A London Thanksgiving

Yesterday, I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed because today was the day I finally got to see Harry Potter.  I had been telling people to meet at 11:30am in the lobby, but the only one with a fur-sure "yes" was Oscar.  So at 11a I went to wake him up.  Then I waited for him, and we went together to Finchley Road where there was no only a fairly cheap theatre with Harry Potter playing, but also a giant Sainsbury's below it. 

The second big event of the day was a small dinner with some friends involving turkey breast, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, and cranberries.  I had some turkey but not a lot, Alicia had previously mentioned having potatoes she can prepare, so all that was needed was stuffing and gravy and maybe a few extras.  I had my mental list, and I was ready to go.

For the record, Harry Potter was amazing.  It followed the book remarkably well, I thought.  Yes, they left out their month spent at Grimmauld Place, Kreacher's change of heart, Dean Thomas running away, and perhaps a few other things, but they had the doubt surrounding Albus Dumbledore, they had the Hallows and the Horcruxes, and they had the tension between the three mains as they struggled to discover what to do next alongside struggling with each other.  It was brilliant.  I didn't want it to end but I knew it was the end because of the music and, really, it just made sense.  They had just discovered the meaning behind the symbol they kept on seeing and BOOM!  Voldie gets what they should have.  Mwahaha! 

Do I really have to wait six months for the next one?  That's way worse than waiting two weeks for the next episode of the latest drama.  Seriously.

So anyway, afterwards, I go shopping for the dinner.  Oscar shadows and I had assumed he would be helping me find stuff but apparently when I'm looking, he's just tagging along for the ride.  I kept thinking "Really?  You're not going to offer to get something?  Perhaps not even offer to buy the wine or whatever?"  But it didn't bother me enough to start something over it, so I only mentioned it a few times and just let it be. Not worth it.

That Sainsbury's was HUGE!  I'd like to shop there again but it's such an inconvenient location at such an inconvenient time!  I'm probably going to go food shopping one more time before I leave forever.  Alright, maybe twice, but they're not going to be major food shopping sprees.  I'm only sticking around another three weeks before I go gallivanting across the North.

Which still makes me nervous and stressed, by the way, but I'm working around that.  I'm trying to get course work done.  In fact, I got my presentation for Tuesday mostly finished -- I just need to add an academic article or two.  No biggie.

But back to my day.  We return to the dorm and I set things aside and wait to prepare them.  I had invited Becky last night and, also last night, Alicia had mentioned preparing potatoes if I needed her to bring anything.  So I asked if she could prepare those potatoes.  Now all I had to worry about was whether the stuffing will get cooked with turkey steaks across the top of it.  Don't worry, it did.  As we were waiting for the turkey to finish, Alice was in the kitchen and I invited her to eat as well.  So it was the five of us, turkey, and a bottle of wine.  It was really nice.  Small and semi-classy, which is about the way I like things when I travel.

Becky cleaned up some dishes before she left, and so did Alice.  Alicia had to get going and I knew she had plans and I did tell her she didn't have to help clean up if she had to go.  Once things were cleaned, I retreated to have my small turkey-coma in my room.  And it was good.

Meanwhile, I took the remaining wine and drank it as I watched How I Met Your Mother while simultaneously being updated on the Badger game via Sarah through Facebook chat.  It was a good night.