the long awaited, eagerly anticipated 5 week vacation that would normally consist of one week in another country, and four weeks in the land of revision before plunging headlong into the deep blue waters of examinations.

but this year.

moving house and setting up house and arrival of best friend means that (1) i have no money to go anywhere even if i wanted to, and (2) i don’t really want to since i have company (for a while, at least).

but still, things like free entry to all the museums and galleries on a particular weekend in april in amsterdam make me long for a ticket out there. and stories from friends about their impending trips to new york, florence, south of france, etc etc give me little twinges of envy.

ah well.

spending a week as a tourist in london will be as good as taking that budget airline flight. it’ll be great fun to go exploring the places i frequently walk by without a second glance, taking pictures of everyday occurrences, writing things down in my travel journal. it’s about recreating that initial sense of awe and wonder, at the beautiful architecture one finds spotted about the city, at the english eccentricities, about cobblestone paths and weekend markets, about the london-ness of london.

all i need to do is chant a little mantra in my head for the next hour, while planning things to do:

exoticise the familiar, fetishise the banal;
exoticise the familiar, fetishise the banal;
exoticise the familiar, fetishise the banal;
exoticise the familiar, fetishise the banal. . .

i might even attempt to attend sunday mass at st.paul’s cathedral.