Making It Up As I Go Along #588

The longest gap between blog updates.  Things were just too crazy for too long to do anything meaningful.  And then I was too drained of mental energy once I got back to Ottawa.  So here we go.  No daily update for the last month.  Just writing. 

The Slow Recovery

I woke with a jolt.  My alarm chiming away.  I look to my clock and see 3:30 glowing red into the darkness.

I struggle to shake dreams from reality.  My mind scurries through the reasons to wake at such an hour.  “today is Stonehenge day!”… no, we did that.  “A train to Bath, hurry, get up… the others will be waiting.”… wait, that’s not it.  “The flights! The service to Heathrow will be here soon!”

Then confusion drifts into the process.  That light along the edges of the blind… it seems awfully bright for such an hour as this.  Wait… that’s MY blind.  I’m in Ottawa.  It’s 3:30 PM, not AM… and my afternoon nap has come to an end.  Softball and nightshift await.  Heathrow airport was done five days ago.

You know a vacation will stay with you when… well… when it literally stays with you.  Five days after returning to Ottawa I’m waking up thinking I’m in England.  A back and forth via text and I see my sister has done the same thing.  Not a day goes by that some portion of the trip doesn’t enter my thought process. 

Sometimes thoughts turn to the stone circle of Stonehenge.  Other times I think about the piercing Shard skyscraper appearing between buildings as we walk to the next thing. 

But there are other thoughts that creep in.  Thinking of the recorded voice on the Tube gently suggesting “Alight here for Museum of Natural Science and Royal Albert Hall.”  Thinking of the Waitrose grocery store that was entered almost a daily where deli meats, lemon infused water and seated cashiers await.  And thinking of evening walks through local area mews’s (London side streets). 

The spectacular and ordinary have melded into a memory that makes an amazing experience seem normal and that makes for a better time in my mind.  You see the touristy things but also see life of the area. 

Bath is a tourist hotspot but we had an evening stroll with very few people around and were there as a local pub opened, just in time for pints and snacks with a local cat coming ‘round to see what we had to offer.

A snack and a drink in Edinburgh, sitting there with my parents while watching the rains pour from the heavens outside mean as much as the open air double decker bus tour we went on a half hour after the rains stopped.  The latter experience bringing sights and history of a new town to me.  The former as a family moment… lucky to be together, healthy and able to share such a time. 

So much was done over the two weeks.  So much packed in to each day.  It would be hard to explain it all.  Hard to convey the thoughts and feelings of everything.  But some memories stand out.

Seeing the first European sunrise on the flight across the sea.  First seeing the glow on the distant sky.  Then having the clouds begin the radiate orange and red.  Until the sun climbs up, bringing breakfast upon it.  Our first meal of the European vacation from 35,000 feet up bringing reality to the plans and dreams.

Having my first European sleep.  Tired and with head buzzing, I climb the stairs to my first bed of the trip.  A single bed tucked into a small loft.  I can sit and look out over my parents room, but I can not stand without hunching over in Quasimodo fashion.  I climb under the covers and drift off in the broad daylight of morning.  Waking just before lunch, ready to venture out into London Town.

Stonehenge Day.  This was the part of the vacation that concerned me the most prior to the going.  I wasn’t sure about the company taking us.  I worried about horrible weather on a day so full of outdoor plans.  In the morning the coach was close to a half hour late picking us up, and then the driver appeared to not be sure where he was going. 

But concerns washed away for me when I saw the stone circle for my second first time.  Like nine years ago, it just appeared out my window, there on the side of the road.  In a way, no more grand than the cows in the fields.  Yet in another way, bringing childhood dreams back to the forefront.  The unreachable places simply there and waiting.

Our guide met us and the rest of the day went without a hitch.  Going inside the stone circles being as meaningful to me as I expected it to be.  Followed by the previously unheard of but charming town of Avebury, with their own stone circles and a town function offering what they called “possibly the world’s greatest pea soup”.  A return to Salisbury is a fine way to end the day.

The trip into the Scottish Highlands.  To leave behind the hustle and bustle of people for a few hours.  To look out over the hills.  The green.  The rock.  The remaining hints of snow.  Being able to amble through the ruins of a castle before reaching another place of childhood dreams.  To be able to look out at Loch Ness. 

I enjoyed the relative peace and quiet along the River Thames.  Sitting at a bench across from the London Eye with mom and dad as we waited for Edena and family as they visited nearby Banqueting House.  To just sit and chat quietly in such a location.  And then to happiness of spotting the rest of my family across the road as they come to meet us again.  To be in such a large and busy place and be able to look across an intersection and spot those you love.

Finally making it to Greenwich gave a feeling of accomplishment.  To have the peace of the river boat bringing us through the heart of the city.  And then arriving.  With the combination of spectacular architecture and great open parks.  The climb up the small hill atop which sits the Royal Observatory.  With spectacular views and the knowledge of standing on the Prime Meridian.  The divider of the world between west and east.  And lunch at Greenwich.  In an old pub along the Thames where we can see ourselves in a painting.  The pub on canvas more than a hundred years ago… with our window still there today as it was shown then.

And I remember several quiet times with family.  Wandering the gardens of Highclere Castle with mom.  Having a drink at the hotel bar with dad in Bath.  Walking through an old cemetery with Duff.  And sitting with Edena aboard a train, watching the English countryside pass us by as we chat.

There is so much more.  So many sights left unmentioned.  So many moments remaining jumbled in my brain as the hectic nature of the past month slowly settle as I reacclimatize to life in Ontario. 

But it should come as no surprise that I woke that day last week thinking I was a continent away and twelve hours off of the correct time.  Everyone should be able to experience such confusion… when it comes for such unforgettable reasons.