london, part 1

Life has changed so much in the past few months, in every way from every imaginable corner. Work, personal, friends, living arrangements, my attitude in general…everything. Within four months life is unrecognizable and as it was going on I started to feel overwhelmed and wanted to get away on my own. London, calling! I’d been to London seven times before this – once just last week – but I had already been planning to go back some time this winter, and the way circumstances, fares and invitations fell, last week was the week.

I should explain up front that my idea of relaxation is different than most. I got more done last weekend than most weeks, and stayed up most nights trying to get it all accomplished, but that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling that I’m clearing things off my very highly stacked plate, relaxes me.

This wasn’t a tourist trip. We did hardly any tourism, though Jamie had intended to take me to Camden Lock and we never quite made it there (John and I had been up almost all night the night before and we slept very late). Leaky kept me running, and working, and though I like doing it, I spent a lot of time just in my salmon-colored pajamas on John’s couch, sipping the endless stream of coffee he supplied and tapping away at the latest transcription, update or e-mail. Next time, I’ll have more pictures.

Not that I don’t have any. We managed two days of shopping, a trip to the theater, the DVD launch, a day at the set, bingo, a tour of the London Christmas lights (the major reason I wanted to go during this time) and probably too much drinking for our own good.

And believe it or not, I missed Lush. That’s two trips to London this month and I never got there. We kept trying but the world was against us; it wasn’t where we thought it was four or five times, and then we figured, “Oh, it’s at the airport,” but no, it wasn’t at the airport anymore, and I was for the first time Lushless on my airplane back. Big apologies to Heather and Heidi, who I promised baubles, and my sister, who was also going to benefit from such a trip. I’ll get stuff from NY instead and send it. It’s almost as good.

Okay, so, start from the beginning, right?

I arrived early Thursday morning tousled from the trip. John and Little John were at the airport doors to greet me; Little John said I must think there are no schools in England, since he was there. When we got back to the house I crawled right into bed. We were meeting Jamie and Theresa at the DVD party, because they had to leave right from the studio, and I had four or five hours to sleep before pretending to be awake enough to get dressed. I wasn’t going as official press but WB cleared my reporting on the event, which was great because I was going to have more access than most, and was excited even if the idea of being sociable right when I arrived in London sounded comparable to having a root canal.

At 2, Eve woke me up with the first of what was to be five coffee wakeups. The family just loves giving me coffee; I’ve often said I could use an IV of caffeine but this is the closest I came to actually having one. Eve crept into the room, left coffee (already sweetened to my taste) by my bed and nudged me awake. I made some sort of gutteral noise to indicate I was alive. I had two and a half hours but instead of going to shower right away, what did I do? I went down on the internet, talked to John and Eve, futzed around for a good hour. This is the dangerous thing about the Waylett clan types; there is so much talking, so much conversation and bad jokes and catching up…they make you feel so at ease just sitting there in your PJs, chatting about life and joking about everything, that it’s hard to remember that you might have something important to go to, like the party for the release of the DVD of one of the biggest movies in history.

The important “goss” about the DVD launch either already is or will be on Leaky. I had a great time, specifically interviewing Matt Lewis and Alfie Enoch as a pair; the two cracked me the hell up. There is a 15 minute interview that has been transcribed into 13 pages of the two of them being hilarious. I really just sat back, held up the recorder, and let it go. They took care of everything.

At the rest of the party, people were comfortable (after a while), laughing, enjoying each other. The parents of the kids always impress me with their ability to make me feel comfortable around them. And Jamie – I’ve said before that Jamie is like my little brother, but I think with this trip he has now become my little brother. We have serious conversations and confide things, and he’s become very protective of me – almost as protective as I am of him – and is, as ever, as huggy as an overstuffed teddy bear. At one point we were circling the party and I left his company because I didn’t want him to feel cramped in the presence of certain…people who I can’t talk about on the net. He winked and said, “All right, big sis,” as I walked off, but then later was extremely worried that I thought he was ignoring me (a completely unfounded concern). Someone said on Leaky that Jamie strikes them as a kind person with a strong soul, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better description.

But the big thing about Jamie is that he has the uncanny ability to make me act like a 10 year old around him. I rarely get so goofy but he just brings it out in me. We had these purple snap bracelets that we had to use to get goody bags at the end, so Jamie and I spent 10 minutes trying to get them to snap around each other’s necks. Beating each other up with little purple metal things, rapping each other on the neck and cracking up fit to bust when it didn’t work. Or I’ll say something stupid about him and he’ll put me in a stronghold until I apologize, or he’ll say something stupid about me and I’ll make him kiss my cheek in public as an apology (fate worse than death when you’re 15 and around your macho friends). It’s a very give-and-take thing. I love the kid.

So, we came home from the launch packed to our guts with sweets, DVDs, trinkets, bits and bobs provided to us by the crew (packs of gum and legos and trading cards and such).

One would think that knocked out by travel and a previous week full of hard work I would have just gone straight to sleep. No, you’d be wrong on that one.
More soon!