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London, United Kingdom

Whilst much of the past week or so has been spent in the most charming flat in Furzedown travel planning, tending to matters of personal administration and carrying out my general Haus Frau duties, I have given myself the occasional time off to fraternise with the locals and see some sites along the way.

I managed to catch up with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Elizabeth, a couple of times. Something happens when the two of us get together that I just don’t experience with anyone else on the planet – an inexplicable creative and surreal inspiration that leads us into conversations and courses of action with no clear point of origin or destination. On these occasions we revived the lost art of postal experimentation, got to the bottom of Westfield’s nefarious plan for world-domination and scored a free meal.

I also had the opportunity to meet up with someone I’ve known even longer, his whole life in fact and most of mine – my cousin, Erin who is now living in London. In the years that I lived here, there was a coming of age in my extended family where all the cousins started to hang out with each other as adults. I missed it and have always felt a little on the outer since at family gatherings with the exception of Erin and his sister, Kate. Even so, we never spent any time outside of the family context until now. It was so lovely to meet as adults and enjoy the ease of a commonality that comes with blood relatives (if you’re lucky!) and spend the time getting to know each other from a new perspective. Beyond blood, I think we found the footing for a solid friendship.

From childhood memories to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green – this is where I met up with my friend Sophie to see the exhibition “The Stuff of Nightmares” – if ever an exhibition was put together with me in mind, this is it! So many creepy toys – one persons nightmare is definitely this persons dream! Afterwards, we made our way back to Sophie’s wonderfully eclectic home where we sat in the garden drinking home made elderberry champagne and bringing each other up to speed on our respective life stories.

Sophie and I met on the bottom rung at Elsevier – for me a ladder I had no intention of climbing but one which she side stepped and has scaled her way up to Editor at Macmillan Publishing. Over the years she has inspired me and shown me the value of stick-to-it-ness in getting where you’re going. Of course I’ve totally failed to follow her example but am none the less in awe of it.

The conversation continued into Walthamstow Village where I saw a surprisingly charming and downright posh side I never expected from the infamous East17 postcode. We had dinner, drinks and delightful conversation which I look forward to resuming sometime soon.

The rest of my social calendar has been filled with meaningful moments with Rollo the Rabbit – oh the times we’ve had while Vic and Pete are at work. Such a funny bunny, especially after a few drinks…

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