LIVE FROM LONDON

JUMP TO EXTRA GOOD

Well, I am no longer actually live from London, but I did feel very aLIVE in London last week (minus the never-improved time-zone sleep confusion). Also, we had an extremely fun and strange afternoon in East London that felt both very alive and very much not?  There’s much to discuss but even more to look at, as even in January, London is a feast for the eyes.

[Suggestion: if you're limited on time or energy after a news week filled with the darkest sort of revelations, you can scroll the pics and jump ahead to the first entry down in Extra Good — it might be the shot of good humanity you need for today.]

---

First: I am not someone who jets abroad on the regular. In fact, it's been 31 years since I've last been overseas, which was not-coincidentally shortly before becoming a parent. Rick travels to the UK/EU at least two times each year for business, but joining him never seemed feasible. Exactly one week before his latest trip, we realized — with airfares relatively low and my calendar relatively clear — that this was our shot and we needed to take it.

I immediately ordered a highly-reviewed neck pillow and an upgraded eye mask for sleep on the flight (no help at all), submitted my UK ETA application (quick turnaround), waterproofed my shoes (London in January), and, after a few years of resistance, finally loaded a credit card onto my phone for non-contact payment on the Tube (wow — makes life so easy!). And then off we went on our flight two Friday evenings ago, with Rick falling asleep like a machine beside me as I sat — neck-pillowed and eye-masked after one strategic glass of wine — wide awake for the next eight hours.

The insomnia continued all week, but it was a small price to pay! With a trip non-characteristically not optimized for food, art, and sightseeing, I/we instead relied on the hit or miss strategy of lucky, accidental discoveries. There were many! A few highlights to bring some music and color into your early February days:

---

MUSIC AND THEATER:

Saturday night: An unlikely combination of a listening to a string quartet playing hits from stage musicals at nearly 400-year-old St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden while drinking Prosecco from the bar at the back of the sanctuary by candlelight. It was great!

Sunday afternoon: Dance-floor tickets to the ABBA Voyage concert in East London. An entire slick venue was erected for holographic ABBA concerts, with shows selling out since its opening in 2022. It is a whole thing: fans young and old arriving in sequins; digital avatars of the ABBA-four playing/singing their hits alongside a large, talented live band; attenders hooting and clapping between songs ... but not actually for ABBA personally ... because they are not actually there 🤔. Though the members of ABBA are now real-life senior citizens, they appear — through songs, banter, and costume changes — as their eternally smooth-skinned 1979 selves. It was all very weird and conflicting because I am partial to reality ... but it was also extremely fun because there you are, dancing in the dark to "Waterloo" on a Sunday afternoon. I say catch it if you want to have a great but confusing time grooving to the feel-good vintage music of not really real performers!

Friday night: Last-minute, Friday night West End theater tix are not exactly floating around town, but Rick did find two seats for Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the world. The play's been performed continuously (save height of Covid) in London since 1952, which — having satisfied most worldwide Mousetrap demand by, say, 2005 — might explain the last-minute availability ... but it WAS STILL FUN!

With photography/filming prohibited during the ABBA show, I have no live clips to spread the vibe. But that's not a problem — just get up and dance right here and now:

---

FOOD:

Most people do not associate the UK with beautiful, delicious cuisine, but I'm guessing they are not counting Borough Market, established in 1756 with roots going back 1,000 years. I had several days in London to myself, and one afternoon I accidentally stumbled into the technicolor warren of Borough Market, just south of London Bridge. My niece had texted me about the market the day before, but having not yet mapped its location, it felt like movie-magic to suddenly land there. I don't know: locals might consider Borough Market tourist-y (?), but as a tourist, it was the perfect stop for me. The best people- and food-watching! Ate a "toastie" from the famous Kappacasein Dairy and was mentally transported to a sunny meadow in rural England where birds chirp, cows roam free, leeks grow wild, and a kind, old farm-woman hands me one of the best sandwiches of my life.

*Need a few dinner ideas? You can find some Borough Market recipes right here.

---

LOCAL COLOR:

We stayed near Primrose Hill, a neighborhood and grassy landmark I knew nothing about before arriving; by the time we left, I was living as a local expat, walking my 15-minute route to the district's center, finishing my Dolly post at the Primrose Hill Community Library (you've got to read this Google library review from a fan named Cristina), eating chocolate chip cookies from The Little Bread Pedlar, and chatting with third-generation shop-keepers along Regent's Park Road. In my own mind, I nearly pulled it off!

Had I taken time to watch a video like this ⬇️ before we left, I would have been better prepared for the full charms of Primrose Hill. But this way, we can all take a seat and go on a peaceful tour together. Ready to go?

---

---

EXTRA GOOD

ALSO LINKED THROUGH THE EXTRA GOOD PAGE HERE

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2026

1._GOOD PEOPLE: I have been very eager to share this late-December news story with its elements of highest professional achievement, life-saving generational impact, gratitude, aging, and care.  If you read to the end, you’ll find a fun personal twist, too :).

In late December, ABC News, Good Morning America and other news outlets took note when a young couple’s Instagram post exploded in a viral flurry of goodwill and gratitude.  The post by adventure-travelers Isabelle and Drew — @drizzyonthego — was about Isabelle’s grandfather, Marshall Lindheimer, MD.  Dr. Lindheimer was a pioneering, award-winning, and world-renowned nephrologist, researcher, and professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago; much of his academic work focused on the pregnancy condition pre-eclampsia, a form of hypertension that has long been the leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality.

Dr. Lindheimer developed dementia three years ago at age 93, and when Drew and Isabelle shared his story on Instagram in December, over 1650 comments appeared, most falling into one of three groups: women expressing deep gratitude for Dr. Lindheimer’s work, many directly crediting him for saving their lives and the lives of their babies; health care providers and researchers whose work has been shaped by Dr. Lindheimer; and caregivers for family members — often very accomplished family members — with dementia.  The swell of comments in turn led to a spontaneous letter- and card-writing campaign to Dr. Lindheimer via Isabelle.  He’s been flooded with kindness for the life-saving work he does not remember … which, of course, is a story unto itself.  

Here’s the short Good Morning America piece:

"Mothers and babies are better protected because someone long ago asked the right questions and cared enough to answer them: You."

And here’s Isabelle and Drew’s original Instagram post, which is 100% worth clicking, especially to read the comments.  The gratitude is palpable and the generational impact of Dr. Lindheimer’s work is profound.  You will have goosebumps the whole way through.

["Those are all books I wrote? I don't remember." / "That's alright — you wrote it all down!" ]

As for the personal twist?  Isabelle was C’s roommate two years ago 😁, and I can report firsthand that Isabelle and Drew are kind, sharp, curious, and adventurous world-travelers / explorers / content creators.  C actually had Isabelle and Drew over for dinner Wednesday evening, a reunion after many trips across the globe.  At our own house that night, Rick and I toasted to their story and Dr. Lindheimer’s incredible work.  Bravo to you, Dr. Lindheimer!  

---

2._GOOD MUSIC (FROM THE GOOD ARCHIVES): The Grammys were last Sunday, which was my cue to call back to two years ago, when I was sitting in E's apartment in Texas as we watched the 2024 Grammys together. She was locked into Taylor Swift, rumored to be announcing something big from the podium (which she did). I was mostly along for E's amusing Grammys commentary, but then I was suddenly, unexpectedly locked into my own megastar: Tracy Chapman. Indie-folk singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman erupted onto the music scene back in the late-1980s. Her words, music, and overall sound always stopped me — still stop me — in my tracks. Grammy-winning "Fast Car," released in 1988, is considered the most iconic Chapman song of all. [Some music trivia: "Fast Car" is, according to one audio writer, "generally regarded by audio scientists as the best song for evaluating audio equipment."]

Back to the Grammys: Country music star Luke Combs was due next on stage that night to sing his 2023 award-winning* cover of "Fast Car." So we're all ready for Luke Combs, but then — without warning — the camera opened up on a radiant Tracy Chapman instead; she's famously private and rarely seen onstage, and you could hear and see the Grammys crowd go wild. Luke Combs stood — with visible admiration — several feet away with his own microphone, and together they electrified the crowd and viewers with their surprise performance of "Fast Car."

A video of their duet popped up on YouTube in the days following, and I probably watched it at least 75 times. Millions of others watched it, too — it just made you smile to see Chapman glowing, Combs starstruck, and the unexpected stage magic they made together that night.

Then came the Grammys copyright infringement brouhaha, and the videos were removed along with all the joy of the viewers. The only YouTube videos available now are weirdly recorded, destined for removal, and fail to do the performance justice anyway. Of course, that should not stop you from doing your own investigation; you did not hear it from me, but currently (and probably temporarily) you might find a great version here 🙊.

In the absence of an officially-sanctioned video, instead I give you this 2024 Entertainment Tonight piece, highlighting Combs' own longtime fanhood of Chapman's work and the ground-shifting duet that resulted. You can see his awe in the slivers of the performance shown, especially in his sideways gaze as he mouths her words like any other starstruck fan. Though his original cover of her music was met with some initial skepticism — a white male country artist covering Chapman's iconic music — his earnest respect and admiration shifted the narrative. The power of their pairing that night at the Grammys moved the story even further, offering some rare, soulfully-hopeful alchemy in real time.

*Combs' 2023 cover of "Fast Car" led to Chapman herself winning the 2024 Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year, making her the first Black songwriter/performer to win the award.

---

3._GOOD LAUGHS: It was a sad week for fans of Catherine O'Hara with news of her death at age 71. Her work with Second City Toronto, in Home Alone and several hilarious mockumentaries, and on Schitt's Creek made her a comic legend. The outpouring of very thoughtful, detailed condolences from fellow actors testified that she was a top-rate human, too. We close this out with one of the many great Catherine O'Hara clips, here with onscreen son Daniel Levy 🧀🧀🧀:

---

SEE YOU AGAIN NEXT TIME FOR

ANOTHER BATCH OF GOOD

😀