You Can Take the Woman Out of London but....

Yes I did it.  I watched the Royal Wedding.  After having danced and chatted with fellow graduates until midnight on Thursday at the end of year party, I woke up at 4 AM to head to a friend's house and watch the events unfold.  Here is why I watched:

After having lived in London every summer for 4 years and almost one year after that, 

I miss the vibrant, eclectic, pulsing city at least once per week.  

Changing of the Guard up the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.

I was able to hear the names of the places I visited, the streets I walked, the ones spaces that came to dwell in my heart as historical connections to the past that healed my reckless existence.  

Greenwich Village looking out from the Old Navy College.

Art installation at Trafalgar Square using the roots of trees from a
South American rainforest to increase awareness of the destruction of these forests.

On the London Eye with Marcia and Art, looking out over
Westminster Abbey and Houses of Parliament.

Almost 30 years ago my Aunts and Uncles woke all us Pilling kids up at 3 AM Shuwap, BC time and we watched Diana and Charles wed.  They had a long stretch of foam mats, blankets, pillows that we cuddled under wondering why we were so lucky to be up partying at this hour.  I  also remember a delicious selection of treats, although I cannot remember what they were.

My Grandpa Doral Pilling in the shores of Shuswap Lake in the 1980's.

To see an inner bird's eye view of a magnificent gothic abbey.  Having been on three tours during my stay with various groups I remember the six crystal chandeliers are 6 feet high but are dwarfed in comparison to the actual height of the 102 foot nave.  I believe 3,000 people have been buried or memorialized inside the building.  A juxtaposition of a new relationship budding from the surrounding lives that have ended. 

From Google Images, goingtolondon website.

Having attended Evensong on several occasions at the abbey, I wanted to hear the boys and men's choir one more time.  Mmmmm....love their soprano to bass voices intermingling and resonating of the stone of the Norman interior.

Thank you CBC for this shot!

Thank you CBC for the live coverage.  Thank you to my father who let me move back in with him while he was living in London and while I was in my late 30's.  Thank you mum my who was our part-time roommate and the one who took me to so many West End shows I lost track of how many times I have seen Billy Elliot, Wicked, Oliver, and Sister Act.

Greg and I on the top of a double decker bus,
just south of his flat on Regent Street.

Wyona, Marcia and I in Camden Town Market, North London.

My time in London was brief but will stay with me for years to come.  

You can take a woman out of London, but you can't take the London out of the woman.