which direction?

There is a sign on the side of most double deckers that says...........grab all the best bits of London. That is my aim today, my last full day here. I can't believe how fast time has eclipsed, but I've done my very best to squeeze in much of what my intentions were.....to grab the best bits. The problem is there are so many best bits dammit! Destinations are like that aren't they? You can add and add and add more into the journey to s-t-r-e-t-c-h and r-e-a-c-h for more of what life and experience has to offer. It's all in the flexibility and the desire to pull it all towards you in a meaningful way.

Katie and I managed to multi-task on many levels............while getting to know one another, we let our feet carry us through Portobello Market, Notting Hill, Covent Garden, Soho and Camden over a two day stretch. Meals and sips of wine along the way with Pip and Joan were most definately highlights. So were checking out some of the night flavour of Soho where sexual heat was the temperature all around on a Friday night. LOVED it!

Our first walk after we met and checked in our bags at Victoria Station was along a gorgeous road which took us straight down the the Thames where we walked as a slow pace along the river and eventually up along the beautiful Parliament buildings (the PM was busy and had to cancel our tea with him), Big Ben and up the street to Trafalgar Square which was teeming with school kids from Belgium who were practising their English slang. We sat and drank tea while sitting on the steps over looking the monument and watched the world go by. It was a stopping moment to catch our breath and to pinch ourselves...........with the reality that there we were, together for the first time after so many emails and correspondance through our blogs sitting side by side smiling. Lots of smiling. And a lot of laughs.

Good to be vibrant!

Our two days together solidified a friendship we both knew existed and wanted to pursue. As much as one can share much through the written word........as much as one is comfortable sharing......... there is nothing like live and in person. I had written to Pip, Katie and Paul that I had this obsessive need to meet and to fill in the gaps...........to clarify, explore, ask, listen, absord, share and to hear...........to touch their warmth. Though I wont have my wish granted with Paul, I know it will one day happen when the time is right. My time with Pip and Joan........together and alone, and my time with Katie has been all of that and more.

Communication is a multi-leveled multi-layered process isn't it? Words, feelings, verbal, non-verbal, open discourse, quiet time sitting in the same room..........eyes, and ears and hands and arms.........stances, glances, smiles and quizzical looks..........all are needed when one wants to communicate. Getting the facts, finding out the bits of history a person wants to share is just as needed to solidify the foundation of the relationship so one can grow in depth..........so one can get to the heart of what matters. Secrets, yearnings, wishes and desires...........fears, successes, wants and needs...........wonderings, ponderings, and joyful exuberations all fit into the package, especially when there is a comfort level..........and unspoken calm between two or three or even a group of people.

There is a magical, indescribable ingredient when two people can feel the comfort of being themselves and know it's 100 percent acceptable. A dash of saffron? A pinch of cinammon? A stick of lit of incense mellowing through the meeting of the minds? Perhaps the aromatic ingredient is different for each separate encounter............each developing friendship. Perhaps it is the aroma which surrounds two people who are getting to know one another is what adds to the enticement and uniqueness of it. I was explaining to Katie, as we walked through Soho on Friday night that for some reason, one of my most predominant senses is olfactory.........i've got to inhale it all..........as I seem to have a need to connect a scent with a person. Is that weird?? And when I havent met someone yet, and want to, I tend to wonder what "flavour" they are!

I've absorbed many scents............many flavours here as I have sipped on my tea (these folks know how to make a good cup of strong tea......who knew??) Today, my aim is to inhale as much as I can...........take some kind of direction, get lost a bit a long the way, but know at the end of the meanderings on my own, I will be meeting up with a beautiful man who has a flavour of peppermint and orange cointreau emanating all around him. Pip and I plan to meet at a bookstore near Picadilly named Hatchards. Now is that not the best place for a meeting of the mind and heart?? I will happy to see his smiling face meet me between a stack of books. There's nothing the like the smell of books.

I'm off...............enjoy your day! Follow the scents and always grab onto all the best bits.