"Are you saying that england doesn't exist?" "It's far too silly a place to be real"

Long long overdue but that's what moving countries does to you. My last few days in London were filled to the brim. I got back to London from Dublin on Wednesday and headed straight for the gallery our show was at to help take down the photographs. Once I was done there I headed over to the Duke to meet up with my friend Matty and to say goodbye to our chef Simon as they, along with my friend Ivan were heading off on Thursday to NYC and I wouldn't see them before I left. Since the England/Croatia football game was on I stuck around to watch that and have some drinks before Jemma joined me at the bar, we were slumber partying for two nights at her place before Mom and Dad got back to London.

Thursday I mailed off my photograph to Andrew's, not really sure what I did after that until I met my friend Paul around 5 to have some beers and hang out for a bit. Then it was off to see the Master of Photo Journalism's show which opened that night in the same gallery ours was in. I barely walked in the door and grabbed a beer before our tutors decided we should go get a beer at the pub next door before heading out to dinner. A group of us from class got together to take a few of the tutors out to dinner so we grabbed the drinks at the pub first before sitting down to a goodbye dinner with them. It was really nice to get everyone together. Headed to the Duke after that, surprise surprise, Jemma has finished working for the night so we sat for a drink before heading back to her place.

Friday I met my friend India for breakfast and we wandered around a bit before I dropped my stuff off at the B&B before meeting my old flatmate Paddy from when I lived in London back in 2005. We wandered a bit before going to one of my favorite mexican restaurant, Wahaca's. It was so delicious, I tried their chocolate ice cream for desert, since it's authentic mexican they add chili to the chocolate. It was a strange combination because the chili made my throat hot and the ice cream soothed it, really tasty. I met up with Mom and Dad and, surprise surprise, headed over to the Duke to meet Uncle Scott for a drink and grab some dinner at this great seafood place around the corner called The Seaport. Uncle Scott and I went there once before with Andrew and it was just as good the second time around. The owner was even nice enough to give us nightcaps to top off the meal.

Saturday we grabbed my bags from where I stashed them at Radi's house, realized how brutal my bags were going to be and hailed a cab back to the B&B. We tried to go together to the whiskey shop Dad loves over by Baker Street and while Mom and I made it just fine Dad had...issues. It started when he couldn't get on the bus because he didn't have enough money on his Oyster card, we didn't realize this until we were upstairs on the bus. We looked down and saw him on the street waving to us. We double checked with him that he'd meet us down by Baker St. The first problem was that the next bus only went part way instead of the whole way and Dad didn't hear this and since he was sitting up top the driver didn't notice he was still on until they got back towards where we got on. So Dad got off and hopped the next bus, the problem this time was that Dad didn't realize the bus was only going to say "George St" not "Glouchester Place for Baker St" so he ended up a ways past us near St. John's Wood. He walked over to get the tube back to Baker St only to discover that the line that runs through there was closed for the day, so he finally caught a bus back to Baker St and met up with us. It was quite amusing, at least for Mom and I. After we finally made it to the whiskey shop I directed Mom and Dad to the Duke so they could drop off their whiskey and went to meet up with Paul again for some time in the London sun.

I met Mom and Dad to check out this thai place that Paul and his flatmate John swear-by called Monkey and Me, it was a worthy destination and perfect for my last London meal. It was then time for my lovely leaving do at the Duke. We had a really great time, they set up a nice spread of snacks for me and everyone. My parents hung around with Uncle Scott for a while chatting with Bev and some of the regulars. Some of my classmates came along which was really cool and James, my old flatmate, hung on til the very end with us.

Me, Jemma and Carly, Duke barwenches

Me and Jemma

Me and Clyde, one of my all time favorite regulars

Me and Norah

Me and India

Jemma, Tom and me

Me and Paul

Me and James

James

Tom taking me for a spin on the dance floor

Jemma and Paul

The last ones standing

We were going to try and make it all the way til 5:30am when I'd have to make sure Mom and Dad were up to get to the airport but by 4am we were falling asleep on the bar, so Paul walked James and I to the bus stop, from there I took James to Victoria Station, we were just in time for him to get the first train back home and I headed to the B&B to get an hours sleep. Luckily I am a light sleeper and woke up to discover Mom and Dad's alarm didn't go off so the girl who barely slept roused the troops and got them moving out the door. We dragged everything to a cab, piled it all in and happily sat back to ride in peace to the airport. Checking-in went smoothly for everyone and all the bags were under the weight limit, both surprises and reliefs. Since we were flying different airlines I left Mom and Dad and headed towards my terminal and onto my plane where I sat back and relaxed for the first time in days with nothing to do besides sleep, eat and watch a few movies, I loved every minute of it.

As I was walking off my plane I saw Mom and Dad's plane pull in next to mine so I met them quickly on the other side of passport control, we grabbed our bags and headed out to meet Aunt Deb who fed me before we drove the 4 hours home. I just collapsed after that incredibly long day of partying, sad goodbyes and traveling.

Filling in on the time in the states will come along soon.