Calling London

I am greatly curious at the beginning of this journey to see to what degree it will repeat, or even parallel, the adventures of my previous summer touring around Europe. Not only is it radically different in location and duration, "Lamb'09" also possesses a decidedly more concrete purpose. I'm not floating around the continent for 2 months, breezing where the wind and my whims blow; This time I have a job (ok, an unpaid internship/consultancy). I'm staying in one place, and that one place is less familiar than anywhere else I've yet traveled.

Add on to this that the Lamb is the only thing to change its spots in the intervening 10 months. Whereas last year I left an almost-empty apartment, abandoned my job of 4+ years, and underwent essentially a curiosity tour before starting (from scratch) my post graduate studies, leaving behind my girlfriend and best friend to a fun summer of their own. This year I am subletting the apartment that remains my only home while my fiance is working alone in Connecticut, and I'm at the halfway point of my M.A. degree - having learned a thing or two about my subject, but so far from any 'expertise' as to be laughably underqualified.

Another big difference is that while I now find myself in London via New York, as I did last year, this time around I'm seeing London through the eyes of a New Yorker, rather than a Texan. I'd say after 1 year living in NYC, my eyes (and maybe my feet) are the only part of me I could consider "New Yorker," but certainly they've learned what to see and not see, an essential skill of massive-metropolitan living. I'm no longer impressed by the crush of humanity around me, in fact to some degree I've lost the ability to recognize that the dozens of people squeezed into the tube with me are individuals at all. They're just objects, obtacles, potential threats, or casual entertainment for me to view and navigate as I continue through my singular existence. On some level, I recognize they're all treating me in the same fashion, but at a conscious level this rarely reaches cognizance - when someone brushes against my shoulder, I check my wallet, not wonder how they're feeling, what their parents are like, what their dreams might be, or who they're going home to see. The closest I get is the curiousity of what someone is listening to on their iPod, and that only arises when it's playing loud enough for me to hear it via their headphones (ok, earbuds).

the point is, neither seeing, nor hearing, that which is unfamiliar seems to phase me anymore in this metropolitan setting. An odd aftershock is that my assumption of familiarity remains. For example, when in New York, no matter how odd someone may look or act, I take as a blanket assumption that they are American, speak english, act rationally, and, unless wardrobe and activity prove otherwise, that they are themselves New Yorkers, totally unconcerned with me and my life. Now in London, I noticed the same set of assumptions. Whenever a Londoner isn't talking, I peripherally assume them to be 'just another New Yorker,' a ridiculous assumption dispelled only if they get a cell phone call, or salute a street vendor for a purchase.

There is also the added familiarity of now having spent some time in London on previous trips. I won't strech this too far, as my combined time in London in my entire lifetime is about 1 week, but I think it suffices to note whereas summer '08 I was seeing London for the first time, in summer '09 that is impossible to recreate.

I'm in London for less than 36 hours, leaving time only to spend with family (brother Duff and his wife Larissa), watch the Champion's Cup finale, and a little bit of Britain's Got Talent (not on YouTube).

Time permitting, I may also get to stopoff at the British Musuem. I do still love that place, so I suppose some things don't change. That I find refreshing.

Weber (on the lamb)