Wednesday, August 6, 2008

At Long Last...A London Address

So, finally, I know where I shall be staying in London. The suspense has ended, the trepidation begins. What will the place be like? Will it be an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny sort of studio? Will there be room to breathe? And grow?

I know it's in Holburn (that's pronounced 'Hobin'), the heart of Legal London, a region I explored on foot a couple of years ago and adored for the character to be found in those venerable buildings. I'm told mine is a new building. How new? It has air-conditioning...an unusual amenity for London. And double glazing to muffle street sounds. Just a stone's throw away are the shops, so I won't be lugging groceries for miles. That's lovely...as the English would say!

Don't know too much more and can't wait to find out. But guess what I did? I used Google Earth to gain a bird's eye view of my hood! And I can't say I'm disappointed. I wanted lively and lived-in...and I got them both, I think. Chancery Lane Tube station is right across the road. Now how's that for convenience? And would I ever have dreamed when I was studying Charles Dickens' Bleak House as an undergrad at Elphinstone College a gazillion years ago that one day I'd be staying in Chancery??? Now who would ever have guessed that???!!! I am so buzzed!

Just a couple of blocks away (as we say in New York) are the Inns of Court, Lincoln Inn's Field and Sir John Soane's Museum. One block away is Fleet Street, a few blocks away is St. Paul's Cathedral (I hope I will hear the bells toll the hours) and best bit of all, I think my NYU campus at Bedford Square is only a short walk away!

Llew has reserved our rental car to take us zipping through the Scottish Highlands and I'm doing all the reading to make sure we don't miss the must-see glens, the must-do mountain tops and the must-linger lochs.

Went to my Fairfield Post Office today and shipped off a load of stuff to London--all $263.00 worth of books, files, tapes, research notes, the lot. Also shipped off a load of bed linen. I know I will be moving into a furnished flat but I do want my own down comforter and pillows to snuggle into, my own Lenox mug to sip coffee from at dawn, my own king-size towels to huddle into at shower's end. Hey, if I have to make myself at home in London without Llew, I know I will need all the help I can get.

London, here I come!

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