13: A British Birthday

I got safely from Wales to London thanks to my friend offering to make the trip in her car. The first whole day back I was exhausted...I was able to nap and process and catch up to myself. I wrote for the majority of the day and had a very nice dinner at the hotel (for future reference, use the Courtyard Marriott Heathrow if you need to stay close to the airport...big rooms, helpful and friendly staff, good restaurants, and close to the BA and American terminals). I felt the requisite guilt for not having gone out to play that day, but I've discovered that a secret to successful solo travel is to pace oneself. This was certainly a pace day but was in no way a lost day. I got to figure out where I wanted to be on my birthday, which was also going to be my last day in England.

I was up and out of the hotel at 9am after getting directions from the concierge. A short red bus ride to Hounslow Station and then on the Piccadilly line straight into London -- 10 stops away. I was on the tube for a full hour but was so glad to be back on and getting my "tube legs" back. There's a rhythm and flow to the underground and it came back fairly quickly. The strange, warm breezes when the trains rush through, the rush of doors opening and people moving in minuets in and out of the cars. The silence after a train departs. Lovely stuff, and evocative -- memories from my young adult self and friends on our first adventure here, together. Many of us became friends for life on that trip and I am thinking of them all.

I walked around Picadilly Circus down Bond Street. I took photos of the gorgeous window displays, all the way down to the Ritz. Then I turned around and went back and into Leicester Square, past the theatres, and into Covent Garden. I was thrilled to see the place so vibrant and busy on a Wednesday morning! There were artists in their stalls and permanent stores and cafes in the big "galleries." I did a big chunk of my shopping there. A highlight was a cafe that offered space to classically-trained performers and I got to hear a couple of good string quartets and some singers. One of the string quartets played "Happy Birthday" to a woman sitting in a big, open area of the cafe and when I went past I told her happy birthday and that we share the day. She was delightful! She was with her daughter and husband and she was in London from Cambridge because she had been invited to Buckingham Palace that afternoon to receive an honor for 51 years of serving her community as an NHS nurse. They invited me to join them for a glass of champagne and we chatted for about 20 minutes, mentioning only offhandedly that she was in remission for leukemia. She said, "This is such a big day for me, I can hardly believe it!" She said that the king and queen were due to be there for her ceremony, as was Princess Anne. A lovely day for a lovely lady. We had big hugs for each other and I'm not likely to forget her anytime soon.

After my shopping and a quick lunch and cup of tea, it was time to go back to the tube stop and head back to the Heathrow hotel in the rain. Another hour on the tube, less busy this time of day, and a slightly disastrous misreading of the local bus schedule ended in a call to Uber and a car ride back to the hotel. What a total trip the day had been.

Dinner at the hotel -- the staff remembered I said I would be spending my birthday there and gave me a beautiful dessert and a very sweet note. It had been a great time and I spent it in the company of lovely people all over the city. I got phone calls and texts and Facebook greetings from my tribe at home and abroad, too. What an unexpected, lovely, lush day.