Love at First Sight

Oh man, L is going to have a hard time dragging me out of this city. I'm going to hold back and wait for the first rains before I declare London my favorite city/soulmate, but it's definitely lust at first sight. I spent most of today getting my geographic bearings. I did a 3.5-4 mi neighborhood run in the morning. I traveled north into Hampstead (cute and on the posh end of things) before getting into Hampstead Heath (local large park - more like hiking trails then US style park). Then I hopped home for a shower and my local map. My ipod nike+ sensor wasn't working so I decided to use that as an excuse to cruise on down to the Apple Store in Oxford Circle, and to use the journey to Oxford circle as an excuse to see what the city walking is like. I traveled down through Regency Park (love it! definitely going back), and through Picadilly Circle and into Oxford Circle. After getting the sensor swapped (still doesn't work, going to try updating OS) I figured I'd keep wandering. That took me to St. James Park, Covent Garden, through SoHo, up to the British Museum, then to the British Library (my archive). At that point I could have hopped onto the tube but decided to take the opportunity to walk my potential commute in the day light and see if it was skeezy. It's a little skeezy, not as nice as the trip through Regency Park, but will be just fine during the day. It's also through Camden which is a pretty cool area to which I will happily head with Luke, but probably not my mother. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to walk to the Library in the am and then walk home in the daylight or take the tube (before 4 or after 7is off peak hours. All in all, the walk was about 9 miles long and I'm good and tired.

So far everyone has been really nice and polite - much more so and much more (seemingly?) genuine than in the States. Tons of people have their dogs and walk them in the park off leash, and many Londoners run on their lunch breaks. I like both the city and park running around here and as long as it's not too soggy, should have no problem getting my mileage in. I still have street-crossing anxiety, but I suppose that will fade. I'm also already drinking way more tea and start craving it in the afternoon (straight, dark, no cream nor sugar). I adore my fast boiling kettle. Although I haven't made coffee with it, it makes tea in a snap and will certainly get water for my French Press ready faster than a conventional drip coffee maker.

So far so good, although I did run out of camera batteries 2 miles into my trip. Photos next time.