I've been packed since the 23rd and in a state of "well, now what" since then.
Dog has been given to a friend to dogsit whilst I am gone.

laid low by ennui
I'm waffling between bringing my (smaller, mostly just internet browser) work laptop, or my personal (larger, able to install my own programs) laptop or NO laptop.
I don't technically need one. And in theory I should be Going to London and Seeing and Doing Things while there.
But also I'm leading a class during the day and will be spending 4-8 hours a day out of the hotel and at various Places of Interest.
And I know that, mentally, I'm going to need some me time.
(I have tickets to the Globe for one night on my own already)
(Gonna see All's Well that Ends Well at the candlelit indoors theatre)
planning downtime is important uAu
PLACES I AM TAKING MY CLASS: Highgate Cemetery, the British Museum, the British Library, the Keats' House Museum, the Dickens House Museum, the Foundling Museum, the Tate Museum, the Tower of London
Bath (the city) and Oxford where we're getting a tour of St. John's and the surrounding area by my friend Matt and then meeting with Tamsyn to talk about her writing process.
We're going on a Bram Stoker walking tour (daytime), a Jack the Ripper walking tour (nighttime) and we're going to see Hadestown as a class in the West End.
I think. I'm going to bring. My personal laptop.
It should still fit in my messenger bag.
I've required my students to join a Discord and post things for various museum visits.
And I cannot install Discord on my university laptop. :\
(I know, there's a browser version, but still)
We get back Jan 8th. THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS whoops.
Because I have to be at the airport at 7pm and I lose an hour driving there and I need to get dinner BEFORE the flight... I have to leave in like 40 minutes.

AN FAREWELL CATTE??
Safe journey! Let Catte bring good luck!
ate good Japanese dinner in Atlanta before getting to the airport.
waiting for the student to arrive.
Safe journey!!! I do genuinely enjoy London!
If you're going to places dotted along the Thames - I suggest using the Thames Clipper, they're little catamarans that go along the river and have drop-off points all along it. The quickest way around the city as a whole though is always gonna be the Underground -might be a tick if you've got a gaggle of students to wrangle but absolutely cheaper than taxis
I've got 4500 tube station connections planned out
I've got a small group, only 6 students
Buckingham Palace within a 15 minute walk.
have fun, have a wonderful trip! may the catte bring good tidings

soon 🛫

Good morning from the plane where inexplicably I have free wifi and no sleep.
landed at 12:30. bus to hotel was supposed to arrive at 1. arrived at 2. hour to hotel.
it's now 2:30. last orientation is supported to be
i.thunk we're not gonna make it
my spelling belies my sleepinesse
it's 8:00 p.m. I've made it as late as I planned to I'm going to bed
the absolute ninney who is in charge of orientation because we got in too late moved orientation just to at 3:45 and then we didn't have the students try riding the tube until 5pm. Rush hour on the Piccadilly line.
a bunch of people just decided to leave. they just left.
also when I checked into my hotel there was part of a chicken sandwich from Tesco in the refrigerator.
so when I told the front desk this they were mortified and insisted they never heard of anything so terrible ever happening in this hotel before and they would do everything in their power to rectify it and they got me some fruit and some wine
oh ew on the sandwich but glad they tried to make good on it!
also rush hour on Picadilly is absolute fucking hell, you have my sympathies

hotel restaurant Cocky

😐
WESTMINSTER ABBEY PHOTODUMP GO
TATE BRITAIN PHOTODUMP, GO:
Yes, that is the cool leaning guy funeral effigy pose.
ST. PANCRAS OLD, BRITISH LIBRARY, TOWER OF LONDON
they rob their own graves, so it's fine when they do it elsewhere.
so I convened the class in the library's cafe, I had a slice of Victoria Sponge, and we talked about places we've gone the previous day. Also the towels in the Men's Room was a roll towel, an item I have not seen an over a decade.

it's me at the Roman wall
we love a bunch of engravings from prisoners trapped inside of a jail who evidently just carved things into stone in their free time beautifully and perfectly
Well, if you're in prison you got the time

Uh, King Henry VIII, you might want to take care of something there.

"It's not like I like you or anything."

now I can be a true Scotsman
you can tell it's bath because everything is just light yellow colored stone and also there is a large bath
"Baby, I'm going to take you down to..."
WALKIN BACK FROM WAGAMAMA'S
HIGHGATE CEMETERY AND HAMPSTEAD HEATH
6 years free of that hell next month and I still get full body shivers when I see one
Teeff: how do you live without the amazing value
amazing value every day!!!

George Michael's grave

Christina Rossetti's grave.

Radclyffe Hall's tomb

I had the veggie breakfast for lunch and it was fantastic.
Salad with raspberry vinaigrette, sauteed spinach, grilled portabello mushrooms, halloumi cheese, vegetable sausage, baked beans, eggs on whole grain toast.
we ended our tramp through Hampstead Heath at the Spaniards Inn where I had a old fashioned as I am an old man.
KEATS HOUSE and SURPRISE JIM HENSON CAMEO
CANDLELIT SHAKESPEARE THEATER
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM HIGHLIGHTS (FOR CHILDREN)

the entrance: the excellence of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose

hot guy miniature, possibly Satan

Henry VIII got hit by the face shrinking ray

Margaret Thatcher from that one Genesis music video

so I heard Jesus was ripped, I heard our lord had an 8-pack
ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL CHORAL EVENSONG
anyway that candlelit Shakespeare looked cool as hell!!!
there was a little spot at the end of my bench that confused me because if anyone sat there they had no place to put one of their legs and there is a pillar blocking most of the stage
so anyway during the play one of the characters ran up and sat next to me and started crying
also, my coat of arms will also have the word help at the bottom but I think perhaps fewer than eight breasts on one person.

cheeky Nandos for lunch
sanic and Dickens's wine prison
OHHHH HADESTOWN I hope you enjoyed!!!

one of my students is an artist and she has been drawing everyone in the class
I should add that the complicated ceilings that look like stone work is paper mache
AFTERNOON TEA AT STRAWBERRY HILL
The sandwiches were stone ground mustard and ham, salmon and cream cheese, and rhubarb compote with rocket Cheddar.
The scone came with strawberry jam and clotted cream and then the cakes were lemon drizzle, raspberry jam, and carrot cake.
god I wanna go see Hadestown
ooooh nice a proper cream tea then
£24 a person but it was worth it.
yeee the big fancy ones on those circular pyramid plate displays are pricey but so good