Salutations in the Sunshine!

So.. is it just me or is it hot in here? And no, not like in Nelly’s music video. It’s been too hot to even dance! Like, 15 minutes out of the shower and already feel to icky to function hot. Or maybe that was just London? I was in London for a 4-day extravaganza to see one of my friends. It was amazing! Well.. when I got there!

Those of you who know me, know how much I love complaining about air travel. Unfortunately Thursday’s journey merits my travel induced rage. I was at the airport in time. For the first time ever, I was travelling with hand luggage only. I had sorted my liquids in to a resealable bag, all was organised. I was waiting for the gate to be called, my flight was meant to be at 21:20, until… “Flight delayed until 21:50”. Normally a 30 minute delay wouldn’t bother me, but the later it gets in to the evening, the more limited further travel options get. I could go on about exactly how a 30 minute flight delay  (with an airline which boasts that 87% of their flights are on time), plus being stuck during a supposed fire alarm drill at Gatwick actually cost me an extra £30 and added 1 ½ hours to my estimated arrival time at my friend’s house, but it’s so depressing that I can’t even bear reading it. Let’s just say that I am very grateful to the private hire driver who waited for me for 15 minutes (he was early, I was late); he played a crucial part in preventing me from breaking down in stress-related-sobs. Needless to say I will be contacting the airline and Gatwick (because I’m apparently an old person, that’s what we do! :-P)

I will say that I LOVE flying. I think it’s a wonderful feat of mechanics and engineering. I love take-offs and landings especially. I always want to sit at the window, because it’s the seat for winners (unless you have long legs, then I understand the aisle seat preference). It fills me with dread to be sat in the middle seat. No one should have to bear that unless they’re sitting next to people they know on both sides! I love watching everything, and if you’re so lucky to be flying at the most magical times (sunset, sunrise, night time), then the views you can get are so amazing. Both my flights were late, but the late summer sunset meant that I still got to see the lovely colours in the sky. Honestly, it would make watercolourists and impressionist painters reach for their brushes, and I wish I had any photography skills at all, so I could capture some of the lovely colours and images. I’ve flown over Norwegian mountains lit only by moonlight, and it’s stunning. Equally I love coming in for landing late at night when it’s dark, when you get an aerial shot of an illuminated city. The sad thing is that behind many of those lit up windows in those lit up areas sit unhappy people who think they’re all alone. If they could just see that the people all around them have their lights on too, maybe that would help. 

I feel like I can’t talk about flying right now, without also mentioning the absolute tragedy of the Malaysian Airline flights. First one is “lost”, then another is shot down? I actually can’t genuinely fathom it. How do either of those things even happen in this day and age? How can people be dead because of something like that? I can’t even begin to imagine what the families of the passengers must be going through, but I hope that they’ll be able to put their loved ones to rest as soon as possible. 

On Saturday my friend and I went to Stonehenge, which was amazing! I was informed by my mother that I have apparently been there before when I was small, but I have no memory of this whatsoever, sorry Stonehenge! Thanks to the deal-scouting efforts of my friend, we had managed to get the coach and entry for half price (ka-ching!), the only downside was that we had to get up very early on a Saturday. We were not amused, hehe. The weather was perfect, a bit overcast, but not looming with the threat of rain. I think it’s simultaneously baffling and awesome that we still don’t know what Stonehenge was built for. Yes there are theories, of course, but we can’t really tell definitively what its purpose was. It was impressive and beautiful nevertheless!

On the coach during the return journey the person sitting in front of my friend decided to recline his seat. I am sorry, but unless you have a medical condition or back problem that necessitates seat-reclination, then don’t. Please, dear readers, just don’t. If one person starts reclining, then we all have to start to recline in order to not get each other’s hair (and possibly dandruff) up our noses!

On Sunday we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is totally free! I love free museums, it embodies the best about a cultured society that values preservation of art, culture and knowledge. I also enjoyed the inscription over the front entrance, which you can barely make out in the photo below: “The Excellence of Every Art Must Consist in the Complete Accomplishment of Its Purpose”. 

Please also feel free to browse the 100 Facts about the V&A, which is actually (though not surprisingly) quite interesting! 

Lidded Incense Burner in the form of a tripod vase on a tree root with attached peacock and peahen

The only downside to going somewhere so very metropolitan, cosmopolitan and lively, is that I get a case of the Grass is Greener Complex. Suddenly I have images of packing up and moving there, starting afresh (although I fear it would be slightly less Sex and the City style, and more Bridget Jones style…), and going wild. The opportunities are dizzying, but then so is the cost of living, and transport, and basically the cost of everything, hehe. Please don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t give up my life with MotH for anything, I just wish I could experience it ALL! I wish I could split myself in to several versions of me, with a joint consciousness. I would send myself across the globe, pursuing every avenue and option. Every major city, alone or with others, good times and bad times, rich and poor, I want know it all, have it all and see it all. On a smaller scale I have this sense of possessiveness and want about books. Whenever I go in to a large bookstore, I just wish I had the power to absorb the story from every book. I think that’s why I sometimes go in to a bit of a funk. Being only one person with one consciousness, I have to make choices, and although I like them, there’s always the “what if” lurking in my head. More often than not I tell myself to get over it, but sometimes that’s hard, hehe. 

And suddenly we’re over halfway through July. I don’t remember permitting this to happen, but there’s nothing we can do about it now except enjoy it! I hope you all enjoy it, and I should be back in a few weeks with another post!

Toodles!