My brother and his wife left a couple of days ago; I waved them off at the airport as they were weaving through security to make their way back to Canada. They weren't quite out of sight before I said to Sean, 'Right, let's go.'
If I had stood to watch them go much longer the tears might have spilled over. I've never been outwardly sentimental or emotional - in high school I was jokingly nick-named the ice queen - but the last few times I've said goodbye to my family have been tearful. It's been an incredible two weeks though, sharing my life and sites and home with them. While Jason has visited London before, Renée never has, and Jason hasn't visited since I've moved here. Much of their sightseeing around London was done while I was still working. We'd catch up in the evenings over dinner, or Sean and I'd meet them in London for drinks at a pub or, on one occasion, a visit to the theatre. (Wicked was just as good the second time around - I recommend seeing it!) It was during the second week, when they began to wind down their frenetic sightseeing, that I got to play the tourist with them. The first thing I did that second week was introduce them to Sean's family. They have made me feel so welcome here since I've been with Sean and it was important to me that my family got the chance to meet them. I feel a little guilty imposing on Sean's mum, but she and Jo now have an open invitation to visit Canada and stay with Jason and Renée, so I'm not too worried.
We also visited Highclere Castle together - for those who aren't familiar with it, it's the stately home that was the filming location for Downton Abby. The weather wasn't as fine as it had been the week before, but the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy the house and the grounds. There was something thrilling about being on a filming location of this favourite show. I know it seems silly, but it brings the fantasy of the screen to life a little, to be able to actually stand where the stories happened. You can almost imagine yourself a part of them. I felt the same kind of thrill when Sean and I visited Harewood House, a filming location for Victoria. The history of the Carnarvon family was also interesting though, and I particularly liked noting the moments that must have inspired the show's writer. There are tiny threads of truth woven throughout the fictional Crawley saga that were a delight to discover. And Sean (who loathes period dramas and was thoroughly uninterested in the Downton Abby connection) perked up considerably when he realised there was an exhibition on Egypt and the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb (the 5th Earl of Carnarvon played a major role in the find).
The other big tourist trip was a day tour by coach to Stonehenge and Bath. We booked through Premium Tours and it was a really lovely day. The tour guide was funny and informative and the journey fairly comfortable. I was fascinated by Stonehenge. I still haven't quite got over my marvel at how old civilisation is here in England. To be standing beside something so many thousands of years old was stunning. When I stop to think about it properly, it drives me absolutely mad how much we don't know about our world. While we could find out a lot about how Stonehenge was built and the various stages of construction, archaeologists can only guess at why it might have been built. I absolutely burn to know these things but, like most of my questions about our world and the stars and, well, everything, really, I will have to bury my curiosity and just resign myself to never knowing any of the answers. The visitor's centre at Stonehenge featured photos of other henges around England and, while I suppose I should have realised it, I didn't quite think that there would be others. Some were only really visible from the air, as they're little more than dips and mounds in fields now, but others still had stones and other markers visible. Nothing nearly as grand and impressive as Stonehenge, but I think I might like to try and see them one day all the same. Bath was lovely too, but much the same as the last time I visited. Lunch was notable - we stopped in at Handmade Burger Co. (luckily just before the heavens absolutely opened up on us) for some truly delicious burgers. I'd recommend the Hawaiian chicken burger, which is what I had, but it was a tough choice as everything on the menu looked mouthwateringly good. Once we were back in London, we went out to dinner and then to a pub to celebrate Renée's birthday - and their last night in England.
It was an early start the next morning to make it to the airport, and all too suddenly it seemed it was time to say goodbye.
London is very much my home now and I am reaching the point where I can't quite imagine myself living anywhere other than England (assuming the home office will grant me leave to remain), but that doesn't change the fact that I miss spending time with my family. I used to be very close to my younger sister and my brother, and while I arguably still am, distance and a five hour time difference make it hard to feel that closeness. Having Jason and Renée come visit was a chance to properly renew that closeness and remind myself that I am still a part of my family. tags
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My summer seems somehow to have stretched out to encompass an endless stream of new experiences; so many more than I ever expected to fit into six weeks. There was my ten-day trip to Scandinavia right at the start, a region of Europe that was entirely new to me, as was the experience with Contiki tours, but that incredible vacation was only just the beginning of my summer experience.
Almost as soon as I got back to London, Sean and I arranged to see a burlesque/cabaret revue in South Bank called Between The Sheets. While cabaret was not a new experience for me, we found our way to a restaurant under the arches near Waterloo station called the Archduke for cocktails before the show. I'd never been before, though I'd passed it countless times. From the outside, the glass and brick front with the glaring neon signs doesn't look like much, but inside is beautifully arranged with a surprising amount of natural light and plenty of opportunities for live jazz. A pianist was performing the evening we were there and, being a quieter night, the bar staff were attentive. I will definitely be going back there again. I fairly devoured books this summer, reading roughly two a week. Neither of my top picks are recently published, but they were new to me and I only took a few days to read each of them: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (which is so much funnier and more complex than its film adaptation) and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben. The latter was a game changer for me. I have struggled so much to be more positive and to be happier but I kept slipping into old, negative patterns, a backslide that left me constantly feeling like a failure. It was so refreshing to read about someone else's experiences and to realise that adjusting your attitude is hard and that no one is meant to be perfect (or perfectly happy) all the time. I don't know exactly why this book was so eye-opening for me, since I did know those things before, but something just clicked when I read it and I thought, 'Yes. I can do this!' While I was already feeling more positive with the advent of the summer holidays, reading this book left me with such a renewed sense of joie de vivre, it was like a new lease on life. I tried to capitalise on that feeling when Sean and I took a trip to Leeds towards the end of August. I had never been, but the city was meant to be a hotspot for new music and food and drink, as well as having strong historical ties. I throughly enjoyed visiting both the city and its surrounds. Together with Sean's friends, Guy and Verity, we took a day trip to Harewood House to absorb some country air and peace, as well as have a snoop around both house and grounds. Fans of ITV's show Victoria may recognise some of the rooms from the scenes of 'Buckingham Palace' in the show.
My new experiences didn't end there, either: The four of us signed up for our first escape room at Tick Tock Unlock. We were locked into a Pharaoh's-tomb-themed room and had an hour to solve the puzzles and get ourselves out. For the first fifteen minutes we accomplished next to nothing, struggling to crack the first puzzle, but once we got over that initial embarrassing hump, we tackled the rest with fair aplomb. I was nervous about it before, worried that it would leave me feeling stupid and end with us all bickering with each other, frustrated by the puzzles. There was no bickering and the puzzles weren't frustratingly difficult (despite what our initial fifteen minutes of staring at walls and turning over boxes and bags might suggest). We all had a lot of fun and for much of the rest of the trip, our conversations kept coming back to how much we enjoyed it. One a slightly less exciting note, I also had my first proper pub quiz while in Leeds and, while we didn't come that close to winning, I don't think we did terribly poorly either.
The bank holiday weekend rounded off what had been a truly wonderful summer for me with a trip to Bletchley Park, somewhere I had been hounding Sean to take me since his sister and her husband had been in March. The day was gloriously sunny; it was perfect weather, since so much of the museum is outside. In between wandering around the bunkers and houses and garages, we also managed to squeeze in a pleasant picnic lunch by the pond, where we carefully positioned our chairs so that Sean could sit in the shade and I could bask in the sun.
I thought going back to work would be quite the reality check, but I actually felt fully recharged and ready to get on with it by the time the end of August rolled around. I have been back at work now for a little over a week and I am trying to hold onto the positivity and joie de vivre that I rediscovered this summer. Though school has arguably been one of the most anticipated new experiences of the past couple months, I won't get into that just now. Things have been going really well, but I've been all about work for a week and a half now and I need to switch off mentally for a little while! Hopefully the wedding I'm going to this Saturday will help me manage to do just that.
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