A start of a very special holiday

April something, 2012

Day one of a fabulous UK/Ireland vacation with my sister Cindy, and the universe is making it perfectly clear that this should be a journey with as few electronic comforts/entertainments as is feasible in this day and age. I think I know why. I think that I, as a human in the 20th century, am so happily tethered to my devices that I am no longer obligated to be in the moment, to enjoy the here, the now. And that is why, when I plopped myself into my little nest of a seat in the Virgin Atlantic upper class, and found that the many personal, on-demand video options that were supposed to provide me with instant information on wherever our flight was in the world, and to provide me cinematic viewings like The Artist prior to my falling off to sleep -- that is why the blasted system went haywire. After several attempts by the frustrated Brit flight attendant to reboot the system, I gave up and had my little bed made up, threw back two glasses of wine and a sleeping aid and tried to sleep. But never really did. Don't get me wrong, that upper class flat bed was very comfortable indeed, especially with the lovely white duvet tucked around me. But, the universe, as I said, wanted me to fully appreciate the journey and I soon came to realize that wine, which, as many of you know I've refrained from consuming since my 'cleanse' at the end of 2011, has a tendency to make me irritable.

The universe was seeing to it that I was indeed 'in the moment' as some ridiculous young professional monopolized the flight attendant, loudly detailing for her his current and past projects, me the captive audience, even as I nudged the little orange foam earplugs more firmly, more completely into my ear canals. Or perhaps this was my penance for my impatience earlier in the day, during my endeavor to board the flight.  At that time, I was restrained from forward movement for what seemed like forever as some buffoon and his father and the next passenger took their sweet time ahead of me settling their belongings in the overhead bin, blocking the aisle the whole while as we waited, and watched and waited and watched and waited, the line of people waiting to board huddled up behind me down the aisle, down the stairs, down the jetway.  When I could take it no more, this obnoxious American here, asked of the numbskull in front of her  'excuse me, may I get by you, the line of people behind me is now jammed up completely back this aisle, down the stairs .' As the guy looked at me with either complete incomprehension or aghast disbelief,  I was able to use his moment of confusion to push past him and get to my seat.

So yes. The universe wants me to pay attention to everything. And, that is why I soon learned upon arriving in London that my mobile phone, the one I had so properly set up to work in Europe to guide me with gps maps, to alert me to what's going on back home, to locate me and offer up advice on what to do and remind me of where I'd planned to do and go, decided that it was not going to do those things at all. It was going to take a vacation too, because it had left its precious SIM card in the desk drawer back in Los Angeles because, although, it seems a SIM card is necessary for international roaming, it had never been necessary in the U.S. So, by golly, I'm rolling with it, and being in the moment and not missing any of these glorious sights, which, as you remember, I had every intention to share with you along the way, but, naturally, it now turns out that the itty bitty camera with the wifi device that could magically send my fresh vacation photos over to the ipad i'm currently composing on and beam them out to you using some sort of magical photo sharing software, well....no such luck with that linkage either. 3:26 a.m. London time. Yesterday we saw the Tower of London and the crowns and the jewels. I told one of the guards that I was saving up frequent flyer miles to purchase the biggest of the crowns, but he offered me a better opportunity -- it just so happened that he was selling raffle tickets to win that crown encrusted with diamonds, emeralds and sapphires! I'm sure its legit, because he had such an honest face. We road the tube, a double decker bus and a funny little taxi cab. We had a nice vegan dinner in the basement of one chi chi restaurant -- its walls tiled with little white sound-enhancing tiles, the bathroom walls lined with a jagged arrangement of mirrors. Delicious green lentils with radishes. Cindy opted for a nice white wine, I enjoyed a warm cup of chamomile tea. Our room is in a tiny, quaint hotel and I love, love, love the old fashioned skeleton key that is inserted into the little hole in the door which is itself covered by its own little door. The key is attached to a very heavy brass thing with the hotel name engraved on it, and each time you leave the hotel, you just hand it back to the friendly person at the front desk who gives it back to you when you return. Sweet. The light switches are little brass switches and when you wish to turn on the lights, you flip them down, not up. The light switch for the bathroom is outside the bathroom, so you must trust your traveling companion not to switch it off while you're doing whatever you wish to privately do inside the loo. The bathroom is small but perfect, and I enjoyed a nice soak before bedtime. This is an old building, and the taps take a moment to consider when you turn them on before offering up the water. The pipes groan and squeak a bit as well, but that's okay. Penhaligan toiletries were thoughtfully left on the counter and it was a sweet way to get ready for a good nights rest. I've decided that London is a city of people who prefer patterned garments more than we Los Angelenos are accustomed to. Big loud patterned coats, florally floral blouses, and some wild shoes for men...I saw some proper men's dress shoes actually encrusted with a pattern of rhinestones!! We've been blessed with wonderful weather so far, with just a little bit of rain and no real need to button up our coats to our chins. Tomorrow we drop back into Paddington Station and start our journey North. We stay tomorrow night in the historic town of York, and I hope to find myself a pub for some rib sticking British food like steak and kidney pie or fish and chips. More to come, in spite of my reduced access to electronics as i live ... on vacation. Love, Lori

Healthy

Cholesteral much lower, everything is ticking properly. Yay. Thanks for the word Dr. E.!

Next Up:

The doctor and the labs speak. Check back for when I check back.