London notes - the joy of the workday
Similar to when I'm in NYC, I don't feel like a visitor in London. Not that I know these cities like the back of the hand... but because here my days are spent as a person going about their work day. My hide-away pals treat me like a room mate. We see each other in our robes in the morning, mumble greetings and offer the other coffee. I dress in my teacher's duds, grab my briefcase and join the stream of people on the tube with my Oyster card and head into town. I have meetings, grab a cuppa, text message on my UK phone with friends and text for work coordinations, then I teach the classes and maybe grab a brew with friends after work. Maybe I get to carve out a bit of time for a museum or a garden. The weekends are coordinated with friends on what to do. I stress on deadlines. I read my favorite papers, trade rags, Time Out or listen to the iPhone on the tube. I walk out of the tube, nearly the last train, to the quiet suburban streets and head home to companions for some tea and telly. We complain to one another on the cost of living.
It's a strange little comfort here, and New York, for me to feel so "settled in". I just slide into it.
(The down side is that for all the years of coming to London, I've not really seen the rest of the UK!)
This trip, even the experimental trip to the little fetish party in Paris on the Eurostar felt like a local's weekend jaunt.
That kumimonster, my long time pal originally of SF, occupies a flat here part time and we text each other and hang out from time to time, only adds to the nomad's fantasy of a settled life.
Some highlights this trip, so far, that make me feel like I just slide into life here.
Jet lag was brutal with the uneven sleep schedule the first few days in London / Paris.
Really great classes at Coco De Mer! All sold out. More students. More journalists covering them!
Productive meeting with a friend, who is similtaneously located in London and LA and I just saw in LA a few weeks back, to brian storm the Big Picture... meeting with a corporation considering hiring me for a special presentation... meeting, just talk, with an agent...
Getting thanks from spouses and partners of the students the day after!
Hanging out and working on my laptop with great coffee and free WiFi at Coffe Cake and Kink between time.
Belgo (but haven't been able to stop by Neal's Yard Creamery or scones at the Covent Garden Hotel yet this trip)
Might get to go sailing this weekend on friends' boat to Isle of Wight. (I need to get some equivalent of deck approved shoes.)
It's a strange little comfort here, and New York, for me to feel so "settled in". I just slide into it.
(The down side is that for all the years of coming to London, I've not really seen the rest of the UK!)
This trip, even the experimental trip to the little fetish party in Paris on the Eurostar felt like a local's weekend jaunt.
That kumimonster, my long time pal originally of SF, occupies a flat here part time and we text each other and hang out from time to time, only adds to the nomad's fantasy of a settled life.
Some highlights this trip, so far, that make me feel like I just slide into life here.
Jet lag was brutal with the uneven sleep schedule the first few days in London / Paris.
Really great classes at Coco De Mer! All sold out. More students. More journalists covering them!
Productive meeting with a friend, who is similtaneously located in London and LA and I just saw in LA a few weeks back, to brian storm the Big Picture... meeting with a corporation considering hiring me for a special presentation... meeting, just talk, with an agent...
Getting thanks from spouses and partners of the students the day after!
Hanging out and working on my laptop with great coffee and free WiFi at Coffe Cake and Kink between time.
Belgo (but haven't been able to stop by Neal's Yard Creamery or scones at the Covent Garden Hotel yet this trip)
Might get to go sailing this weekend on friends' boat to Isle of Wight. (I need to get some equivalent of deck approved shoes.)