There and Back Again

Listening to: Coldplay’s cover of Hunting High and Low (A-ha)
Pondering: You don’t have to be a rock star - if you don’t like the situation you’re in, you don’t have to settle for it. (Macy Gray)

The good thing about today is Hampstead Heath.

This is probably the most beautiful park I have ever been to. It is 800 acres of high heath, park, woods and grassland. All over this 800-acre wonderland are benches to sit and take in the beauty of nature, places to lay and have a picnic or read a book, roads to discover, and hidden walking trails to follow. The weather today heightened the experience. Not a hint of rain was looming to destroy the day.

After we left the park, my sister and I had lunch at a French cafe in Hampstead. I had a delightful croque-monsieur (the French ham and Gruyère cheese sandwich). Then we took a bus to Camden Town, or so we thought. We definitely took the wrong bus because the next thing we know, we were in Kings Cross, which is the bus’ terminus. I guess we’ll have to save Camden for the next visit. Instead we took the Tube to Oxford Circus and walked to one of my favorite stores of all time, be it here in London or at home in San Francisco - the Virgin Megastore! Alas, they didn’t have a lot of stuff worth buying and lugging all the way back to SF, except for a few bargain CDs, a BBC-produced movie DVD and the hilarious Little Britain Season 1 DVD. Ha!

We headed home via bus after grabbing a so-so 3-course dinner all for £8 at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant along Oxford Circus, near Tottenham Court. When we got home, my sister “read” the dreadful news - the bad part of the day.

Are you ready for this? Tom Chaplin, the enigmatic front man of my favorite band, Keane has admitted to being addicted to drugs and alcohol. Apparently, the “family emergency” that forced the band to cancel a few of their gigs was in fact Tom’s addiction. I guess I knew at the back of my mind that that had to be the reason. So it wasn’t too much of a shocker anymore but still it saddens me. I don’t know the guy and the guy doesn’t know me but I do care because I love his music, I love his band and he is young, very young to waste his life away. The band’s career has not even reached its zenith and already, he has fallen into the traps of rock stardom. How disappointing…

Well hopefully all will be well soon and Tom and the band will recover from this and tour the world again. Tom has taken the first important step to recovery (psycho-babble time!) and that is to admit he has a problem and seek assistance. So there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel after all. Here’s hoping he sings his way towards it.