I’ve now been in London for a full week, with a great deal of time still to go. It does feel like I’ve been here for quite a while, but that’s likely because I am enjoying a ridiculous life of leisure and walking. Time behaves differently when you have no responsibilities.

I’ve set a goal for myself to do at least one new thing a day the entire time I’m here. The magnitude of the new thing has no rules, so it could be something as simple as ordering a small Diet Coke instead of one the size of my head – it’s the act of something new, not the quality. That being said, I’ve done a great number of things in the week I’ve been here, and even learned a few Life Lessons along the way:

• It’s okay to be lonely. Truthfully, my first few days here were kind of rough – I was seriously doubting my ability to be on my own/away from home for 25 days. Even now, when I’m thoroughly enjoying myself and am in full-on vacation mode, I get a little lonely when I see couples or groups of friends being all togethery. Pretty sure that’s less a personal failing and more a sign of my humanity (which is good because frankly I was getting a little worried).
• Don’t take pictures of a fox in a cemetery, or an old lady ghost will yell at you
• When you’re standing at the end of a tube car to get some air, it is pretty fucking terrifying when the door that separates the two cars decides to open and swing past you mid-station
• 5am is terribly early, no matter the time zone
• Egg holders make decent ice cube trays in a pinch
• European laundry is hilarious. I get the whole “energy efficient” thing and being green is cool but it literally takes 210 minutes for one wash cycle, and another day to air-dry things.

I had more Important Life Lessons to share, but I have to catch a bus to Stonehenge so they will have to wait. I need to do laundry later, so I should be able to write a novel in the time it takes my delicates to be thoroughly cleansed of all my sins.

Slightly westward ho!