Entries from October 2009
So the Royal Mail is striking again. Unsurprising. The royal mail striking on a Friday and a Monday is also … unsurprising! It would seem that most strikes (could be my biased memory cells of course) seem to happen on a Friday or a Monday.
Not often is there a strike on a Tuesday for instance….
If the tube goes on strike – rarely in winter, often in summer… well unless it is just before Christmas…. which is of course the popular time for some Airport unions to go on strike…. given the high number of travellers at this time it is certainly the optimal time for baggage handlers to down tools.
I must say the predictability of these unions to go on strike be it Christmas, summer or on a Friday does little for the small amount of sympathy I can muster to their cause. And I just don’t understand how they think inconveniencing the customer is going to galvanise us into supporting their demands. Hospitals that hugely dependent on the post to remind patients of appointments are having enormous problems, patients are missing appointments…… hard to imagine much sympathy there!
At home I haven’t really noticed that I don’t get post regularly. The internet has meant I can pay bills, communicate without the need for a stamp (which I can only ever by between 9-12 on a Saturday).
So really maybe it is time to change the Royal Mail. Get rid of the two class of stamps (this still amazes me! Only the UK could have a classiest post system), nobody really needs post on a Saturday, for those that are tech savvy switch to email bills (saves paper which has got to be good) ….. so if you haven’t already guessed the strike next week is going to have little or no effect on me, nor does it make me feel great sympathy for the workers, and if they are not careful the customers for whom they are claiming to help will have find alternative means of communication which lead to the redundancy of the very institution they are claiming to save.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australian, life, london, royal mail, strike, unions
So I have been meeting with some lovely women from the MBA every quarter for the past year – so I suppose this was our AGM in fact – a stupid MBA joke I am sure.
And with each weekend we have caught up with each other over coffee, shoes and generally vast amounts of food, occasionally with a pedicure. 
Milan was no different, from Paris, Amsterdam or Barcelona. Lovely fun, good chats. Things have changed over the last year – some are pregnant, some have landed dream jobs, in dream cities, some had the dream job and still love it. Then there is me who seems to have no real clue but with things turning out okay anyway. Lucky!
One of the girls is a Milanese girl – so it was lovely to see her home town. It is an odd city. Lots of grunge, graffiti and lovely shops, great gelato and pasta of course. All quite contradictory and not at all like the other major Italian city’s. It all seemed very workable. Well except for the rather crazy parking. I mean people just seem to stop at any old angle, take the key out of the ignition and call the car parked!
The only sacrifice to tourism was the trip up the very spiky Duomo. You can go right up onto the roof which is made of Marble – impressive! And the view is quite spectacular as the sun sets across the skyline.
So I had a lovely weekend with the girls.
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: girls weekend, life, london, MBA, milan, travel
The weekend zipped past in a flash – well there are not many that don’t at the moment! What marks the last few days remarkable is that I have been bumping into my past at a rather rapid rate.
On Saturday I went along to a friends for dinner and along the dinner table were people I had only seen once in the last 20 years. I felt quite anxious – but it was completely delightful to see the group of boys, their wives and in some cases their little people. The dinner itself was great in such a suprising location – the hosts new business is a laundromatt and that is where we ate, drank and became a little bit merry!
Last night I had a lovely dinner with a Sydney-Physio buddy who I had not seen for 6 years or possibly more! Goodness I felt completely out of the loop as he talked me through wedding photos, peoples expanding family’s and careers that are ticking over. And no I had no desire to be back in the Physio world! However, gorgeous to hear the news. 
The final moment in memory lane arrived in the post (a miracle since the Royal Mail seems to be forever on strike)- a book of girls from my schools 20 year reunion. It was both curious to see that everyone defined themselves by family, children, husbands. Although it is probably me reading into things!
All this looking back is interesting but really it is a bit like wearing slippers, they are super comfy but really you don’t wear them very exciting!
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: friends, life, london, memory lane, old friends
The quirks of the English language are many. Even for those who have it as their only language, it can be truly confusing. I had trouble at school wit
h there, their and they’re, then of course where, wear and we’re all sounding the same but with completely different meanings and spellings. Joy!
I am clearly not the first to pondering the idiosyncrasies of the English Language….. check out the joys of Abbot and Costello’s Whos on First…
So the confusion that has occurred for me is: when is next week? Imagine it is Saturday……….. next Thursday is the first Thursday you come across, then at some point it becomes this Thursday, and next Thursday the one after. And clearly this will at some point become this Thursday – probably once you pass the first Thursday, which will of course have by then have become last Thursday!
Another quirk. Consider ‘next week’. When does it begin and end? Does it become this week once you hit Monday?
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, english language, life, london
Today I have been sick. Poor me! And I have the perfect word to describe it…. Poorly
It is a distinctly British word that covers those days where you are not properly-vomity sick but sick enough to have a bit of gastro, not to eat and to curl up on the sofa with a hot water bottle and a blanket!
Tomorrow will be another day…..
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, life, london, poorly
October 10, 2009 · 1 Comment
Yep that just about sums up the first moments of this Saturday morning as I peeled open my eyes this morning. Checked that despite the extreme discomfort my
head was still attached… then wished it wasn’t! Goodness why why why why why? Followed how how how?
The beer monster has a lot to answer for and the worst of it is you never know when the blitter will strike.
Sometimes I manage to get myself all snuggled in bed nice and early and well….. like last night I have to pour myself into a taxi.
Have been along to the wonderful supermarket bought some orange juice, some fruit and sausage rolls – which are gently heating in the oven… mmmmmm yummy.
All will be well in a few hours I am certain!
Categories: Living in Cambridge
Tagged: drink, hangover, life, london
The internet is so full of things – happy-sad, factual-fictious, curious and sometimes confronting. There is probably not a day that I don’t use it for some reason.
So not unusually this Saturday morning I am crusing about and found this amazing website. If you are feeling in anyway emotional stay away – but if you want to see and read a lovely story of a man at the end of his life and his relationship with his son….. absolutely click this link
Dayswithmyfather
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: life, london
Right – it would be fair to say that sometimes stuff bothers you, and sometimes stuff doesn’t.
Well I think it would be pretty fair to say that I am bothered!
Wedding on the weekend – I can deal with the fact that there were no single boys, deeply unhappy about being placed on the spinster table (4 single women in a row)
Email list of those going to theatre tonight – Robyn x 1, but a boy who is single and in fact didn’t come was boyx2, boy who came with girlfriend was boy x4
…… can you see where I am going with this!
The world is set up for you to always be a multiple of more than one, or even a simple addition.
It is not set up for you to be a prime number, or even just a plain-old-single-digit, numero uno
As the lyrics say ‘one is the lonliest number’
Hurrumph
Categories: Living in London
Tagged: australia, life, london, single life
