The speed of sound

I was walking down Princelet Street the other day with Hannah and the kids and a bunch of pigeons flew up into the air from the pavement where Ben was about to terrorize them with his bike. Of course, whenever this happens, I always start singing “Speed of Sound” to myself for old times’ sake, but not always out loud. And it struck me that oh, my goodness – I’m halfway through my time here, and what an idiot I’ve been not to realize how fast time is going!

With Eid past, life among the Bengalis has gone back to normal – whatever that means. Kids’ club has started up – we’ve had one week at the Hanbury and one week going out to see Prince Caspian at the RichMix Cinema on Bethnal Green Road near the top of Brick Lane. (X3 in the cinema...I had forgotten how much I really enjoy that movie. I was near to tears more than once. Such a sap!) After that ,we had girls’ club, which was supposed to be bowling, but ended up in a long and futile battle with the London Transportation; a long wait in Aldgate East tube station, and then a long wait outside of Liverpool Street Station, and finally just goofing around over an early tea at McDonalds for the rest of the time. It really turned out to be a great time, though. There are some great girls there, and so many of them are pretty young, so hopefully they will be able to stay involved with the girls’ club for many years to come. Four of them commandeered my camera for a while, and I’ve not uploaded the pictures onto my computer to look at them yet…this could be rather interesting!

I made the mistake on Sunday of trying to walk the cycle that I have borrowed (thank you, Andy and Jacob) up Brick Lane in search of food to share at a picnic. As might be expected at 1:45 on a Sunday, both beigel shops were full up of people with queues way out onto the street. I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to tie my bike up somewhere and wait that long, so I continued squashing past people (one of whom, probably an American by accent, said “seriously!” as if it were a capital offense for me to try and walk my bike through the street) like I was going the wrong way in a river until I found an older man selling some fruit and brought that instead. I was meeting up with some people from church at Victoria (fam: Vicky) Park for lunch, and that turned into a long afternoon of doing the cryptic crossword – which I am quite horrible at. This might be complicated by the fact that I don’t know all the phrases, euphemisms, and figures of speech that someone writing these crosswords might be using, unfortunately. But it was a lovely day, and when I got back to the Spirings’, Hannah’s parents were there and I got to chat with them about their recent sojourn in America, among other things. Hannah’s dad introduced me to the practice of putting golden syrup on Yorkshire puddings, which was delicious but so incredibly rich. Every time I think about golden syrup I kind of groan, just because it’s so sugary! It make me want to smack my lips together and drink a lot of water.

At City Gateway, things have been a bit crazy, but thus is life. Yesterday was my first (well, technically second) day of helping out at Lansbury Lodge women’s project, and I must admit, I did not expect to be quite doing what I did all day. At Limehouse Youth Centre, I’m still helping to run evening club, do door-knocking, and get ideas/events started for girls’ night. I believe we just got the next batch of door-knocking stuff today, so that will be my afternoon, perhaps.

Have made a few goals for the next couple weeks: first, get my coursework done but not be a recluse (tough one, that!) Second: manage to enjoy the time with my mother and not fight too much. Third: post more regularly on here/journal regularly.

A friend at Limehouse and I were talking about the differences between areas of London, and the comment came out: things are much more laid back here, in the East End. In some ways, I suppose this is true - you don't quite have the hustle and bustle in a high commerce or touristy sense that you might get in the heart of the West End. In some ways, things certainly go do slower here, are less efficient, and generally more agreeable. But certainly not in all ways. Canary Wharf is an important centre for business (even with its ghastly skyscrapers), there are several major motorways as well as tunnels under the Thames, and the immigrant community is a rapidly changing one as well.

So - I guess it depends on what you mean by 'things move slower.' If you are Michael Scott, then things move a little bit slower in Scranton, PA. If you are Erin Clark, then perhaps where you currently live can't really be defined by 'slow-moving.'

To switch gears a little bit (and to wax philosophical), I've been trying to keep up on American politics...unfortunately, I have not been entirely successful. Or is it fortunately? No, I won't go that route. I think it's good to be informed about politics and to make an informed choice whenever one has the privilege to vote. What really tires me, however, is the constant barrage of arguing and slandering and accusing and defending and...and...and the knowledge that no one candidate is going to keep all his or her promises - by a LONG shot. I've been saying recently, when pressed, that I really don't think a two-party system is sustainable in a county of the US' size and responsibility.

Hrmmm. That will take quite a lot more mulling over.

At any rate, this week masha clark is coming to visit (I think she is pretty stoked) and Allison is coming on Friday, after which the two of us are going to Sevilla. Sigh...it will be nice to have a holiday to catch up on Zzzz's, conversation, and pleasure reading ;) And of course, tourism!