London

I have been very much looking forward to getting to London. I planned to spend a couple of weeks there, a welcome change from the past few weeks of constant movement.

As I was arriving on the airplane to Stansted Airport, I realized that, although my friend Rob had given me good instructions for getting to his home in downtown London, I was out of cell phone credit, and even if I had credit, his phone number was in my email. I didn't have it written down. My plane was about an hour late, so I wouldn't make it to his door until about 2 am. Wow, I sure hope he answers.

I made the last train from the airport by about five minutes, and arrived at Liverpool Street Station to a deserted financial district. I hoofed it about fifteen minutes or so to his door and buzzed.

Nothing. Buzzed again. And again. Then I sat down wondering what I would do next. I had a ton of gear strapped to me and no phone or clue where I was really. Silly rabbit. I guess my luck had to run out some time.. and look at how unprepared I am for this. No idea what to do. He is either asleep or still out somewhere. I buzzed again.

Success! He awoke and saved my sorry unprepared behind. He gave me a quick and dirty tour of his really cool top floor loft, and pointed to where I should sleep.

So pleased.

The next few days I spent being a tourist. Walking along the Thames river, snapping pictures of fuzzy-hatted guards, figuring out the subway system, etc.

In the evenings after folks got off work, I got a little taste of life as a local in London. I got introduced to Rob and Anita's inevitably delightful local circle of friends. We went to see the Dandy Warhols at a local rock club, went to a fun art museum happy hour, and went to see a friend of a friend DJ at a little dive bar in the Angel district. Later in the week, Rob hosted a sunday barbeque at his loft where we gorged on grilled veggies and meats and sipped cider and bloody maries.

London is clearly one of those places that takes awhile to get your mind around. There is plenty to do and it is scattered all over town. I have to say though that I expected the city to feel far more oppressive. I was pleased to see that the city planners limit the height of most buildings, so without having giant skyscrapers, plenty of sun light gets through to the not-so-hectic sidewalks. Clearly a large and busy city. But not stressful or intimidating at all.

So as not to darken Rob's door too long at one time, I contacted some friends Adeline and Peter who I had met in Thailand. They live in Brighton, along the south coast of England, and invited me down for a visit. I will be attending the Big Chill festival with Rob, Anita, and friends the following weekend, so I headed down to Brighton for a few days to enjoy the unusually pleasant warm and sunny weather.

After hearing lots of good things about Brighton, I was not surprised to see that it is a perfectly charming and comfortable town situated directly on the English Channel. England isn't known for its beaches, but Brighton enjoys a healthy number of visitors to its beaches due to its as-good-as-England-gets weather and its convenient one hour train ride from London.

The town feels to me like what San Francisco would be like if the Russian Hill neighborhood was pushed directly on to the sand of Ocean Beach. The 1920's architecture matches closely with light colored three-ish story bay windowed buildings. The streets are lined with bustling mom and pop businesses, from cute sushi joints and lively dive pubs, to organic grocery stores and purist record shops.

Pete is a great juggler and brought me to Odd Balls, a great shop in town where they sell all things circus. I bought myself a new colorful light-up poi set that I can spin instead of fire when it's dark at night. They will look great on the playa this year. Safer and still cool.

Pete and Adeline have taken great care of me and woven me into their lives here for a couple of days. It's a beach lovers life where working is fine, but relaxation and sun time are paramount. It's no wonder that I have enjoyed everyone I have met along the way that hails from here. The vibe is top notch.

I decided that London and Brighton are to occupy the remainder of my trip and so I changed my flight home to leave from England rather than Germany a few days later than planned. It's a little pricey for the change, but worth it for the extra time, and relieves me of a lot of travel and other expenses to leave from Frankfurt.

I will head to the festival this weekend which promises to be a great time, but I will return here for the last few days of my trip.