What is this unfamiliar bright light coming from the sky?

Guess what? It was actually sunny today! There were only a few clouds in the sky, the breeze was minimal, and I was comfortable without a jacket. Miracles do happen!! Since it was so nice, I spent as much of the day outside as possible.

I went to Portobello Road market (again) this morning, to buy produce and cheese for the week, since it's so cheap there. I really love that place. It's got such a fun atmosphere! While I was there, I had a monumental lunch. Are you ready to hear why? Here goes:
Before I left for London, I was retested to check on the progress of my intestinal issues and allergies. The results came back this week, and Mom went to the doctor to talk about them. As it turns out, I've actually made progress! 1st, the candida is gone, which means I can once again eat yeast and sugar!!! (Farewell to that flatter tummy that I have grown to love, right? haha) The test also came back saying that I am no longer sensitive to gluten. Now, I'm not sure I trust that once, because I haven't been eating gluten for months. So naturally, there won't be any damage or anti-gluten reactions inside me for the test to pick up on. But the doctor said I could try eating it once every four days or so, and see how I feel.
So, with those exciting results, I went all-out at Portobello for lunch. It was awesome! I had a falafel (amazing deep-fried chickpea patties) pita bread wrap, and a huge crepe with nutella. It's amazing how forbidden that meal was yesterday. It tasted really good! Except I made myself a little sick with the crepe...it was really big, but I had it in front of me, so of course I ate the whole thing. lol...nice job on the self-control there, sweetheart.

After Portobello, I came back to the flats to drop off my purchases, took a 10-minute powernap, and left for Eurydice at the Young Vic theatre. It was definitely an interesting production. The script is a new retelling of the classic Greek story about Eurydice and Orpheus. PS, Eurydice is pronounced yer-id-ih-see, for those like me who had no idea. :) The acting was mostly good; there were only two actors that I just couldn't connect with. On the whole, it wasn't blow-my-mind fantastic, but it was well done and interesting.

Since Eurydice was a matinee, I had a few hours of daylight left when it was over. I chose to spend them reading for class in Kensington Gardens, since the weather was still so gorgeous. Two wonderful hours later, I'd finished the play I needed to read, done some scripture study, and been asked out to coffee. I feel a story coming on...
Before I sat down to read, I meandered through the park for a few minutes looking for the perfect spot of grass to settle down on. As I was about to turn on to a new pathway to wander down, I heard a voice say "bonjour!" Lo and behold, he was talking to me. Instinctually, I responded in kind, in my best friendly french "bonjour!" He stopped, and with a rather surprised look said "parlez francais?" to which I replied "Un peu" (a little). Gratefully, he began speaking in English after that. We had a short conversation - he asked me where I was from, told me he was from France (but had just left Rome, where he had stayed for a while before coming to England), asked me what I was doing here, how I liked it, etc. Then he said "do you like cappucino?" I told him that I actually don't drink coffee, which he quickly responded to with "how about soft drinks?" I stammered out a yes; by this point I knew where the conversation was going, and I was flattered but a little shocked and nervous. Anyway, at that point he said straight out that he was going for a cup of coffee and asked if I wanted to come. Fortunately, I was able to come up with a quick "Thank you, but I actually have to go study" (which made sense, because I told him I was here studying). I dunno, I just might have gone if he hadn't looked, like, 40. And hadn't been smoking. Why can't I be asked out to coffee by a hot English 20-something? lol. This makes for a good story anyway. :)

Well, that's all for today, folks. Now I really need to write that dumb reading response. :)