It was twenty years ago today...
Jul. 7th, 2005 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heidiThat I spent the last day of my first trip to England running around London, shopping for all the books and music and clothing I couldn't get at home. The Virgin Megastore - there was only one at that point, on Oxford Street, wasn't there? - WH Smith for Mallory Towers books, Harrods for sweaters, Hyper Hyper for dresses and Laura Ashley for knick-nacks for my room at home. And, of course, Cadbury flakes.
We'd been in the UK for five days, and we were leaving on the eighth to spend two weeks in Israel, before returning for two more days to the UK, but I didn't know if I'd be able to get around the city on that return trip. The day before, the boys went to Wimbledon and we girls went to the Springsteen concert at Wembley, with royal box tickets courtesy of my cousin Max (the E Street Band drummer). We had better seats than Pete Townshend, but Annie Lennox was a bit closer to the stage. And Steve Van Zant stepped on my foot backstage.
The trip to London was like a miracle. At fourteen I was already an anglophile, thanks to some New Romantic music, a few crappy British kids tv serieses and a selection of Enid Blyton and Frances Burnett books. This was the land of Duran Duran and Sara Crewe! And I was finally there.
In the seven years after, I made six more trips - in 1987, 1989, twice in 1990, and again in 1991 and 1992.
I haven't been back since 1992, but yesterday, my sister and I emailed with our mom and we collectively decided to get a flat in the summer of 2012, and spend a few weeks in London for the Olympics and also for the 15th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, which hopefully *all* my kidlings will be reading at that point.
Today, Aaron and I committed ourselves to not wait until 2012 to get back to London, a city we both love and a city we have never had a chance to visit together.
I've seen others on my flist, notably![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tea_and_toast and peacockharpy sigh their love for London - it's a love that I share, and cannot categorize and feel deep into my bones and my soul. When my plane landed in Heathrow twenty years and one week ago, I felt love for the place, and a few years later, when I heard British band Everything But the Girl sing, "If we were born outside of place and time, to make our choice, well this would be mine..." about Italy, I couldn't understand how everyone wouldn't want to be in England, now that June, July, August, December, January or February are here. Since then - since my days of being sixteen - I do understand why some might feel otherwise, but not me. I may live in Miami, but today, and on many other days as well, my heart is with all of you in England.
Peace. Stay safe, everyone.
We'd been in the UK for five days, and we were leaving on the eighth to spend two weeks in Israel, before returning for two more days to the UK, but I didn't know if I'd be able to get around the city on that return trip. The day before, the boys went to Wimbledon and we girls went to the Springsteen concert at Wembley, with royal box tickets courtesy of my cousin Max (the E Street Band drummer). We had better seats than Pete Townshend, but Annie Lennox was a bit closer to the stage. And Steve Van Zant stepped on my foot backstage.
The trip to London was like a miracle. At fourteen I was already an anglophile, thanks to some New Romantic music, a few crappy British kids tv serieses and a selection of Enid Blyton and Frances Burnett books. This was the land of Duran Duran and Sara Crewe! And I was finally there.
In the seven years after, I made six more trips - in 1987, 1989, twice in 1990, and again in 1991 and 1992.
I haven't been back since 1992, but yesterday, my sister and I emailed with our mom and we collectively decided to get a flat in the summer of 2012, and spend a few weeks in London for the Olympics and also for the 15th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, which hopefully *all* my kidlings will be reading at that point.
Today, Aaron and I committed ourselves to not wait until 2012 to get back to London, a city we both love and a city we have never had a chance to visit together.
I've seen others on my flist, notably
tea_and_toast and peacockharpy sigh their love for London - it's a love that I share, and cannot categorize and feel deep into my bones and my soul. When my plane landed in Heathrow twenty years and one week ago, I felt love for the place, and a few years later, when I heard British band Everything But the Girl sing, "If we were born outside of place and time, to make our choice, well this would be mine..." about Italy, I couldn't understand how everyone wouldn't want to be in England, now that June, July, August, December, January or February are here. Since then - since my days of being sixteen - I do understand why some might feel otherwise, but not me. I may live in Miami, but today, and on many other days as well, my heart is with all of you in England. Peace. Stay safe, everyone.
