I’m sitting in Starbucks (actually borrowing the free Wifi next door, which makes me happy) watching a German woman happily show her boyfriend all the clothes she bought (he got a t-shirt) while he apparently studies for school. I hope it’s school. It looks like school.
I’m heading down to Soho again today to visit the Soho Theater (Nina works there), grab a bite to eat with Lovelandite Laura Spitzmueller and her British husband, then off to write a bit more and finally on the South by Southwest/b.tween meet up in Covent Gardens.
But that’s today. Yesterday was a series of little events that just reminded me how very tiny our world is these days and how excited I am to spend time participating in it:
Technically, my international day started Saturday: I was in a first edition book store, chatting with the English owner. We began discussing my book (American, back alley, looking at $400 books=rare) on Appalachia. She was quite forthright: “We, over here, think of Americans as quite insular about the world. It’s hard to believe there’s a more insular part within that.” That took an hour of my day. One person at a time, eh.
On to Sunday.
Soon after I entered Hyde Park, I found myself at the big fountains along the north end. I was just hanging out. Watching. Looking. Off in my own world. A Japanese man, maybe a few years older than me, approached me and held out his camera. “Picture” he said. You betcha. I snapped away. Then we looked at them, shook hands and parted ways.
While I was down at the Palace, I was trying to find out what time it was. I approached someone who looked just like me (re: whitey) and asked what time it was. He stared back. I pointed to my wrist. He smiled, nodded, said something in Spanish and held out the watch. Then we exchanged pleasantries (I assume) in our native languages. I gripped his right shoulder and then gave a pat.
I grabbed a coffee from two vendors along the way. One of them from France. We talked briefly about the coffee in the stand (not good, we agreed).
I spent the late morning in Bar Italia, which is home to one of the big Italian soccer (er, football) watching crowds in town. I have been trying to avoid such rabble-rousing. If you want to know why, watch The IT Crowd episode “Are We Not Men?” (which is an awesome Devo reference, for the record)
I was hungry last night (I only really eat once a day when I travel, at least for the first few days). I wandered north on the main drag and found a nice little Middle Eastern diner. I would have found out where, but the counter guys were flirting with two female customers. They seemed to be flirting back(re: laughter, hair flipping, side glances, more giggling).
Throughout the evening, I was following the events in Iran on the BBC and on Twitter (Internet willing of course). It’s unclear if we are getting good information from the ground; however, it’s been a fascinating view — from students and other protestors — of one view about what is clearly a tenuous situation.
