The Time I Literally almost ran into Orlando Bloom

Warning: Written very quickly, may contain grammar mistakes.  Please forgive me, Martha.

One of the perks of living in Kensington, a.k.a  the swanky part of London, is that swanky people live there, including my favorite elf and yours, Orlando B.  Throughout my summer in London my flat-mates, as we like to call them in the motherland, would bang open the front door and re-enact thier dramatic encounter with the hunky pirate.  One girl twitched with adrenaline as she described her impromptu football (a.k.a. soccer to the un-schooled yank) game in Hyde Park with the star.

Another group jumped up and down as they told our enraptured group how they skillfully blended in with a fruit stand as they watched Orly eat his lunch at an unsuspecting cafe.  I admit it.  I was jealous.  Second only to J.K. Rowling herself, Orlando was the person I wanted to see most during my adventure in the Great Britain.  After all, it happened to the other girls in my flat, why not me?  Dang it! Why not ME!!  The weeks went by, however, and my Orlando was no where to be seen.  I had given up.  It was a pipe dream.

As my time in London was quickly coming to an end, I began to plan my backpacking trip through the rest of Europe.  I was crazy excited to see the rest of the continent, but also weirdly nervous to leave the city that I had grown to feel safe in.  The continent was foreign in every way possible and as the day came that I had to jump on the Chunnel to Paris, I was so scared I wanted to barf.  I had even called my parents the night before and had a breakdown.  My father calmly reassured me as I bawled like a toddler who had been left at a gas station.

Nevertheless, I packed my bags with shaking hands and began the journey to the train station.  My breathing quickened, my heart rate spiked, my stomach was in knots.  What was I thinking?  I couldn't jettison myself to a place that was full of American hating, snail eating, nude-sun bathing europeans!  I was no longer aware that my feet were still placing themselves in front of one another.  I was going to hyperventilate any moment and pass out cold on the stone street.  Just as this very thing was about to occur I looked up as tried to focus my eyes on something other than the ground.  There was a friendly looking group of men walking towards me on the side walk.

Because I was watching them and not my friend, who was walking in front of me, I didn't see her make a sudden about-face.  In the process of hitting the breaks, I brushed the group of guys who were now passing on my left.  I looked into my friends face to see why she had stopped. We were running late, which didn't do anything for my already frayed nerves.  She looked like she was doing an impersonation of an anime character who'd just seen her crush enter the room.  She clenched her teeth and breathed "Turn around"

I turned around.

And there he was. The Orlando Bloom.

I could have touched him.  He looked like he had just stepped off the set of one of the 'Pirates' films with his perfect amount of facial hair and bewildered look.  Gosh, I loved him.  And was about to say so when my friend, whose brain was still performing basic functions yanked me back into reality.  We were going to miss the train if we didn't haul 'A' to the tube stop.  I started walking again, this time with a dumb smile on my face and not a care in the world.

I was cured!  And Orlando Bloom was my prescription.  The paralyzing fear of navigating the unknown was no longer griping me.  As Bilbo Baggins once said "I'm quite ready for another adventure."  I was Bilbo Baggins, ready to step off into the Grey Havens, or at least something as equally uncharted.

I like to think that the Heavens smiled on me that day.  And if I ever happen to literally almost run into Orlando Bloom again I would thank him for helping a very scared little girl have the nerve to take the biggest leap of her life.

The 3 P's

Lemme' 'splain:

The birth of this blog came about because a good friend once said to me "Hey Erika, you should start a blog on Britan."  and I said "Ok."  so here we are.  

Now that that's out of the way:

1st Post:  The 3 P's of London.  

If I am writing a blog on all things British, it should be obvious that I love England like a fat kid loves cake.  So, for the first post I am going to write about the 3 P's of London, or three things I love about London that start with the letter 'P'.

1st P- Public Transportation-  Ah, my Oyster Card.  The one card to rule them all.  The Oyster card is the magical pass to the wonder that is the London Tube.  I miss riding the Tube almost more than anything in England.  I must admit, that at first I was frightened of you, Tube.  The dire warnings to "Mind the Gap" or else was a bit intimidating.  The endless possibilities of where you could take me where overwhelming.  What if I got on the wrong train and ended up on the street where I'd meet my fate with Jack the Ripper.  But after mastering your color coded maps, I understood.  You gave me freedom! You gave me giant advertisements!  You gave me strange people to sit next to!  

2nd P- Parks.  Having lived in Kensington, Hyde park/Kensington Garden is my favorite place in London.  My flat was across the street from the park and many magical things happened there.  I can honestly say nothing is more peaceful than gazing across the Serpentine at sunset.  I spent many a evenings siting with my good friend, the Peter Pan statue, writing and people watching.  There is a tree in the park that has old fairy carvings.  The atmosphere in Kensington is enough to make you believe fairies could really live there.  No wonder that is the place where JM Barrie would sit and write Peter Pan.  I wouldn't doubt if Kensington was a secret gateway to Neverland.  

3rd P- Performances.  The West freakin' End!  Yeah, so what?  I'm kind of a theatre geek.  I'll save my thoughts on specific shows I saw for another post on another day, but in general, The West End was the birthplace of many of my loves.  Phantom, Les Mis, anything with Ramin Karimloo. Oh, Ramin.  (If you don't know who Ramin Karimloo is, you won't regret spending some google time on him.  The man's got talent coming out of his butt.)

To Sum up:  While I was only there for a summer, London is constantly calling me home.  

Future post to include:  Doctor Who, 2012 London Olympics, My girl crush on Kate Middleton, the time I literally almost ran into Orlando Bloom, My BFF-the BBC, Running full speed into platform 9 and 3/4.

Picture:  My humble flat in Kensington.  I lived on the bottom floor.  Check out Ramin Karimloo's official website at the bottom of the post (I know Ramin is not exactly British, Canadian is close, but he is married to a Brit and has dwelt there for some time now.)

raminofficial.com