Moving On...

Well, i have not seen nearly as much of London as I should or as I would like, but the time has come to move on. I will have to make my way back to England (and London) and take my time with it again, but this stop has been more about recuperation and adjustment than anything.

I woke up this morning with the beginnings of a cold, and perhaps that is what has set this need for movement upon me. As much as I love all the people here, I cannot help but feel an imposition to them if I stay much longer, and all my body seems to want to do in this city is sleep. A 12 hour bus journey and ferry ride should cure me of that, and the need to take care of myself, rather than having everyone around caring for my every need, coupled with a sufficient decrease in heavy, warm, home-cooked meals should help in abating the sloth-like quality I have shrouded round myself.

My hosts are condemning me for all the things I haven't seen or done, and off I go, but I can't seem to get my feet here in London...and this city makes me lonesome and homesick in a way that is dangerous to my health...I need a distraction...I need Amsterdam.

Originally I had thought to go over to Ireland, but the fact that I am already sick from the cold and it isn't even winter yet, shows me that I need to move on to the mainland and save the best for last...though the thought surely does sadden me; every time i see or hear of Ireland, I feel a pull and a calling home...

...But home should be at the end of a journey, not at the beginning, and tonight at 8pm I board a bus for Dover, then a ferry across, then the ride up to Amsterdam. It only makes me sad that i will not be able to see in daylight the beautiful white cliffs of Dover, but traveling by day does not agree well with my head or my stomach, and it was a special they were having on the National Express (see Greyhound for an American equivalent). They call buses ''coaches'' here, so I am traveling by coach-- the cheapest way to go in any country-- and when I checked prices for all possible schedules, this particular time and route to Amsterdam had one ticket left at the ''Funfare'' price; meaning that all of it cost me only £22 including the insurance and fees, etc. more than half the price of the other tickets for the same route...


...so here I go again...wish me luck in Amsterdam...

...And for all of you who worry, don't be if I do not write for a bit, as I do not know when i will have a computer near me again...