(See also).
I can confirm, based on my experiences at the wedding in England and my meeting with John Brissenden, Mr. Error Gorilla, and Michelvis, that it is indeed a national characteristic of the British to be ludicrously generous in their estimations of others, indecently nice in their interactions, and astonishingly funny. I think I could perhaps cease therapy were I able to live there.
As it is, I’ll have to content myself with visiting as often as possible and passing time with people who are as brilliant and delightful as their writing suggests, and who moreover believe that smoking isn’t a habit so much as a calling. The joy of being one of four serious smokers at lunch is hard to convey.
In addition to being excellent conversationalists and game for some truly aimless itinerancy, they also helped me in a clutch moment find some suitable shirts after I’d mispacked my luggage, which I wound up leaving in London anyway. After seeing a bit of Westminister with John, I can say that I envy his students greatly. In addition to his erudition and insight, he is impossibly funny; so too were Mr. and Mrs. Gorilla (who are also masters of t-shirt style), and the three of them were as pleasant a set of companions as I’ve had.
I regretted only that I had so little time. I hope to see them again, here, there, or elsewhere.
