With my time in London drawing to a close, I decided to take time this past Saturday to hit up Borough Market (one of my most favorite markets in London). Now, normally I would take the tube to London Bridge station since it’s the quickest way to get there, but with the sun shining and me with my post-exam high, I decided to walk there, cutting through Covent Garden, passing by Trafalgar Square and crossing over the Millennium Bridge. I must admit, though I couldn’t wait for summer to get here — it was hot! 80 degrees (maybe even higher) and humid. I’m not going to complain though; at least the sun was shining!
I decided that my walk was going to be leisurely; I wasn’t in a hurry and I wanted to take in as much of London as possible during my last weekend here. As I was crossing over the Millennium Bridge, I realized how much I love this city – it’s so amazing despite the iffy weather. There’ so much to see and do and there’s incredible sense of home for me here. I feel like there are some cities that people just have soul connections with; for me, London is one of those cities. In fact, being out made me wish that I had spent more weekends like this, just exploring.
An old friend of mine was in town this past weekend, preparing to fly back to the States for a week to attend a wedding. Since he was flying out of London, he came a few days early to explore a bit and we met up on Saturday for a few hours. I have to tell the story (kind of) in full because it makes it that much better and is a testament to the power of facebook:
My friend, M., and I went to elementary school together for a few years. While I can’t remember if we had class together in first or second grade, I do remember that he was my ‘boyfriend’. I use that term incredibly loosely, of course. We sat next to each other in class and while we only talked occassionally, I remember him being one of my first crushes (in an innocent first grade kind of way). He left school in third grade or so and I never talked to him again (truth be told, I’m sure we forgot about each other after third grade). Flash forward 18 years: I’m looking at pictures on my friends facebook page and see M. tagged in a number of photos with a mutual friend! I didn’t think it could really be him but I looked closely and realized that it was definitely the same kid I had gone to elementary school with! He looked the same! Bigger, taller and tanner, but still the same face!
Needless to say, I messaged him only to find out that he had no memory of me at all! I literally laughed out loud because a) it’s probably creepy that I remember him after 18 years; and b) it’s definitely creepier that I even messaged him about it. In any case, he was super nice and mentioned that he would be passing through London (he’s currently living in Europe) for the weekend. So, after 18 years, M. and I re-connected as 24-year-old adults, exploring London and talking about field trips to the pumpkin patch. If that’s not a testament to the power of facebook, I don’t know what is!
In any case, showing him around London ended up being a great excuse for me to get out and explore the city as well. Oh, London, how I love you. The more I explore, the more I realize that living here for another 6 months (or longer) would actually be quite wonderful…
Love from London,
