Sep 15: Chilling in old haunts
SuperTrip2_2026 Blog Post
2026_2 BLOG
9/15/20262 min read
Today was a day of pulling back. I had hoped to see Gareth and Fabi before we left and also was trying to find time to see Alison, an amazing college-friend of mine who has dedicated her life, first to theatre, then to writing and, in the last decade, to subtle and substantive analysis of Shakespeare’s poetry that is so far beyond anything I can grasp onto. I keep encouraging her to publish something of her work, because she has such a unique and profound knowledge of the subject, but she is still chasing nuances and understandings deeper and deeper into the texts. I don’t think she will ever feel her work is complete enough to share. I hope to be wrong about that, because it would be a loss to scholarship were she not to publish, but my sense is that the journey is so consuming and challenging that recording and/or reporting on it is just not something that will ever feel worthwhile to her. I have always admired her capacity for focus and calling. I have never experienced either. I am a dilettante, a dispersed soul, endlessly distracted and entranced by whatever floats past. The hard graft of serious study has always been beyond me, which, no doubt, is why I recognize and respect it so intensely.
In the end, it was just too much to squeeze into the last third of the day, especially as we are getting a car at 6am tomorrow morning to Stansted airport. We need to launder, dry and pack our clothes before then. So, we are sitting in our apartment, sharing a can (or two) of beer from the supermarket (Moretti), winding down before we clear down the decks again and start moving again.
We had a good day today. We walked to the British Museum and slid into the Members’ Room, for lunch. They have truly understood that a great café is as much as a draw (and delivers a much greater profit) than any given artifact. We had 2 delicious sandwiches, 2, even more delicious cakes (a raspberry/matcha slice that carried a crest of an inch’s worth of icing and a pomegranate/banana bread with frosting). Somehow, the quality of the bread, fillings, baking was another “bougie”, joyful delight. There is a kind of comfort that only a really hot cup of tea can deliver. The British Museum Members’ room delivers it in spades.
We checked in on the Rosetta Stone (Carey likes to know it’s still there and properly managed); walked through the Nimrod wall carvings of King Ashurbanipal II and cherry-picked the new acquisitions room. It was enough to relish each experience without pushing through just because the most amazing things “are there”. Maintaining my British Museum membership remains a part of my identity I am not willing to give up, just yet – a little piece of the London-me, a personal luxury I still want to hold onto, even as I embrace my newly-integrating “Canadianess”.
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Inspired by our 2024 Camino Francais, Karen has a periodic podcast called "I sent you a bloody boat", personal thoughts on faith by a person who believes in thinking. Also, known as "The Reluctant Christian". You can listen to it on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts at: