L.A. to London

I went to post a letter in Coronado yesterday morning and I realised that we would soon be long gone from this beautiful (almost) island. The streets are clean and pretty, lined with little shops and restaurants. It was still early enough that the air felt a little cool even though it was sunny. I felt good and yet I felt the weight of intense sadness because of the news about Jackie from home.

Our journey back to Los Angeles went smoothly, the roads didn’t seem as busy as last week, and we are a bit more experienced at navigating the freeway system. There were no big waits at the airport, and soon we were ensconced in our seats for the ten hour overnight flight to Heathrow. I didn’t sleep all that well I don’t think, maybe a couple of hours at best, and I ended up watching three films! The first was “My Old School” about the man who re-enrolled in Bearsden Academy at the age of 32 under an assumed name in the 1990s. I remember the story well from when it was in the news at the time, and the film was fascinating. Then I watched “Benediction” which was about Siegfried Sassoon and was very interesting but also very sad. And finally I watched a recent Diane Keaton comedy about a 30 year old switching into a 70 year old’s body which was only mildly amusing. 

Anyway I was pretty tired by the time we got off the plane, and what with waiting quite a long time for our luggage and then travelling via the Elizabeth Line (our first time!) and the DLR to our hotel, it was nearly 3 p.m. when we arrived. I leaped into bed, instantly fell unconscious, and had a solid two hours of sleep before getting up to meet Ally and Cat for dinner (they kindly treated us) and then to the Harold Pinter Theatre. The play was called Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (annoying name) and starred two top luvvies; Aiden Turner and Jenna Coleman. Both actors were excellent and the dialogue was sharp and funny, however the whole premise didn’t stand up to too much scrutiny. We all enjoyed it except James, which doesn’t totally surprise me because it was a bit like Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” and he hated that! We went to the stage door and met the actors; they are both very good-looking, and I got some photos of Cat with Aiden Turner. We went back to Ally and Cat’s flat for a cup of tea. Their kitchen is stacked up in boxes ready for installation, I can’t wait to see it completed, it’s going to be lovely. It was only a 15 minute walk back to the Premier Inn at Westferry, which is brand new and right beside the DLR.