Off to London ... with mixed emotions
My dear readers, this week I embark on a rather lengthy business trip to my birth city. While there I intend to consume many Penguins, large quanities of Prawn Skips, and oh......take care of a large amount of business.
One of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip was seeing my Uncle Henry. But this will not happen, because he passed away this week, just days after my sister's Michelle's wedding. I am gutted about this because I knew he was in a bad way, and was praying that he could last just a little while longer so I would have an opportunity to say goodbye in person and let him know how I felt about him.
Uncle Henry took my brother Alex round East London to all the murder sites when Alex was working on his history thesis on Jack the Ripper in college. Alex's work won the award for best thesis at entire the University of Texas that year, and it was poignantly dedicated to Uncle Henry. It meant the world to my uncle, who made a point of showing the thesis to anybody who would indulge him.
When I spent a summer in London during my university days, working for a firm which facilitated Mergers and Acquisitions between companies based in different European countries (this was pre-"EU") Uncle Henry made a point of taking me out on the town. He showed me the London eye, and the parliament, but his most special love, and it was easy to see, was the Royal Air Force Museum. At the RAF museum he meticulously explained down to the tiniest detail, every type of plane we saw, what campaigns the Spitfires were used in, where the Luftwaffe's Blitzkrieg had proven most effective. I remember buying a book on WWII planes at the gift shop for Blogger Matt, and Uncle Henry helped me select it. And then, when we returned to his flat, Uncle Henry gave me two old books on World War II from his collection, which he proclaimed to be the best around. These two books rest proudly on my bookshelf today, and will now hold extra special meaning to me from here forward.
I also remember Friday night Shabbat dinners with him and my Auntie Nita, when political debate alwys ensued Uncle Henry, my Uncle Phillip, and myself.
My uncle Henry was a very nice man who had a passion for life, appreciation for those who came before him, and a love for his family. I will indeed miss him and the love he showed me in our too brief time together. So in place of spending time with him as planned, I will instead be mourning his passing together with my extended family. A harsh contrast to be sure.
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But there is some good news. I recently learned that one of my dearest friends from university, Vicki, an exchange student from Cyprus with whom I played tennis and shared some good times, will be in London for the next month. We intend to meet up and this greatly excites me. We have not seen each other in over three years, but we have emailed sporadically throughout that time, always telling each other that we don't know how or when, but sometime we will meet again. Well that time is now and I can not wait. She really is a sweet, darling girl and we've always got on famously. I'm sure this time will prove no different.
London is such a nostalgia-filled place for me. It is difficult to describe adequately, (I need one of my many author friends to help me out... Matt, Paul, Jared, Wes, where are you when I need you?) but I always feel strangely at home there. It's not that I prefer it to the United States, because I don't, but should my parents not have made that fateful decsion years ago to pick up everything and move to the US, London would represent my entire world. There's something special about interacting and assimilating into an environment that could have very well been your home in another life. And that I feel comfortable there puts a smile on my face, even if the thought of the plane flight terrifies me. As you may recall, it was my flight to London in December which prompted this disasterous post and the thought of a repeat performance makes me shudder.
You shant be hearing from me too frequently for the next little while, but I will have my laptop with me, so you may be able to expect a post or two every once in awhile, about a theatrical performance, or an opera I see, about the backwardness of the country at large, or about Cadbury's chocolate, in a feeble attempt to keep my readership remtotely interested. So check back, and if anyone fancies helping me manage my fantasy baseball team while I'm gone..drop me a note.
Adios!
One of the things I was really looking forward to on this trip was seeing my Uncle Henry. But this will not happen, because he passed away this week, just days after my sister's Michelle's wedding. I am gutted about this because I knew he was in a bad way, and was praying that he could last just a little while longer so I would have an opportunity to say goodbye in person and let him know how I felt about him.
Uncle Henry took my brother Alex round East London to all the murder sites when Alex was working on his history thesis on Jack the Ripper in college. Alex's work won the award for best thesis at entire the University of Texas that year, and it was poignantly dedicated to Uncle Henry. It meant the world to my uncle, who made a point of showing the thesis to anybody who would indulge him.
When I spent a summer in London during my university days, working for a firm which facilitated Mergers and Acquisitions between companies based in different European countries (this was pre-"EU") Uncle Henry made a point of taking me out on the town. He showed me the London eye, and the parliament, but his most special love, and it was easy to see, was the Royal Air Force Museum. At the RAF museum he meticulously explained down to the tiniest detail, every type of plane we saw, what campaigns the Spitfires were used in, where the Luftwaffe's Blitzkrieg had proven most effective. I remember buying a book on WWII planes at the gift shop for Blogger Matt, and Uncle Henry helped me select it. And then, when we returned to his flat, Uncle Henry gave me two old books on World War II from his collection, which he proclaimed to be the best around. These two books rest proudly on my bookshelf today, and will now hold extra special meaning to me from here forward.
I also remember Friday night Shabbat dinners with him and my Auntie Nita, when political debate alwys ensued Uncle Henry, my Uncle Phillip, and myself.
My uncle Henry was a very nice man who had a passion for life, appreciation for those who came before him, and a love for his family. I will indeed miss him and the love he showed me in our too brief time together. So in place of spending time with him as planned, I will instead be mourning his passing together with my extended family. A harsh contrast to be sure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But there is some good news. I recently learned that one of my dearest friends from university, Vicki, an exchange student from Cyprus with whom I played tennis and shared some good times, will be in London for the next month. We intend to meet up and this greatly excites me. We have not seen each other in over three years, but we have emailed sporadically throughout that time, always telling each other that we don't know how or when, but sometime we will meet again. Well that time is now and I can not wait. She really is a sweet, darling girl and we've always got on famously. I'm sure this time will prove no different.
London is such a nostalgia-filled place for me. It is difficult to describe adequately, (I need one of my many author friends to help me out... Matt, Paul, Jared, Wes, where are you when I need you?) but I always feel strangely at home there. It's not that I prefer it to the United States, because I don't, but should my parents not have made that fateful decsion years ago to pick up everything and move to the US, London would represent my entire world. There's something special about interacting and assimilating into an environment that could have very well been your home in another life. And that I feel comfortable there puts a smile on my face, even if the thought of the plane flight terrifies me. As you may recall, it was my flight to London in December which prompted this disasterous post and the thought of a repeat performance makes me shudder.
You shant be hearing from me too frequently for the next little while, but I will have my laptop with me, so you may be able to expect a post or two every once in awhile, about a theatrical performance, or an opera I see, about the backwardness of the country at large, or about Cadbury's chocolate, in a feeble attempt to keep my readership remtotely interested. So check back, and if anyone fancies helping me manage my fantasy baseball team while I'm gone..drop me a note.
Adios!
posted by Mark at
5/31/2005
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