yes, I'm yet another Brit blogger going on about the weather. But it is extraordinary to emerge from a very lazy Sunday afternoon in a cosy pub only to find one's urban gritty abode transformed into Narnia. Admittedly after my third snowball attack in as many minutes I was considerably less enamoured with the whole scene but all in all it's been quite beautiful, if treacherous, in London town of late.
Anyway weather permitting I'm off to Dubai tomorrow to visit an old friend. Apparently her boyfriend is away, leaving us to housesit his sumptuous penthouse apartment. It's a hard life. Not sure what blog access is like in UAE but i'll do my best to log in. Are you on twitter yet?I am utterly addicted!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Pool rage
This morning I had breakfast with a blogger! The Divine Ms M is, I'm pleased to report, every bit as divine as her name suggests and we have agreed that our next meeting will involve wine rather than sausages and eggs.
Unfortunately I was a lot less divine - I woke up feeling fairly crap and sadly as our breakfast continued so did the nasty feeling that something had gone distinctly awry inside my body.
A stressful yet boozy week is inevitably to blame and the result was a sordid little moment on the way home when I had to pull over in the middle of a very posh part of west London and dispel said breakfast. I have never done that before and I don't intend to repeat the experience. All most unpleasant and embarrassing, and a complete waste of a meal in one of my favourite weekend breakfast haunts.
By 6pm I was feeling just about human again so decided to take myself down to the gym for a jacuzzi/sauna pampering session (which I don't think I'll be mentioning to my trainer. She has told me in no uncertain terms that *nothing* I am currently doing is conducive to weight loss, sigh).
I was floating around in the jacuzzi on my own, thinking rude thoughts (does anyone else find all those bubbles mildly arousing?) when I heard raised voices coming from the direction of the pool. My hearing isn't great and without my lenses I am comically if hopelessly shortsighted but even I could understand the problem: a rather large and very aggressive lady who was taking up most of the fast lane and absolutely refusing to swim clockwise in it like everybody else.
Cue much shouting and arm waving (well, it wasn't exactly easy to swim around her either) as Large Lady insisted that she was in the right and they were all wrong. Eventually they got so cross that they all stomped over into the middle lane and then moved the lane rope so instead of the fast lane it became a Large Lady Lane and they had a bigger lane for all their speedy strokes.
I was inwardly applauding their ingenuity and wishing one could do this in other walks of life, like when one is driving behind somebody very slow who will not go any higher than 2nd gear. How lovely to just be able to create their own little slow lane and zoom off at one's own pace.
Large Lady didn't seem to be too pleased with the solution though and got out. At that point a hapless member of staff came along, just to take a sample of the water. Terrible timing. She chewed his ear off for about 10 minutes and then everybody else piled in to tell their side: apparently she is well-known in these parts for being a swimming offender(interesting accolade).
Then she got back into the pool - in the middle lane - I suppose to make a point (honestly has the woman no shame?). The exasperated fast laners moved back over and took their lane rope with them.
Unfortunately then I realised that I'd been in the jacuzzi for so long that my skin had turned to mush so I got out and hit the sauna to dry out. I saw her waddling in the direction of the showers shortly afterwards so I suppose she admitted defeat in the end. I shall look out for her in future. She's the most entertaining thing in this gym by miles.
Unfortunately I was a lot less divine - I woke up feeling fairly crap and sadly as our breakfast continued so did the nasty feeling that something had gone distinctly awry inside my body.
A stressful yet boozy week is inevitably to blame and the result was a sordid little moment on the way home when I had to pull over in the middle of a very posh part of west London and dispel said breakfast. I have never done that before and I don't intend to repeat the experience. All most unpleasant and embarrassing, and a complete waste of a meal in one of my favourite weekend breakfast haunts.
By 6pm I was feeling just about human again so decided to take myself down to the gym for a jacuzzi/sauna pampering session (which I don't think I'll be mentioning to my trainer. She has told me in no uncertain terms that *nothing* I am currently doing is conducive to weight loss, sigh).
I was floating around in the jacuzzi on my own, thinking rude thoughts (does anyone else find all those bubbles mildly arousing?) when I heard raised voices coming from the direction of the pool. My hearing isn't great and without my lenses I am comically if hopelessly shortsighted but even I could understand the problem: a rather large and very aggressive lady who was taking up most of the fast lane and absolutely refusing to swim clockwise in it like everybody else.
Cue much shouting and arm waving (well, it wasn't exactly easy to swim around her either) as Large Lady insisted that she was in the right and they were all wrong. Eventually they got so cross that they all stomped over into the middle lane and then moved the lane rope so instead of the fast lane it became a Large Lady Lane and they had a bigger lane for all their speedy strokes.
I was inwardly applauding their ingenuity and wishing one could do this in other walks of life, like when one is driving behind somebody very slow who will not go any higher than 2nd gear. How lovely to just be able to create their own little slow lane and zoom off at one's own pace.
Large Lady didn't seem to be too pleased with the solution though and got out. At that point a hapless member of staff came along, just to take a sample of the water. Terrible timing. She chewed his ear off for about 10 minutes and then everybody else piled in to tell their side: apparently she is well-known in these parts for being a swimming offender(interesting accolade).
Then she got back into the pool - in the middle lane - I suppose to make a point (honestly has the woman no shame?). The exasperated fast laners moved back over and took their lane rope with them.
Unfortunately then I realised that I'd been in the jacuzzi for so long that my skin had turned to mush so I got out and hit the sauna to dry out. I saw her waddling in the direction of the showers shortly afterwards so I suppose she admitted defeat in the end. I shall look out for her in future. She's the most entertaining thing in this gym by miles.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Life laundry
Last week I finally succombed to gadget envy and got myself an iPhone. I'm sending all sorts of strange texts as my clunky fingers are evidently too huge to touchtype the delicate keyboard, and I haven't even got round to sync it with iTunes yet, for reasons too tedious to go into. But I love it.
iPhoning up involved ending a long term relationship with Vodafone. They didn't take it very well. I received six letters begging me to stay, and even more phonecalls offering ever more incentives to stay. I am half expecting them to turn up drunk on the doorstep at 3am declaring undying love sometime soon.
Anyway new phone company = new SIM and therefore the task of inputting all my contacts from scratch for the first time this millennium. My contacts list got a very harsh edit. Out went ex-boyfriends (including the chap now doing 10 years for drug dealing, somehow I doubt he's still got his mobile on him), people I haven't spoken to since university (I graduated in 1998) and people who I just don't recognize (like 12 of the 14 'Robs' listed). Finally, I decided not to transfer dad's phone numbers. That was a tear jerker. But it's time to move on.
Speaking of which... I spent a surprisingly enjoyable Saturday afternoon trying on wedding dresses. Typically I now have three favourites and I seem to have managed to fall in love with gorgeous bridalwear from north London's most expensive designers. Marvellous!
iPhoning up involved ending a long term relationship with Vodafone. They didn't take it very well. I received six letters begging me to stay, and even more phonecalls offering ever more incentives to stay. I am half expecting them to turn up drunk on the doorstep at 3am declaring undying love sometime soon.
Anyway new phone company = new SIM and therefore the task of inputting all my contacts from scratch for the first time this millennium. My contacts list got a very harsh edit. Out went ex-boyfriends (including the chap now doing 10 years for drug dealing, somehow I doubt he's still got his mobile on him), people I haven't spoken to since university (I graduated in 1998) and people who I just don't recognize (like 12 of the 14 'Robs' listed). Finally, I decided not to transfer dad's phone numbers. That was a tear jerker. But it's time to move on.
Speaking of which... I spent a surprisingly enjoyable Saturday afternoon trying on wedding dresses. Typically I now have three favourites and I seem to have managed to fall in love with gorgeous bridalwear from north London's most expensive designers. Marvellous!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Happy new year
How quickly have the last two weeks flown by? One minute I was eating endless turkey and trimmings and now I'm sat at a computer at the gym, desperately putting off the beginning of the inevitable health kick that NEEDS to start happening right now... I haven't dared to get on the scales yet but my new jeans are already a bit on the tight side. Hence the fancy new colours etc - that alone has happily squandered 20 mins that should have been spent on the treadmill.
NYE was spent in fancy dress with MC and my best mate - we went to an old smugglers pub hidden away on the clifftops of Dorset and drank endless pints of scrumpy. I can't remember the last time I was cider-drunk but I felt so relaxed and in love with the world. The last time I felt like that was back in my clubbing days, only this time it wasn't followed by 3 days of insomnia and a stiff jaw. Cider could well be the way forward (but not during health kick obv. Sob).
Wedding plans coming together surprisingly smoothly - and next weekend the hunt for a dress begins. I am terrified. I have no idea what I'm after and I hate trying things on in front of people at the best of times. Please send me positive vibes as I'll have who-knows-how-many shop assistants, two bridesmaids and two mothers (yes, Mrs MC is coming too) casting critical eyes over me. Any more and I may have to start charging admission. I think I may have to drink my way through it.
NYE was spent in fancy dress with MC and my best mate - we went to an old smugglers pub hidden away on the clifftops of Dorset and drank endless pints of scrumpy. I can't remember the last time I was cider-drunk but I felt so relaxed and in love with the world. The last time I felt like that was back in my clubbing days, only this time it wasn't followed by 3 days of insomnia and a stiff jaw. Cider could well be the way forward (but not during health kick obv. Sob).
Wedding plans coming together surprisingly smoothly - and next weekend the hunt for a dress begins. I am terrified. I have no idea what I'm after and I hate trying things on in front of people at the best of times. Please send me positive vibes as I'll have who-knows-how-many shop assistants, two bridesmaids and two mothers (yes, Mrs MC is coming too) casting critical eyes over me. Any more and I may have to start charging admission. I think I may have to drink my way through it.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
the calm before christmas
Back from a festive trip up north to visit MC's family. Fortunately they are a fab clan - although manoeuvring the car in/out of the carefully landscaped driveway under the watchful eye of Mr MC is still scarier than any of my driving tests ever were.
MC and I spent what little time we had alone engaged in some hardcore heart-to-hearts, discussing that rather tedious yet hardy perennial of a bugbear: money. As with the rest of the world right now, it's a concern to say the least... And throwing a medium-sized wedding into the mix for 2009 hasn't helped our fragile peace deal when it comes to the M-word.
We have rather different financial priorities, and I have been spectacularly scathing about his, without realising how hurtful it was. It's a nasty family trait, this poisoned bluntness that seems to come all too naturally to me in recent years, generally after a drink. I have resolved to try to conquer it with immediate effect. The art of thinking before speaking urgently needs to be re-acquired chez zuzula.
As for our finances... Well, we'll see. I am going to bite my tongue and respect the decisions of MC just as he is tolerating my ever expanding wedding guest list (ahem).
One thing I will not be doing is wasting any money on thrift books. I have been charged with reading India Knight's latest offering - and by page 29 I'd lost the will to continue. Not only does 'the thrift book - live well and spend less' bear the unthrifty (thriftless?) pricetag of 15 quid, for which one gets such pearls of wisdom as 'go to a farmers market' and 'use freecycle' (well, duh) but the endless plugs for other equally expensive books and shopping websites, some openly run by friends of the author, are eye-wateringly anti-thrift (?) imho.
Further more I question the medical science behind shoving a load of ground aspirin pills on your face to kill spots: and what on earth putting cider vinegar in your hair has to do with saving money is beyond me.
It is beyond annoying that stuff like this is being peddled as people face fuel poverty in the UK. Surely the satisfaction achieved by saving a few pennies from sewing the odd button back on a designer blouse is not the sort of thing one should be crowing about in public at times like this.
I have yet to check the best-sellers lists but I sincerely hope this pile of expensively recycled advice hasn't found its way there. If you really want/need to save some cash, don't buy it!
Rant over :)
MC and I spent what little time we had alone engaged in some hardcore heart-to-hearts, discussing that rather tedious yet hardy perennial of a bugbear: money. As with the rest of the world right now, it's a concern to say the least... And throwing a medium-sized wedding into the mix for 2009 hasn't helped our fragile peace deal when it comes to the M-word.
We have rather different financial priorities, and I have been spectacularly scathing about his, without realising how hurtful it was. It's a nasty family trait, this poisoned bluntness that seems to come all too naturally to me in recent years, generally after a drink. I have resolved to try to conquer it with immediate effect. The art of thinking before speaking urgently needs to be re-acquired chez zuzula.
As for our finances... Well, we'll see. I am going to bite my tongue and respect the decisions of MC just as he is tolerating my ever expanding wedding guest list (ahem).
One thing I will not be doing is wasting any money on thrift books. I have been charged with reading India Knight's latest offering - and by page 29 I'd lost the will to continue. Not only does 'the thrift book - live well and spend less' bear the unthrifty (thriftless?) pricetag of 15 quid, for which one gets such pearls of wisdom as 'go to a farmers market' and 'use freecycle' (well, duh) but the endless plugs for other equally expensive books and shopping websites, some openly run by friends of the author, are eye-wateringly anti-thrift (?) imho.
Further more I question the medical science behind shoving a load of ground aspirin pills on your face to kill spots: and what on earth putting cider vinegar in your hair has to do with saving money is beyond me.
It is beyond annoying that stuff like this is being peddled as people face fuel poverty in the UK. Surely the satisfaction achieved by saving a few pennies from sewing the odd button back on a designer blouse is not the sort of thing one should be crowing about in public at times like this.
I have yet to check the best-sellers lists but I sincerely hope this pile of expensively recycled advice hasn't found its way there. If you really want/need to save some cash, don't buy it!
Rant over :)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Late again
Apologies for yet another blog hiatus: I am working my little socks off at the moment. I can honestly say I have never worked so hard in my life and, while it seems to be paying off, it's also one big slog. I can't remember the last time I had a lunchbreak and my much coveted 9-5 shift is inevitably slipping more and more into 8-7 territory.
I am now off for two weeks over Christmas so should be able to resume normal service here at last. I can't wait to spend some quality time with my blog again - I miss it, and you, so much.
Before I ramble on any further I must also mention a rather pesky bit of housekeeping. Where I work is clamping down on all things said in the name of The Firm. So it's more important than ever that all of you lovely readers in-the-know keep quiet here about my esteemed paymasters, because if it gets out on this blog, I'll be branded, edited and airbrushed faster than you can say 'goodbye zuzula'. Seriously. So please don't out me, okay?
For those who don't know - just sit back and enjoy the ride. It's honestly a lot easier that way.
Don't have a go at me for being lazy but I am going to break my 3 week silence with a meme. It's a very good one though - Geofftech tagged me a while back and I've been busy mulling it over ever since. You know the rules... if you want to have a go please do, and let me know here so I can check you out!
The meme is: 16 random things about me
1. I'm actually having to re-write this because I forgot to save the sodding word document I was doing it on. rather hilarious given that I'm supposed to be the office techie.
2. I can swim 140 lengths an hour without stopping but I can't run for toffee.
3. Losing my dad last year changed me forever. Not a day goes by when I don't ache for him. When I was younger we talked randomly about life after death once and he said if he could, he'd give me a sign. We were both utterly sceptical about it but he's given me so many. I'm really not sure what to make of it all.
4. I am a closet hypochondriac. I am secretly terrified that there's something seriously wrong with me and always fear the worst.
5. I love hearts of palm - I very rarely buy them because they're expensive and an eco-disaster. But they're so delicious.
6. My career is taking me into all sorts of uncharted waters at the moment. I am loving the tv thing but really what I want to do is retire to the seaside to grow veg and write novels.
7. I'd do anything to be 2 dress sizes smaller (except eat/drink less, obviously). Sometimes when something doesn't work out I blame my weight, even if it is utterly unrelated.
8. Wuthering Heights is my favourite novel of all time. When I was younger I yearned for the torrid destructive passion of Heathcliff and Cathy and when I got it, it nearly killed me...
9. ... But finally I've got it right. I have never been as deeply but calmly besotted as I am with MC. He's my lover and my best friend. I never believed I would find love like this.
10. I quit smoking 6 years ago but I still think a coffee and a marlboro light is the perfect start to the day... And a glass of chilled sauvignon and a fag is the best way to wind down after work. Sob.
11. I'm naturally left-handed but when I was small my parents and school made me use my right hand instead. I am now right-handed but think this is why I can't draw and why I also have a legendarily useless sense of direction... My brain is knotted!
12. I love speech radio and sudoku... And I'm only 31.
13. I have a birthmark on my bum - it's a perfect circle of dark skin about the size of an old half penny. I love it.
14. I have no double joints or interesting party tricks. But I do have a very husky voice that I'm told is quite pornstar (prob due to the aforementioned smoking).
15. I get as excited about christmas and birthdays now as I did when I was a child. I love celebrations!
16. I have 3 tiffany necklaces. The most recent was a romantic gift from MC. The second was a birthday present from a very old friend. But the first was a present to myself: after splitting up with my first big love I fled to New York and bought it as a symbol of self-esteem. I still wear it whenever I need a confidence boost.
Merry christmas folks...
I am now off for two weeks over Christmas so should be able to resume normal service here at last. I can't wait to spend some quality time with my blog again - I miss it, and you, so much.
Before I ramble on any further I must also mention a rather pesky bit of housekeeping. Where I work is clamping down on all things said in the name of The Firm. So it's more important than ever that all of you lovely readers in-the-know keep quiet here about my esteemed paymasters, because if it gets out on this blog, I'll be branded, edited and airbrushed faster than you can say 'goodbye zuzula'. Seriously. So please don't out me, okay?
For those who don't know - just sit back and enjoy the ride. It's honestly a lot easier that way.
Don't have a go at me for being lazy but I am going to break my 3 week silence with a meme. It's a very good one though - Geofftech tagged me a while back and I've been busy mulling it over ever since. You know the rules... if you want to have a go please do, and let me know here so I can check you out!
The meme is: 16 random things about me
1. I'm actually having to re-write this because I forgot to save the sodding word document I was doing it on. rather hilarious given that I'm supposed to be the office techie.
2. I can swim 140 lengths an hour without stopping but I can't run for toffee.
3. Losing my dad last year changed me forever. Not a day goes by when I don't ache for him. When I was younger we talked randomly about life after death once and he said if he could, he'd give me a sign. We were both utterly sceptical about it but he's given me so many. I'm really not sure what to make of it all.
4. I am a closet hypochondriac. I am secretly terrified that there's something seriously wrong with me and always fear the worst.
5. I love hearts of palm - I very rarely buy them because they're expensive and an eco-disaster. But they're so delicious.
6. My career is taking me into all sorts of uncharted waters at the moment. I am loving the tv thing but really what I want to do is retire to the seaside to grow veg and write novels.
7. I'd do anything to be 2 dress sizes smaller (except eat/drink less, obviously). Sometimes when something doesn't work out I blame my weight, even if it is utterly unrelated.
8. Wuthering Heights is my favourite novel of all time. When I was younger I yearned for the torrid destructive passion of Heathcliff and Cathy and when I got it, it nearly killed me...
9. ... But finally I've got it right. I have never been as deeply but calmly besotted as I am with MC. He's my lover and my best friend. I never believed I would find love like this.
10. I quit smoking 6 years ago but I still think a coffee and a marlboro light is the perfect start to the day... And a glass of chilled sauvignon and a fag is the best way to wind down after work. Sob.
11. I'm naturally left-handed but when I was small my parents and school made me use my right hand instead. I am now right-handed but think this is why I can't draw and why I also have a legendarily useless sense of direction... My brain is knotted!
12. I love speech radio and sudoku... And I'm only 31.
13. I have a birthmark on my bum - it's a perfect circle of dark skin about the size of an old half penny. I love it.
14. I have no double joints or interesting party tricks. But I do have a very husky voice that I'm told is quite pornstar (prob due to the aforementioned smoking).
15. I get as excited about christmas and birthdays now as I did when I was a child. I love celebrations!
16. I have 3 tiffany necklaces. The most recent was a romantic gift from MC. The second was a birthday present from a very old friend. But the first was a present to myself: after splitting up with my first big love I fled to New York and bought it as a symbol of self-esteem. I still wear it whenever I need a confidence boost.
Merry christmas folks...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Free drinks are a bad idea
We had a bomb drill at work this morning. It involved a tiny flashing blue light which nobody saw, a tannoy announcement which nobody heard and then five minutes of standing in a drafty corridor outside the office. It didn't fill me with confidence.
Have the mother of all hangovers after the work Christmas party last night. We were only supposed to have a certain number of free drinks but then somebody figured out that by fluttering one's eyelids at the barman, one could get more (feminism eh?). I teetered home in the wee hours and have been desperately trying to remember what we all talked about ever since.
So the perfect moment to have to give a one hour presentation about the day job, then. I have no idea how I got through it. At least it wasn't on camera, I suppose. I really am my own worst enemy sometimes.
It's only 4.30pm. Sob.
Have the mother of all hangovers after the work Christmas party last night. We were only supposed to have a certain number of free drinks but then somebody figured out that by fluttering one's eyelids at the barman, one could get more (feminism eh?). I teetered home in the wee hours and have been desperately trying to remember what we all talked about ever since.
So the perfect moment to have to give a one hour presentation about the day job, then. I have no idea how I got through it. At least it wasn't on camera, I suppose. I really am my own worst enemy sometimes.
It's only 4.30pm. Sob.
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