Londoners for a Season…

We travelled to London in January…

Not for the weather, who ever goes to England for the weather?

We went to simply be Londoners for a season…or, in this case, a month.

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When family and friends joined us along the way for a while all the better.

I miss this artsy capital and had yearned for the pedestrian life of the city dweller for too long…

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Together we found ourselves layering the mundane tasks of a London householder-

grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, queuing and waiting for buses & trains-

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with the cultural treats on offer.

Frequenting art galleries to stare wide eyed at masterpieces by Gauguin, Titian, Monet, Picasso and Nicolaes Mae at the National, for free,

Walking along the Embankment on a bitterly cold night,

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Worshipping at St. George Church in Beckenham, our adopted parish, soaking up the sacred music, mingling with the congregation-who remembered us from six years ago-

Listening to organ pre- and post-ludes book-ending the services, and being swept away by the mournful whisperings of the pipes rising to a joyful shout,

Admiring the stained glass windows that overlook my parents’ grave.

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I was completely at home.

“Bring us something back from London,” our children’s voices chimed across the miles.

How could I carry back the essence of my beloved country wrapped as chocolate bars and Branston in my suitcase?

An idea sparked and shed light.

a painting or a piece of pottery to capture the way of life I love…

unique artwork created by our very talented friends and family,

vases, bowls and plates, land and sea-scapes filled with love and humming with familiarity,

something to keep-

to display-

to use-

to remember-

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This trip was for hubs & me…to recapture the 18 months we spent together falling in love again as we picked up the shreds of my mother’s and father’s lives and carried on to find Footlights and a new life, healed and recovered.

We donned English macs for a short month and went to

films and West End musicals,

pubs and cafes where we were hailed by those who remembered us from before,

parks, pavements and graveyards, where we bumped shoulders with others, tramped across bridges, climbed steps, nodded to the dog-walkers and tidied up my parents’ stone pronouncing “Together Again”.

We took a day-trip to Brighton to visit my next door neighbor in London whom I’d known since childhood,

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“Look at you looking so British…” Daughter exclaimed when I sent her the photo!

We drove to Littlehampton to see my Uncle’s house that’s only been an address on an envelope for the past 54 years!

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And I brushed away the decades with old school friends who never change…were we really such old souls at eighteen?

Happily we tucked as many experiences and quirkinesses under our belts to see us through the coming year,

we lived for 30 perfect days,

walked together more than 350 miles,

and snapped hundreds of precious moments to keep forever.

Londoners for a season…what a trip!

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