Preparations

I have my plane tickets - I'll be taking a red-eye to New York, and then changing airlines and heading to London (via Brussels) 12 hours later. Two days of travel, half the price of a direct flight! (And maybe a little Central Park thrown in, just for fun.)

I had my teeth cleaned today, plus a flouride treatment (just in case English dentistry lives up to rumor), which evolved into fillings in the afternoon. My numb lip for the rest of the day at least helped to keep the office giggling. (It's very weird when your nose goes numb too!)

My mother has insisted on self-defense classes before moving to one of the world's largest cities, and yesterday I showed up at a karate studio. The rest of my class consisted of two boys, ages 3 and 6, and their parents, who stepped in for "Buddy Week". I still managed to nearly lose my voice doing the vocalizations, did more sit-ups than I thought possible, am completely sore today, and made another dojo student burst into laughter during a focus exercise. If I'm ever mugged, perhaps I can make my attacker laugh into submission...

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Apropos of nothing, "Nanny McPhee" really is a lovely, lovely movie. And how great is it that Emma Thompson AND Colin Firth are English? Really, really great.