London and Travels

A London neighborhood. "Take Courage", indeed!

Nobody is healthy in London, nobody can be. ~ Jane Austen

Sigh. No one knows the truth like Jane Austen! London, though exciting, just isn't my cup of tea. I've been there six different times and each visit finds me counting down the days until I leave its urban pulse behind.

I'm just not a city person, methinks. Give me the wilds of nature and its moods any day! The quick pace and constant onslaught of cities drain me more than anything - I get moody, I feel out of sorts, I become depressed, heck, I even regress to the lovely age of FOUR! Don't get me wrong. I love popping into cities for several hours, but living there? No thank you. Give me green acres any day!

This is all quite fresh in my mind because a few days before Christmas, I hopped the pond to visit London. After 24 hours of no heat or hot water on my first day there, I fled to Oxford.

I spent the Christmas holiday in a charming cottage nestled in a quaint village just a few miles outside of Oxford's city center. My hosts, Bruce and Margaret, immediately made me feel at home, and I filled my days there rather merrily - rambling through the countryside, touring Oxford's twisting streets and conversing about everything under the sun.

But, all good things must come to an end. So I returned to dreary London and learned to make *real* spaghetti from an Italian -- the highlight of my stay in London town.

In short, I'm glad I went to London. However, I've also never been so happy to return to America. I just don't think it will ever be my favorite city.