The Lonely, Crappy Day

I usually don't mind business travel.  I have written about it before.  It's good to get out of the office.  It's good to see new things and meet new people.  I have also said that anyone who thinks there is any glamour in business travel, think again.  Yes, I have an all expense paid trip to a place that some people pay a lot to come see, but today, all I can think about is going home.  Before today, the longest I business trip I have taken was 4 days.  That was about one day too long.  This trip is 12.  I want to go home.


Don't get me wrong.  I like England and Cambridge.  In fact, I have been thinking that this is a place that I would not mind living, but not by myself.  Not without my boyfriend and my kids.


Today I took the train into to London and I don't think I have ever felt more alone in my whole life. 


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I got up, had breakfast at the hotel and walked 15 minutes to the train station.  I hopped a train to King's Cross Station in London.   Once there I got approached my 2 very cuts Asian men.   I assumed they were going to ask me for directions.  They asked if I knew where Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter movies was.  I told them I didn't know and this was my first visit to London too.

Then I went looking and I found this.


Apparently there is such a thing.  It is located in an  area near Platforms 9 and 10, but it is not in the place shown in the movie. Not that it seemed to matter.  When I got there, there was a line of people waiting to take a picture.  I waited 10 min to get this shot.  When I was done, I was surprised to see the line had grown many times longer than it was.


I thought it was a little gimmicky, but I took the picture because I knew my kids would think it was cool.


Then I went on a mission.

K is a collector of pins from Hard Rock Cafe's.  She has lots of them from places either she or I have been.  I have gotten her pins before.  Most recently from Toronto and now London.  So my first mission was to get some pins for her.  I also picked up a gift for one of my sons.  I don't usually bring back presents from my business trips, but I think this will be an exception since I am gone for so long.


After that, I headed back to the Tube toward Westminster. 

The Westminster Tube station comes up right at the base of Big Ben.  I walked half way across the bridge over the Thames river and snapped this shot of it and the Parliament Building.  Just as it was starting to rain.  And not a fine, misty drizzle, but real rain.  Just f-ing great.  It's not bad enough I was going to be lonely and cold.  Now I was wet too.


I found a place to eat lunch.  A nice Chinese place that was out of the way.  I might have missed it except they had a guy (kind of a creepy guy) asking people if they wanted Chinese food.  I was glad I did.  All the places to eat were packed.  Because this place was out of the way, it was quiet and relaxed.  Even the food was pretty good.  I hung out there for about an hour.  Leisurely, drinking my beer, eating my meal and reading my book (I downloaded several gay romance novels onto my Blackberry Playbook before I left home)


I went back outside after lunch and it was will raining.  Fuck this.  I'm going back.  I was not having fun.  I was not gong to be having fun.  I was lonely and tired of being lonely.  Being wet sure as shit was not going to help that.  I made my way to the train station and headed back to Cambridge.


Did I waste and opportunity to see London?  Maybe.  There is always tomorrow.  It's not supposed to rain, but I am thinking I will just take some walks around Cambridge and see more of this town.


I talked to T tonight.  He worked much later that he usually does on a Saturday.  Just hearing his voice was lice soft music.  After listening to all the British accents this week, his Vietnamese accent sounded a little thicker than I remember it.  It's still was so wonderful to hear his voice.

I miss him so much.