nicolette kaponis

Never has a blog post title been more literally accurate. I am in fact, sitting on a train that is headed to Scotland. More specifically, Edinburgh. I decided to forgo posting on my usual blog-post posting day of Wednesday so I could experience what I hoped would be the joys of writing while being whisked through the English countryside, headed for a whole other part of the United Kingdom. Edinburgh! (Apologies in advance if you hate your life right now.) So here I am, facing backwards, in a first-class carriage (because I’m worth it), sipping on my complimentary ginger ale (because it’s 11.36 AM and I didn’t want to be a complete cliché and hit the booze closer to the breakfast hour while clacking on my laptop), looking ahead to a six-day mini-break in one of my absolute favourite cities. (Apologies again, if you hate your life right now.)   First Class Life

There aren't many events that would have be out of bed and in town by 8am.

My weather app tells me the current temperature in London is twenty-six degrees. If I don’t go outside right now, despite the freelance work I have to finish, my right to complain about the British weather for the rest of the year will be revoked. I have errands to run and a step count to improve so a walk to the shops is the ideal excursion for this amazingly warm summer’s day. It will also give me a chance to think about ideas for this week’s blog post.   I know! Anyone would think I was back in Greece. As I stare longingly at my short denim skirt, I put on my jeans as I’ve learned my lesson about walking in skirts during summer . I step out onto the baking streets of Stoke Newington and while a few blog post ideas begin to blossom, they’re soon forgotten, replaced instead with the need to listen to music – sunshine like this deserves a soundtrack.

It seems impossible to consider, but there is a moment when London becomes just… London. Just a city you work in, live in. Its history, its grandeur, its beauty, fall away. You take them all for granted and, instead, life in London becomes about getting from A to B, about eating when you’re hungry, about finding distractions to get through those few hours when you’re not working, eating, in transit. So when something comes along to reboot your brain, to remind you how truly wonderful England’s capital is, well, it’s a blessing.   London, you're A-OK in my book! For me, that reminder came in the form of my dad.