Buh-Bye Bye Bye Bye Hogarth! xxxx

The freezer is de-frosted. The floor vacuumed, suitcases packed, and the last beer now a memory. In a few hours 40 Hogarth will be empty again, with its flats full of Mizzou kids on the way to the airport, then back to the place they called home before they knew life here.

My parents arrived yesterday (Friday), so I won’t be making the journey back with everyone but a part of me is going anyway. Our time spent in this dodgy flat has been an experience all on its own. We’ve bonded over erratic water temperature, a tiny refrigerator, the odd cockroach, the not-odd-enough moths (face-timers), and awkward encounters with the cleaning lady whose most recent interest is yelling at us for misplaced “rubb-ige” (she means rubbish, or trash). That’s not to mention the latest development, which I will wait to discuss until I hear more…don’t want to start any vicous blog rumors. No matter what the strange situation, we have survived and I like to think thrived. So as the luggage goes thumping down the stairs and my friends—new and old—prepare to leave I will explore London for a few more days and think of them and the wonderful experiences we have shared.

And for of my flatmates who are reading this and need a good laugh after a long plane ride, here’s a mental picture for you…imagine Pam leaning out to the window to bid our friend William the pigeon farewell: ”Go away…Grr!!”

Oh Hogarth, I will miss you.

**Notice our unwanted alarm clock, the one-and-only William the Pigeon