Day 5: What travel reveals

Wherever you go, there you are

OK, so I was wondering this morning as I was writing where I was going to put this little philosophical ramble on what travel is teaching me, and life promptly handed me an opening.

“Travel gives me a new way to inhabit myself. There’s always the question of whether something is innate or due to environmental factors you’ve been exposed to: nature versus nurture. By stripping away the external environment and replacing it with something new, you become more aware of what has followed you into this new environment: Yourself, with all your neuroses and quirks. For me what follows wherever I go is the need and desire to control what’s going to happen next.

Travel points out to me how laughable that is: I’m not flying the plane. I can’t anticipate every turn of the weather. I didn’t think that there might be a tube strike in London the day I arrived. Covid rules keep changing so fast, like the young people say, I can’t even with that.

So I respond to every turn of the wheel of Fortune with a cheerful “sure that’s fine,“ “no problem“, “it’s all good.“ Just what I need to learn.”

True?

So I go to Royal Court Theater to see The Glow, the mysterious tale of how a woman loses her memory, and when she regains it, has supernatural powers. (Like we all wish would happen to us am I right?)

I’m excited, the story sounds intriguing, the reviews are killer

and this is a very historical theater, where George Bernard Shaw debuted Major Barbara and The Importance of Being Earnest. It’s known for its political and avant-garde work.

So I walk up to the box office and present my phone, and they tell me the performance has been canceled due to illness in the cast, which we can all guess is Covid. Unfortunately, today is the last performance. 😞

So I immediately get to practice that Zen acceptance that travel is supposed to be teaching me. Wish me luck, and please send good wishes to the cast for a quick recovery.

And a plug for the next show at Royal Court- keep the arts alive!

•When The Hue Gets Too Heavy

And here it is, three days later, the new show up in lights:

This is Day 5 of my trip to London — read the other days in this series here on my page!