today i ...

Walked the same floors that William Shakespeare walked ...

Drank a butter beer at The Creaky Cauldron (Harry Potter, guys) ...

And finally experienced my first English torrential downpour (and LOVED it) ...

I'd say today was a great day.

cultural spotlight: woman in kensington

Sometimes I like to be by myself. I'm a huge believer in having "alone time". For those of you who don't understand, I suggest you watch this video: how to be alone.

With 60+ people living in the same house, it's hard to ever get alone time. So this morning I made the decision to go out to breakfast by myself.

I headed over to Paul Rhodes' bakery (a place I spotted a few days ago and was dying to try out) and picked up a bagel and hot chocolate.

After exploring the Kensington residential area a bit, I decided to head over to Hyde Park and read. On my way I passed an elderly woman. And then I fell.

No. That's an understatement. I tripped, flew up in the air, dropped everything, lost my sandals, and then I fell, catching myself on my hands. The woman gasped and quickly ran to my side. With two walking sticks of her own, she grabbed my arm and helped me up.

"Are you alright?!" "Are your wrists okay?!" "Here, sit down over here. Just sit for a minute! Sit down!"

I sat down.

"Where are my shoes?"

One of my sandals had landed about ten feet away. I'm not kidding. This fall was nothing short of dramatic. 

After regaining my composure, I stood up again, grabbed my shoe, profusely thanked the lady and reassured her that I would be okay and that my palms were just a little scratched up. We parted and I walked away feeling so blessed to have a complete stranger show so much concern for me.

Also. let me just say right now, thank you to all the Brits who have had and will have to deal with my clumsiness and cluelessness - you're a true blessing.

- SM

cultural spotlight: woman in tesco's

I met a lovely lady in the laundry detergent aisle of Tesco's today. Sadly, I do not have her picture or name. but I definitely think she deserves a post.

She was a (hip) twentysomething and saw that I was struggling to find what was actually detergent as opposed to fabric softener. She kindly took me under her wing and went through all the best options. In the end I decided to get the same kind as her since her "mum has been using it for years." And because she was really cool and I wanted to be just like her.

Also, we overheard a few Brits saying, "American accents!" They were pretty excited to overhear us. But not as excited as we were to overhear them.