Tuesday 27 October 2009

Home Sweet Home

Some things never change. Within an hour of landing at Heathrow I felt my heart sink when I approached the tube only to find that the Piccadilly Line was closed for those oh-so-feared engineering works. Luckily I was able to use my Oyster card on the Heathrow Express instead. And I have to say I was impressed - clean, quick, and even a little TV screen giving visitors to the capital useful information - and a BBC news update for those of us who hadn’t watched the news or read a paper in well over a week. It almost distracted me from the graffiti and derelict warehouses along the train track and decidedly cooler air.
But some things have changed since I’ve been away. We returned home the day British summer time officially ended. Autumn has embraced London like an old friend, and London seems to have welcomed it back. Everything seems calmer. More Zen-like. Even the hoodies on the bus seemed more chilled out. Is it the slightly cooler weather? The beautiful autumnal colours of the trees? The darker evenings?
Maybe it’s just me. I’ve always been a fan of autumn. And being away from London for two weeks… maybe I’ve just missed it. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Today I returned to work. 230 emails, two malfunctioning computers, a fire alarm and exceedingly dull panel meeting later, and I still feel a sense of inner peace. And no, it was not my yoga session after work that has done it either - I felt decidedly tension free before my first sun salutation.
Maybe I’m just glad to be home.

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