aerial antics and ankle ink

It was another exceptional day of London-ing with Alene. We had to wake up early and get out fast thanks to the final house cleaning before we move, and so we hopped the three trains it takes to get to Camden Town to check out Camden Market. It was less crowded than usual since it was a Monday morning, and Blaze at Blaze On Fairy Lights was just arriving in his full biking gear. We caught up on his biking adventures and then he regaled Alene and me with funny stories about his daughters and his future retirement plans. Then Alene and I wandered through the rest of the market and eventually towards Primrose Hill.

It was gorgeous as usual along the canals, with the amusing appearance of a group of school kids on kayaks trying to avoid getting in the way of a canal boat. We walked up into Primrose Hill and along the high street there in search of a good lunch, and eventually settled on the Italian place I’d been to before with Vida. The server recognized me, probably because of the many hours I monopolized a table there last time. Alene and I both ordered delicious pastas and eventually returned to the street to “hike” up Primrose Hill where the city view was as good as I’d promised. After savoring that for a bit, we walked down to my trapeze studio where I cautiously poked my head in early to introduce Alene to Genevieve.

Alene headed off to find a spot to chill for a bit during my class and ended up at the pub nearby, while I had class with nearly all of my favorites: Paula was finally returned from her holiday to the Amalfi Coast, and Debbie was there, and Tako too. There was also a new student who was clearly intimidated by the high energy we were all bringing to today’s class, especially with me desperate to nail my routine after all of my recent practice and so many bruises to show for it. And I did! Debbie even taught me how to finally do a clean one-legged skinner for the first time. After I completed a clean run through of the extended Odette sequence, Genevieve gave me a huge smile and said “parfait” and I glowed.

I cautiously asked if Alene could peek in to watch the end of class and Genevieve was supremely welcoming, saying she could come right into the studio to be with us. So she came over and got to see the final round of everyone’s turns, including the one where I insisted on playing “Fly As Me” to my last run through – the one where I did NOT get criticized for any improper inelegant wiggling to get myself into position for the final trick. Win! I said goodbye to everyone and threatened them to show up early for our pre-class lunch next week, and then Alene and I walked back out into the sunshine to cross Primrose Hill park and into Regent’s.

It was a beautiful stroll along green paths and the big pond, and then we hopped on the tube to Hammersmith and the bus as well. Somewhere along the journey I was convinced I was getting scammed on whatsapp because I was added to a group called “Smile” by Elena, along with Gina, and all that appeared was a link to something on pinterest. But Gina replied with an image of a tattoo and a hazy memory slowly returned, of the three of us standing outside the George on Saturday night, with Elena suggesting that we get matching tattoos of a smiley face on our feet. I recall saying “sure!” because she was drunk and also I just wanted to get home. And then I promptly forgot all about it.

But Elena hadn’t forgotten, nor Gina apparently, so somehow I was getting roped into heading straight from trapeze class to a tattoo parlor in Chiswick to get some kind of smiley face tattoo. They both liked an image in which the tail of a heart becomes the smile, so I said sure, and we all took turns getting inked by Steffan. Elena ended up getting hers on her wrist, while Gina and I both went with ankle. Steffan did a great job even if it somehow took two hours for all three of us to be done. But I really enjoyed the experience because it captured us all so well: Elena casually “meh” about the whole thing, Gina stressing and being appropriately picky about the image, and me focusing way more on the Gail’s scone I was eating than anything else.

Ultimately I caught the bus home just in time for M&S Indian food for dinner, and the five of us sat down to catch up on each other’s days. James had gone on a mini golf field trip to a very disappointing spot all the way near Wembley, which is hilarious because there’s pretty great mini golfing in the park right near his school. Ben had a normal day with a small bit of drama, which inspired me to propose all kinds of nefarious and devious ways to address it. Then Bill and I somehow started a round of Black Magic, a sort of game/riddle/trick that had all three of them stumped until Alene started to figure it out. But then Alene surprised us all with a generous gift of many bars of Dandelion chocolate, which the excited kids insisted on opening immediately. The 100% cocoa bar tested all of us.

Alene and I decided to head out to the George for a drink, and I realized it was the first time ever that I’d just casually gone there not for an event. It was quiet! There was a pub quiz night going on which we quickly avoided due to everyone there looking way too serious, so we grabbed some comfy arm chairs in the front by the big open windows and enjoyed the pleasant breeze of a summer evening as we sipped on half pints of Jubel. At this point we’ve spent nearly two straight days of nonstop interesting conversation, and the odds are good that we won’t run into any silences yet tomorrow either.

When we got home Ben was still inefficiently getting ready for bed and James was heading to sleep early after staying up until 1am last night journaling! Can you imagine my face when I saw his light on, peeked in, and he explained that he was journaling and was about to finish? I just smiled and said, “take your time!” It was especially nice that tonight at dinner he showed me what he wrote, which was a very well-written description of the past two days. Eventually they both made it to bed and Alene headed up to her room, so I settled in the cozy living room to talk tattoo ideas with Bill and finish my leftover cupcakes.