London Falling

"If it's not their bridges falling then the very ground they stand on is sinking. Londoners learned this week that satellite images show parts of central London are sinking by up to five millimeters a year. The two areas are each about 2.5 miles long and up to 250 yards wide -- running from Bermondsey to Waterloo and Westminster, and from Battersea to Putney. The sinking appears to have resulted from excavation in recent years. "The displacement follows exactly the same line as was tunneled for the Jubilee (Underground) Line extension and the electricity tunnel," an NPA Satellite spokesman said. The images show the land has sunk about 25 millimeters in the last five years. " - www.wired.com

My question is... who gives a monkey?

After 6 months of living here in London I have finally closed in on the gap of becoming an actual full pledged member of society... sure I have a British passport and all, but I am soon to become the holder of treasured National Insurance number... I can honestly admit, that I don't have a clue what it actually does... but hey if it took me 6 months for my "interview" then I darn well expect it to be something good! It reminds me a bit of the "Carte de Sejour" business I went through while living in France... but with that you had to purchase a "timbre fiscale" at the local tabac shop... this wee stamp cost 250FF! I almost fainted, imagine handing over 25£ to your local corner shop and getting a little stamp in return? With this piece of paper in hand I had to tromp down to the local police come immigration centre... queue for an hour... get grilled by some woman behind a plastic divider. It was a large production that took over two months and several visits to my friend behind the plastic glass, and finally I was issued my coveted "carte de sejour". I guess a six month for this National Insurance thing isn't so bad after all...

Now, all I have left to do is show up! I was all geared to go today, then I realized that it's not till Friday. I am so dim at times...

Irish/Cuban bar in Prague?

I'm on day nine minus one day of pre arranged amnesty (Sunday) on my non smoking mission. It is not at all an easy feat. One must pack it up eventually... now is as good a time as ever.

The trees are all in bloom and although damp and kind of gray this morning, spring is in the air!

Got a package from my most fabulous seestor yesterday containing birthday goodies... the day fast approaches and I will soon say goodbye to my mid twenties and hello to my late.

Had a good weekend, went to the White Chapel gallery to see the Nan Goldin exhibit. She had some really nice stuff. Our overall impression was that her pictures were quite overtly self indulgent... I guess it's all in the artistic license. Don't get me wrong... it was a nice way to spend a late Sunday afternoon. After the gallery, we headed to brick lane and sat in this bar/cafe across from 93 ft. east and sipped a reasonably priced bottle of red wine... and then another.

Our plans have changed back to Prague for Hazel's b'day... we seem to have missed the deadline to apply and get a visa in time for St. Petersburg... there will be other times. I am so excited to go to Prague... Tim is going theist weekend with his fiancé... while looking at places to go while in Prague, he stumbled upon what could quite possibly be, the word's first Irish/Cuban bar. It is called, get ready for this... O'Che's I say no more... for I think I have, quite possibly seen it all!

"Sarah... there is a definite cadence infection!"...

says Mark. It was really great to catch up with him after nearly two months. Man how time flies. He informs me that I have a cadence infection, followed by gifting me a new title... poverty jet set. That's me! It's a person who travels from country to country, works at decent jobs but just never has any money! I love it!

I don't seem to be able to get enough sleep as of late. Ever since returning from my travels last week, sleep has become this mad, addictive drug that I can't get enough of! Last night I was in the land of the fairies by quarter past ten. What will become of me now?

Got my hair cut at lunch today... going back maybe in a week or so to get the colour done... I saw this picture with these very cool highlights... aqua blue and sea green tips. Looked neat... all that's left is to convince myself that I'm insane to pay 40£ to have it done! *rubs hands together*

Mum is away on her tropical holiday this week. I'm so happy for her, she really deserves a break. KJ is home sick. poor thing! It's her birthday on Friday, so I hope she feels better by then. Jo Jo's b'day is also on Friday. We're having a do for her, should be fun...

Work is finally evening out a bit, after the big tradeshow rush ends next week, it will be nice to have some not so hecticly urgent things to work on. The vibe in the office is so much better... *sigh of relief*

I return...

weary and tired but glad to be back. awakening at 4 am two mornings in a row followed by an almost luxurious wakening at 6am this morning is just so so not glamorous.

I've seen the likes of the Eningen fashion crimes consisting of numerous offenders spotted wearing white Birkenstocks with black or brown socks... discovered that irony is not at all understood by our German clients and then moved on to explore the finer points of Optical transport technology... Need to know about jitter and wander? I'm your woman!

France was lovely. I was overjoyed to have the chance to return to Lyon. It made my heart jump with glee. It's such a beautiful city. I only wish I could have stayed longer there. I played with some Euros and bought some French novels and some cheese and wine... 70 euros later and I was ushered out of Monoprix as it was closing...I had a fab dinner with Mahrez and retired to a nice hotel room near place des Jacobins (much nicer than the 80's theme that was going in Germany)

It is nice to be home! Drew clapped with glee last night when I said that. He was amused to hear me consider myself at home here in London. Strange indeed, this is my new home:)

Managed to muster up enough energy to go the jazz bar for a few cheeky ones. It was a veritable gay bloggerama! Don't think the "offstream" night is going to work, but we'll see. The owner is dragging his feet on the flyering issue. It was a fun night. David and his friends are most lovely!

I just love the information super highway... *smirks*

but this is pretty cool!

To France with me... and to Germany too!

I'm so excited... from Monday to Thursday morning next week I am going on a business trip to Germany and France. The best pat is, that the Wednesday evening I will be in Lyon. I Haven't been back there since I finished my 3rd year of University there. *rubs hands together*

all things little...

I have a confession to make... Of late I have found myself indulging in several miniature pleasures....It started with Crunchy Nuggets and then just today was wooed by these for the love of god, I think there is no other explanation than that I am the victim of some sort of bizzaro target marketing... one that which targets mad female project managers in their mid 20's who have a propensity to miniature sized chocolate treats!

Please help.

On another unrelated subject thanks to Fabulous David for posting our pending Offstream soiree at the Jazz bar. It will be oodles of fun. See you all there!

Yellow strawberry print bikini top

Had a most lovely weekend in Brighton with Dan, Sally and Miss Hazel. Stayed at a hotel not far from the Sea. It was such a lovely day on Saturday the sun was blazing and it was warm. Had breakfast on the beach and strolled around town and did the standard "Brighton" thing.

On our way back to the Hotel we stopped at H&M and procured some lovely new swim suits so as to take advantage of the pool at the hotel. Hazel is now the proud (I guess that's kind of a subjective comment) of a yellow strawberry print bikini top... Made it back to the sea to see the sun set. Ahhhh, so so beautiful.

Ventured out to town that night... stopped in at the Candy Bar for a quick one... I didn't think it was possible but, it is more dire than the one in London... Skullied down the road to a bar called Pool and giggled the night away drinking vodka and doing strawberry schnapps shooters.

It was really nice to get out of the city, but I am glad to be back... Not sure exactly what one would do if they lived there full time... I'm certain the sea loses it's novelty eventually, just as my friend Ange used to say about the mountains in Vancouver... after about 3 months you don't even know they are there.

Took loads of pics www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Brighton-02-02.zip ... download and unzip if you dare...

ROAR!

So, this morning as I cam into work I milled about my desk and prepared my millions of projects for the day. On my walk by the printers I got quite a surprise. One of my co workers decided to react quite negatively to my suggestion to have another designer work on this urgent project that I had left on his desk the night before. I got a very stern shouting at for something that I had nothing to do with.. ie. the fact that the server was down...

A few hours later, I get an apology and a tube of smarties! yummy... strange, long long ago in a land far away, I used to date this guy who was pretty awful to me and would shout at me and really frazzle me... after cooling down and a few hours later he would always arrive on the doorstep with apologies and food. Needless to say, I got really fat and eventually left him... strange how little things like that come back to visit you.... shouting+cool off time = apology and food...

hmmm.

Spring has sprung!

What a novelty we're mid-February and the flowers are starting to bloom. After living almost my entire lifetime in a snowy country... it's almost silly how happy a mild climate has made me!

My lovely Canadian guest ventured home yesterday. It was really nice to see a familiar face from home! I can't wait till Sean comes to visit in another month!

So if this is not one of the strangest things I've seen in a long time... I don't know what is... if you find it as entertaining as I did you will most likely enjoy the sequel that you can view after viewing the entirety of the first one..

Kung Hei Fat Choi every one... I wish I had an audio clip to put up as Hon has most masterfully instructed me how to properly pronounce, happy new year in Chinese. Today marks the beginning of the year of the horse! What Chinese sign are you? I'm a dragon!


*breathes fire*

So...

that's about enough of the doom a gloom. It's all a matter of perspective, and yes as my mother would say, you could be dead tomorrow.

In town last night Hazel and I stumbled upon a great little sushi restaurant. I had the best avocado rolls ever. mmm. Funny how so many nights we've looked for a good sushi restaurant and found none... then when you're not looking they appear as if by magic.

Ventured to the Y bar to meet up with Jo on our way home. Why lesbian bars are always such tragedies is beyond me. *shakes head*

Getting excited about planning our April holiday to St. Petersburg! Also excited about heading to St. Thomas to Yvonne and Benoit's wedding at the end of November... I know it's a ways away but I will be such a fun trip! Must save pennies... must save pennies.

I think that I have finally broken my shop o holic tendencies, ironic as it may seem... living in a city like London offers so much in the line of lovely wares but when the monies aren't there it's easy to cut back.

It's Friday and the minutes are slipping trough my fingers... there are clients to call and fires to put out...

*flutters away*

Have you ever been?

So disapointed and so fucked off about something that you laugh so hard you cry? So frustrated with something that you just want to pack it all in, because in the end of the day a job should not evoke such emotion. Commitment and hard work seem to bring dissallusionment. *sigh*

Some one, please remind me why?

When do you think they will realise we're drowning not waving ......?

Every good movie needs a caputcian monkey!

Or perhaps not... I was thinking so when we started watching The Kids in the Hall movie called "Brain Candy"...

It rained sideways here today. The blustery burst of wind actually caused it to rain sideways. I cut away to a clip of Forest Gump in my head... the part in the film where he goes on about the types of rain he experienced in Vietnam. It's all new and exciting.... bet you a fiver I won't be saying the same thing 3 years from now!

Caught up on some delinquent e-mails today... all of the Irish nature, wrote Aisling, Denise and Blaise. I've been so very naughty as of late, letting work take over my life. *scoff*

Had a most leisurely weekend... Met up with Dan and Sally on Saturday night. Ended up in the Jazz bar till very late. It is indeed good fun. We're due to start off our Thursday night hosting our "off stream" night this week, we'll see how it goes. Might be a bit of a struggle to lure people who've never been there to Dalston... keeps life interesting.

I am officially in love with Mr. Hell The cartoon is pure genius. I don't know if I can stand waiting another 2 weeks until the next episode. Bless Serge the psychopathic seal... my favorite piece from last night had to be the "exor-sister" tres drole indeed!

sleepover party syndrome

so as it happens, after a hectic day at work and a 70£ trip to the grocery store, I met up with Hazel, Tam, Jo, Nat and Amanda at the Wellington... the whole gaggle of girlies ended up back at our flat...

Hazel and I hid under the covers and giggled madly and tried to avoid listening the various bumps that went thump in the night... nous sommes les petites cupidons!

With all sleepover parties there comes the inevitable lack of sleep... feeling a wee bit slow today but did manage to laugh till I cried when I saw this site that Dearbhla sent to me... I think we just must purchase something to compliment Tim's upcoming nuptials...

As i walked to work today the sky was blue blue blue, the big white fluffy clouds drifted by above. Just as I was about five minutes from the office a gray cloud passed over and sputtered down a few hundred drops of rain all around me. Two tiny rain drops fell on my face, one directly under the other. Funny thing was, that they both fell onto that delicate skin right under my left eye.

very strange.

Addendum to the Hail!

In response to my recent posting about hailing behaviours, Drew has been so kind as to provide me with an addendum of sort, the following details Drew's personal hailing activites, bless him:

Well that's a tricky one...you see, if there's alot of people around, I'm a "no hailer" - why bother when someone else can do it for you. If I'm on my own, I do the "point" and expect it to stop in the exact location where my finger is pointing to. But then there is one other hail that I have been known to use, yet it was not detailed on your blog.

For some time know I've seen those posters of an old lady picking up and holding out her hubbies to get the drivers attention. "MAKE A CLEAR SIGNAL TO YOUR DRIVER!" I think it said. So I decided to adopt the "lower body hail". Similar to all of the arm hails, but instead of using your arm, you throw out your leg

do you have a bus hailing speciality? write me! sj_chick@yahoo.com

poor poor poor...

Three words to describe our performance last night at the retro bar's pub quiz. A meager 4 out of 21 is such a disgrace... on our way home Hazel and I decided that we should take this as a hint to not so gracefully retire from this Tuesday night activity.

Yellow tulip in hand Hazel pranced off to work and later will be boarding a plane to Berlin... what a beautiful sight the contrast of bright yellow and green against her black jacket...

Hail!

If NYC is the city for hailing cabs, London is the Mecca for all those whom love to hail busses. I've been watching over the past few weeks and noticed a remarkable phenomenon of how Londoners hail busses. It's a veritable sport in it's self!

Tall arm hail:
Subject extends arm above head as if the bus conductor was driving seated on the upper deck, fearing that if it is not raised quite high enough, the conductor will not see them. Alternately this maneuver can be seen as the subject anxiously raising their hand as in to ask a really important question to the approaching London transport vehicle.

The Sly hail:
Subject slyly extends the bare minimum of hand necessary in order to hail bus. Generally it is only the palm that is put forth as if there was a secret drug transaction about to occur.

The Standard straight arm hail:
Subject extends arm in a stiff outward manor at about a 45 degree angle, various finger positioning has been noted but on the most part, this is a text book hail.

The Point hail:
Subject extends arm at standard straight arm height then accentuates the hail with a very marked point of the finger as in a very confident attempt to get the bus to stop at the exact position in which their finger is pointing. This can also be coupled with the subject making direct eye contact with the driver, this variation of the point hail can sometimes be quite effective some conductors have actually been spotting taking heed to the subject's instructions and stopping at the exact point where the subject is pointing.

The extenda-hail:
Subject extends arm as if frozen in time, long after it's quite obvious that the conductor has spotted his request and is clearly pulling over to stop. From what I can tell it seems like the subject is very untrusting and had a bad experience with a rogue conductor who once foxed them into thinking that they were stopping and then pulled away again suddenly because the hail was not long enough. (please note: this is one of the most common hails)

The group hail:
As if all players on separate teams multiple subjects standing at the same stop have been spotted throwing out all sorts of various hails. Oblivious to one and other's motions, it seems as if each party feels that their hail is the one that is going to stop the bus.

The no hail:
Subject is generally foreign (or too busy noting bizarre hailing behavior) no arm movement is noted. Bus stops without a problem, sometimes right in front of the no hailer to generally the amazement of the rest of the parties at the stop. Some aggression can be noted as the hailers feel a sense of deceit as if all their hailing efforts were in vain.

What a sight!

I took my time on my way to work this morning. left the house at 10am... the bus came so I got on it. I sat behind this gentle looking man who was furious reading his book in brail. Looking around and out the window, I tried to absorb everything I saw, the perfectly trimmed hedges, the vines that crept up the side of the house with the green front door, the colour of the sun as it reflected off the cars traveling in the opposite direction. Every colour and every hue, I soaked them all in.

Sometimes you forget to look, this morning I saw it all.

does it count...

when you show up late for work but you're at home sleeping off a hangover and in your state of guilty, half conscious sleep, you're dreaming that you are at work and you are getting things done?

After attempting to go somewhere new for a bevvie Hazel and I were strangely drawn towards the Retro bar. Can't help it, it's too easy. Then walks in David. Now, I don't know David, but I have kind have been reading his blog for the past few months... I stumbled upon one day while updating mine, and found his blog very sharp! So there we sat with our acquired pub quiz team. Laughing at myself, I continued to mention to Hazel, how much I felt like a voyeur, and that is was so strange to see this person that I read about everyday in person. As she motioned to get up and go talk to him, I held her arm and swore that I would die of humiliation if she talked to him... by the end of the night and 3 pints later, while leaving I went up and talked to him. Now, to be quite honest I've never felt so much like a geek in my whole life. Poor thing, looked mildly terrified... perhaps it was the part where I was telling him about this pic I took in Dublin about this crazy Kebab shop with a sign that read "Homos- £2.50" that I thought he might find funny... Oh man, in writing this down, I am thinking that yes, I am mad.

What have I learned from all this? Don't be weird to nice boys that you don't really know... and more interestingly, that reading someone's blog that you don't know really does give you a great new perspective on life, because you have no personal relationship to them, everything you read about them is very honest and raw... not much in life that can give you that sort of perspective, how refreshing indeed.

Chinese lessons, Bliss, Sausages, Cherries, Jazz bar and a whole lot of time in bed...

The end of the week was just such a good thing. Slid out of the office at 6:20 and went for a drinkie across the road with Hon and Steph from the office. After giving way to my hunger pains I headed home brining Hon with me. He is teaching me Chinese... okay, so all I can say thus far is "sing darn fie lork" which means "Merry Christmas" so I figured we could catch up on my lessons. He's such a fun guy... he even ate the veggie pasta I made before we head to the Wellington to keep Jo's new "friend" company whilst she worked. Even Hannah ended up coming to the pub with us. Later that evening Miss Hazel joined us after her night at the retro bar.

Saturday was full of lethargy and breakfast at cafe Bliss. Not sure if I written about cafe bliss before, but it's this strange dive cafe where you can get 24h a day breakfast, but be warned if you don't ask, your eggs will not be soft poached. Later on... much later on H and Jo and I ventured out to go to Bar Med for their Cherries night. We met Miss Dan and Miss Sally sat awaiting our arrival. I can't quite do justice in trying to explain the collection of women in this place. There was copious amounts of double vodkas going on so soon things were on their way. After leaving Dan and Sal, Jo and Hazel and I head back towards home and to Jo's new find... The Jazz bar in Dalston. What a neat place. Open till god knows when. It was a good time. Very chill atmosphere! What fun!

Sunday... yes, this is the part where the rest of the laying in bed thing comes in.... When finally driven by hunger I ventured out of bed to Sofra to purchase some much needed nourishment. Hazel had a craving for sausages... Note to self... vegetarians are crap at buying meat. I thought I was so butch finding what I thought were sausages.. turned out they were more like wieners... ah well... god, I make myself laugh sometimes!

I am so happy that Sean is blogging! I had several laughs out loud today while reading of his weekend's exploits! God, I miss that boy!

Oh yea, Dearbhla's ex-coworker announced today that he is marrying his first cousin... hmmm isn't that illegal? Man, the world just never ceases to amaze me.

Garlic lunches

That's the best way to start things off. Today I'm on the major garlic pasta lunch... a true test of how much my co-workers can put up with. The past few weeks have brought many many stories... let me see if I can harness them...

Magic Champagne bottle count= 4

Thursday December 20th
Pre Xmas chaos built up to a crescendo as the hours grew closer to the holidays my poor back muscles grew tighter and tighter. I am now a converted Shiatsu Massage woman! One visit with the lovely Bev Breeze (no joke that's her name) and there was a vast improvement.

Friday December 21st
Oh yes, it was... It was the last day at the office for most people who were not heading of town for the holidays... On the other end of the lolli pop... there were Rob (the developer) and I held up here with a Deliverable that had us here till 22h30! When finally all was complete... I staggered home. Jo had the night off work and was pacing around the flat-bored... With a small whine and a grunt, I signaled her towards one of the bottles of Champagne in the fridge... Not but a few minutes later all was well and the bottle was on this side of empty... Ahhh. bring on the holidays!

Magic Champagne bottle count= 3

Saturday December 22nd
Roni Size Heroes and Villains Theme here we come. After much pondering and confusion it was established the Roni Size was indeed spinning... Dragging my body out of bed late afternoon, I ventured into Angel to sus out 3 costumes for the event. The costume gods were smiling on me as I quickly picked out a Zorro mask for Jo and a Gangster hat for myself... A little bit further down the road (dodging xmas shoppers left and right) I made the bargain find of a most fabulous dress for hazel... tiny in size and very perfect for her Bonnie costume... all for the low low price of £7! Soon after I met up with Hazel and procured the last few items for our costumes then ducked into the Welly for a pint to warm the cockles. The show was at 93 ft. east in Brick lane... T'was a bit odd as not that many people were in costume... However, we were in fine form having consumed the bottle of Bolli pre-departure. Bring on the big beats. There are things I suppose I should write down... like falling off the stage while trying to help Jo up onto it... and then both of us falling into a bin full of empty beer bottles... but I shall spare the embarrassment... Uh oh, yea.. I think I forgot to mention the consumption of another bottle of champers... any ways... you get the picture...

Magic Champagne bottle count= 1

Sunday December 23rd
Sleep... sleep... the sniffles begin.

Magic Champagne bottle count= 1

Monday December 24th
Full on head cold is brewing... head into work hoping to clear up the desk and prepare for a fresh start in the new year... Problems arise when Rob and Hon begin watching the Movie very loudly on Rob's machine... Too much noise... too many distractions... 4pm rolls around and I disappear into the darkness, finally free! H and I lounge at the Welly on the big brown leather sofa... consume a few bevvies and welcome in Christmas Day with Jo and Holly.

Magic Champagne bottle count= 1

Tuesday December 25th
Jo's dad arrives around Mid day to take us to theirs for the day's festivities... we drop Hazel to Hampstead to play with Nat and continue along up North to Baldock (sp?) Spend a lovely quiet day feasting and relaxing (and sniffling and coughing if you're me) Watched the movie Annie on TV for the first time in well over 15 years... Look mum, I still know all the words to all the songs!

Magic Champagne bottle count= 1

Wednesday December 26th
repeat of previous day, add in a walk in the woods and failed attempt to visit the pub at the end of the road... it was closed.

Magic Champagne bottle count= 1

Thursday December 27th
Return home to London and hook up for Hazel for a Dinner that is being paid for by my boss in penance for making me work so late the previous Friday... We have a mediocre Moroccan meal in Hampstead... the highlight being the bottle of champagne and the yummy apricot tobacco they served Hookah (sp?) and all!


Magic Champagne bottle count= 1+1 purchased with meal - 1 consumed with meal = 1

Friday December 28th
Visions of matchmaking brought Hazel, Jo, Nat and Tam to the Wellington in Soho... How nice it was to go out and have a laugh! Although we all promised that we were NOT GOING TO THE CANDY BAR... 12h30 rolled around and it was really our only choice for more drinks... so we ventured in...

Saturday-Monday December 31st
Sniffles, more coughs, and a quick trip to Habitat to buy a Duvet cover... rubs and other goings on... mmm. Rest!
Boycotted New Years completely... bought nine tins of bud 2 pizzas and christened it the "wife beater new years" sat back and laughed my ass off at Hazel's fast expanding belly... rang in the New Years on the couch... Hazel with beer stain on shirt by this point LOL! Oh yes, there was that final bottle of Moet... drank that.

Magic Champagne bottle count= 0 *sniffle* *wipes tear*

Tuesday January 1st.

Late afternoon found us in Nat's pub with Jo, Kat, Kerri, Lou, and Jo... watching "Weakest Link- Drag Queen edition" What a riot!... all was well till but seconds after some dodgy guys with dog in toe who were sitting in the far corner of the pub decided that they needed to lunge at the bar staff and lob a chair at them behind the bar! Being her bar, Nat fired out of her seat and dove behind the bar and with her supa fly Israeli army style moves pins one of the culprits to the ground... not a minute later the cops arrive and the bad guys are removed... a few million shards of glass littered the ground... and it was calm yet again... Very strange indeed... what a way to spend new years day!

Ahh, the fun!

Four bottles of champagne in the fridge at home and I'm not there!

So It's half past nine on Friday night. I'm here at work. CD on the fritz and really annoying clients whining at us because they have to stay past four their time. Man, I definately don't get paid enough for this.

So, yes... there are four bottles of champagne in the fridge at home. I had quite the haul this year from suppliers... my boss even got me a bottle of Boli. It's a shame really that I can't even be at home to drink them.

The week has been absolutely frantic. Bring on the holiday season. I can't even begin to feel like it's xmas. Hmm.

Back here on Monday, I hope to get some writing done and report some excitement over the weekend.

Bring on the future.

"Carry me home and bury me decent"

Says Dearbhla in her Irish exclamation of the day... when I told her that I was going to write it in my blog she was not impressed, she would rather I write " Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the little donkey" . There now I've written them both... Weather you can tell from them or not, they're both expressions of defeat.... it's the general sense of dismay that her and I share while trying to wade through all the chaos of what is our work. Only a few days left before xmas and patience is wearing thin...

While walking in Dalston this Sunday morning prior to heading to my cousins for an "out of town relatives in town, lets all meet for lunch do" I stumbled across some really interesting things... I wish I had my camera with me to have captured them... the first sighting was...

1. A sign in the furniture shop that faces the grocery store " Fraud detection system in place. We will not tolerate fraudulent payment in any way shape or form" hmm, really? Damn, I was hoping to cash that fraudulent cheque and buy that white leather sofa that I've been eyeing? LOL

2. While walking out of the shopping centre I walked by the large barrels of chicken and beef carcasses that were teeming out of two huge blue barrels out side the butcher shop. Seeing the poor mangled feel and piles of flesh and skin. Let me tell you, if I weren't a veggie, I would have changed my ways right then and there... It was fascinating... kind of like the scene of an accident... really horrible but you can't help yourself from looking. Sometimes I feel society is just one big accident scene.

3. As I continued on my way back to my flat, I crossed the street to be greeted by a huge hand drawn sign in the window of one of the several wig shops. "Special on Human Hair!" Oh my, just what I've been looking for! I love it! I really wanted to go in and inspect this human hair and inquire just as to where they procured the product... I thought it best that I leave such exploration for another day.

4. Just before I turned the corner back on to my street and away from the parallel universe that is Dalston. I walked by the large Irish pub. I noticed a sticker on the door that read " Avoid being barred for life from this establishment, don't deal drugs in here. Anyone caught dealing drugs of any sort will be barred from entering this establishment for LIFE". Now that's a warning. I think the fact that it was a manufactured sticker, proved as the most interesting feature of this warning. I'm half saddened and half amused to think that someone sat down and had a sicker designed and printed that read that message!

Life is very interesting when you notice these little things... mind you it's not hard when you live round the corner from a very concentrated cultural area.

Roni size is playing next weekend. I think, although I'm not financially adept enough to do so... I'm going. It should be amazing to see him spin live. Plus it's on Saturday night. I'm only working Monday and then it's Xmas... plenty of recovery time for a night of dancing! Yea!

To Dublin and Back... with lots of events and sillyness inbetween.


Wow, I think this is quite possibly the longest I've gone without blogging. It was nice to have a break. It's not easy trying to discipline yourself to write every day...

Left very early ie: 4h20 on Thursday morning last week. Stayed up till 2h30... so the two hours of sleep didn't do me much good. I had gone to the Hayward gallery with Hazel to finally see the contemporary Japanese culture exhibit. It was really good. I especially like the piece that this one guy did, that involved transporting an octopus from a fish market on one side of Japan and then setting it free in the ocean at the other end of the country. It was done in video format and was accompanied by a really nice 11x17 run out of his octopus projects. I'll bring it into work one day soon and transcribe some of the paragraphs. He's truly brilliant. I like his mind.

Got to the airport with not a minute to spare. 500 people (at least) stood in the line in front of me... to get through customs. Knowing full well that if I waited I would never make my flight... I sauntered around and nestled into the front half of one of the lines. Presto.. Through customs and onto the flight! Arrive to find fab Denise waiting for me at the airport. Indeed it is still such a thrill to re-unite with a friend like her after all these years... mind you now after having seen her for 8 out the past 30 odd days.. it's kind of hard to say we never see each other. Had a great time on Thursday just relaxing and sleeping while she was at work. I read some Wittgenstein and Butler (some light reading provided by the fab Hazel) *smirk*. After a few hours my fidgets got the better of me and I laced up and went for a jog. It didn't take me long to realize that jogging in Dublin was not a common occurrence. People stared at me with worried looks on their faces, wondering if I was being chased! Ah it was all good.

Friday night Denise and I met up with her BF named K.P and his friend Simon at a bar in town. We stopped in briefly at a Kebab shop so that KP could get something to eat.... That is where I snapped my fav. photo op in recent history. On the board listing all the specials I found a listing for -> Homos £2.50 Wow what a bargain! LOL. Don't believe me? write me, I'll send you the pic. We ended up at Whelan's and had a great time dancing to some Indy tunes that reminded us that we were getting old. Ah well, you're never too old to dance the pixies and stone roses! Met up with Dan and Sally there too! It's neat to see people that you know from home in places that are normally out of context.

Saturday was a relaxing day. Did a wee bit of shopping with D and just generally hung out. Bought a new pair of pumas... thought I deserved a treat... Went out again Saturday night... didn't have very much energy to stay out all that late so I left Denise and her fab friends at the Tomato bar and walked home. It's quite a surreal thing, to walk through the streets of Dublin at 2am. They are just teeming with people... not just that, it's kind of surreal because everyone who is in the street is between the ages of 18 and 35... and everyone is pissed. The only thing I can liken it to, is Frosh week in Ottawa, where tons of students from both Uni's are all milling about.

Sunday was all about rest and catching up on the marathon episode of Eastenders... sad to say, I've not been here quite 4 months and I already am up to speed on all the trash TV! We finally ventured out in the evening to get some food. We met up with Brendan, Denise's brother. Followed by, what is now my favorite Dublin bar " The Globe". D and KP went home to rest and I stayed on and chatted with Brendan. It was a good laugh.

Monday Denise had the day off of work and she and I did a little bit more xmas shopping or "crimbo" shopping as they say here... had a nice lunch and then headed to the Guinness storehouse. It's a really neat place. Saw how it was made did the whole tourist thing... It's strange because I normally have to be dragged kicking and screaming to any activity such as that... Got my dad and grandfather some neat little souvenirs. Met KP and went to see Zoolander that night. It was a funny film... but as always, they give too much away in the previews...

Headed home early Tuesday morning and before I knew it, it was 13h and I was back at my desk with stress pain in the neck wondering where my holidays had went...

Doing the late shift tonight, good time for me to write this all down.... so much in the works leading up to mass... I just can't wait to have some more time away from this madness!
Yea, so I can't be arsed to put up all the 150 odd pics I took... if you're interested in seeing any drop me a line sj_chick@yahoo.com

Trendy Sausages?

Yup, only in London. I went to this trendy restaurant last night with my co worker Dearbhla. It was off of Oxford st. Their specialty was Sausage and mash. Nothing but sausage and mash... I can't believe it. The place was jammers and everyone was chomping down on sodding wieners! What a laugh. I chose the one of two vegetarian options... it was a Glamaorgan sausage (that thankfully didn't look like a sausage) it was made with leeks, broccoli and cheese. Lovely indeed. but for 8£ I can imagine that it wouldn't be hard to find something more appealing to eat!

After our sausage extravaganza we ventured next door to a bar called Social.... inside I was amused to find that, what appeared to be the wardrobe for sex in the city was being worn by the occupants of the bar! It was trendy. The music was fab. Apparently it's owned by a record company and there are often sightings of your favorite celebs... hmmm. Sometimes I'm just so Canadian. Grooving away to Massive Attack, I sat there giggling and people watching.... It was the type of place that as a Canadian you generally only read about in magazines... I kind of had to pinch myself to prove that I was really there... I'm not quite sure yet if it was a good or a bad thing....

Chatted with Christie and Yvonne and got e-mails from Darrell and Mark. I'm so lucky today... Funny how sometimes you don't hear from people in ages and then all of a sudden everyone writes at once!

Good news!

I'm taking Thursday and Friday off next week and the following Monday as well...Heading to Dublin to visit my friend Denise. I got a flight for 20£ return tax included! They have the best deals here. The flight was 1p each way and the rest of the fees were just taxes! I'm off to do my xmas shopping. The punt is weaker than the sterling so I'll be able to get more bang for my buck!

The mere thought of having time off has lifted my spirits and reduced my stress level considerably! I can't wait to go! I love Dublin! Plus I might even be able to meet up with Dan and Sal during the weekend, as they too will be in Dublin....

So after about a week long hiatus I'm back at the blog thing. It was a nice break really. It does take a lot of energy and commitment to update this everyday. It's good though... a little bit of structure does the mind some good.

Had a busy and fun weekend... Went to he aquarium, then out for supper.... Met up with Dan and Sally at Vespa... Good fun. Spent almost the entire day in bed on Sunday. What a treat, literally. When finally out of bed Hazel showed me this great Indian restaurant in Stoke Newington... We had great eats and tasty wine. Went to Due south for a bit of relaxing... ended up playing pool with these two mad middle aged ladies... All was well until she started going on about how all "Canadians are thick".... hmm. not much you can say to someone who's that ignorant... It was good for a laugh though. I can't imagine ever saying that to someone. She thought herself rather clever.

Work continues to dominate most of my hours during the day and night. Swimming on Monday and Tuesday this week... H is the best new swimmer I've ever seen... from floating to swimming in the deep end in the span of just an hour and half! In all my years of teaching I've never seen someone make so much progress in such little time. What fun!

I'm sitting here listening to one of my designers chatter away to one of our clients in German. It's amazing after how a few weeks of being exposed to the language, you start to pick up some familiarities. In North America, you're always exposed to other languages but very rarely are they European or Germanic or Scandinavian... speaking of the Scandis... this blond number made off with my towel at the gym last night... honest mistake really. We both had green towels... typical sit com moment...

I am now the proud owner of a nice space heater that provides me with some well needed heat on my feet at my desk. I hope it lasts the winter... I don't think I could without it.

Oh so quiet

So I'm sitting here staring at my mini Zen garden on my desk... visions of burying myself in the sand swirl through my head... If that didn't work I could just hide behind a rock, avoid the chaos of work.

I think it's gotten to the point where I have so much to do I no longer have any motivation to do any of it. I'm like the naughtily school girl in the back of the class, not doing her maths.

shh. no one is on to me.

Shhh. Shhh. If you ever have the unfortunate experience of being in a Karaoke bar, don't despair... A few weeks back I was at the Oak Bar on a Sunday night with Jo. Between the trauma of being there I enjoyed the pleasure of the most fabulous rendition of Bjork's "oh so quiet". It was fantastically done. She was brilliant, and so is the song. So if you're ever forced to do Karaoke... search for that song. It was a real crowd pleaser.

Cold Feet and Mugging... all in an evening

Finally managed to watch that program "Cold Feet" that Mark has been glowing about. It's quite good really. It's the Brit 2000 version of the 80's American classic "Thirty Something". I sat watching it remembering really liking 30 something... but when I do the math, I am really quite puzzled... I wasn't even in my 20's and I liked that program? What does this mean...

So as Hannah pranced off into the night to visit her boyfriend... she was mugged. Got a call in the middle of Cold Feet from her BF's roommate telling me to deadbolt the door as Hannah had been mugged and her keys, wallet, phone and bag were stolen. She was alright... wee bit of a twisted ankle but good. It could have been far worse... I sat there on the couch huddled under the duvet waiting for the scary key in lock sound from the front door. Visions of mad men letting themselves into the flat raced through my head. With no deadbolt on the lock there was nothing more I could do but wait... and hope that the person who stole her purse did not have the brains to find the address of the flat on a bill in her purse. I did the best I could to keep my mind busy by texting Hazel, who was kind enough to take time out from her evening with her friend to calm my fears... Her friend even thought she was cheating at scrabble because of all the texting! *too funny* Anyhoo. Jo finally came home at around 1am and I felt safer...

Woke up this morning and felt like a dweeb. Kind of like that feeling you get when you are really spooked after watching a horror movie, then when you wake up in the morning you're like.... Damn... I'm so silly.

What a great weekend.

Had a great time with Denise! It was so brilliant o see her and her Goldie locks. She arrived at close to 9pm on Friday. We sat in the flat, had supper, then went to the pub for a drink or two...

Saturday morning was shopping and bustling through the masses of people on Oxford St. Jo kindly joined us to guide through shortcuts! Had lunch at First Out... yummy veggie food there. Went to the Wellington in Soho for a post shopping pint before heading back home to the flat. Had a quick bite and headed to meet Blaise at the Dog and the Duck. Hazel and her friend Keith joined us at half ten... copious amounts of drinks later we headed to (Freedom?) can't quite remember the name of the club, but it was a good laugh.

Camden on Sunday with Denise and Hannah. So many nice things... Had a very dodgy veggie burger (didn't help the hangover much) Rested Sunday evening and got up early this morning. Met Denise briefly before she jumped on the tube to head back out to the airport. It's so nice to have a friend like her, I'm lucky.

Took some pics... I'll put them up tomorrow.

Call me old fashioned...

But, fuck me I'm not stupid. This is an extract from an e-mail from the Scotia Bank student loan centre...

"In order for the pre-authorized debit to function, the amount required must be in the account..."

Thanks Scotia Bank. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Damn, you ask for a statement on your balance and you get this in return. Man, I guess they just assume you're an idiot. I do bank with them so I guess they know that already.

Sitting here at the office sipping a Becks waiting for Denise to arrive. Today was mayhem. Didn't even stop for lunch till almost 16h. Doesn't work out too well when you haven't had breakfast. Wondering what the weekend will bring.

Brr.

So it's about, well lets just say very cold in the studio today. Full on outside clothes inside.

One more sleep till Denise arrives! I'm so excited to see her. It will be good spirit lifter... Was feeling really low yesterday because my bank sucks, and I'm not going anywhere for Xmas. Flights to Toronto are 500£ ah well.

Heard from Markie today who thinks I'm a meanie for not writing to him enough... I had a kit kat at lunch for you Mark.

Working the late shift tonight so perhaps I'll manage to do some more blogging in the evening.

Perhaps some hot beverage will help warm things up in my ice cube body.

More later.

What a fun night

Hazel has the most excellent play value! She took me to do a "London at night" tourist walk... took some not so successful pictures then sat and had some Guinness and whiskey and chatted and chatted while people watching at the cinema cafe on the South Bank. She's brilliant!

Doing lunch with miss Jo today and supper with miss Dan tonight... it's a food day. Oops, did someone forego the gym this morning? *guilty look*

The studio is so cold today... I was at one point wearing my winter coat, gloves and hat... drank a cup of tea, then regained a normal body temperature... I would have thought that the iron from the Guinness last night would help matters, hmmm.

Plans have changed with Siobhan so doesn't' look like I'll be heading there for the holidays. Checking out one last angle at a cheap Canadian flight. We'll see if that pans out. If nothing else at least KJ will be probably coming over sometime during December.

things are moving about in the studio today... some well needed frameworks irrigation got the flow going... so much is backed up so much new stuff coming in.

The boiler in the flat is kaput. No heat and no hot water... my pounding headache that I woke up with this morning would have kept me from going to the gym, however quickly realizing that it would mean no shower... I hopped out of bed and zipped down to the gym. As convinces go, our landlord is away for the next 2 weeks leaving not contact in case of emergency. Oh the joy of renting... guess it's better than owning and paying for it yourself!

Dearbhla leaves for Thailand this evening. She looks so excited! I can just feel the buzz off of her! Everyone should have more holidays. She's now zipping down to the shop to collect some chocolate for the troops. She's fab.

Had a great online chat with Yvonne yesterday at the office. I love instant messaging... even though it's a faux pas at work... it's great to connect and just chat with a friend from across the ocean. Keeping in touch with people is one thing but keeping a connection with them is another thinge entirely... Chit chatting is something that quickly falls by the wayside when you're far away from your friends. *bows to the yahoo messenger gods*

Still trying to work out plans for xmas... doesn't look like I'll be getting to Toronto... no cheap flights to be found... unless you consider 480£ reasonable... Portugal looks more promising... Must write Siobhan!

I feel like

I'm falling off the blog wagon.

Lisa and Dave had their baby on Saturday. They sent pics, *yea technology*! She is so beautiful! Man, I'm starting to feel really old!

The weekend was nice and slow. Had drinkies with some people from work on Friday night... then had a really chilled supper with Hon from the office... neither he, nor I could handle much more of the pub without food in the belly. He's wicked.

Got my haircut on Saturday, feel so much better...

So, last night at 4am when I awoke for no reason, I had this thought about this feeling... the only way I describe the feeling is like being standing waiting at the exit of a grocery store... bags in hand, weighed down... damp and gray outside... there is nothing pleasant about it... you know that feeling like, God, I really don't want to be here right now.... then it passed. Really odd. Not that I was personally feeling that way, it was just at that moment I was thinking about how having that feeling felt. Hmm.

Scrambled to the gym this morning and squeezed in an hour workout... I seem to be slipping time-wise getting to the gym in the mornings. Listened to some Zoë bliss... good jogging tunes.

Mark would be distressed to know that the onslaught of 80's movies continues... the one I dozed off to while watching on Sunday afternoon was something strange called "switched on" I think... it was with John Ritter and Eugene Levy and the actor that played the principal in Ferris Builler's Day off... I can't even begin to describe the bizarreness of the film... I think it's shameful enough that I'm admitting to having watched it... *laughs at self*

We've created a new arrow family!

exclaims Hon. This about sums up the excitement of today... updates to the diagram style guide... fun.

This is my horoscope for today.... Hazel I think we did the right thing this morning...

It may be difficult for you to get out of bed today, because you may not be able to imagine how to face all those boring daily routines. You're strongly inclined to stay home in your cocoon, reading, watching TV, or tidying up the house. Of course, the intense events of the past several days have been a drain on your emotions. As a Pisces, you need time to withdraw and recenter your energies. Be sure to give yourself that time, even if you only have the evenings and weekends to do so!

There is just so little time, I'm just not having enough gaps between the minutes and seconds of the day to write things down.

The weekend was full of rest, sleep, reading and then more sleep.

My office is now running bets on what colour my hair will be next week. I had quite the wrestle with the dark brown colour I bought (called brazilia). Friday night, while rinsing my hair in the sink, Hannah came home... The colour drained out of her face as I retracted my head from the sink.... "uhh Sarah, what colour is it supposed to be?" she asked me cautiously. So I'm thinking dear god... what have I done? It can't be green or anything like that... Turns out that in the world of L'Oreal... brazilla brown turned ebony black... It's rinsing out slowly... I'm sure in a few more days it will be the dark brown colour as promised. I've always loved black hair just never thought I would have it myself. Ah well my mum laughed for 10 minutes when I recounted her the story over the phone.

Nestled into my bed early last night and read my book. Busy day again here at the office but that goes without saying.

Chatted with Annick this PM on pager... she was telling me about her new job in the butcher shop. keul.

there just aren't...

enough hours in the day. Being at the office for 15 hours yesterday has taken it's toll. This weekend is such a good thing!

Got my CD produced and delivered to Salzburg this AM! Yea.

Had a lovely lunch with Tim and Dearbhla today. I had a grilled veggie baguette with chips and a roquet salad and an amazing glass of red wine.

Spoke to KJ briefly last night when I finally got home. She's happy and seems to be settling nicely with her new housemate. However with him in the room it was hard to know what the real story was... spill it seestor!

It's so disappointing not having any Thursday gossip ands scandal, or even philosophical ramblings to report. Soho was just not the same last night without Dan and I!

Cheesy chips, marmite on toast, and invisible bus travel

I'm trying to mix things up today and get a wee blog in, in the morning.

Jo dragged me into town last night... ran into Lou and Kerry. It had been so long since I had seen them! Had a drink, mulled around and then headed home. Experienced Halloween London style. It's a new development here... don't think the concept of dressing up as anything other than a vampire or as something dead has quite come round yet... very interesting. Can't complain really, I was so very not, in a costume. Jo stumbled into the flat closer to two with some cheesy chips... mmmm.

Managed to get up early and have some marmite on toast and chat with Hannah.

So I think I'm going to start a log of my adventures on the #38. My "invisible to the fare collector" theory is alive and kicking again, however I feel that this invisibility only occurs when I travel alone. Hmmm. Quite a cost effective trick really.... Wonder what else I have up my sleeve....

Have you ever seen a stranger's goodness through a passing glance in their eyes? Have you ever seen a little piece of the surreal? This morning on my way into work I had a few glances into that space. Hmmm.

My horoscope today reads:

Like a fish reacting to changes in pressure in the water surrounding you, Pisces, you are usually extraordinarily sensitive to social trends. This means that you are likely to dramatically respond to the seven-month phase that is dawning today. It will be more humanistic, although the means it employs to liberate people are likely to be somewhat abrupt. But you are more aware than most that freedom has a price. Though you will feel the biggest impact in your professional life, your private life will not be immune to these changes, either.

Damn, sounds like fun... Drew, maybe the whole end of doormat theory is accurate!

Swimming last night with Hannah was a success. Poor little petal had to hang around my office while I put out some overseas fires that broke out just as I was leaving at 18h30. Finally at 19h30 we headed towards the pool. The steam room, was indeed more of a success as there were only 3 people in it last night *phew*

Jo and I's adventures into town for a cheeky one weren't so fruitful. With the full moon in our veins... it just wasn't enough to make things exciting on a Tuesday night.

Mark wrote me today to tell me about his new promotion! I'm so excited for him! If anyone sees him, tell him to eat some more kit kat's... it's all good!

Cold, or no cold... it's very dark and it's 18h. Winter is scratching at my heels.

Busy...

Up early... had a good workout... on my way to work I remembered that I was supposed to go swimming with Hannah. Oh my god I'm a gym addict.

Work . no comment.

Meeting up with Jo and might head to first out for a cheeky one this evening after I get back from the pool with Hannah. Think we'll try the steam room again, this time since it's lady's night, we might have a bit more luck. Got a mail from Jeffie today. It's always so good to hear from him. I took it as a sign to catch up on all my correspondence. Wrote to Kim who I haven't spoken with in far too long!

Hazel is jetting off to the Emerald Isle for a few weeks. Lucky bird. Holidays would be well received! Hope we can go and play when she gets back...

Night has fallen. Must be off.

Candle roasted marshmallows, hip hop Jo, and steam room trauma

It's all in a weekend.

Finished work with a great sigh of relief on Friday. Headed home listening to some Kid A from the Radiohead boys. Stopped in at the Wellie on my way home for a quick pint. Went home ate and got ready to go out. Jo Drew and I went to liquid lounge and then popstars. The festivities from the night before coupled with the day I had at the office, did not allow much energy for this outing... Ended up back at home around 1am and tumbled into bed. Sleep was just so very appealing.

Saturday morning crept into my room and I awoke and prepared to head down town to collect Hannah's cake. The bus ride into town squashed my theory that I was invisible to fare collectors. After doing 2 trips in the last two days I finally was asked to pay a fare... Jo smiled at me smugly, knowing my theory was now de-bunked... arrived in town, exchanged Jo's sweater at Muji... then my mini rock garden at American Retro. After a great deal of walking down Oxford st. we finally ended up at Chockywockydoodah. The cake was there and waiting. Quite splendid. It was a solid chocolate covered cake with a towering collection of pink and white marshmallows. Gravity, was not an opponent to this cake. Jumped on the 30, that by some small miracle, circulated around those parts of town...

There we sat, feeling quite pleased with ourselves for having completed all our tasks in the short time that we had before Jo had to be at work. All of a sudden this young guy came and sat in the seat in front of us. He asked us to wake him up when we got to Angel. He proceeded to introduce himself and tell us about his previous evening's exploits. Jo and I couldn't help but smirk at the oddness of the whole situation. He then looked at Jo and asked her "Are you a hip hop girl?" I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing... now that's a line I've got to remember! After she replied he then asked her if she had a boyfriend. (indeed this girl has the fever!) she's even pulling random young straight boys on the bus! Ah what a laugh.

The party was a success. A little bit of unavoidable drama... but all in all a good time. Esmerelda even stopped in. It was a good laugh, it was nice to see Hannah happy, she's been quite low of late. Drew, Esmerelda and Lynsey were drunk enough to prove that one could indeed roast marshmallows over candles!

Sunday morning Hannah and I hit the oh so exciting Sainsburys for some well needed food. 53£ later we headed home. Lentil soup and baguette for lunch followed by a swim at Highbury Corner. The swim was great, we thought that we would cap it off by a nice little sit in the steam room... well room isn't quite what I would call it. It was more like a steam broom closet. Lets just say it was filled with a lot of very rowdy very muscular black men who were very excited to see us. Feeling panic and claustrophobia setting in, I hesitantly followed Hannah to sit down. Unfortunately we weren't even able to sit down next to one and other. I closed my eyes and tried not to have a panic attack. We bravely lasted about 5 mins before we caught a glimpse of one and other through the steam and communicated the panicked, lets get out of here look to one and other. Perhaps it was the garbled conversation and laughter about cherries that the men were having that put things over the edge. I can't say for sure....I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard... walking out of the steam room, I'm sure they all could hear us.

Went to bed insanely early and was at the gym at 8 again this morning.... I'm on a bit of a swimming kick.... My hair colour isn't liking it too much... but that's another story.

Have you?

Have you ever been drunk at work? I mean, like the kind that's left over from the previous night's indulgences... very professional indeed *slaps self on hand*

It's official, Jo has "the fever" she pulled this girl last night and then went home and had some action with her friend from out of town! Shocking! Non stop action. When it rains it pours. She really needed that! Yea!

"It's half eleven and not a child in the house is washed!" Exclaims Dearbhla. I don't think she could ever cease to amuse me with her quirky Irish expressions.

Hannah's birthday party tomorrow. Mandy and Kate are out of town for the weekend... should be an interesting night. Lots of organizing to do Saturday morning, going into town with Jo to collect the cake from chockiewockiedoodah (wow that was fun to write). I think I'll take the opportunity to return my rake-less mini Zen rock garden that I bought a few weeks back... not so Zen without the rake... just my luck, I buy tranquility in a box and it's missing a piece. LOL

Spoke with the seestor last night. Got the low down on her and her South African boy toy that she has staying with her. Contrary to what I was lead to believe... she is getting a shag out of the arrangement... she did however mention that she was anxious for him to find a job and his own place so she could have the house to herself. She sounds happy, she's loving all the furniture I left for her... things couldn't have worked out better.

Have I mentioned how fabulous Drew is of late?

Thom Yorke showed me how to disappear completely. He knows the way.

Chaos spins around me and I am weak to the temptations that offer me more than what surrounds me now. It's two minutes to six and my brain went into overload about 2h ago.

Drew has announced himself as my first full pledged blog groupie... Got a message from him this PM reading...

"why haven't you updated your journal? I eagerly logged on with bated breath to discover what was happening in the world of Sarah Jarrett, only to find your life as of yesterday. What happened to Sarah? Is she still a doormat? They can't have killed her off like they do in all the other soaps!

WE WANT SARAH!
WE WANT SARAH!
WE WANT SARAH!"

The guys here at the office, found the coolest site this aft. Check it out. You have to stay watching until it gets to the end and does the Matrix, 3D angle part. Very groovy. All this talent yet he uses AOL???? Ah well, bet this boy is going to be very wealthy some day!

http://members.aol.com/gqwu/fight.swf

Got a letter from my seestor today who is hoping to be able to get some flights to London when she's back at the airline in Dec. She was telling me stories about people I used to go to high school with, who now have babies, and ones who are returning like her to teach at our old school. I can't imagine being further away from any of that...

Doormat no longer

When you're like me and tend to roll out into a doormat when dealing with people, it's very strange to be in a situation where I, for once did not act the way I usually do. It's such a bizarre feeling. Kind of disorienting, sort of like a "new you". I'm thinking I might just have grown up a little bit...

The sun is out today and Leftfield is playing in the studio. After having stayed at the office till 8pm last night followed by a trip to the gym... I stumbled into the flat at 10pm... I am exhausted. Back at the office this morning at 9am... feels like I never left. "No rest for the wicked" my mother would say.

Pay day, as I've discovered is not until next Wednesday... my worst fear. I'm feeling like it's been an eternity since I've been sorted financially and it's starting to take a toll on my mental well being. Without a joke, looks like I'll not be able to go out and play tomorrow night.... :( poo. There are far worse things in this world so there is not use me whining.

will someone show me how to disappear completely?

sj_chick@yahoo.com

So long, and thanks for being a Fish

Her time came. Poor little Pearl. Jo, Dan and I spent last night in her company as the last hours of her life drained out of her. We tried to make light of the situation, then sadly our well wishes turned to us trying to come up with humane ways to put her out of her misery. No suitable ones were devised, so she was left to her natural path.

Jo texted me this morning to break the news that Pearl had indeed crossed over. She spent a while with her before giving her a proper burial (mini crucifix and all), in the flower box on the terrace.

The clouds are moving so quickly today I feel like the studio is being pulled with them. As I look out the large sky lights to my left I think about the so very much work to do, I kind of wish I could fly away with them.

Totally madness...

what a weekend. Busy yet restful. Went out for drinks with the work fellas on Friday. Had some good laughs and cleared the air with the senior designer... Internal communications are a little bit of a problem here so adding in a few glasses of Champaign helped a lot!.

Saturday was busy, Faye's BF came to collect all the furniture that she had left in the flat when she moved out... Our living room is now quite sparse. We have but 1 futon now and no stand or Ariel for the TV. Had breakie with Jo and Then headed to the gym early afternoon... Stayed there for a good 2h and then walked back home. Finally got to venture into the really cool little park near my house... lots of exploring... it's really quite quaint. Don't think I would want to venture through it after dark really... Ended up back at the flat, relaxed ate supper and just read my book. Jo and I met up with the girls downtown at around 9. Left first out... Hazel was there... I think Jo scared her to death. LOL she blew kisses as I walked out the door. Hmmm. Then we all headed to this torrid night at this bistro. Kerry was so set on trying new things. We went, it was very similar to any Ottawa lesbo night... sort of reminiscent of the Coral Reef.... We had a laugh and danced like idiots. Kat and I went over to some girls who were standing on their own to try and invite them over to talk to Jo and Kerry... it all went swiftly downhill into the realm of the surreal when the one blond girl announced that she was Luxembourg and that her hair was the colour of cow piss. Taken back, thinking that we had just misunderstood what the woman said... she repeated it... sure enough again she continued on about "cow piss hair" Kat and I slowly backed away scratching our heads... strange strange girl. We were very afraid.

Walked back to ours... arrived about an hour later.. I think I had enough exercise to make up for an entire week! Fell into bed and slept like a baby till 13h the next day. When I finally got up I prepared to head to my cousins for Tea... It was a nice quite journey on the tube that afforded me time to read my new book... ahhh... got back home around 9h30 and decided going straight to bed would be the most desirable option... mmm sleep!

Work is another week of bedlam... Dearbhla leaves in a week for her holidays so I have to look forward to even more work! Goodness!

Finally put up some pics check out the links I think they'll work better than imbedding the images like last time...

1) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Angel.JPG - Islington Angel... my neighbourhood
2 www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Camden.jPG - Camden Market... great shopping
3) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Lucy_Chris_Garden.jpg - Lucy and Chris's Garden
4) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Lucy_chris_drive.jpg - Lucy and Chris's front drive
5) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/lucy_chris.jpg - Lucy and Chris
6) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/Mary.JPG - My mum arriving!
7) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/me_mum.JPG - Me and Mum 1
8) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/me_mum2.JPG - Me and Mum 2
8) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/myroom.JPG - My room
9) www.geocities.com/sj_chick/newhair.JPG - My new Hair

I feel the need to write. just like I seem to always feel the need to be so philosophical on my Thursday bus rides home. I need to reduce the space of the distance between wanting and doing. There are just so many opportunities, so much to do.

I am going to get commissioned to do that article. I'm going to focus on finding and doing something interesting to write about.

Morcheba is playing in the studio today (lying in bath music says Dearbhla). It's quite an interesting Friday. It's nice to finally have some tunes in the studio. For a while it was feeling like a bit of a morgue... The projects keep pouring in and I'm really noticing how much room there is for creative direction... projects where in the past Mark would have come in with fabulous ideas, are now left open. Its' up to me to find the Mark ideas. So little time, however, so much can be learned too! I'm liking my job more and more. I'm doing 2 CD's, a photo shoot and a video... plus about 30 print jobs. It's getting more diverse. I like that.

Had a long chat with both Jo and Dan last night. I guess I had something about me yesterday that inspired people to spill it on me. Sometimes I think I would have been alright to splinter off into a career of counseling. It's all good... I think it would have drained my emotional energy too much.

My desk is a ravaged island of paper. Organized chaos. My mind, is light and free.

It's still warm!

I'm really enjoying the fact that it's still quite warm here 17 degrees... Darrell wrote me this morning telling me that it snowed in Ottawa the other day. Man, I'm wearing a tank top and a denim jacket! I love it!

There is a really great special on flights from Air Canada, offering flights to London for 249$ return! Imagine! I'm not accepting any excuse for people not coming to visit! *tee hee*

Work is running late into the evenings... no mind really, it helps fill time and not spend money. Only another week and a bit before we get paid and life gets back to normal!

Enjoyed a quiet evening at home along last night. Watched a really interesting documentary on the BBC about skinny women. It's so amazing what people do! Now I know I'll never be thin but I'll be damned if I'm not healthy. The non smoking thing is going well... I don't think it will ever be easy... The jury is still out.

I saw stars...

idol computer stars that would be. But still stars nonetheless. Quite the eventful weekend. Had a smashing good night on Friday. Her name was Hazel and she had jet black hair and crystal blue eyes. Mmmm. Oh the adventures. Jo Kerri and Esmerelda and I hit the town. It was such a novelty to go out like a normal person on a Friday night. What fun. Had a few funny e-mails from the light eyed vixen this morning. Technology adds a really odd dimension to these sorts of things....

Saturday morning although a wee bit painful (hangover) was fun. Spoke briefly with mum in the early aft. then headed to Soho to help Kerry do some shopping. I now know why people make so much money here. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there is just an endless amount of nice things to buy here... you need money! Had this really strange thing in the Diesel style lab shop... we were waiting for Kerry to try on the 300th pair of jeans and Jo, Esmerelda and I were sprawled on the sofa at the back of the shop. The three of us sat mesmerized by this angelic sales guy. Now it was the strangest thing because we all sat and stared at him for about 15 mins before we all realized that we were all absolutely captivated by is beauty. Now it was really odd... because no one was thinking "my god I fancy him" it was more like he was a piece of art. His face was like porcelain and his style so unique and his spirit so gentle. It was really neat. I know we were in the shop for almost an hour and the three of us sat there slack jawed not knowing quite what to think of the situation. We chose to sit and absorb.

Sunday was spent at Camden with Jo and Kerry... as Kerry's marathon shopping spree continued. It was the ultimate test of my fortitude... I have 0 money till the end of the month so I could not shop... I was feeling healthy for the first time in over a week and jonesing for a cigarette more than I would like to admit. I managed to not smoke....

Spent a few hours at the gym on Sunday night. It was one of those workouts where you could run on the treadmill forever. A wee bit of Roni Size can get you a long way. By the time I got home it was 10pm and I was so full of endorphins that I couldn't sleep. So I cleaned my room. Sorted out my washing. Cleaned the sitting room... did a budget...rang my mum... texted Dan... then finally just before midnight, fell asleep.

Morning came quickly today and with things going wrong all around me I managed to bumble my way to the launderette and drop off my washing and then finally made it to the gym at about 8h10... had a quick workout... and then dragged my butt to the office. The mountains of paperwork didn't disappear over the weekend. Dan has just written to tell me that she's taken to violently biting off the chocolate bunny's heads that she's eating in a fit of depression due to my financial distress... she's not liking me not being able to play this Thursday coming up. I think she's suffering from a bit of withdrawal from having missed last Thursday... she makes me laugh.

My new book and CD that my boss bought me arrived this morning. He's the best! I can't wait to get home to give a proper listen to the new lamb album. I'll have to let Jeffie know that I haven't missed the show... it's on the 19th and 20th but that brings me sadly back to the lack of funds issue... ah such is life I suppose. No bads, only goods. Chins up as my mother would say.

Got a really interesting e-mail from a friend today. It's quite comforting sometimes when you hear that someone else has come to the same realization that you did a while back... kind of a smug/comforting feeling. I'm so totally with you J!

Life here is hectic! I'm still fighting this uber-cough.... no relief in sight! I had a great day at the office yesterday. My really swell boss gave my co-worker and I 20£ gift certificates for Amazon.co.uk in appreciation of our hard work. It was so sweet. Dearbhla and I spend our brief lunch break shopping for books and CD's. I bought the new Lamb and a John Irving novel! I'm so excited to receive them next week.

I'm willing myself well so that I can go out and play this weekend. Went out for a bit last night with Kerry, but the smoky Candy Bar was too much for me to handle... I was so congested I could barely breathe! We left and went to this new pub in Soho called the Wellington (same name as the pub the jo jo and han work at in Islington) it was really nice and it had funky leopard print carpeting! Kitsch but really nice! Got home around 11h30 and went to bed.

Putting out fires left right and centre today. I was hoping to head home at noon to get some rest but it doesn't look like that will happen... I'm such a work-a-holic endorphin junky....

Although I'm not well, and have very little money, I can't remember the last time I was this happy!

Back...

Back at the office. Feeling a bit better than yesterday... sleep has been a challenge with my tickly cough... there could be far worse things...

Not quite sure that I'll be in any state for my Thursday night gallivanting... time will tell. Got a letter from snazzy Christine who was also at home feeling under the weather. I feel for you sister!

A little bit of tension in the flat. Hannah is upset with Jo not taking responsibilities for any of the bills or issues with the landlord. It's been almost a month since they've started construction on the addition to the back of the flat to put in the washing machine and still it's not even remotely finished. Hannah feels that Jo should take action and sort things out with the landlord since she's home all day... Fair enough. Hannah seems to be going through a bit of an emotional dip... she's over worked and underpaid and feels that Jo is running out and about and never worrying about bills etc. Hannah feels that she's constantly running after her for money and feeling like a bad guy... Pretty standard scenario... I've advised her to be pro-active and talk it out with Jo. I hope she does... I don't know how much more of Hannah's moody-broodiness I can handle. It's quite trying being around someone who is drowning in their miseries and who is not being pro-active about it...

Work is crazy insane... there is no end in sight. Good news really, the more work that comes in the more job security I have.... in light of all the shit going on in the world right now, who knows what to expect next.

...Staying positive!

The Sickie continues.

I had a long hot bath last night when I got home from work. My mum always said, have a log hot bath and go to bed. That just didn't do the trick.

Going home now. *sniffle*

s

A sickie on the weekend

Leave it to me to pull a sickie on the weekend. I finally succumbed to the nice little virus that my mum had when she came to visit me. I stayed in Sat. and Sunday night. I felt like poo. I did however manage to use this sickness to my advantage. I cleaned the flat and finally made my room, a room. It no longer looks like I'm just staying for a few weeks. I've settled. This is my new home.

I also took the opportunity during my many hours spent at home this weekend, to change. I've changed something drastically. I don't think most people would recognize me now! It's really fun. I quite like it. I leave it up to some guessing. Write me if you think know what I've done... and I'll send you a pic.

Well my wee scratchy voice and I best get back to work. Thanksgiving back in Canada today... no holiday here, that's for sure.

sj_chick@yahoo.com

nearing the end of day here... it's been a long one. Dearbhla and I have just recovered from a little bit of a silly-fit. We've been giggling and making monkey voices from this really funny advert that they show here. Go to www.itv.com and view the monkey ads. You'll see what I mean.

Heading to Jo and Kat's new flat tonight for some takeaway and chats. I was just going to stay home and recover from last night but I figured that I only live once and that it would be a shame not to go.

There was some very serious misbehaving last night. LOL. However a true lady never kisses and tells. In my case, I'll just skirt the details.

I ended up back at home eating jam toast with Jo Jo.

No interesting bus journey this time... quite frankly simply due to the fact that I do not recall my bus ride home.

Heard from Mark today. I'm so thrilled to hear that he's making waves in his big fancy job! Yea! I love it when things work out for people!

Speaking of Mark, I've been reading Spiral girl's journal as of late. It's strange because now that she has a voice so to speak... she seems so much harsher than I imagined when I was just looking at the pretty pictures on her site. She's less curved around the edges she's more crass than I had imagined. I'm kind of disappointed, but such is life. Kind of like when you see a radio personality and they look nothing like you think they would.

KJ's boy has arrived from South Africa... Mum reports that he is far too old for her and that KJ has decided that he is definitely not boyfriend materiel. I know he's in his 40's I can't imagine the look on my mum's face when she met him. I know age doesn't mean much but it sure would have been interesting. Ah well, it's nice for her to have some adventure.

Spoke with my friend Kathie that I haven't seen properly for years. She might be coming to visit me when she finishes her degree. It would be really great to see her again!

I'm very impressed, my mission to blog everyday this week was almost a success. it is not easy to keep up!

Ah yes, it's B-rad's B'day today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

sj_chick@yahoo.com

Oooh sweet mother of god, exclaims my Irish co-worker named Dearbhla! She makes me laugh. She has all these nutty expressions. Working here is such a cultural mish mash... German, South African, Irish, English, Welsh, Canadian... there is not a day that goes by that we aren't taking the piss out of one and other for our various cultural bizarreness...

Kerry is going to join Dan and I this evening on our traditional night on the town... in the famous words of Dan have been altered a bit today..."ladies, the sluts of Soho are on the prowl and with a new member" should be fun.

Was at the gym early this morning again... swimming last night. Good to know that I haven't fallen out of the habit of things even though it took me nearly a month to get things going... They show MTV on one of the flat screens that sits in front of the cardio... I'll get my video fixes at the gym since we don't get any on the TV at home...

It's been so busy and I'm so totally PMSing here at work... Tonight's outings will be a great stress reliever.

Have I mentioned how great a friend Sean is of late?

sj_chick@yahoo.com

“I am a fucking human being”

“I am a fucking human being” he exclaimed. There I sat in the middle of the upper deck of the 38 on my way back from comedy night at the Vespa lounge with Kerry. To the front of me were about 6 Asian men, sitting, occupying single places, bantering away in their own languages. Behind me sat a coloured man and a lower middle class white woman, to whom he was obviously trying to pull. In walked a skin head- late 20something man with a tattoo of a dragon that went from the front of his ear right on round to nearly his forehead. Complimenting this he had another tattoo of a small crucifix that sat right in between his eyebrows.

First there was a bit of commotion between this man and the fare collector. I was quickly relieved to discover that there was no conflict, and the proper fare was paid. The man with the tattoos was obviously rather sauced - and up for a bit of conversation. The reluctant fare conductor listened to the man as he started to pose his question. “ What do you think about this fucked up shit that has been going on lately?” The cautious Middle-Eastern fare collector skirted the question and tried to continue on collecting fares. He looked like he feared initiating some sort of fight with this daunting looking man.

I apprehensively waited for the conversation/response to transpire. I kept flashing my attention to the animated Asian conversation unravelling in front of me. There I sat, the passive observer, hoping for the best and expecting the worst… There was a slight lag in the conversation to the rear of me, broken swiftly by the fare collector asking the tattooed man if he had change for a 20£ note. Quite an odd exchange I thought to myself. The skinhead did indeed have change; during the exchange of monies the tattooed man took the occasion to prod on to the collector about what was clearly occupying his thoughts- the recent bombings in NYC. As all this unfolded, I started to realize that what I was witnessing was not brooding aggression on the part of a drunken racist, but a boy, a scared human being who just wanted to be comfort through an ordinary conversation. “ I am a fucking human being and I don’t care what the fuck god you or I believe in. What those fuckers did was wrong”.-he shouted.

At that very moment I felt very aware of how blatantly I pre-judged the tattooed man, and this entire incident. Everyone on that bus was indeed human; the fare collector who very diplomatically declined to debate, or take responsibility for a small sub-group of terrorists who may just by chance, share his religious beliefs. This was very fair. Just before I got up to get off, having missed my stop, the tattooed man exclaimed “ I feel like I’m going to explode with all the emotions I have inside me right now!” At that moment, time stood still. Then, with the blink of an eye, the Asian men snapped back into their conversation. I exhaled and thought how important it was that I absorbed this moment. I had learned so much … and how much I could sympathize with the man that I so swiftly miss-judged… How much I wanted to escape into the unknown secrecy of the Asian conversation… That’s when it hit me. Yes, think. We are all fucking human beings and perhaps, they too were discussing the recent turmoil’s. It was too late I was already one stop too far, and at that point in time I had to get off the bus.

thoughts? write me- sj_chick@yahoo.com

after all my little French speaking chicken ...

"after all my little French speaking chicken how could they have an opening night without Sohos premiere tarts?????" - says Dan in an e-mail she sent me yesterday. So very amusing. Heading out on either Thursday or Friday... Hopefully Friday, these Thursday night escapades are taking their toll!

I'm really enjoying things here. The drama factor is really low. It's so refreshing to start a new chapter of your life. I highly recommend it.

Started at the gym this morning (after weeks of procrastination) I feel like a million bucks. Got on the scale to find that I was 10 stone! LOL I love their system of body measurement here!

Still haven't had a chance to write out my really interesting journal entry. I wrote it out in my paper one but got too carried away watching the movie Heathers last night, that I didn't have the chance to key it. I'll try during my lunch....

Still very busy here, very wet today too... Although the leaves are not turning colour... they're falling off and fall is most definitely here.

Heard from Jeffie today! It was brilliant to hear about Susie's pink party! Sounds like a blast

sorry no blog today... absolutely no time :(

Promise a really really good one tomorrow.

Recovery

There is a really disturbing trend happening in my life... I'm thinking that it has a lot to do with Thursday night debauchery with Dan. It was loads of fun and trouble last night. Jo, Lou and Kerri were out with us too. Kerri pulled this girl she was eyeing. She was so excited. I'll keep the rest of the nights follies for another day... Went to G A Y after the CB and danced a wee bit. Kept thinking how much Sean would have loved the place... lots of half naked boys writhering about...

Spoke with Sean during the day yesterday. He rang me on my mobile. It was so nice to hear his voice. The only person from back home that I've spoken with real time since I've been here besides my mum. Nothing could ever replace the voice to voice conversation. Text messaging and e-mail are grand... but the phone is still really great... little things that you think about when you're away from your regular support network of friends.

Work was hazy and painful. Rightly so quite frankly. Mind you it's now 17h20 so there is not long to go before I head home. The crew here are going out for drinks after work. I don't know if I could stomach it! What the hell...

I'm not sure if it was the nausea or from my hangover but I sure had some massive twangs of wooziness. I was thinking about my mum arriving, anxiety of her flying etc. I know it's silly, but you just never know. We've had such a strange relationship over the past few years... I feel bad for her hoping that I'll start dating boys again seeing as I've moved somewhere new... That will all be crushed when she meets my roommate who is clearly gay. Ah well, I can't protect her forever, I've resolved not to discuss this part of my life with her, but I can't worry myself sick trying to shelter her any more than I already do. I just love her to bits, too bad really that we can't see eye to eye on this issue.

Got a letter from Yvonne today, she's just back from her trip to Nepal. She's off to start her job in NYC in a week, big change of pace from trekking in Nepal. I'm going to sign off here for now, I must write her back before I leave for the weekend.

Yea it's Thursday again!

It's been a helli-stressful week here and I'm anxious to finally push all these jobs out of the shop. Alas, there is much still today. All the girls are going out tonight to the CB. At least I'll have some back up in trying to make Dan behave!

Everyone at the office is late today. The Tube from Victoria is a no show. I'm very thankful not to be standing around in the sweaty tube station with hundreds of disgruntled people.

It's beautiful outside today. Almost summer-like. I'll be sure to get out at lunch and go to the bank...

Cleaned, what there is to my sparse room last night, so that it would look decent fro when my mum arrives on Saturday. I just can't wait to see her!

Hannah and I sat on the couch last night having a huge laugh about this show we were watching on Television. It's where a panel of a relationship expert, a best friend and a mother chose a mate for their friend. In this situation the person was a 31 year old woman. They go through interviews with 100 people. From there they chose 6. Of those 6 the friend and the relationship counselor rifles through the boy's rooms. It was hilarious... They ended up choosing her this tattooed hair dresser that was lovely. Man, we laughed and screamed for an hour during the program! Next week, the couple move in with each other for a period of three weeks. It's such a laugh. What fun!

Madness here at the office today. The deadline for the end of this week is looming and we're still trying to pump out 40 odd print jobs in various stages of incompleteness. It's good that we're not the ones holding things up, but it's a tall order to keep track of all the things that are outstanding from clients all over the world! It's nice to use my brain again... not so nice to be so out of practice!

Got a letter from Char today! I was so happy to hear from her. I miss seeing her smiling face every morning when I got in to the office. She seems to be having a great time with her doggies... and could also end up on this side of the pond sometime in March with her hubby! It would be so so fabulous to see her!

Caroline wrote me today too to give me and update on her goings on. She's doing well too...I'm still anxious to see her pregnant belly. I can't wait to see her in those maternity leather pants that she mentioned! It makes me happy that people are doing well!

Mum has announced that she's coming for the weekend. She's using KJ's last pass and arriving on Saturday morning. She's bringing me the remainder of my belongings... I feel really guilty that she's doing such a massive amount of traveling just to bring my stuff over... she insists that she doesn't mind... but you never know with her... Regardless, I am thrilled that I will get to see her and spend (however short it may be) time with her. I could really use a hug! I'm going to make sure to stop by Boots tonight when Hannah and I do groceries and buy mum some of her favorite soaps and powders (Oil of Evening Primrose) that she loves so much and can't get at home.

Imagine a world where you get your country's entire weather report announced over the radio within 20 seconds in the morning, followed by national traffic reports! Imagine no longer... it is the case here. It's quite funny.

Went to bed really early last night in an attempt to rid myself of the self imposed fatigue left over from Sunday night's poor quality of sleep due to hangover. Woke up at 4 am man it was just breath taking outside my window. It was thick thick, still fog draped over the low lying clouds and buildings. I wish my digital camera could have taken a decent picture of it!

Dan's back in town after her sejour to Ireland over the weekend. We're already planning this Thursday's outing. Looks like Jo and Kerri and Lou will be joining us this time. Good I could use the re-enforcements... she's hard to keep a handle on... especially after her misbehaving last week! Ah it's fun

Had a great weekend. Spent most of Friday recovering from drinking with Dan. Sat at home with Jo Jo and shared a bottle of wine and watched some TV. Saturday I met up with Lucy and Chris. We had a lo-fi afternoon in their neck of the woods just south of the river. Took some pictures of them and their place... I'll have to put them up sometime.

Jo's parents were in town on Saturday during the day. They are very sweet. I wish I had been able to spend the day with them, because when Jo came home to go to work, they stayed in town and went to go and see the Lion King. In light of recent events it is now very easy to get tickets to all the big shows in the city. Normally the waiting list is about a year to see it. They had a great time.

I've noticed how strange it is here not having an autumn. I love it. It's like this wonderful sort of denial that winter is actually not coming. Back in Canada it's abundantly clear. Here the leaves don't turn color one bit! One more bizarre culture shock that I've experienced.... is the size of my feet. Here I'm a size 4! Imagine. Very strange.

I went shopping in Camden on Sunday. Bought loads of really cool things. I had such fun. I took some pics of the masses of people. I love wandering around there on my own. There is just so much to see. I'm going back next weekend with Jo, Lou and Kerri. It's much more difficult to navigate when you're there with people but it's going to be fun nonetheless.

Went to the Oak Bar last night with Jo,Drew Kerri, Lou and Michelle.. in celebration of Drew's new job with Deuchebank. It was a riot... there are certainly some scary looking ladies there let me tell you. Jo unfortunately overindulged a wee bit and ended up puking her ring up! I hope she's alright today...

Work is mental busy. Got a long letter from snazzy Christine today. She seems to be doing very well! I'm slowly starting to lag in my correspondence just as I seem to be doing with my Blog... I think Once I start going to the gym in the morning I'll be able to get here to work earlier and do some writing... *crosses fingers*