4 Days in London

June 10, 2017

Feeling into what I want to express about my sense of London. Reaching for words with care while sitting at Luton airport after four hours of sleep. Soon getting on a flight to Inverness, Scotland. Still London, let’s talk about London. This was my first time outside an airport in London. The taxi from Victoria Station on a rainy Tuesday afternoon to my AIRBnB room zoomed through city streets, I saw most of the sights from the taxi window.  Lots of black leggings, dark blue suits, gorgeous architecture, clean streets. Landed in Shoreditch. Got a phone card at the corner shop, popped it in, and now I’ve got a UK number. Easy walk to multiple Vietnamese restaurant options, hip cafe’s and public transportation. Kept myself awake to force the time change. Slept long and deep. 

Wednesday, the first full day. Breakfast on the corner at the Long White Cloud. Perfect. Love this spot. Organic. Vegan options. Fresh juices. Home made soy milk. Free wifi. Easy vibe. Short walk in the sun over to All Our Friends. Did some work at a table for a few hours with a pot of tea and great music. Met by a sweet friend from the playa, great to see the first familiar face full of love and connection. 

She went back to work and I got an oyster card. The underground opened up. Made my way to the Tate. Met second familiar face, full of love and connection. Giacometti exhibit. Feeling the humidity. Went for a walk along the Thames. Past the Globe, and then by Borough Market. 

Hard stop. Wait. Go back. Was that where? Yes. 

Walked back to where the police had the road blocked off. No flowers. People walking by. I wanted to feel it. We stood there. I waited for something to land in my body. Some connection to what happened in that spot days before. My friend felt it. And I felt like we weren’t meant to stop, like we had to keep moving. We then made our way up on to London Bridge, to the spot where a van crashed into pedestrians days before. I was told the barricades are new, just up in the last few days. People walking past briskly on their way to station, offices, shopping. It took some searching to find a spot where flowers and a flag were gathered, across the way. I felt like I needed to get close. Stood there a while, waiting for the feeling to land in my body. It arrived, softly and briefly. People moving past. Occasionally stops. 

I hadn’t intended to go to major tourist spots, especially not this one, and there I was. Not once, but several times in my short stay in London. It just happened that way. We walked briskly along the Thames, and I really started to feel/sense into this foreign land. They may speak the same language, but it feels culturally very foreign. Where is the soul hiding? I can’t feel the people. 

As luck would have it, one of my teachers was having an event in Regent Park that night. So we rushed and arrived sweaty and a bit late. Ya’Acov Darling Khan was reading from his new auto-biographical book and then took us on a shamanic journey. Jaguar in the Body, Butterfly in the Heart. There in the center of London…again, the soul of the people felt hidden. Or was it the jet lag? I tried to get on the journey, maybe I tried too hard. Ultimately I felt I needed to lie down on the floor to feel a breeze. And I finally had open floor to stretch and roll on.

It was great to be in a room filled with alternative types. It was sweet to see Ya’Acov, meet Susannah Darling Khan and Kim McCabe of the Rites for Girls project. That felt like exactly the right place to be. My friend and Iwalked back into the night, landing on the street known for the back drop of Oliver Twist’s life. Oh how it’s changed…..

We stayed up talking. My friend took out treasures to fill in the imagery of his stories. I was introduced to a glorious beaded phoenix necklace from Goa, and an 8-sided Rubik’s cube. Would it be Ok to spend the rest of my time in London locked in a room with this new toy?