Because I can...

[intertext]

Another post from a Yotel, this one at Heathrow. I'm in travel limbo, in that peculiar half-light of airports and planes, and won't emerge again until I get home tomorrow (HOME!!)

I poked around Penzance this morning, went to an art gallery and a sub-tropical garden and bought a blue-and-white striped mug to add to my mug collection (I had earlier procured a Quentin Blake mug from the National Trust, to I have two more from this trip). The trip north was uneventful but LONG (it still boggles this Canadian's mind how long it takes to get anywhere on this small island).

I managed to tear my left big toenail almost completely off trying to kick my suitcase in through the Yotel doorway (it's the one difficulty in this place, navigating luggage in and out of the "cabin"). It bled all over the place - let's hope there isn't a reason for someone to test the floor for bloodstains, because they'll find them :-) My feet are in absolutely terrible shape; the other big toe got bruised when I dropped a suitcase on it, and I have huge callouses from healed blisters from all the walking in London and then Venice and then Bath and then Cornwall. However, I think I've actually lost a little bit of weight, which is an incentive to lose some more when I get back, and I've got quite a tan, although it's a bit uneven from wearing different sleeve lengths.

On the train, I read the ARC that we got free at the conference (non conference attendees can calm down - this was not a DWJ ARC, rather one for a new author). It was actually quite good, although annoyingly is quite obviously the first of a series. For crying out loud, doesn't any fantasy writer write stand-alone fantasy any more??

I'll have to stop in at a bookstore tomorrow morning, as I now have nothing to read (perhaps another reason, if I needed one, for this rather lengthy if inconsequential post) Or I might just get a Harper's or Atlantic or some such, seeing as I have the Brothers K waiting to be live-blogged at home (stay tuned). I need to do a post on the things I've been reading this month.

Wow. I've been away from home for a month. I'm REALLY looking forward to being home tomorrow. And my dog and cat. And my car. And Thrifty's. And the film club. And some clean clothes, and my own bed.

Not that it hasn't been the most incredible trip, because it has. But in some ways it's nice to be grateful to be going home, too.

See you!

Comments

[egretplume.livejournal.com]

Poor feet! Safe home!

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

That sounds so painful! Have you been traveling in sandals? It sure sounds like it! Yow.

Safe travels home.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Yes (to the sandals) - partly as a keep-luggage-to-the-minimum strategy and also because I wear them most of the time anyway. But dropping things on one's feet or getting stepped on in the vaporetto is an associated risk.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Thank you :-)

[arcana-mundi.livejournal.com]

The one that would kill me would be the blisters. I have to wear hiking boots with good arch and ankle support and nice dry sockses!

And even then - I finally did myself a pedi (too embarrassed to go to the salon) to fix up the four months of heavy bootwalking, and it took a really long time to file down the callus. I'm too skeert of the razors.

Soon your tootsies will be home safe and sound for some pampering. And I bet you're looking forward to seeing Robinson.

[marri.livejournal.com]

For crying out loud, doesn't any fantasy writer write stand-alone fantasy any more??

I will write stand-alone novels.

...that are part of a series :D

Sorry to hear about the toenail thing *wince*. I was just commenting in Brianna's LJ that tooth problems squick me out...toenails are the other main thing! Sounds like you managed it decently, I would have fainted dead away and had to be discovered.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I think stand-alones that are part of a series are ideal. Then you can get interested in characters and the world, but you are not left hanging at the end.

Luckily I had some sovereign anti-blister plaster thingies that are tight and sticky and waterproof that I could wrap around toe to protect it and make it more comfortable. Fainting dead away is only an option when you are in front of someone attractive who can rescue you ;-)

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I am looking forward to seeing Robinson. I can't wait. And Tabitha-the-cat.

I know exactly what you mean about being too embarrassed to go for a pedicure. I feel the same way :-) I might, though, because my hip-replacement makes it difficult (actually forbidden as well, but I tend to do it anyway) to bend over to deal with toes.