kathleen lynch: First Impressions Part A

Its been a week and a day since I moved here to Writtle and everything has gone better than expected. I believe I was still smarting from the debacle that was my Visa application and once that was sorted out everything else seemed to fall into place. My plane ride over was really nice but I think I psyched myself out of sleep when the whole time I was trying to psych myself into sleep. I had a nightmare of a plane ride from L.A. to New Zealand, 14 hours, of me sitting in between Jamey on one side and a family of four on the other. The whole 14 hours i just stared at Jamey who was soft asleep in slumber land and I wondered why i couldnt reach that point. When I finally arrived to New Zealand I was so jetlagged I was slurring my words and coming down with strange infections. All I can say is the kiwis have got the whole socialized medicine thing under control. But I digress. The plane ride into London was actually pretty spectacular. We arrived in London just as the sun was coming up over the horizon and it cast an orange and red morning glow over the city. We flew over the Tower of London and the ferris wheel thing, all of which were still lit from the evening before so it was this beautiful light show from the sky and from the city. It was quite and introduction. I've never really been excited to visit London, I have to confess. Nothing about the whole cliche europe trip ever convinced me that I should visit. When I flew over I did get this moment of excitement however, realizing that I will again have the privilege to see some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. I have been lucky to travel and see some beautiful things but I've never seen those wonders of the world type things like the Tower of London, or Great Pyramids or the Taj Mahal etc... I figured I would save those trips for when I'm 80 and Jamey and I are wearing matching terry cloth jogging suits and we visit the Parthenon on a diesel bus and we have to turn our hearing aids way up to drown out the city noises. For some reason I think this is the best way to see the wonders of the world and while I'm young I should stick to underdeveloped and depressed countries with ineffective and difficult governments.

Anyway, England is good. I arrived and sat through 3 hours of immigration, which was smelly and in the basement of Heathrow and amazingly slow. I then decided to haul 100+ bags of luggage on the Tube, half asleep. Then, on random peoples suggestions I went to the street and hailed a cab to the train station. When I hailed the cab a nice gentleman got out and made several references about how I must be crazy to be carrying all this around in mid town London during rush hour but then ushered me into his cab. I still had my back pack on and as i stepped into the back of the cab the top of my pack caught the low roof of the car and knocked me backwards onto the sidewalk something to the effect of an upside down turtle, flailing and kicking in the middle of the busy city sidewalk as I struggled to right myself and appear cool and collected. Did this really just happen? I asked myself a million times. Hello London, Kate Lynch is here. Long and painful story short, i made it to the train that would take me to my final destination, 100+ pounds of luggage and all.

I am staying temporarily with woman who has been renting rooms in her house to students for over 9 years. Her father was one of the original graduates of Writtle College in the 1930s. She is a gardner and general lover of the land. She has free roaming chickens in the backyard and grows her own veggies. My room is a good size and will suit me fine until I find a permanent place somewhere in the larger town of Chelmsford. Until then I am biting my cuticles and hangnails trying to figure out how to get an 80 pound hound dog to the UK without paying my lifes fortune away. One scheme involves Paris, trains, ferries and rented cars. We'll see about that.

As for traffic here, I am still adjusting to looking the correct way when i cross the street. I will be surprised if I dont get my foot run over sometime in the near future. Most of the time I cross the street and I am confused and experiencing mini panic attacks inside about which way the cars should be coming but I appear calm and collected on the outside, which is all that matters right? And I definitely think that cat that lives here has a british meow. I swear, its different.

I've taken some pics around town, not much so far because i have slow internet connection but this should give you an idea of where I am. Love to you all....