The End of the beginning

As I write this the cars rush past the window of my hackney studio, sloshing the rain in potholes. Grumble of buses slowly moving around the city.
I have been back in London for over a month now.
And suprsingly its been great.
Though getting into work has been tough, as I knew it would be, outside of the hours I spend on interesting (if difficult) projects, I have been leading a great life. Caroline has made every effort to soften the crash back to reality that London represented to me. We have been to great exhibitions, at the serpentine, hayward, tate, seen shows and movies, picniked, cycled, drunk, and eaten like royalty.
I have softened, no longer just a frame of tendons and sinew, there is no where for me to stretch out and just ride here. And that Rose lies in pieces in our hallway, waiting for complete overhaul, also bothers me. Looking for new parts for Rose, and a new bike for Caroline, so that I can resume this adventure with her at my side, often interrupts my useless toil as an animator. Life seems very full suddenly with friends and events, meals and drinks, meetings and projects, and traffic. But this is a good thing too, to be busy and productive. To be in the comfortable surroundings of society and possesions.
Pushing through the locked traffic on New Oxford street, cyclists squeezing through the gaps, weaving and ducking, and somehow there is a sense of winning. There is a cycling revolution happening in this city and I feel part of it.
Fireworks over the Thames, late summer sun, bright orange autumn trees,and sunday roasts, all endear england to me. Pints!
But what keeps me going is the knowlege that this is but a temporary stop before continuing on what I know is real life, beyond the spectacle. And hopefully next time it will be with company, a nomadic nation of two.