I’ve been back from London for a few weeks now, which means I’m officially back in the thick of reality. Back to me no longer prioritizing my desires, but instead paying them off. Yuckity-Yuckity-Yuck, and ouch! Why didn’t someone stop me swiping and tapping so much?
I was born and raised back in not-so-sunny London, this point will become relevant in a bit, but no matter how long I’ve been stateside, going home still hits deliciously different.
Continuing to manifest being there on a more permanent basis… a girl has to have dreams, right?
London, Apparently, Is Now the Sun
But this time around, summer of 2026… introducing the weather. What happened to the usual, fingers crossed for a few solid days of sunshine, London weather? Well it looks like it unpacked permanently because can you say multiple heat waves! I was home for just under two weeks and the temps barely dipped under the mid-nineties the entire time. The 90s. In London. England. A place absolutely not built for that. And in fact, homes were intentionally built to contain the little sun and heat we used to get, so AC (air con) is not at all the standard, by the way. If you’re imagining living inside a pizza oven… a British pizza oven, you got that bang on.
Yes, climate change is real. Just putting that out there for the remaining deniers.
But honestly? I had the bloody best time.
The Ones I Call Home
For the time spent catching up with family and friends, my sister, my yummy nephew, my best mates, all their yummy kiddos, and all the people who make London feel like home… it was a 20 out of 10! Me and my girls were living the dream… pizza oven dreams, that is.
This time around we stayed right in London. No swanning over to a nearby destination or locale. A mate of mine from the US was in France and her temps were even higher… so umm, yeah no, not this go around. And with each trip, my girls are able to go off on their own with their cousins or meet up with their own friends.
For me, it was back to the catch-up Olympics. The belly laughs were and will always be there. The shared secrets and revelations, mostly good, some not so, but that’s life, right? One thing I know that will not only never change, but will endure is my ‘framily’ (friends now family), the chosen ones, friends, mates, who became family decades ago. And whatever messes with them, messes with me, and makes me want to mess with them back. Ahh, ‘tis a good thing I fear prison. Better people hold on to the concept of forgive and forget. Not me. Sure, I can move on and past things, but forgive? Forget?
“I am neither Jesus nor do I have memory loss. IreneB”
It’s #RememberAndRevenge. All day long over here, baby!
I need to do better. Agreed. But not yet.
Less Stuff, More Life
But back to the bulk of the goodness from this trip. This time, while my credit card felt like it wanted to slap me and yell, ‘Oi! Calm down! You ain’t got Beyonce money!’ I noticed my credit card taps were more in the direction of experiences over physical things… aka, I barely bought anything. Now the old me was a solid shopper, nothing wrong with that, but summer of 2026 me? Instead I ate my way through London (hello, Double Knot!), walked a lot, so that helped with the gorging, and took in more shows and things like that.
This post would go on forever if I listed all the things but to name a few of the standouts:
- Now You See Me Live – at the London Coliseum this was fantastic! Now, I was never into magic as a kid but it’s based on the hit movie, just missing the actual heist… no audience member got fleeced. But the magic, performances, everything was amazing! Oohs and Aahhs all around. So good I genuinely couldn’t tell how they were doing half of it. Plus the London Coliseum is so beautiful and quaint in itself.
- Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man– loosely based on the opera Carmen, you know the one, this was my girls’ first ballet. Their younger selves had no interest in ballet, but with a solid recommendation from their Aunty Sade, they were in, hooked, and loved it. Small heads up if you’re prudish as there’s some nudity and things. Grow up, get over yourself, and enjoy it!
Oh, and that very night was the full eclipse, too. We didn’t get to see it fully as we had to head into Sadler’s Wells to enjoy the performance, but we caught a backwards glimpse with the rest of the crowd who also didn’t have the protective glasses. We chose the show over sky-watching. Oh well.
And lastly, I’m adding in a link to a performance that the big kiddos got to enjoy, and rated an A+, the Murder Mystery event. Picture this, arriving at a warehouse in Whitechapel that’s converted into a 1940s-style train. Think Hercule Poirot-esque with a three-course menu of great food, drinks and a murder to solve. Exactly!
Now I won’t lie, did we mosey on down to Notting Hill and Portobello Road, take a stroll over and around Oxford Street, and sashay into a few indy shops and Westfield mall etc.? Umm, yes, why yes, we did. But browsing was the mood, not bulk shopping.
And on another note, my youngest was finally old enough to have a little tipple in England (not the US) and hang with the big kids. The girl was beyond thrilled to spread her wings, and this Mum was super happy for her.
Which Way Do You Want to Go?
Special shoutout to Moco, an independent modern and contemporary art museum, especially coming off a boob-sweat bus ride that was all of ten minutes but felt like we were drowning in our own sweat. Moco delivered modern and contemporary art, by Basquiat, Banksy, and many others, along with their delirious, delicious, and deliberate blasts of the coolest air. But amidst all of this, one piece stopped me cold. It appeared very simple: a signpost with two directions. One was you and your limiting self-beliefs. The other was the life you could still have.
I couldn’t stop staring at it. “Which way do you want to go?” it asked.
Sometimes we don’t get to choose. We have responsibilities, commitments, and people depending on us. But we have to keep remembering, keep it at the forefront of our minds, that there are things we can choose and control. And the reason we don’t always make that choice is a fear of moving forward. Sometimes it’s just easier to stay where we already know the shape of things, even if that shape is a little shitty.
But that’s the thing about this second chapter of ours: we’re not done. Yeah, we’ve got baggage, mixed in with old and new mistakes, and detours that were nowhere on our original itinerary. But sod it, we’re still here and still in this game called life.
What I’m Holding Dear and Taking Back
And for me, this will continue to be one of the biggest takeaways of my summer back at home. Not the shopping, barely did any of that. It was the people, places, and things.
The beauty in the belly laughs with my peeps also came with some revelations that pissed me off to my core. I was reflecting on the good and lasting relationships, while some are winding down and on their way out, for good reason. Some things are preventable, others inevitable, I guess. And though thousands of miles apart, these are my people. The ones who are in my life forever whether they like it or not, as I remind them regularly. That’s both a threat and a promise… with love of course. But also, don’t play with me, I’m not the one. Again, love and light!
So that’s what I’m taking forward: more experiences, more time with people I love, more trips, more good food, more cracking up after finding out your one Uni mate had a past that feels like an OG gangster movie, then the relaxed persona he displayed. It’s all those moments and knowing there’s so much more to come… if we choose it.
So when the opportunity comes, don’t miss it. Take the trip, all the trips. Make the plan.
Call the person. Connect with people and places, and less with the things. You know what I mean by things. And when those moments come, hold on to them like your life depends on it.
Because it ab-so-bloody-luetly does.
