tracker stopped doing its job after the 56th mile on the bike.) 

So, after starting my morning off with a 5 mile run—don’t forget, I’m training for my own big race (and still looking for sponsors to help me raise $440 by July, which you can learn more about here)—I took my ever-generous host / flat-mate MM up on his offer to go walk around Kew Gardens, where he works. 

I had been meaning to do this for a while now, but with the recent weather it hasn’t really been an option before now. MM and I spent most of the afternoon there—it’s such a lovely park—but my camera battery was low because I forgot to charge it after I got back from my trip, so I didn’t get many pictures. 

Highlights included seeing: Kew Palace, where King George III lived for part of his reign (and which is featured in the film The Madness of King George); some wonderful sculptures hewn from dead trees and created by Kew’s artist-in-residence, David Nash; and, seeing the amazing greenhouses like Temperate House, which is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world!

The backside of Kew Palace

Temperate House

By the time MM and I returned from Kew Gardens, it was almost 6:00 PM—yet, with the time difference, I knew it would be another 9 or 10 hours before Nic was done with his race. This meant I needed to find something to pass the time last night as well.

Fortunately, my friend TvH invited me to join him, LD, and KS for a night of frivolity at my favorite London club, Heaven. Since Heaven doesn’t open until 11 PM, though, we had some time to kill and went to Lupo first.

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I’m going to stop talking about last night for a second, and jump back to Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, TvH and I met up for coffee at LJ’s so we could catch up on the respective trips we had both taken the previous weekend, while enjoying delicious coffee and amazing (albeit messy) caramel shortbread thingies.

Around 5 PM, we set off for Village, where we were to meet-up with LD for cocktails—and just a few at that, because I was determined to avoid a repeat of the prior Thursday’s sloppiness! Unfortunately LD was denied entrance because he forgot his ID and so, after TvH and I finished our wine, we headed someplace where LD knew he could get in: Lupo.

I had never been before, even though it was right down the street. It wasn’t bad, though most of the clientele seemed to be yuppy straights who didn’t quite know what to make of the three of us, bouncing around flamboyantly on our bar stools to the music. On the flipside, the bartender—a lovely Melbournian named Dominica (Dom, for short)—seemed to adore us, and it was in large part because of her that we wound up staying there as long as we did.

Lupo--we sat at the bar. [NB: This image is not mine!]

Eventually, our bellies reminded us that we were famished, and so we set off in search of food. We finally found this barbecue place called Bodean’s. (BTW, check out that website—it's awesome!)

It. Was. AMAZING! 

Seriously, it was some of the best barbecue I’ve had—far better than most of the stuff I’ve had in the US, even! I swear, they must have imported their sauce from the Carolinas, or Memphis, or some other similar place known for its BBQ! (My mouth is watering just thinking back on it…)

Anyway, back to last night…

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So, I joined LD and TvH (and later KS) at Lupo. Our lovely bartender from Thursday was on-duty again, and provided us with a series of killer drinks and shots! 

Finally, around 11 PM, it was time to head over to Heaven, where the four of us spent the remainder of the night dancing our little queer asses off. We even made it into the VIP area before the night was over (though I didn’t think it was so great, personally—at least compared to the main floor).

All the while, though, I kept a close eye on the time!

I knew I wanted to be home by around 3:30 AM, as that was Nic’s ‘best case’ finish time, and with the inevitable drama that plays out on London’s night buses travel frequently takes longer than expected. Sadly, despite my careful attention to the time, the buses nearly thwarted my plans last night. 

The bus that would have had me home in plenty of time was too full so I wasn’t allowed on, and the next one—20 minutes later, which would have been cutting it close but still an option—never showed. (I can only assume there was drama aboard and it stopped somewhere until the situation resolved itself, as the drivers are wont to do.) 

Finally, I managed to get on a bus at about 3:13 AM. Since there weren’t many passengers, the trip took a lot less time than expected, and I found myself walking in the door at about 4 AM—happily, I returned just in time to learn of Nic’s successful completion of his race as it was happening!

Whew! What a day, not to mention week—but more on the rest later!