I'm writing this on 4 hours of sleep so please forgive the nonsensical remarks as they come up.
Last night after finding a temporary solution to my Mexican Food craving in London, I went to Piccadily Circus to try and watch some of the Olympic Games in the square like people would do in Times Square because to me Piccadilly Circus reminds me of Times Square: with the people and jumbo screens, the Broadway show signs, the theaters, etc. However, they weren't showing anything. So I remembered that there was an Irish pub I walked by the day before that I thought looked cool.
Maybe because it was in the middle of the mini Chinatown district I don't know.
Anyway, I went by, grabbed a Snakebite which is a different drink in London and proceeded to watch the games. A Snakebite here by the way is half some beer I've never heard of, Budweiser and a red liqueur. Surprisingly good since I hate Bud. Well, much to my pleasant surprise there was a band, actually there were two bands (not Irish) that played music shortly after I arrived. They did all covers, but they were all sing your heart out as loud as you could covers! I loved it. I sang my little heart out with my Snakebite in hand and have a sight sore throat this morning because of it.
Despite the music though, and the drinks and the people around, I got that lonely feeling again. I don't know how people go to bars by themselves. No one talked to me for a long while. When I got my second drink I went to go stand at the bar because I have found more people to be chattier at the bar. As soon as I got to the bar, this man, Ollie, starts chatting me up. He's from Ireland and has been living in London for about 10 years as an electrician. I would say he was handsome but his jokes were crude and badly timed and it got to the point where I was wishing I wasn't talking to anyone again. I promptly finished that drink and left with another drink in hand to go at least find a place to watch the games.
There were a small group of people watching the TV, guys actually since it was a boxing match. I had only been there a minute when William leans over and asks me who I am cheering for. I was cheering for Italy because....I only just spent 6 weeks there, I'm part Italian and didn't even know what the other country was. And we naturally feel into a conversational rhythm. I wouldn't go as far to say we had banter, mostly because the music was tooooooo loud but he, like myself was a big fan of banter and I completely appreciated that. We talked about travel, about my time in Europe, his time in the US, how London and New York are very similar but both very different, history, museums etc. It was the type of conversation that you would look back and be like....damn, that was a good conversation, because it just was. He restored my faith in not only men you meet at bars, but just meeting people out socially. I enjoyed his company immensely. It was just refreshing to be talking to someone new, who wasn't creepy, old or crude.
The night ended with him running into people he knew and me (being new to traveling past midnight in London) leaving at 2:30 to struggle how to get home. I ended up getting home 2 hours later half walking back, half finding the right buses to take me back. (Oh roundabouts and your tricky tricky ill marked signs!!!)
William was so passionate about the museums in the city that I asked him if he wasn't busy to join me at one of them and he could choose and told him to find me here, via my blog (he asked me what my blog was, programmed it into his phone and bookmarked it). That is why I am writing this kind of early in the morning in the hopes that he sees this and we can somehow meet up. William, if you are reading this, not in a creepy way but I did enjoy your company and would like to hang out with you on the streets of London. (If you read some of my other posts, you can see I'm pretty normal.) I enjoyed your passion about the art, life and history and think it would be totally fun to go see a museum of just hit the streets of London with you and see it through a real Londoners eyes. If you want, you can email me at elizabethcemerald@gmail.com. Hope to hear from you!
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