Final UK Hours

I'm off to Heathrow Airport momentarily, to fly back to the land that I love, oh beautiful British Columbia...

I postponed my return for eight days, after my generous uncle Tim made an offer I couldn't refuse to get me over to Paris to visit his lovely family, and equally lovely city.

Paris was indeed beautiful -- freezing cold, but brilliantly sunny, and, as I suspected, much more fun at 26 than it was at 14. Though apparently I'm allergic to Paris, because on both of my visits I managed to get sick. Nothing debilitating this time, however, just a sore throat bug thing that I kept more or less at bay.

I wandered around beautiful areas of town with a smile on my face, I cowered before the fashion prowess of your average Parisian, I resisted the urge to fill my suitcase with beautiful garments I couldn't afford, and wouldn't have occasion to wear in beautiful British Columbia. I tried to speak French. I had dinner with my childhood friend Ben and his lovely girlfriend Carolin at their flat, and probably embarrassed myself while shopping for the ingredients with Ben. Picture me skipping down the street, with a bagette tucked under my arm, in sheer ecstacy at the experience of stopping in at a bakery, a cheese shop, a wine shop, a fish shop, and a fresh fruit and vegetable shop that put to shame most of the produce you see on shelves in both North America and the UK. The French are very serious about their food. (I did manage to resist the urge to be too ridiculous and take photos of the Genuine Parisian Fromagier in front of his array of beautiful smelly cheeses, and the Genuine Parisian Poisonnier in front of his fish. Parisians are a bit uppity and such behaviour is I'm sure unforgiveable, even, or especially, from a tourist.)

I did lots of other things too, but those are the highlights. And no, I did not join in the riots, nor did I even see anything remotely riotous, except on the news. But the stuff I saw there was pretty intense.

All right, my chariot awaits, and I must bid farewell to my Motherland. It's been a great six weeks, and I hope it's not another five years before I return. Tally Ho...

UK Update

Well it's been a busy few weeks, and I haven't actually had reliable internet access (as my grandmother would say, "These things are sent to try us". Ha!) Lots to report... don't even know where to start.

I spent a week in Wales, a few days in London, 4 days in Scotland with my little sis, and am now back in Ramsgate with my grandmother. Tomorrow I head to London to have a Cousins Reunion, and then I'm off to Paris for 5 days to join in the riots. Just kidding, I'm going to visit my uncle and his family. And practice speaking French. I got to do a bit of that at the party my sister threw -- the Mexican Fiesta! -- as all her friends are exchange students and my French gets much more fluent when I've been drinking tequila and am surrounded by eager French boys. ;)

I'll be back in Canada on the 22nd of November, following a pricey flight change. Looking very much forward to settling down and being normal again.... and also to the Blogs n' Dogs conference.

More soon. Right now I have to run back to granny's house before she gets all worried. I'm already in the doghouse for spoiling my beauty 5 years ago with a nose piercing (she just never saw it until this visit). Ta ta for now...

Yorkshire Wedding

The Newlyweds Dance
Originally uploaded by sarahfelicity.

Part of the reason I scheduled my trip to the UK for right now was so that I could be at the wedding of Gerald and Diana. Gerald has kind of been a second father to me since I was quite young. And so this past weekend was his wedding, and Emma and I were both there for it, and it was so lovely to be a part of.

We even got a mention in his speech -- he was joking about how between him and Diana, they now have 6 unmarried daughters, and how they might have to offer two-for-one specials. He then added "and if you take two of them off our hands, we'll throw in a weekend in Aculpoco with the Pullman Bombshell Sisters!" Terrible, really, but that's Gerald for you. Completely politically incorrect, at risk of soon becoming a dirty old man, but still lovely.

So after a five hour drive home last night along a depressing motorway (that's what they call highways in England, and they sure do drive fast on them), I'm back in London, and somewhat at loose ends for the week. Trying not to be lonely, and also trying not to spend a ton of money, which is pretty hard because London is excessively, outrageously expensive. Seriously.

Hello from Jolly Old

Arrived safely in London, with 89-year-old grandmother in tow, and following a terrible 25 minutes where we circled around Heathrow waiting for 6am so we could land. Talk about feeling like puking... So far the jetlag hasn't been too bad, though I wouldn't say I'm in a normal sleep schedule yet.

Britain is... well, both as I remember it, and also not. North American-inspired coffee culture (or is it silly to call it that? Was our cafe culture originally inspired by Italy? Probably) has taken over, and there are Starbucks aplenty all over London. Everything is very expensive (don't even THINK about the currency conversion or you'll cry) and I feel quite aware of my accent that makes me stick out like a sore thumb. But at the same time it's useful, as it lets me get away with a lot -- like having no idea whether I'm on the right bus.

Being here is interesting because it helps me to understand some of my psychological make-up... the legacy of two British parents raised very much in the stiff-upper-lip tradition. Also makes me grateful that they moved to Canada and raised me there.... my life would have been very different here.

Currently I'm in Ramsgate, visiting my other granny who isn't so well these days. Apart from making her have a dizzy spell yesterday, because I was out for a bit too long and didn't call to tell her I was running late, it's been great. Tomorrow I head back to London, and then up to Yorkshire for Gerald's wedding. Exciting! Only apparently you HAVE to wear a hat to weddings in England. So after I post this I'm heading to the many charity shops here in town to look for something outrageous to put on my head Saturday.

Cheerio...

On the Road (Again) Tomorrow

In 24 hours I'll be leaving for the airport to fly to London Heathrow...

Woah.

Maybe I should get packing!?!?!? Five weeks, almost winter, one suitcase... it's a daunting job.

Google Desktop

So yesterday I watched this (and linked to it below, in case you missed it). And it was a bit creepy, as I mentioned. Definitely food for thought.

And then this morning I click through to read about the latest features just released in Gmail, and they tell me about the new Google Desktop. And it sounds kinda cool... but I'm scared to download it because it sounds a little too much like the vision of the future laid out in the flash video thing I watched yesterday.... Is it really safe to trust the privacy policies that everyone professes to follow? Or is this just another place where resistance is futile and so I might as well be a hip and groovy early adopter?? Hmmmmm....

New Merger

Me: "Hey Kate, guess what you can do with Flickr and Blogger!?!?! Check it out!!"

Kate: "I dunno... You can flick a blog? Blog a flick? Flog? Flogger!!"

Is anyone out there listening? I think it's genius (even more so than the Flickr badge to the right there, which is what I was talking about). Though it could lead to something like this, which you should watch, and is a wee bit creepy...