Summer Dreaming

Visa update:  I received an email from the service that the British consulate uses telling me that my application is still being processed.  They didn't give me any sort of time frame.  I'm going to call later this afternoon and demand at least an estimate as to when I might receive a solid yes or no - I can't wait in this limbo any longer! We've way exceeded the estimated 10 business days these things usually take (and that was the outside time frame they gave me) and so I feel comfortable putting my foot down a bit.  If I haven't heard anything more by close of business on Friday I'm going to head up to New York and face down the consulate first thing on Monday morning.  I need to know what's going on - what the [expletive] could the hold-up be?

But let's keep thinking positively.  I could get the visa any time in the next nine days and still make my flight.  So: let's talk summer in the UK.

(Note: this is an idealized summer, one in which I have a job contract that starts at the beginning of September and an infinite wallet and endless days until then.)

We'd be based in London for the summer, obviously, and the weather would be as beautiful as it was last summer.  (Last summer in London was glorious - totally unseasonable - consistently sunny and warm, even hot sometimes!  I've been spoiled, and expect to be sorely disappointed this summer.  But this is an ideal summer, so I can fantasize about the weather.)  I'd nanny during the week because I love working with kids and to make some extra cash.  We'd live London - mornings wandering around museums, afternoons picnicking in Hyde Park, nights dancing at the Blues Bar.  Weekends we'd trip gaily to Paris, Lisbon, Venice.  August we'd mostly spend in Suffolk with Jon's family, walking over the heath (Jon's mother is determined to make me a walker), taking in the sea air in Aldeburgh, and generally enjoying the countryside.  Of course, we'd have our new house/flat with the boys by then, so we couldn't be exclusively in Suffolk for the month; I'd have to spend some time in London making the house/flat our own so that when I started work in September it would feel like a home.  I'd have to scour flea markets and home decorating stores (oh, Habitat, how I miss thee!) for great finds to complete the place, which would come partially/mostly furnished.  My birthday weekend (29 August is a Sunday, dontcha know) would be a fab end to the summer - but no, I won't plan that now!

Ah, what a wonderful summer I have in front of me - in my dreams, at least!

Londoners out there: any recommendations for things to do and/or places to go?

Update: Just called the service that the consulate uses again, and they said there's nothing further they can do.  I have to wait for the consulate to contact me.  It looks like I'll be going up to New York this weekend.  Yay for seeing my Columbia friends, but boo to this being necessary.