Hello family, friends, and blog-surfers,
We have arrived in sunny London, England. I say sunny because our first day was. We're aware that this is quite the anomaly, but considering how much time we spent heel-toe-ing it around town, I am very grateful that the Lord decided to send sunshine London's way this weekend. Our flight over and pseudo-settling in was safe but not uneventful:
We arrived at the airport with my parents on Friday evening, sat, chatted, expressed mutual concern over the state of my back (which had started to tweak and stab during dinner) and then said our goodbyes. Alyssa and I went through security completely without incident, and it didn't take long to find our gate, either. I picked up some fiendishly expensive water and juice for us while we waited and we settled in for a long sit before boarding a plane for an even longer sit.
God provides. And He often provides without us asking. We weren't sitting for very long before I recognized someone, which I thought was extraordinary considering how many people shuffle through the airport and how big a place it is. It was a friend of mine from Nipissing named Kyle. Kyle had been involved with student government at Nip for a while, and when that was done he did his teacher's college and left. I had known, through short articles he'd written for overseas teachers in the student newspaper, that he'd gone to the UK for a couple years. And I had expected that would be the last I heard of or saw him. But he recognized me, came and sat down and we got to talking. Turns out, Kyle had some excellent ideas about why the train we were going to take from the airport was a bad idea, why we needed a cell phone in the UK before anything else, and a number of other things that have really significantly helped our first day in London-town. He even offered us a place to crash, and if house-hunting doesn't go as quickly as we'd hoped, we're very seriously thinking about taking him up on the offer. We had time to chat about all of this because he was on our plane.
The flight itself was a little uninteresting. We tried to sleep. Alyssa was moderately more successful at it than I was. They served us dinner at 10:00pm, Canada-time, which was weird. And then breakfast only 5 hours later. I ate both, but I'll confess to my internal clock feeling a little odd by the time we touched down.
The airport in England and train ride into town is all a blur, and not just because Kyle is a very fast talker. We all hopped on a train together and then said our goodbyes at London Bridge station, before Alyssa and I man-handled our bags onto the tube to Islington in North London where our hotel was hidden. AFter a final gruelling ten-minute baggage haul to the hotel and up the stairs, we were done. And we slept. For an hour or so.
One of the things we wanted to try was to get to a flat-renting agency in Kensington to try and get a flat as soon as possible. We never want to carry all those bags again. So after resting up we hopped on the tube again and tried to find our way to that end of town. What we didn't do was figure out in advance exactly where the place was. So we walked along Kensington High Street for the better part of an hour or so until discovering that there really was no Abingdon Rd. to be found. At least no such apparent road. Moderately content (likely by God's providence rather than any dram of graciousness left in our own hearts), we sat down, defeated but unbroken in Kensington Park, which is the western end of that big green patch in the middle of London. It was gorgeous. We hadn't brought a camera with which to sully the moment, so we simply soaked. And when we got tired and a little chilly from sitting there, we found a pub on the far end for our first British supper: FIsh and chips and beer. Alyssa opted for a cold and carbonated beer like a North American wuss (who still is beautiful and wonderful, if less ale-adventurous) while I picked up some warm flat ale. It was terrific, and after a long day of walking, a big mound of starchy, greasy fish and potato was a sight for sore stomachs. Our hunger sated and our feet sore, we retired to the tube and then the hotel, collapsing to an early 7:30pm sleep. Which, if you're quick on your time zone conversions, you'll know is actually the reverse of normal jet-lag. Not sure how we accomplished that. A couple late nights and we'll normalize our internal clocks easily enough.
God provides, and we are immeasurably grateful to Him for making the road thus far smooth. We are likewise grateful for your prayers. Pictures and touristy stuff will be coming soon!
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