Greetings from London

Well, Twickenham really, but it's all one and the same really.

I would have updated before now, but the past few days have been a whirlwind of jet lag and reunions. In the past few days I have inhaled more (not-just-tobacco) smoke and consumed more tea than I normally do in a month. And this afternoon in the vicinity of Covent Garden I rapidly became wetter than I have been in quite some time.

All in all, however, it's lovely. I'm staying with my dear friend whom I shall call Lady Violet (her friends purchased her a title for her birthday), and her boyfriend/fiance whom I shall call Jeff.

I love this girl to the ends of the earth. I met her less than 2 months before I left England when I was studying here, and after a 13 hour "first date," we were inseparable for the remainder of my stay. It's been nearly 8 years since I saw her last, yet nothing has changed. This afternoon two different people asked if we were sisters, and when we said No they all said "Oh, but you're related, right?"

I never have to pretend with LV, nor she with me. She's straightforward and honest and silly and a bit of a geek and the perkiest goth (or semi-retired goth) you will ever meet.

It's so rare in our lives that we meet people that we connect with so easily and so instantly. It's nice to learn that these connections aren't fleeting.

Pardon the somewhat clunky attempt at sentimentality, but truth be told I'm a bit bombed [See: smoking comment, above. -Ed]. Jeff got my laptop set up for their wireless earlier this evening and I wanted to grab a free moment to simply say "Hello! I made it across the ocean alive and I am, indeed, having a fabulous time!"

In other news, I feel my accent scrambling itself further with each passing day.

I have a tendency to be a bit of an accent chameleon--I inadvertently begin adopting the speech patterns of the people around me. Yesterday I started noticing vowels coming out of my mouth differently than they usually do, and I've started using words like "jumper" and "bloke," and saying "toilet" instead of "bathroom," (as in "Excuse me, where is the Ladies' Toilet?").

I'm sure it doesn't help that LV has a habit of slipping in and out of various dialects of the British Isles, paired with a fairly smashing American accent as well. As a result of her contant shifting, I've been slipping in and out of my own assorted British accents with increasing frequency.

Just do me a favour. If I come back talking like Madonna, smack me.

Hard.

And now I'm off to bed, for LV and I are attempting to haul ourselves out of bed and get an early(ish) on the day, for--here was my surprise when I arrived--she's taken the whole week off work to play out with me! This sort of alters my plan to be Uber Tourist Girl, as LV can't afford to shell out hundreds of pounds for some of the exhorbitant entry fees (nor would even consider asking her to!); but really, London isn't going anywhere, nor will I leave it another 8 years before I come back. Time with my friend is ultimately more valuable than a bunch of photographs.

LV is being a sport, however, about showing me around the areas she knows. She's well up for coming with me to the dozens of free museums all over London--being, like myself, a bit of a geek--and if there's something I'm really dying to get into that costs money--like the Tower of London or Hampton Court Palace--I'll pay for her to get in. After all, she's giving me not only a roof over my head, but my own bloody bedroom! And Jeff has been proving himself to be an excellent cook.

As yet we really haven't managed anything touristy other than shopping at Camden Market and visiting Covent Garden (we were headed to Trafalgar Square afterwards so I could take touristy photos in front of the lions, but it began to piss down rain so heavily that we said "fuck it" and went home).

I will attempt a more coherent update sometime soon, replete with the (fairly minimal) travel woes, my observations on the similarities and differences of New York and London, and other fascinating(?) tidbits.

'Night!*

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*Hey, cut a girl some slack. It's nearly 1am over here!