I’m taking a break from all that right now (while the high-def trailer’s loading) to write a bit about the rest of my day. So. Here goes…
As I may have mentioned before, I’ve been keeping some pretty ridiculous hours lately. Last night I decided to forego the chance of oversleeping. I’d arranged to volunteer in a work party at Highgate Cemetery, and I had to be there by 1 PM. Yes, that’s right… THE Highgate Cemetery. If the name alone doesn’t ring any bells, think of Dracula. Supposedly, myths of vampires have been so much a part of Highgate lore, they inspired Bram Stoker. It was also pretty high profile in the ‘70s when people were reporting strange “psychic” attacks and a Catholic priest claimed to have staked one. I’m not much for vampire myths in particular, but it is still the most marvelously beautiful and spooky cemetery I’ve ever seen. In photos, anyway. But I digress.It took me two hours of lying in bed with a sleeping mask until I finally fell asleep. (Probably more from boredom than actual sleepiness.) And surprisingly, I was up early in the morning. Agneta actually woke me (though I think I was already half-awake at the time), and after that I finally went on a morning jog through Hyde Park. I’ve been trying to do it all week, but I just couldn’t get to sleep on time. I even once considered staying up all night and going out at daybreak, but I didn’t have the energy. I got new running pants (sorry, “trousers”), even.
It felt really, really nice. Why couldn’t the mile runs in school have been this nice? I ran all the way around the park – the long way! – by the Round Pond, the Albert Memorial, around The Serpentine, through the Italian Fountains and back. I was out there for a full hour. And by the time I came back, I was more than ready for a shower and a big bowl of oatmeal.
I had a couple hours to spare, so I watched a little Twilight Zone (“The Grave”) and some of a Jude Law movie (Norah Jones was in it, too) with Agneta, though both of us agreed it was terrible. I got a slight late start to going… Considering it’s a Sunday, the Underground was quite limited (no Circle line!!), so it took me a lot longer to get there. But, get there I did, and in no time I was picking garden gloves and clippers out of a box and had set out to de-weed and generally clean several graves near the entrance of the West Cemetery. I got there at about 1:30 and left almost exactly two hours later, feeling something akin to the morning run… well-worked and accomplished. (And well-fed. Somebody shared some home-baked brownies.) But with the extra novelty being in a famous cemetery. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to venture beyond the entrance. Our labors only covered so much, and since I left my piles of brambles and weeds for removal till the end, others sort of came by and picked it up as I progressed, and I never got to venture a little more inward to place it in the compost bin. But, from what I saw, it was already so wonderfully idyllic. The place was absolutely packed with Victorian graves, and the greenery was so thick; avenues were like tunnels through the woodlands. I aim to see the Egyptian mausoleums and the famous crypts at another time, but for now the mystique remains ever stronger now that I’ve had a taste. I’m likely to be going back next week, for the next working party.
By the time I got back to Bayswater, I was already pretty tuckered out. I got a few things at Tesco’s (they didn’t have sardines!) and went home (I had to settle on mackerel). And that’s it.
I’ll probably go to bed early again tonight. It helps to actually be tired for once.
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