I made it safely to Britain, and had an unusual sensation of comfort when the plane hit the tarmac at Heathrow. Last year when I flew to London it had been five years, so it took a while for me to get my groove back. This year it had only been fourteen months, so it wasn't long before I started calling sweaters 'jumpers' and saying 'alright?' instead of hello.
My flight over was fine, and thankfully I sat by no talkers. Flying out of SLC I was squeezed between a portly business type and an Indian girl studying economics. She was no fun! Just reading her text book the entire time and highlighting exciting parts of it. Business man struck up a conversation immediately, telling me all about himself. I started feeling really heavy like I knew that a five hour conversation was budding and there was no way out. But interestingly enough, he asked me what I did for a living and I told him, and the conversation was over before we had even flown over the Great Salt Lake. I don't know what it is about my profession that stops these conversations dead. Was he annoyed by my job? Intimidated by the artsiness of it all? Did I have nothing to offer him professionally? Well, I wasn't crying me a river or anything. He shut up for the rest of the trip, and I was spared more small talk with a mid-level ding-a-ling.
The rest of the flight was fine. I slept.
In order to stay awake once I got to London, I took a train down to see Adam in Brighton. We had dinner with Loraine, as well as Jennifer Knudsen and her three kids. They are visiting for six weeks which, with three kids, would put me in my grave. Jen seemed to be doing fine. We had dinner at Bill's, which is this magical place where they put fancy origami vegetables on everything. Adam and I saw the Simpson's movie, and I slept through more than half of it. It was a combination of jet-lag and not enough Ralph Wiggum. Now I'm back in London and Alex Ungerman is helping me prep for the onslaught of weary Wolverines tomorrow. We have to go buy Oyster passes and get tickets for The Drowsy Chaperone tonight. Will this job ever END?
A few observations about Britain this year:
1. Everyone is wearing stripy things. Stripes are in.
2. The weather is drizzly, we are using jackets.
3. The British people seem a little fatter to me.
4. Do I have to call potato chips crisps?
5. Everyone is reading Harry Potter on the tube.
Here is where I live:
