Post-London Depression

I'm not sure why it hit me recently, but I had a little bit of a moment yesterday morning. I was listening to Spinnin' for 2012 by Dionne Bromfield and Tinchy Stryder -- THE London 2012 Ceremonies song, ICYMI -- and for some reason I got a little bit emotional. Nostalgia hit me like a truck. I sat there and closed my eyes and suddenly I was back in the lobby of 3 Mills Studios, wearing my high vis vest, listening to the London 2012 montage on a loop, freezing my fingers off and scanning hundreds of forms and ID badges.

I could practically taste the tea and granola bars and feel the sore spots on my palms where the badges rubbed them raw.

This sort of reminded me that I never wrote a "holy crap, I miss London" post. Which is all sorts of wrong because, holy crap, I miss London. Desperately.

And the thing is, I left over a year ago. Shouldn't I be over this by now? Shouldn't the gaping, London-shaped chasm in my heart have healed already? I've never experienced homesickness like this before, and it was only my home for five months. That has to mean something, right?

Well, I've been sort of looking into going back for a permanent-type reason, and I just need to vent yet another time about how much I HATE visa requirements. Basically, I either need to: a) be a student (but I have no money with which to pay for further education), b) have a job (but in most cases I need to have a visa in order to get a job), or c) be married to a Brit (hey, a girl can dream, right?). So it looks like I'm stuck Stateside with nothing but my tea and my memories and my tears.

Funnily enough, the stuff I get most nostalgic over is the day-to-day. Sure, I miss being able to see Olympic Park from my bedroom window...

...and living in the same city as some of the most beautiful places in the world...

But I also just miss waiting for the tube.

And taking the tube.

And I'd even happily deal with rush-hour tube traffic if it meant being back in London!

I miss wandering around the city...

...and the parks...

...and along the water.

I miss the minutiae of my commute to 3 Mills; walking through the pedestrian tunnel and down the overpass, past the sketchy abandoned building, across the street, around Tesco's and down a cobblestone driveway that would routinely kill my feet.

I miss the annoyingly long walk down Mile End Road, and feeling like I might very well die every time I cross it.

I miss the sunny days...

...and the snowy days...

...and, yes, even the rainy days.

I also may or may not miss the (slightly goofy) people I met there, American and British and Italian and Scottish and everything in between.

So, if anyone out there knows of someone at a sports entity based in London that's looking to hire an awesome American for an entry-level position on their communications team, or a male Brit who's twenty-something, intelligent, cute, funny and a sweetheart... send 'em my way!