24.9.04
Moved into our new offices on Great Titichfield street. It’s a retoune au source of sorts for me as it’s the same street I used to be on when I first started working for chello. It’s almost like the first day of school. Everyone is so excited! The people in Elsley house across the street put signs in their office windows saying ‘welcome to the block’ so sweet!
I’ve mostly been up in Crewe visiting Bentley (yesterday) and mainly running around like a mad woman. It doesn’t take long for things to pick back up to a metal pace.
This weekend is going to be a biggie… Out tonight with Andrea and her wine friends… and tomorrow another packed day…
Did I mention the fab pressies my seestor sent to me that were waiting for me upon my return from my hols? Two lovely t’shirts. One that says ‘I need holidays now’ and the other says ‘bella’ (her nickname for me). Very fab indeed!
20.9.04
Had the speediest luggage reclaim in history… when I got off the coach at Victoria and boarded the N73 to make my way home I noticed a body lying across the isle. I Looked at the driver whom promptly told me that the man who was standing next to him searching for answers was “quite upset about the situation” I furrowed my forehead in confusion as an unconscious person strewn across the floor on any form of public transit should surely be of some immediate concern to not just myself and the man who I looked over at who was indeed looking distressed about the unconcious man. I then looked to the driver and asked if he could call for some help for the man… The driver responded
“Okay then love, if that’s what you want me to do, then I’ll do it. But just you know that, that will mean that this bus is out of service and it will be another 20 mins before the next one comes along and the people who sort this stuff out don’t respond quickly… stupid drunks they waste everyone’s time!”
I looked at him again and responded “But sir, the man is not in a good state, what if he dies? Have you no concern?”
The driver then sighed, turned off the lights and started the process of getting help for the man. Not but a few seconds later, all the people on the upper deck came down and complained as they wanted to leave… due to the bus consensus the driver then put the lights back on, closed the door and then drove off. I stood there, absolutely incredulous of what had just happened.
Nice welcome home! Can I please return to my holidays?
On a more positive note… I had a fabulous holiday which ended with a brilliant afternoon stopover in Barcelona yesterday afternoon…
Work beckons… more to be recounted soon…
2.9.04
1.9.04
Today may be the first of September
And the mere thought of that convinces me that winter is just a day away… that was of course until I checked the BBC weather site … which announces 29 degrees and sunny as the forecast for this weekend…
Tomorrow after work all the Project managers are going to venture out on the annual narrow boat adventure. Our director of PM owns one and is going to set us off down the canal after work. It’s quite exciting as I’ve never been on one before J I shall make sure to take pictures
I learned a very important life lesson yesterday… cycling while wearing lip gloss is like cycling with fly paper on your lips… both catch them… both would be as effective as one and other… yuck
KJ is in Brighton this evening. I’m so sad I can’t see her. She arrives at 6 and leaves tomorrow morning at 7 so there is really no time to see her. It’s quite disappointing really as this is her one and only trip to the London area this year… and she starts back at school next week so that’s it! I’m toying with the idea of going down there on the train after work… but I’m on my bike and by the time I get home and get on the train and get there it will be 10pm at the earliest… then I would have to slug it back up to London first thing with all the crazy commuters… argh. Life is so not fair sometimes…
31.8.04
Extraordinarily angry towards miss woo… whom after a spout of rudeness towards my friend who was in town visiting a few weeks back… defended her actions as being fuelled by her residual anger towards me for having broken up with her… and thusly decided that she no longer wanted to see me. I’ve been nothing more than patient with her and accommodating to her every whim of wanting to be my friend and then not cycles… I’ve had enough. I can’t believe that at 28 I’m still dealing with this sort of rubbish. The more I think about it… the more I’m inclined to think that telling the truth never seems to be the best policy… I guess people are just more comfortable ending a relationship in a dramatic fashion rather than in a logical adult manor. I don’t’ get it. You’re damned if you do, you’re dammed if you don’t.
The long weekend was a well needed treat. Should be just enough to keep me going until the big launch next week and my flight out of here on the 10th!
Note to self… going to the gym at half six on a Tuesday morning is sheer insanity… and if attempted, will leave you feeling mostly drowsy in the early afternoon. However it does act as a good way of actually getting one’s arse to the gym when you’re generally too busy working late.
27.8.04
I’m in a really weird place right now..
I bit here a bit there and a bit scattered from all the changes that I’ve been through in the past couple of months… I know at the beginning of the year that I felt that this would be a year of change… little did I know that it would be the year of unending change. Stop the world I want to get off.
Do you think white magic works?… I think the power of pig tails is highly under rated… not the ones that are attached to pigs of course… the ones you wear in your hair… ha even writing about them works. I rest my case *mutters to self*
The long weekend is upon us and no plans have been made – bar shopping on Saturday morning… but with pay day landing on Tuesday next week it’s just a bit cruel if you ask me… but that’s what overdrafts are for right?
I’m sitting on a knife edge waiting for my client to decide on a launch date for all the projects that we have launching the week of the 10th. If they choose mid week then I may be granted permission to take a half day off on Friday and leave on my holiday *shock horror- I know I finally booked* I’m heading to Portugal and Maybe Spain! Sio is in Portugal again now... Poor thing… I rang her last night and she told me the most upsetting news… the beloved Oscar (her dog) died… she was in Lisbon for the weekend and she came back to find him dead… She thinks he may have eaten poison or something like that. Poor little oskie… He was such a cool guy.
24.8.04
Can you decipher…
Which of the following things have not happened to me in the past few days?
- Met a 21 year old astrophysicist that can’t ride a bicycle
- Drank white wine in a poncy wine bar in Parson’s Green
- Got offered Coke by a 6’5 black drag queen
- Was invited to the Polish ambassador’s garden party
- Ate strawberry cheesecake while drinking corona
- Sat in a hot tub naked in the GE club
- Flooded my Kitchen
- Tried on tapered jeans
- Went to the gym at 6h30 am
- Listen to 2 massive attack albums back to back
And oh yea... Happy London anniversary to me... no suggestions were made thus no celebrations will be either :(
Ha!
20.8.04
May I please introduce the chyk rock band that’s storming the nation - > “ Not yet set Jelly! ” singing the first single from their album ‘knock her up in the back of nowhere’ *crowd goes wild*
We so totally invented the best band last night at the pub… It will feature Andrea, Tasha and I … It will mostly be loud noisey-esq music… and Tasha will also be the only person who can play an instrument… because really, she’s the only one who can… We’ve not told her yet but I’m sure she’ll be keen. I think we need a drummer… but the details are yet to be confirmed.
Bloody hell what a laugh we had last night!
Bring on the weekend, Thursday night was a good warm up. Good thing It’s all cycle lanes home from soho to mine… eek!
17.8.04
Till my 3 year anniversary of moving across the big ol' pond that we call the Altantic and setting up camp here in Jolly London town. I've clearly missed my 3 year bloguversary but I'm sure me arriving here should be more significant... no?
I shall be accepting suggestions on how I should celebrate this most joyous of days... please do contribute... I do accepts coppers if you've got any spare ones in your pockets while you're at it!
*sigh* 3 years... well at least I now can say there is an anniversary that aptly matches my mental age!
Me to manage to stay up until 11pm and chose the correct channel out of all five that are on offer in my house… to allow me the pleasure of watching the entire first episode of the new series of the Sopranos last night… no no… I managed to doze off on the wrong channel and then wake up 15 mins before the show ended… then just as my luck would have it, manage to not fall asleep again for another 30 mins after!!! However I can attest that is this was my only drama last night I’m ahead of the game.
The world travelling miss B returns to the UK this evening after her whirlwind trip to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. No doubt she’ll be bronzed and chilled out and slim as ever… meanwhile back in the bat cave… Sarah scurries about to camouflage her newly acquired kilos and pasty white flesh… I think she’ll be most impressed that I managed to keep the flat in a good state of affairs and even managed to sort out the garden a bit (not that she’ll ever go out there) she sites her Ailurophobia tee hee hee…
Yes, but today is Tuesday.
12.8.04
When I was getting ready for work I was sploshing about in the bath and realised I had run out of shampoo… So I reached for the baby shampoo that KJ and I bought when we were in Barcelona back in March (ever cute that it is it came with a little Symba bath plug)… that stuff does wonders for the hair let me tell you… but I think there is a much more sinister side to this bottle… I believe it was the catalyst to other things that transpired later on during my day… so strong were the abilities that it made my phone ring in the afternoon… I really thought that shampoo was supposed to wash men out of your hair… not wash them back in!
On a different note… Darrell is jetting into London from Ottawa for a 26 hour whirlwind trip. His mate works for a Canadian airline and he’s nabbed a buddy pass to come over for a quick visit. I’ve not seen him in 3 years (since I left) will be great to see him! Also on the arrivals list are Michi and Jutta who are arriving from Vienna Tomorrow. Michi is in town for her handover before she leaves chello to work for the Austrian Foreign Service… so she decided to come over a bit early and enjoy London. *pulls out big gay ‘what to do in London book’* I’m so out of practise I’m sure all the places that I once went to are no longer cool… *giggles* not been that long, just thought it sounded funny.
My mission between now and tomorrow is to keep it low-fi and make it to the gym again tonight. How much weight can one woman gain in 1.5 weeks of not going to the gym due to illness? The answer would be 2.5 kilos to be exact. Clearly I ate all the pies! *shh don’t tell anyone that I’ve got a cherry pie in my fridge and the most delicious Belgian chocolates courtesy of Mr. S*
11.8.04
Mostly wearing a pretty girly sun dress and have been heard announcing that I’m mostly being a girl today. I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to be every other day of the year as I often wear skirts and makeup and such but I guess because this is a sundress with strappy straps and has a flower on it… it’s considered more girly than usual.
I am happy to report that I managed to cycle past the scene of the carnage that I witnessed yesterday and did not get too freaked out. I really hope that the run over guy is okay… maybe I should put an ad in the paper at the back that reads…
“ Me on sliver mountain bike, you across the road being run over by a green mini van. Just wondering if you’re okay?” Think I would get an answer?
Below you will find a pic from the sports day… note that this image is from the pub afterwards. This is due to the fact that the other pictures are just too random…
10.8.04
Today, not far from my house down near UCL, I was waiting at the traffic lights to turn right. It was lightly raining and very grey. An enthusiastic jogger approached across the road he was to the right of me on a diagonal. He was jogging on the spot as the traffic whizzed passed – waiting for the light to change… Then all of a sudden, I don’t know why but he just stepped out in the road about a quarter of an inch still jogging up and down as joggers do to keep the momentum. Then at that exact moment a mini van whizzed buy and shmucked him! Right there in front of me. I was almost sick instantly. It was pretty horrific. Luckily he did not get pulled under the van but I can tell you that the sound of his bones breaking was probably the worst sound I’ve ever heard. The driver screeched to a stop and leapt out. The rest of the traffic kept going by as the lights had not yet changed… So there I was with another cyclist right next to me in total shock to what we had just witnessed. People ran to his assistance as I think both his legs were broken and possibly his arm too… the pulled him onto the curb as we helplessly looked on and the traffic continued to flow through the intersection.
By the time the lights changed there were about 10 people around him ringing for an ambulance and such so I did not stop for fear of adding to the chaos. I was quite freaked out but knew if I stopped cycling that I would not have made it to work. Not a nice way to start the day. I hope he’s okay.
9.8.04
Friday afternoon...
Was our company’s summer party, we went to Holland park to play baseball. It was a glorious day, hot sunny and clear. I’ve not played baseball in years! Well I guess it wasn’t so much baseball as it was cricket with a splash of rounders and a soupcon of baseball rules thrown in for good measure. Some of my favourite rules were as follows:
- 5 outs per inning
- If the pitcher thew a ball outside of the batters range it was called a ‘no ball’
- If the batter strikes out, then they are able to make a run to first base. If they out run the ball then they get on base
- If a batter strikes out then they are no longer able to bat during that inning
- You did not need to touch the bases as you ran them
- There were only 2 innings
- Average scores per inning were something like 16 runs each side
What a fun day. My team ended up winning… will put up some photos J
Friday night
Post baseball people went to a nice little pub near to the park where we had a few drinks on the company’s tab and then I headed towards the tube while chatting with the lovely Siobhan. Jetted back to mine on the central line and got ready to meet miss Duffy. We headed to Canteloupe to meet up with Susie B from work where she was celebrating her b’day. Hot doesn’t even begin to describe the temperature in the bar… We skuttered along across the road to the medicine bar where we were joined by Sally and Phil and then a bit later on Nick from work and Alex came along too. The place was dead but we danced like wankers… it was a good laugh
Saturday morning
Made my way down to Gatwick to collect the flying Dutchman… aboard the train teaming with people heading down to Brighton Pride. Some scary ladies on board let me tell you…. Collected the goods and headed back to London. 2h later and loads of faffing we headed out to Regents park for a picnic. We spent the day lounging in the sun enjoying a feast of champagne and other yummy titbits. Ah ça faisait du bien! Headed home and washed off all the park grime and got ready for miss Andrea’s arrival. With her she brought TVR boi who was most lovely. We drank champers in the garden and finally got some use out of the outdoor candles Dan and I bought so many moons ago. We skipped along to Sante Fe as no warm evening is complete without a few yummy cocktails… We then headed to the jazz bar back in the old hood and listened to some nice tunes and chatted until it was time to go.
Sunday morning
Was very hot. If you ask my blond neighbour… she’ll concur. *giggles*
Sunday night
Met up with Jojo woo tim sally and phil at the northgate for a light supper. Then finally retired home for some well deserved rest.
Monday morning
Came too quickly… where is the rewind button? I want to do the weekend over again.
6.8.04
I've mostly:
- met two beautiful pugs in the street... (one all black one caramel and black)
- been ill (cough cough)
- not gone to the gym once
- only cycled to work once
- done proper grocery shopping
- had two really nice bottles of champers
- met up with old work peeps for a catch up
- met up with Hon and Naoko
- had a very manic weekend (which probably caused the illness)
- written too many statements of work
- missed the tube as i was too busy txting to notice the train had arrived
- accidently went to bed without putting rattus back in his cage (he's fine Dan I promise!)
- caught a lift with a mate down upper street on the cross bar of his bike in a skirt (precarious doesn't even begin to explain it)
- Met a French bloke who wore a watch worth more than all my worldy posessions put together
- done arts and crafts with my flowerpots in the sitting room
- not eaten nearly enough... not even junk food is inticing
- gone to counsel estate in new cross
- gone to clapham
- not written to my mother
Things on the agenda for the next 48h
- afternoon in the sun (work sports day - jolly- jolly)
- post sports day trip to the pub
- meeting up with denise (who's back in town for job interviews)
- meeting up with miss woo
- meeting up with susy b in shoreditch
- travelling to collect a flying dutchman
- cocktails with andrea
- supper with jo jo, Tim, Woo and Sally and Phil in bricklane
and the rest i can happily say that I've not planned... who needs a holiday? Every day is an adventure...
29.7.04
on my way in this morning… to try and fix my wonky saddle problem once and for all… the guy fixed it up good and proper but now that it’s fixed it just feels strange… was so abnormal for so long it began to feel normal… needless to say things like that often happen in my life…
Summer decided to make a return to London town today. It’s a blissful 29 degrees here… outside meeting this morning was fab! Now that the afternoon is spinning and spinning, it’s becoming a wee bit uncomfortable… mind you I don’t mind too much it’s better than blasted air con!
Just found out that Andrea and I are living in a different planet as the Big chill festival is this weekend and we’re going to miss it. I really wanted to see Andy’s gig on Friday night… but alas it’s now too late and it’s all sold out!
Someone forgot to wind the clocks today I’m so certain. Time is passing unbearably slowly… maybe it’s the heat?





