Overdue Update from Over L'Ocean

Summary: Paris is lovely and so is my life across the ocean.

Word of the day: proper
The British use this word all of the time, and it makes them seem all the more proper. Instead of making instant coffee, you might want to go get proper coffee from the shop. Instead of going to the supermarket, you might want to go to the proper market. Instead of your cocaine-sniffing boyfriend, you might want to find a proper husband. (I love this word and will certainly take it with me to the U.S., along with a few others. The final list of words I am taking home with me will be published in December.)

What I learned today: When you really miss America, just go to the movies. As I walked into a Showcase Cinemas this evening, I felt like I was at home. Of course I saw a “new” movie that’s been out for ages in the U.S., but it doesn’t matter.

Next time I go to London I will…staple my Oyster card to my body. It is my unlimited public transportation pass, and I think I must’ve dropped on a bus on my last leg home from Paris. Now I have to wait a few days to get a new one, riding the bus as much as possible. Luckily my flatmate had an extra I could top up and use, but I’m wasting the unlimited days left on my card. This probably does not make sense to non-Londoners at all so I’m glad I’m wasting your time.

10 Semi-Interesting Things That Happened Since Tuesday

1. My colleague Christopher and I went to Paris to do an interview, and decided to walk after dinner from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower. And it was worth it. Even though Ellie was in heels and still sore from it.

2. My five years of French didn’t help me much. But at least I could say “Nous allons [point to map]” when we needed directions.

3. For some reason there is a stigma that Parisians are not friendly, but I think they are the sweetest people on earth. A couple of times we got out the map, people stopped to help us. That would never happen in ol' do-not-make-eye-contact London.

4. Christopher thought he lost his passport and had the worst panic a person can have on the way from the taxi to the train station. And I was dosing off through the whole of it like a good friend. He located it, but of course I lost my Oyster card later that night.

5. I rode the train from London to Paris, through the channel and everything. I still don’t really understand how the train goes through the English channel, but that’s cool that it does. I should look it up on Wikipedia.

6. At work on Friday, we took breaks to the pub twice. Isn’t it lovely how that is not taboo? Of course, half a bottle of wine is not a good idea before trying to do a news broadcast. I giggled every time I had to say the name of German bank for like 10 tries before I got it right. “Handelsbanken was appointed custodian for Tapiola Group” will forever make me giggle.

7. I am stuffed from delicious Turkish food from a scuzzy restaurant out by Wood Green. I loved seeing the crummy yet cultured side of London.

8. I sat on the top of a double-decker bus for the first time, riding through the city on the way home.

9. My boss liked my article on OTC derivative valuation. He said “great job.” My co-worker said that a "good job" from him will mean I’m going to securities services heaven. Of course, he edited it a lot, inserting his own knowledge into it. I guess it’s like someone who doesn’t have a clue about music doing tons of research and interviewing tons of bands and writing a story and then giving it to someone who is a music expert. The music expert will add even the most obvious facts, like an “of course” to the sentence “Rock ‘n’ roll stars often have drug problems,” or something.

10. I was down about the weather here, but recently decided that it’s actually perfect. It occurred to me that authentic London is not in the beautiful summer, but in the cold winters where Mr. Crochet and Tiny Tim walk beneath street lamps and Bridget Jones runs through the snow in her underwear.

I am now listening to: Cat Power — I am so obsessed with the album The Greatest. It’s my London soundtrack.

[Edit: I deleted a photo from this page.]