Yay for Libraries (21 December)

It's been more than two weeks since we arrived in London, and although at times we feel right at home, daily life is more a combination of discovery (where things are, how things work) and disbelief (we live in London...how very strange). Even the most mundane activities are infused with a sense of the unfamiliar--like using our housekeys.

Never in my life did I think I would have a skeleton key on my keyring; it feels more like a movie prop than a key! And the rectangular tag on my keychain is a mini-version of my library card--no need to carry the card itself around all the time. As many of you know, I'm fond of libraries. I have my dad to thank for that--when I was a kid, we would go to the library on the weekend (er, um, "at" the weekend?--I'm finding prepositions a challenge here in London) and he always encouraged me to take out all sorts of books and then we'd go back the next weekend to return those and get more. Anyway, I never feel at home unless I've got a library card or two, so we signed up for library cards at the library on Stoke Newington Church Street (I think that's supposed to be "in" Church Street) and promptly put them to use.

Here I am in the entrance of the Stoke Newington branch proudly clutching my first London library book, a highly appropriate one at that: The Rough Guide to Britain.