Going to London: eight pairs of shoes (all the better for mobile Taoist monking). The March 2005 issue of Gourmet magazine from Lurlene, in which London is heralded as an all-round aces place of good eats. Proust, Peter Carey, Jeffrey Steingarten, Raymond Queneau. A banged-up rattan suitcase of CDs.

Staying: The boys and the coffees at Café Regular. The F train to Coney Island. The trees in Prospect Park. The neighborhood firemen buying dinner groceries at Steve’s C-Town the Supermarket for Savings. (They like meat.) (A lot.)

I miss it already.

I can’t wait to be there already.