16 Blog September 19 2024 “Country Mouse, City Mouse”
A quick entry to touch bases. Leaving the country itself turned out to be hard for me. We bumped down the dusty road from my brother’s cottage to the highway, dropped off our trusty steed with the ADK license plates Stansted Airport (shout out to Abul, the NICEST guy at Europcar!), got on a bus to the airport, took the train from the airport into London, dragged my stupid suitcase up the stairs (ok, nice young men took pity on the lady with the gray hair and helped me get the &%$#@ suitcase up the stairs—I am hating this burden I have created for myself!), found our way to the Tube during rush hour—big mistake, but we made it, found our way to the Premier Inn Hub at Westminster, got to our room. Whew! What a crazy day. Also, first hotel room without a window. It’s convenient to everything, but we are basically staying in a techno closet. No complaints!!! It’s still London!
Alistair, who knows his way around, showed me our ‘neighborhood’ for a few hours: Westminster Abbey where Will and Kate got married, the Houses of Parliament, Lambeth Palace, which is the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury (that name should ring a bell), and of course, Buckingham Palace which we will tour today.
Best part of the day—sitting by the Thames eating a spicy salmon poke bowl with Alistair while the city light flickered on and we watch the London Eye slowly revolve. Healthy food. A healthy walk.
So on to our day today! Guess what? I got to run by the Thames this morning. I’m going to have a great series of amazing places that I’ve run before I get back to the Bike Path in Johnstown.
I can tell that I am uneasier in the city. This is teaching me something I need to know about myself. The country expands my heart and the city makes my heart watchful. So many people, so much happening that my brain wants to pay attention to, but the country seems to invite me to just absorb. This is good to know as I we are about to head into our tour of cities. I’ll have to see what counts as nourishment in all these places.
Be nourished today! Eat good food! Share a meal with someone you love!
ML+
