for a little while

Today, after a few days of holed-up in New Cross, attempting to write a paper and instead just sitting in my room sleeping and laying in bed staring at the ceiling and hiding under the covers, calling people and signing on and off of AIM, going for random food breaks just to get outside, craving chocolate, and then deciding to play a bit and eat a second 11pm dinner of curry, I went and breathed in London through my SOUL.

That's right. My SOUL. Hitting the pavement with select 'City Walks: London' cards and my homie Ben, we proceeded to walk. First along Baker Street, where I stopped by 221b to give my best to Sherlock Holmes and to the first and foremost London Beatles Store and Elvishly Yours, conveniently located next door to each other. Despite the lack of full-sized Beatles cardboard cutouts, I was quite excited. Next we walked past the London Mosque and past Regent's Park down through the canals and all the way over to Little Venice - a string of canals in London with kitchy little colorfully painted houseboats with cafes and stores and puppet theaters in them. Getting a bit peckish, we walked back towards civilization (aka Paddington Station) and walked past wharf-like buildings and white stones that gleamed in the London sunlight. And god bless the Tandoori joints - and god bless curry, naan, and steamed rice. We had a bit of that, and some necessary awkward Indian waiter-customer interaction, but finished off with chilled, chilled!, after eight mints.

Satisfied, we headed towards Edgware Road. And bought some apple shisha and a pot of mint tea. And sat, watching the waiters at our shisha cafe running about the streets, recognizing every other person on the street, blowing smoke into the slowly darkening London sky.

After a nice day like today, I feel like stating this for the first time here: London is the best city in the world.