London, I love

I realize I've begun to read people's emails in my head using a British accent.

A sign I've been here too long? Or just long enough? And I am sorry for the last, lackluster post. I guess I didn't really want to write it. London is kind of wonderful. Today I had a cappuccino that looked like a work of art, though that isn't why London is wonderful. Or maybe it is. I asked the people who work in the cafe what there is to do on a nice Sunday in this town. They said London Bridge, and so to London Bridge I went. And it turned out that London Bridge, and the entire south bank actually, was today the site of the Thames Festival. All along the water, for miles, were stands with delicious foods, crafts that also looked good enough to eat, and live music. And people from everywhere in the world. I was walking and enjoying the sights and smells when I heard the sound of drumming. There was a tent set up with lots of djembes and other african drums. A few people were playing and it turned out they were just random people who had picked up the drums, which were clearly there for anyone to use, and started playing together. I joined them, and soon all the drums were taken up by people who were passing and wanted to join in. It was really wonderful. No one seemed to have any training in drumming, but we all just knew how it worked and fell into a kind of organic rhythm with one another. People stopped to watch and listen, or dance, or wait for a drum to become available. I must have played there for forty minutes or something, until my hands were too sore to hit the poor drum any longer. The woman I sat next to, who had invited me to play, suggested we give our hands a break and we wandered around and chatted. She is a Kiwi who just traveled Europe for four months and is settling in Cambridge to work for some time. She is very beautiful and honest. She invited me to hang around with her and meet up with her Kiwi friends to watch the Thames Festival parade and fireworks.

Mel's friends turned out to be just as welcoming, open, and fun as she was. They've invited me to come to a Bad Taste party they are throwing this Saturday, and if I'm still around I think I'll go. The parade was a lively creature, colorful and dancing through London streets. We only caught the tail end of it, so I didn't see my friends with the dragon (which sadly has no name, Scrappy), but maybe it's better that way. We joined in the parade at one point and danced along for a while there, so free and in the spirit of things. And afterward the fireworks were really the most beautiful I've ever seen, exploding themselves over the Thames and hundred of thousands of people all loving them all at once. Or maybe it was just us, the Kiwis and me. We just grinned helplessly at each other. London, what a place you are indeed.