Post Card From England
01/19/25
It’s 6:19 PM. I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight, I’m relieved at the timing of it all, it’s snowing heavily at home and they are anticipating a foot of snow to come overnight. Although The snow globe version of home is my favorite, I am sure it would have severely delayed my flight had it been a few hours later.
I only travel with carry on bags and they are heavy, too heavy. Nearly 10 LB above the weight limit to be specific. However, they didn’t weigh my bad upon check in so I got away with it. So now it’s me, and two carry on items, a suitcase and a back pack, that are far too heavy for my personal abilities. My mother said someone should offer to help when it’s time for me to hold up the line attempting to put the suitcase in the overhead bins. I was sure to let her know that in all my frequent flying I’ve only ever had one man offer a hand, the rest just offer looks of annoyance and or concern.
It’s only a bit past 6 P.M. and I already feel like I could fall asleep, I still have quite some time to wait. My seat for this flight is a window seat so I am a bit hesitant to drink anything prior to the flight. I have concerns about needing to use the restroom and whilst on a red eye flight I wouldn’t dare wake the stranger next to me, perhaps even if my life depended on it.
While on the phone with my boyfriend I shared my grievances about how I always manage to end up next to the guy who immediately upon being seated plants both elbows down on both arm rests and spreads his legs in either direction (obviously entering my space). I said “perhaps I ought to just tell them to close their fucking legs… sometimes I wish I was more outspoken” he responded with a laugh and an accusation that I was lying… apparently I’m extremely outspoken.
01/28/25
I’ve been here for about a week now, my watch is still and will remain set to EST.
I had full intention of documenting my trip on here in an especially detailed way but I’m finding it difficult. I see England partially as a vacation but more truly as home. Speaking of home, this trip is making me understand that this might be my full time home much sooner than I really anticipated.
Although the sky’s have been grey and the air wet- leaving me with a crimped looking blow out- I’m cherishing my time outside away from New England. I can’t really help but look at all the political turmoil my country is facing and feel depleted, although it’s selfish to say I am grateful that I am able to be somewhere else for a little while.
My second day here we attended a Liverpool FC game (the first game I have ever watched of football of any level). I did find it particularly hard to pay attention to the game as my thoughts are quite demanding. One moment the crowds chanting and singing their beloved songs and I’m in the middle of it all thinking about how I already miss my mother or what I’m going to wear on Saturday night or that the players look quite short from here but perhaps it’s but the angle. All in all, I enjoyed the game. I’m naturally competitive and red is my favorite color so we found some common ground.
Although I’ve spent the last 7 years visiting on a regular basis and developed quite the routine, I’ve found that my boyfriend and I have tried to crawl out of the box we’ve built and reinforced. We went to a comedy club per a birthday gift from his brother and it was as if the stars aligned- for worse or for better. The usher sat us in the front row right infront of the mic in what could only have been an intentional plan woven behind the scenes. From my American-ness being on the chopping block, content for the comedians to come back to… to my boyfriend finding his way on stage to be a part of one of the acts sets. A quiet night of trying a new place out turned into countless stops from strangers referencing my boyfriend’s involvement in the act… was he staged was it rehearsed? Turns out he’s just a natural born star.
This past week led up to my boyfriend’s birthday celebration. Although it’s not particularly in my DNA, he is in my opinion a party boy- club rat if you will. I wore a black satin embellished mini dress that I had purchased the week prior from Maje, unexpectedly paired with blue tights from my 80s Halloween costume two Halloweens ago. I had full intention to wear black tights but they just about exploded when I put them on (the ole my legs are too long for these tights moment) and I was left with no other option but a vibrant and opaque blue. It actually ended up working out in my favor as I felt much more like myself to have something a bit funky on. It takes the attention away from the very probable messy hair that’s happening up above. We went to a club in the city which seemed to exclusively play British pop hits- unsurprisingly I didn’t know about 90% of them leading to my drunken state begging for “just one American song”.
Anyway, I have two weeks left here and I’ve already bought more clothes than I can likely fit in my suitcase.
I’ll write again soon
MB xx.