Today got off to a slow start but really I think it was possibly one of the most productive days ever…. particularly if you start counting once I had levered myself out of bed and had the requisite amount of caffeine surging through my blood stream.
So what did I do…… well…….
I built a desk and I only mucked up one bit, have only one screw not used and it is still together an hour later. Result. Then I constructed a desk chair and to my amazement the hydrolyic-uppy-downy bit works. Excellent. Nipped off to China Town and procured a bamboo steamer. I still can’t figure out how to get a microwave into my kitchen so it is back to the steaming of vegetables on the stove. With the limited storage in my perfectly formed but rather tight kitchen the bamboo version of a steamer is perfect. And as if this wasn’t enough to declare the day productive I also sorted out my bedroom, put away the blow up bed, went to the supermarket, made that phone call I have been meaning to make, wrote a few emails………
If every day was like this it would be amazing. Which I guess sets up the question… why is it that we aren’t able to be this productive all the time? Is it that we kind of like to wait until the pile is enormous before we get going on it? Actually maybe that is it. We wait till the list reaches such a crescendo that the satisfaction of getting it down is so much sweeter?
Ah well who knows but today I definitely think I was productive!
oooohhhh I had the most lovely run yesterday – I had completely forgotten what a wonderful high those tricky little endorphins can give. It was just devine to be putting one foot in front of the other, to plug myself in and two make an effort to get that little bit fitter.
I guess the trick is to get going again…. well maybe tomorrow!
Drift is billed as the new play by Beth Steele – I am not so cool as to know whether her previous plays were earth shatteringly great or in fact whether I should have even heard her name before. None the less I went along with some friends to see her latest play on Friday evening.
Essentially the play was ok – a little depressing for a Friday actually. It was set sometime in the future where resources are so restricted due climate change, population explosions among other current issues, that life has become a horrible struggle, filled with war and general bleakness. It all ends in a mushroom cloud of radiation and with the tragic double suicide of the only two women in the play! Ah such a merry 2 hours!
The lasting impression though is of an amazing venue. The theatre is under the train line to Waterloo station. The trains rattling above your head completly adds to the atmosphere, as does the black, cool and slightly dusty-musty tunnels. It really is as if you are living in the same grim part of England as the characters. So yep all pretty atmospheric!
Most people equate the sun with the BBQ. And I expect in some way they are right; nothing like a steak or sausage hot from the BBQ. hmmm
However there is something a little bit wrong with the UK BBQ. They are often those ones from Sainsbury some sort of coal in a roasting dish, drenched in a stinky lighter fluid that permeates the delicious outdoor cooking tastiness. The portable nature of these little BBQs is to be admired though. They can be carried on the tube, set under a tree in just about any park or placed on pokey little Juliet Balcony and be smoking in moments.
Definitely not the beef master with 6 jet burners and wok on the side
People will know that I am often aghast at the behaviour of the Brits when the sun comes out. They strip off in every open space, regardless of their shape or size, there is g
lorious white flesh everywhere.
Today I joined them! It was glorious and sunny, balmy even. I slipped into my bathers, grabbed a towel and went off to Hampstead Heath where there are some swimming ponds. For the Aussies they are just giant dams but they are surrounded by green as far as you can see. Believing this could be as hot as it will get this year off I went.
And it was absolutely divine.
The only small disaster was when I dived into the chilly water, the bottoms of my bathers slipped from there intended spot! So a little more white flesh was exposed to the sun rays than intended. Fortunately the water is a bit murkey – so I am hoping it was not too shocking for the those waiting to jump in! The water was chilly but once you went comfortably numb it was divine to splash about.
It must be one of my favourite things to lie by water, in the sun, with a book and pretend that life can be so wonderfully lovely.
So I guess… if you can’t beat ‘em you may as well join ‘em
Friday nights….. some weeks they feel like they will not quite ever arrive and then when they do…. well …. more often than not you are so knackered you don’t make the most of it. Last night was a glorious exception.
A friend and I zipped and zoomed along the Thames in a really, really, really fast boat. It was the absolutely perfect thing to do at the end of the week. It leaves from near the London Eye and whizzes down to Canary Wharf at a great rate. The wind whips through your hair, and you can’t help but smile and laugh as the boat hurtles along. God it was good fun! The rest of the evening was also lovely – many of my favourite things: champagne, a warm evening, delicious food and a charming partner in crime.
So I guess it is only 7 more days till the next Friday!
Why is it that the first few weeks of a new job feels so defensive?
You don’t want to commit to an opinion, just in case you meet the next person and hear a completely reasonable, super rational alternative argument on the same issue. It is a complete mine field of political disasters just waiting for the new employee!
It has been pretty full on, lots of jumping on and off tubes, trains to Essex and random buildings around the East end of London.
On a brighter note I have only had one night where I had to plunge into a bubble bath, with a glass of wine and a chick-lit book! So I guess the over riding message for readers is that I am surviving and I am hoping to move on to actually doing something in the next week………
I feel like I have grown up with the Birthday past, sort of transitioned into grown-up-ness. May be the impending 4-0 or truly believing I am in my late-gulp-thirties.
This thinking is all supported by my proper job, living in my little flat all by myself (remains divine) and the removal of my belly button ring. Momentous and worthy of a blog I am sure!
I did get my belly button pierced when I moved from Sydney to Melbourne, coincided with the cutting off all my hair and breaking up with a boy. So maybe the removal signals another transition in life.
Either way it is gone and my belly button is back to its natural unaccessorised state!
Went for a little run today. It was the first time in a long time that I have pulled on the running shoes. I would like to say that I ran like a gazelle, grace personified in my lycra.
The reality sadly was quite a long way from this. A lot more huffy-puffy wobbliness but hey best to be out there than not?
As I have been swimming rather than running I had forgotten was how great it is to run about Westminster. Swimming is good – low impact, whole body blah blah but that black line at the bottom of the pool gets really boring after a while! Westminster at the moment is pretty buzzy. There are helicopters in the sky and just about every news channel is camped somewhere nearby. I panted past the Tory camp on Milbank, the BBC tents in front of the Houses of Parliament, and took a little rest in front of 10 Downing Street. The only famous person I saw was someone in a flashy sports car with an orange tie….. However, in some way these sights were all a little bit expected.
The surprise was the 3 little Elephants sitting in the garden near the Queens Entrance into Parliament.
Sadly they weren’t of the real variety but they were quite sweet. It would seem that like the Cows and Kangaroos that have graced this metropolis, this month there is an invasion of Elephants. I believe highlighting the plight of Asian Elephant. So now that I am home (smelling slightly better and looking less like a crazy-panty lady), I shall be looking for more of the 250 quadrupeds that are scattered about central London.
Well…. it is all about to start. And I am really, really, really nervous!
Tomorrow I will get up and head to my new and whizzy job that will hopefully be fascinating, interesting and useful in terms of population health. 
There is so much to think about in terms of preparation, all those emails I just scanned over the past few weeks need to be read. Not a good plan to screw up on the first day.
And as always there are all the other things to consider which are just major distractions but somehow easier to tackle. You know them – What should I wear? How long will it take on the District Line? Will people be friendly? Am I meant to have all the answers already? How do I make sure I don’t have an ugly ID badge for the next year?
Essential and great thoughts are occupying my mind.
