Le voyage - Goodbye, Londres!

Had a great time in that former imperial capital. London- I love you, terror threats and all.

I'm now back in Toronto and getting back to my routine, which is far more tolerable after having had this brief change of environment. I felt like I lived in London in a tiny pink bachelor pad for 9 days. It was very comfortable and good. Maybe it's being part of the Commonwealth, but I think that the culture shock would be far greater if I was in another city and since I wanted to maximize psychological comfort, I'm glad I crossed the pond. In many ways, London felt like a larger and older version of Toronto which can only be a good thing.

Seeing my friends was the absolute best part of the trip and made me realize how much I really miss their presence. Whippy came all the way from Scarbra! The trip was actually very calm and relaxed, which is what I really needed. Of course there were surreal moments, like the time a Jamaican woman started to french me in a gay bar while giving me poppers and jerking me off. I also reconciled with an old flame, which was nice. Oh... and I threw a coming out party for Paddington Bear. The photos will be posted below. London seems to house at least 49 million homos which is very convenient and happy. What's more, there is a fantastic club night called Horsemeat Disco which feels very early 80s in the best way. That enough could compel me to fly over for a weekend.

Being back at home has been uneventful but I feel recharged. The Boyf and I have spent some time together and Niko is in town which is fantastic.

Not much else to say, really. At least nothing I can think of, so all 4 of you readers are updated. I will sign off by telling y'all about a hilariously pretentious thing some middle-class Londoners do... they will transform the name of their district to sound more "Continental" or sophisticated.... example: Vauxhall (normally pronounced vox-hall) becomes-- vos-all. Battersea (bat-er-see) = ba-ter-zee-a. Clapham (clap-am) = Claaam. I find that hysterically pompous and useless. But I love the fact that London is big and diverse enough to include such idiots and that everyone mocks those nerds.

Now, here's Paddington...