Last week marked my first trip to England beyond a connection in Heathrow. After years of wanting to visit but not seeing the point of splashing-out cash on a trip to a country that broadly speaks English a wedding between two friends got me across the pond.

I've spent years watching tv from the UK, from comedies to spy shows to panel comedies, and being there was a constant deja vu of recognized place and street names. We stayed in Leicester Square at a lovely hotel called The Londoner, though the Square itself was too reminicent of Times Square for my taste (minus all the huge skyscrapers). The weather held up and even leaned-towards sunny to really highlight the delight of fall. I ate a load of pies, pre-fixe vittles at a 3-star Michelin restaurant, and a lot of porridge. Every day I walked around 10km just to see as many neighborhoods and areas as I could, half with friends and half solo, and even made it to the gym most days to do a bit of lifting. Despite not drinking lately, I indulged in a few pints at t' pub to get the full experience, which was just as lovely as I hoped. My next trip to the islands will take me to Scotland, Wales, or Ireland for a few weeks, as London is a lovely New York simulacrum, but I want to see the countryside and other parts of area.

Back in Oakland, I returned to cycling and a load of Snorri cuddles. At 17, he doesn't take kindly to my travel, though he loves seeing his friends when they visit to feed and sit with him. I don't have much more travel planned for the next few months, so we'll get to enjoy the relative cold of Oakland winter together. London got dark around 5pm while I was there, which was a good primer for returning to post-fall-back early sunset California. Along with the return of night riding to my life, I was glad to come back to a huge wave of Democratic election victories that give me a modicum of hope for my country. We've got a long way to go until we have even the somewhat crap situation here that we had pre 2016, but maybe there's a chance this time.

The fall and winter mean slower news, so my collection of links is dwindling, but I should be able to post one more of these before the new year. For now, here's what I'm reading and thinking about...

Links

• I enjoy the sentiment and joy of this article on how to combat the feelings of dread and frustration around AI encroachment on our lives.

  It’s enough because every time we are joyfully, capaciously human to each other, we remember the one thing the master of the AI universe want us to forget. We don’t need the robots. We never did. We need to be less alone, and less vulnerable to the whims of billionaires.

• Connected to that hope of being less alone is my use of group chat to foster the friendships I have around the globe. Does it replace a dinner or a hug from a friend? Not at all! It does make meeting up with those friends when I travel easier, and even planning dinners locally. It also gives me an outlet to post my fears, jokes, and gobbledygook musings throughout the day in a place where my friends give me grace and laughter instead of the gang of strangers on social media looking for attention and victory. If you live alone or spend a lot of time on the road, having a Discord, Slack, or iMessage group is a boon I would highly recommend. By virtue of only being filled with a few friends, these groups are limited in content, which means you won't be endlessly scrolling, but it does mean you'll see the cutest baby, pet, and outdoor photos in the order they were posted. The other thing I've done for the past year or two is create shared photo albums with friends as a non-shit Instagram between pals. I have a few of these and every little album is chock-full of pet photos I can scroll for the dopamine boost we all want.
• Finally, this piece by pal Caley about being a fan of a team or athlete that let you down is a great read, even if you're not a big sports fan. I've subscribed to Escape Collective this past year because of their human storytelling, investigative journalism, and professional insights into cycling. Maybe none of that is for you, but if you can, find the Escape Collective for your local news, politics, or hobby. We need better journalism and paying for it helps.

Closing

I've got one more trip to Denver for work this year, and have my fingers crossed that it won't be freezing or rainy while I visit with my team. It's only three days, but since it's planning season, it'll be a busy and exciting time for us. The only unforeseen issue so far is twelve people is too many for most restaurants, giving me a new insight into "two pizza teams". If you have any fun Denver tips, reach out and say hey. For now though, happy fall, and happy my forty-second birthday, space cowgirls~