Searching for Tottenham Hale

Oh, goodness, to recount the past few days....Brenna came to visit me in Leicester and we proceeded to have a less-than-perfect but terribly amazing time in London, Audley End, and Bishop's Stortford. It was absolutely lovely to see her again; I can't believe the last time we actually saw each other in person was in December, in Lawrence, leaving Templin for good and setting out on our very separate but very related adventures. And it's also insane to think that a year ago, we were planning our adventures, and now they are truly becoming realities. We've both settled into these new lives we're leading, new lives of exploring and imagining and wandering, and I think this weekend showed us that we both have changed so much, and maybe returning back to the lives we led in Lawrence won't be completely possibly. Let me recap:

After frantically pacing around City Centre, looking for St. Margaret's Bus Station, I happened upon Brenz in the waiting room and gave her a GIANT hug, almost breaking the bench upon which she was sitting and dutifully reading Atonement. We had plans to eat dinner with her cousin Lianne, but first we hurried back to Digby Yellow to drop off her stuff since Brenna would be staying with me both nights. When we finally met up with Lianne at the train station, she took us to her AMAZING house (located in the Red Light District, apparently...so, if anybody needs a prostitute, I now know where to get them in Leicester...haha) and cooked us an amazing dinner. In fact, thanks to Brenz, I got many delicious home-cooked dinners this weekend! (but more on that later) Lianne's house was huge and wonderful and perfect for all of the girls living there, but, unfortunately, it was absolutely FREEZING. Brenna and I continually threw each other frozen glances, and after catching a cab back to Digby (because there was NO WAY I was walking out in the cold after spending HOURS in the cold!!), we fell asleep, only to both wake up absolutely sickly the next morning! However, we were well enough to make it to all of my classes, lunch and City Centre with Robbie, and then dinner, the usual trip to ASDAr, gettting ready, and then off to Black Block for a little pre-gaming and rowdiness. I hope Brenna had a wonderful time, because I tried my best to show her the utter party scene that is Leicester--I think she did!

But the past part of Friday evening, I should say, was walking out of the Union after Mad-Fer-It and being misted by snow!! Oh, it was truly magical. We returned home to Digby, and everyone frolicked in the (very little bit of) snow, attempting to make snow balls and pelt each other. It was one of the most wonderful nights at Leicester, I should say. Saturday, Brenz and I woke up, completely exhausted, feeling sicker because I ran around all night with no coat on, and a bit hungover, which was a first for me here at Leicester. Needless to say, we missed the 10:40 AM bus to London, which began my moody morning of impatience...Off to the bus station to make the 11:55 AM, only to discover that it, too, was all full. So we sauntered out to the loading dock, waiting to see if we could jump on the bus if people didn't show up. The line for the London bus was filling up, though, and our prospects were looking bleak, when Brenna luckily heard an announcement for a Luton bus. SO after chatting with the Luton driver and frantically switching our tickets, we made it on a bus shortly before noon, thanks to the kindness of others. Unfortunately, the bus ride to Luton was completely unbearable for me--I felt sooo sick, headache, soar throat, etc. Miraculously, though, my mysterious illness went away right before we arrived at Luton Airport. After exiting the bus, the Luton driver pointed us in the right direction to the bus that would take us straight to London-Victoria, and, luckily (seems to be the theme for this trip...all about luck, haha!) the bus was right there. SO we hopped on that bus, and, at last/alas, made it to London. Lunch in Victoria Station was amazing, people-watching and just talking. However, it took us sooo long to get to London and then eat that, at 4:30/4:45ish, we finally started making our way to the V&A, which was closing at 5:45. Determined to see the Fashion installation at the museum, we arrived at around 5:10ish, when we had our bags checked before walking in. The guy doing the search kept staring us up and down, and, after checking our luggage, said, "You know, we don't usually allow people to walk around our museum with bags that big." Assuring him we would check our bags, he let us go in and we proceeded to the baggage check, only to be accosted once more by the attendant, who didn't believe AT ALL that we were going to return to collect our bags in 15 minutes. After arguing for a bit, Brenna pleadingly said, "Please sir, PLEASE just let us look around the museum for a while!" He then told us to go up to the main baggage check because it was open until 5:45. So, instead of heading there, we just went straight to the Fashion exhibit and looked around. We were once again stopped, though, when trying to track down the photography exhibited, so we just decided to leave. After the V&A, we got back on the Underground and headed to Embankment. Which was beautiful, especially at night. Photographed the Eye and Big Ben, although the pictures didn't turn out too well, and then went off to wander by the river, where we stumbled across the British Film Institute and saw a very interesting exhibit of 68 short films from about 1898-1909 that illustrated the developments of cities across the world, with footage taken from train windows and aboard ships. The BFI was amazing, and hopefully we'll both be able to get back there at some point to see films and such.

As it was getting late, we decided to hop on the Underground to Tottenham Hale in order to catch our train to Audley End to meet Brenna's Aunt Helen. And thus ensued the most frustrating portion of the evening. One stop away from Tottenham Hale, an announcement came over the loudspeaker on the train telling us that Tottenham Hale station was closed due to a power failure...SO, that meant Brenna and I had to travel backwards, switch trains and make our way to Liverpool Street...but first, we had to find the correct platform. After searching around, standing in the wrong place for awhile, and growing more annoyed, we finally realized that the platform we needed was above us. So we got on the Underground, succesfully made our switches, got to Liverpool Street, changed our tickets (since they were from Tottenham Hale, not Liverpool Street) and ended up on a train. Of course, this whole time, tension was building between us, with both of us growing frustrated and upset. Once we got on the train to Audley End, things began getting better, and, although Tottenham Hale WAS OPEN, as evident by the fact that we stopped at the station and picked up passengers, we made it to Audley End, where an extremely nice cabbie, who admitted to us that it was only his 4th day on the job, deposited us to Aunt Helen's and to another deliciously home-cooked meal, wonderful conversation and delightfully warm beds. The next morning, Aunt Helen and Brenna's amazingly hilarious cousin Adam dropped us off at Audley End once more, and away we went to Bishop's Stortford, where I met Brenna's delightful grandparents and explored the epitome of a quaint English village. What a wonderful end to the weekend, I should say!

Now, the reason I think that Brenna and I will definitely have trouble readjusting to Lawrence is because of the way our travels have already impacted us so much. On the train to Audley End, we talked about how, though we were both building these amazing lives, being around each other even for a little bit was bringing back little insecurities and annoyances we had back in Lawrence. However, I think that, as we continue to experience these new places and meet so many new people, as we always talk about, we are going to come out of our trips so much different than we were before. We've always considered ourselves distant from everything and everyone we often encounter in Lawrence because of the mentalities we have; living in England and France, respectively, is distancing us even more, both figuratively and literally. As she goes off to France today and I settle back in in Leicester (though I feel extremely ill, :(... ) this distances and differences make themselves even more apparent.

I just hope she realizes, and I never forget, that, though things may change, the memories we've had together and the friendship we've built will always be here. Even if we can't quite make it to Tottenham Hale.