Missing London

Things I miss about London…….

….the whole world walking by

….a foreign language heard on every block

….the Thame’s tide flooding over the sidewalk so deeply it bars our way to the pub

….rows of little houses with tiny gardens out front

….Oyster cards and the Metro with all one needs to know of violence and sports

….“Hello, Love” and “Brilliant” and “Clever”

….my twenty new best friends from all over the world

….taking a different walk every day of the year and always thinking it’s the best one yet

….pub lunches, pub wine times, pub lattes, pub names, pubs period

….airplanes flying towards Heathrow showing me the direction towards home

….foxes barking and pow-wowing right below our windows at night

….babies--singles and twins—but mainly twins--everywhere

….girls in stilettos and short black skirts on Saturday nights in winter weather

….heaters and boilers in the attic….a different key for every door and window

….junkmail in the letter slot three times a day

….Bourough Market on Fridays eating toasted raclette sandwiches and sipping wine sitting on the kerb

----asking two or three times for a Brit to please repeat but still not understanding a word s/he said

….lilting Irish and crazy Scottish

….Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and the Queen walking down our street

….the five charity shops between the two Indian restaurants on our street

….Jerusalem, War Horse, And Then They Came for Me, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof                          

….10 pound last minute tickets to a London play any day of the week

….Darwin, Jane Austin, Virginia Woolfe, George Eliot

….Indian curry, William and Curry chocolates, Cornwall pastries

….Marks and Spensers Per Una, House of Frazer, Carnaby Street

….ten coffee shops on every block

….two hours by train to reach the English Channel

….the Thames Path, the Jubilee Walkway, the Capital Ring

….Kate and Will….(and now the baby!)

….sitting by the Thames reading a book.