Obsession

Anyone who knows me will probably aware  that I cannot just "like" something.
Once I  fall, I fall hard.  Some examples of this include : Disney world,  NKOTB(well back in the day), David Tennant and London.

Today we will discuss London.Ok, and David Tennant.

My love for London seemingly came out of nowhere. (well aside from growing up on British comedies and loving history as a school subject) I admit to being one of those people who starts loving whatever their friends  love . I don't do it to be cool or fit in . When I see someone enthusiastic about something I  try to support their interests , make myself knowledgable on them  and  usually end up sharing the interest. This is what happened with England . Well , London specifically.

Once upon I time I worked in a place which I will refer to as the Den of All Evil. My manager was Nemesis - a name I have referred to her as since a typo on a place card at a christmas party Christened her that. I also had a friend  at work who shared my dislike of our job and boss.

This coworker had a few things in common with me and  we got on well. She mentioned her love of England . It was her favourite thing. She talked about moving there. She loved getting british things sent to her. She used British terms all the time . It was adorable.

I was always looking up British things for her and for her birthday I bought her imported things from England. Somewhere along the way her enthusiasm was catching. She was a brave sou and actually took the plunge. She quite her job and went off to  live for a year in England. We mostly lost touch  after that aside from the odd facebook post  but I was always very impressed with her . It has been years now and she is doing well in England.

Now my love of the British might have just left off there. Simmering somewhere in the back of my mind, but then a few years later I started watch British tv shows. I saw an actor in one  show that I had only seen a few episodes of would be doing a theatre production of Hamlet. (to be clear the show was Doctor who and the actor was David Tennant  but I had only just learned his name by that point)

I like Shakespeare . I love theatre. I said to myself "OH! He would be good in that !" Followed by "There is no way I am flying to London to see a play." Then I saw that Patrick Stewart would be in it. I sid "Holy Shit" but still thought... but fly to London? Naaaaw. Besides , there were no tickets left.

I thought about it for a couple weeks  and then they announced that there would be tickets for a later set of performances going on sale. I realized that I was getting older. I've said I wanted to travel my whole life. I've never really done it. No real adventures. So I bought tickets . Actually I bought tickets for a couple of  nights just in case an actor was sick for one.

That was the jumping off point. There began my true  obsession with London. Later I would get invited  to see  the play  earlier  and so ended up going to London ( and Stratford upon Avon) 3 times that year . I saw a few different plays ( one play 9 times) . I made friends. I did stupid things. It was great. All on my own.

It was expensive  but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Since then I have tried to keep up with happenings in England and my new friends. I started using Twitter  to keep in touch  and have gone to London twice now in the last 7 months or so. ( saw a few more plays YAY) I have met even more people. Had fantastic experiences like a personal tour of the Royal Opera House  and  really I just can't get enough.

If I had a chance I would move there  even for just a little while. At my current job I am known as the England obsessed one.

I don't know why London does it for me but it really does. I still hope to see more places  but London will always have a special spot in my heart as being my first big adventure.

I need to start planning my next trip. Why do I have to have such expensive obsessions?