Thursday, October 27, 2011

Let's play a game I like to call....

Where in the World is Shivonne Glenn?*



For sake of simplicity, I've been informing anyone who will listen to me that I have relocated to London to start my new life. Strictly speaking, this isn't quite accurate. I'm actually currently residing with the Benn family in the borough of Sutton in an area called North Cheam. Basically, telling people I live in London is kind of like people from New Jersey citing the big apple as their residence. And since I'm no poser, I feel it's time to rectify the situation and finally determine where the crap I've been living. Upon being questioned about my actual whereabouts in relation to London, I answered with the utmost entirely fabricated confidence, "ummm....southwest?" I managed to stay composed when it turns out my guess was indeed correct and restrained myself from fist pumping the air whilst screaming, "who's your greatest downfall now geography!?!" So let's get this sorted, shall we?

This is what I know about North Cheam- it is north of the village of Cheam. Hah. Skills of deduction at their best. Cheam is a large suburban village with roots dating back as far as 1018 and appears in the Domesday Book as Ceiham. Henry VIII acquired part of Cheam in 1538 and constructed the ostentatious Nonsuch Palace, demolishing the church and most of the village to make way. The palace was later handed over to a mistress of  Charles II and sadly was pulled down to cover her gambling debts. However, Nonsuch Park remains (where yours truly goes for her daily run) which was meant to be Henry's hunting grounds as well as the Gothic revival Nonsuch Mansion built in the early nineteenth century.


 Nonsuch Palace (left) and Nonsuch Mansion (right)


Cheam Village then (early 1930s) and now




*granted, not as catchy as Carmen San Diego but I work with what I've got.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Life Transition #56,782,926*

*completely accurate approximation by writer's self-evaluation

I've come to the self realization that I, Shivonne Nicole Glenn, am a woman captivated by transition. Change, movement, evolution, passage, metamorphosis, transformation- pretty exciting stuff, am I right? This is one of the major underlying factors that makes travel so enticing to me.  I read "transition" as "adventure".

In juxtaposition, or in harmony (I haven't quite decided which), with my love of transition is my  obsessive need to always 'have a plan'. As a free thinker (doesn't that sound wonderfully pretentious?), I believe one of the greatest attractions of my projected idea of transition is the complete upheaval of it all. An organic experience you can't predict, a crazy ride you jump on in the hopes of having your world turned upside down so you can come out breathless on the other side, not quite certain how you arrived at the destination. But no, I always have a 'plan'. More often than not, some elaborate list tidily recorded to recite upon enquiries in the 'what are you doing with your life' vein that are never actually realized. Case in point, my 'plan' for the last three weeks was to research volunteer work, update my resume, organize my wedding website, complete my visa application, and become a certified group exercise instructor. What do I do instead? Dye my hair red, make numerous attempts in Asian food preparation, party a weekend away in Bristol, and immerse myself so deeply into Jane Austen literature that I've half convinced myself that I am indeed a nineteenth century novel heroine.

Transition indeed.
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel
read only a page." -St. Augustine