Saying good-bye to London (...for now...)

You think big, hectic cities, and London and New York are often mentioned in the same breath.  Both are  massive centres of high finance, both have their share of grumpy people - and most importantly, both operate at a pace much, much faster than the rest of their countries.  That’s never more apparent than when you’re taking stock of nearly four years in London, amazed at how fast (and fun!) they were.

It’s more than a little odd, knowing that I’m on the cusp on a new adventure, moving over to Luxembourg (tomorrow!) for an amazing gig with a cool and growing start up.  One day, you’re debating which new pint of bitter to try, or wondering if the Tube was going to run on time for your commute, and the next?  You’re in a very charming, if much, much smaller capital – Luxembourg City, with a mere 85,000 people instead of the nearly 7,000,000 of London, and with a funky mix of old and new:

If I had to describe my state of mind in terms of the nearly always wrong BBC weather forecast?  Let’s see - a strong front of excitement has been moved in over the last few weeks.  This will be broken up by  odd showers of culture shock and winds of language confusion throughout the week, especially with my profound lack of French.  Long-term outlook?  Calm and content, as a low pressure front of the relaxed Luxembourg quality of life moves in.

Okay – so that’s the outlook for the future… but what about the present?  With about four weeks from receiving the job to moving, I had to squeeze in a whole lot of fun times as I said a temporary good-bye to London.

From a friend’s awesome 80’s screen icons fancy dress party…(in case you're unsure of my costume - let's see if this theme gets stuck in your head: "...bum bum bum buuum, bum bum bummmm, bum bum bum buuum,bum bum bum, bum, bum!")

…  to discovering random street art in my decidedly non-arty neighborhood of Chiswick, then checking out the Tower of London Ceremony of the Keys one more time:

A Laura Veirs concert at a 16th century church, and beer-fuelled Scrabble at our local pub…

To a ramble through the East Side of London, and a day on the South Bank, including funky art and world-class grilled cheese sandwiches at Borough Market:

Saying good-bye to some very good friends I’ve made was tough – but the British tradition of ‘leaving drinks’ helped… with ex-Monster folks up at Hampstead:

To a pub crawl and curry feast in Brick Lane with my ultimate frisbee team (we'd had a few beers by this point):

Good times all-around.  And while I’ve done a fair bit in London, there’s still so much on my list to try:  the Eye, watching a choir perform at St. Paul’s, attend a viewing of the secret cinema, drinks at the Savoy, high tea at the Dorchester… the list goes on and on.  So, I guess that means I’ll be coming back sooner rather than later for a visit or three! ;)