{part 18}

{parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,  10,  11, 12,  13, 14, 15, 16, 17}

the train pulled into london at about 10 am and, because we didn't know where we were going, we followed the crowd out of the station and down into the london underground. we'd borrowed some oyster cards from brian and anne, which we used to ride the tubes to oxford circus. we came up about 15 minutes later, kind of dizzily, into the bright sun and began winding our way along the streets, ducking into humungous toy stores and stopping to watch the street performers.

people will warn you when you travel without a plan that you "don't just go to london and hop off the train and end up at big ben." they will, in a very matter-of-fact way, inform you of the bigness of london and the busyness of london and the costliness of transportation and so on and so forth. and if you're me, you will nod and say agreeable things about how you know it's probably just a silly idea, but keep your fingers crossed beneath the table for an afternoon sitting on the bridge over the river thames and under the shade of that ridiculously huge clock.

because hoping is fine. hoping won't hurt anyone, as long as your hope isn't like a noose around your neck that will pull tight the second you don't get the thing you're wishing for; as long as your hope is more like a very large dog on the end of a leash that pulls you toward that thing and won't let you sit down until either you're there or you for sure can't be there.

this is true of many things in life, but for me on this one day, it was all about finding big ben. so you can imagine my excitement when i took my camera down from my face after taking this picture and noticed a ridiculously large clock peeking back at me through the buildings.

so, anyway, you know, i guess the moral of this story is that you can go to london, hop off the train, and end up at big ben--though you might meet some interesting people along the way {but more on that later}.
oh, and the other moral of the story is that hope is good. and follow your dreams and stuff. and big ben actually should be called massive ben.

{part 19>>>}