Farewell Lunch at Tas with NYU's Admin. Staff

Tuesday, June 23, 2009
London

I awoke this morning around 6. 3o am and began reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sat in bed blogging and proofreading and emailing when suddenly I heard a sound from the room next door--Paul and Loulou had arrived around midnight! They must have been quiet as mice as I did not hear a sound when they got in.

We had breakfast together, the three of us, making do with the scraps in the fridge--a few last drops of milk, a quarter loaf of walnut bread, some cereal, some jam. Paul was busy in his office for the next couple of hours, Loulou had to get out and get some work done and I sat in my favorite place, on my bed and transcribed an interview with Denise Fernandez and edited and captioned the last two batches of photographs that I had downloaded. All of this took so much time but at least I caught up with pending work. I was eager to finish off everything as I leave for Oxford tomorrow to take on my Senior Associate Member position at St. Antony's College and did not want to leave knowing that I had left these loose ends untied.

At 11. 30 am, I went in for a shower and got dressed and left the flat at 12. 30. I took the bus to Tas Restaurant in Bloomsbury where we had a 1. 15 reservation for lunch. The wonderful administrative staff at NYU were taking my colleague Karen and myself out for a farewell lunch. Yvonne, David, Alice and Ruth were present and we spent the next two hours talking mainly about what a great year we have had in London and how sorry we are to leave. In every respect, it has been an incredible opportunity and a marvelous experience and both of us hope that someday we might be able to return.

Lunch at Tas was very good, as usual, and took me back to the great meals Llew and I had eaten in Greece and in Turkey. We had a selection of mezzes (cold appetisers) and then for a main course, I chose a mixed grill. In a platter featuring lamb, chicken and beef, I found myself tackling more meat than I could handle! But everything was very good indeed and both Karen and I recalled one of the very first dinners we had eaten in this restaurant at a time when we used to go out to eat once a week on Thursdays. All of that seems like yesterday and yet a whole year has passed! It is just impossible to believe.

I returned to my office after the meal to print out my bus ticket for tomorrow's trip to Oxford and then rushed off to the thrift store at Kensington where I had seen a brand new Karen Millen suit that I thought would work for me. I needed a while to think about the purchase instead of making an impulse buy and, this afternoon I decided that if it fit me, I would buy it.

Well, sadly, it did not. I really really need to lose some weight! So, back I came to my office where I printed out the large bunch of ten interviews that I have done over the past three weeks. With that done, I took the bus and returned home.

Loulou had returned from her busy afternoon and we chatted for a while before I returned to my room to start my packing for my trip. It feels odd to have to pack again and yet it was barely a month ago that I was in Lyon. My month in London has been superb, what with grand weather and some interesting adventures as I have attempted to finish seeing and doing all the items on my list.

Now it is time for some serious work again as I hope to draft my lecture to the Graduate Summer School students at Exeter College scheduled for later in July as well as examine some material for my Anglo-Indian project.

I had thrown a bunch of laundry into the washer before leaving the house in the morning and this evening, I put it into the dryer, so that I now have clean clothing for my week in Oxford. When I was all packed, I sat to write this blog and draft my June newsletter.