13 December 2013

Day One Hundred Seventeen [The Penultimate Chapter: Saying Goodbye]

DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN - 13 DEC 2013

Normally on Fridays, I wake up before the crack of dawn to catch up on Elementary and Scandal, then ease into whatever may or may not happen, which most likely involved staying inside and resting.

Today, however, was one that involved a lot of tube rides (in the morning) and a few adventures.

I did start out with Elementary and Scandal. Afterwards, I took a trip from Cricklewood to Clapham Common one last time. It was a very hard trip for me, because it meant saying goodbye to Jeremy's Tree. Yes, I am sad about leaving a tree, but besides that, I had gotten very attached to the park. Clapham Common has been one of my favourite spots of London, though to many it may seen a peculiar choice.

Upon returning to Cricklewood, I gathered my luggage (Clapham is consistency muddy and damp; there was no way I was going to drag my things there) and headed out to New Cross to spend my last full day in London where I started, with my friends Al and Matt.

[I said my goodbyes to my host family last night, and gave them a DVD of the Peanuts TV Specials, because I couldn't resist adding a Minnesotan twist to the gift - bonus fact: Charles Schulz graduated from my high school in 1940]

Because I am a huge sentimentalist, I requested that we visited the place where they took me when I first arrived in August: Greenwich. We walked to Cutty Sark, and briefly visited the Greenwich Market before walking up to the Royal Observatory. When we glanced at the railing to get a good view of the city, a person who seemed like a stranger got extremely close to me. I turned to my left and it was my friend KT massively trolling me! I had then remembered that she had planned on going to Greenwich today, but I didn't think we'd run into each other.

A short while later, Al, Matt, and I returned to their flat and relaxed. Since I edited parts of my poetry manuscript the night before, I spent some time figuring out just how much stuff I could feasibly bring back into the states.

I'm ready to return home... to my boyfriend, to my Mom, to my cat, to my Minnesotan friends. It's going to be really hard adjusting back... I've really gotten to know London during my stay.

I truly hope I get to return someday.

If I win the lottery...

Til next time, lovelies!

Lucas

P.S. My poem, 'Things I Wish I Could Enjoy Again (But Have Been Tainted By Autism Speaks Propaganda)' is featured on page 87 of the first issue of THEM! You can read it here: http://themlit.com/is-i-2013/

P.S.S. Here's a lovely photo I took on Wednesday morning from the top of the London Eye


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