London: day fifty-four

Today Abi and I planned to check out Borough Market and then head over to Greenwich where there was a place that served the classic British afternoon tea with biscuits and cakes for a fairly decent price (you’d be surprised how expensive it is to do in London). On the way to the market though I had to renew my monthly unlimited on my Oyster card, sufficiently complaining about the eighty pounds it cost all the while. But I then realized that this was the last time I would have to buy it as I will only be here for a few weeks in April and will at that time just do weekly top-ups. It was really strange to realize that I only have one more full month here; honestly, I feel like I’m still waiting for the semester to begin. I really don’t want to go back. This break has been all that I hoped it to be, and the newness of the experience has created a much welcome shift in the present pattern of my life – kind of feels like I’m running a parallel track at the moment. I just don’t want to go back to the way it was.

The only thing that supersedes that feeling though is that I desperately miss my sister and am really excited for when I get to see her again, when she comes to visit as well as summer. We are planning on going to the Tesla concert in May at the Knitting Factory and have also (pretty much, but very likely) decided on a matching tattoo design that we want to get together – on her left arm and my right arm (each of our dominant hands) so that they’ll be next to each other when we stand side by side. Both her and I really like the look of just a simple thin, double, black band around the forearm. However, the reason I had not gotten it already was because I really want all my tattoos to have highly significant meaning behind them and I wasn’t sure what two black bands on my forearm could represent. But then I had the idea; cross the bands over on the back of the arm to join the two lines into one and to create the shape of an infinity symbol which has essentially been folded over on itself. If Haley and I both got the same tattoo, it would symbolize our relationship; two strong black bands for the each of us, but also acknowledging that we are also one because no one else in the world could know either of us better or share our blood or the type of unique relationship we share. The design is simple but extremely meaningful and we are both very excited about getting it, which we are hoping to do this summer. It also has the added bonus of being a matching sister tattoo but without using birds, flowers, quotes, or butterflies like most other matching tattoo designs – those kind of cliché, rather cheesy designs just don’t fit our personalities and I am glad we were able to come up with something that was entirely unique to us. So I am very excited for that and AM looking forward to going back for that.

At Borough Market, Abi and I roamed around looking at all the different appetizing foods. I eventually ended up with a cup of hot mulled wine and a piece of a raspberry and chocolate cake slice (both of which were AMAZING). We ate our snacks in the churchyard of the neighboring Southwark Cathedral, soaking in the sunshine and listening to the church bells chime. There was even a small tree in the courtyard that was bursting with pink Cherry Blossoms – I don’t want to speak too soon, but Spring might be on the way…

We then wandered down the Southbank of the Thames for a bit, passing by the Globe and turning around at the Tate Modern Art Museum. We caught a nearby Tube over to Bank where we then boarded the DLR train to Greenwich. 

At Greenwich we made our way through the streets and eventually found the Fan Museum which was where the Afternoon Tea was supposed to be happening. Apparently though, today was an unusual day and due to some event, they weren’t doing it today. Moving on, we decided to explore the huge park near the Royal Observatory because it was such a nice day. Compared to London, Greenwich is SO quiet. The peaceful silence is something that you don’t realize you miss until you are outside of the noise of the inner city. The break came welcome to us both and we walked through the park, exploring and taking our time as we climbed the hill that overlooked the city. We found what was supposedly an old hospital according to the plaque above the door, but which looked more like a brick shed and wasn’t much larger than a shed, a rose garden (which unfortunately was not in bloom yet), and the remains of an old homestead for which only a wall and a sunken bath remained. When the hill plateaued again, we continued walking until we reached the farthest gate to the park. Curious as to what was on the other side of the wall, we detoured out of the park and found out that behind the park, there was a large heath of green grass that stretched for a good distance almost equal to that of the park itself. Even though Greenwich is still technically in the heart of the city and is surrounded on all sides by more city, these two patches of open land close to one another gave the sense of being in the countryside. One could look for miles and see hillsides in the distance and the sky seemed to just open up, no longer constricted by concrete walls on either side. It was here that I spotted a sign for a road which divided the heath that read “Goffers Road” and immediately decided that it was time for a photo opp. Abi snapped a picture as I stood in front of the “ers.” After that we continued to walk across the heath toward a small pond and a miniature hillside covered in thickets. Most of the ground was soppy, muddy wet due to the rain we got yesterday, but near this little hill we discovered a patch of earth that was dry because the grass wasn’t nearly as lush there and we laid down to look at the sky and breathe in the earth and fresh air. We watched people play with their dogs, the clouds passing overhead and the small collaborations of crows that gathered in the tall grass. We spent quite a bit of time there, just chatting, and didn’t move until we realized that we were getting hungry and the sun was nearing the western horizon. Making our way back through the park, we wove through the pathways and admired the flowers which were starting to make their appearance. Down the hill and back in town, we stopped into a pub for a drink and some food and on our way back to the DLR station we briefly stopped in Mark’s and Spencers because Abi claimed that she had discovered there some of the “best gummy worms she had ever tasted.” Munching on these fabled gummy worms we boarded the DLR bound for London and moved from the darkness of the outskirt city back into the condensed light of the city which drowns out all but a few stars in the night.

Even though it is only 12:00, I think I am going to call it a night and give in. On can only go for so long on four to five hours of sleep every night (about a week for me) before hitting that wall of exhaustion. So, being that’s where I find myself now; goodnight.