Summer in London
As is to be expected anytime one crosses eight time zones, the first day in London was a blur. Fortunately the flight over was quite good--business class on British Airways was much roomier compared to American and United--and I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep. I wish I was as small as the man on my left, I think he slept the entire flight. Ten and a half hours of bliss. At any rate, the first day was okay, not too many meetings to stress my brain out, but my brain did slow down around 10AM and coffee was required.
We got out of work a little earlier than usual, heading out around 4:30 and heading back to the hotel. I popped on my VPN and replied to some work emails since I didn't have Internet access during the day. Since we didn't have dinner plans until 1900 I went for a run. Even though I was in good shape from climbing at 14,000 ft last week, I was no match for the faster cadence and brutal heat on the run. Running through the park I was suprised, it seemed as if everyone in the city was there! People sunbathing, reading, riding on paddle boats, children playing in fountains, everyone was in on the fun. Why does this not happen on a weekday in San Francisco? Oh wait, we're all WORKING!!
After a very hot run I took a cold shower and headed down to the lobby to meet Jay and Goran for dinner. We headed to a resturant down the street called Frontline, which was started by a group of foreign journalists and has some amazing photos on the walls, including D-day photos and pictures of refugees and war-torn areas. The resturant had decent food, but as the night progressed I became very relaxed due to the atmosphere. The building had loft architecture with bare wood floors that were heavily used and bare light-colored bricks. The wide windows let in plenty of light. But the greatest contributing factor to my relaxed mood was watching the people at other tables. They were sitting there for hours chatting and one could see the relaxed look on their faces; not a care in the world. These were not bohemian twenty-somethings from a foreign country, these were Londoners in their 40s and 50s who were relexed because of the good food and great conversation.
After dinner I walked around for a bit since I couldn't leave the feeling of relaxation and ease that I was observing on the faces of the people. People were eating on sidewalks and relaxing--I think many were on holiday from continental Europe. I wish people back home did this, and it gave me an idea for a dinner party that I want to start. On a periodic basis I will send out a Craigslist notice for a Dinner Party and will take applications for guests. No one can come who has the same career as another person in the group. No dogmatic people, just twenty and thirtysomethings getting together to discuss ideas. Does this sound like an interesting idea?