hey

i just noticed that my last entry was number 555 tee hee... not long till 666... Once i bought a dr pepper, and a packet of fags way back when in ottawa and the total came to $6.66 i was amused... the shop keeper, not so much.

Strange and random things often happen to me... I always find myself telling my sister that "these things never happen i swear" like when we were walking down the street in london with all the embassys and sally was faking limbo under the secuity gate when the guy in the booth lifted the arm for her... it was hilarious... well last night after a great birthday dinner at la dolça herminia we were on our way home but wanted to stop for the ultima de la ultima... when we stumbled upon a leather sofa that was discarded in the street. it was in pretty mint condition... Alfredo fell in love with it and sat down... a few seconds later another guy and girl rocked up and sat down and started chatting... one was swedish the other italian who spoke swedish... we nabbed some tins of estrella and sat and had a good old chin wag... the street cleaners arrived and wanted to take away the sofa but we insited it was ours... and our mini street party continued... then, no joke come along two young very blond guys with suntans and surf boards... how surreal... they had missed their flight and had to wait till today to go home... the airline had no room to store their boards so they had them with them... turns our they were also italian... but from the very north as you can imagine... they ended up leaving their boards at our house for the night so they didn´t have to trekk them around... so funny. So yea KJ... I agree... these things do happen to me.

Happyness is... finding out you got payed 400 pounds more than you expected on your last paycheque from work!

I´m very excited... sally has invited me back to london to help her celebrate her b´day not this weekend but next... I´ll have to leave next Friday after school and return sunday night. Very exciting.

off to find the art shop and hopefully an art school... here´s to hoping that clotilde manages to take me there without going flat... i´ve got suspcisons that she was not fixed properly... we´ll see... if i´m in luck she may even manage to take me to the gym this afternoon.

how excited am i?

Mucho mucho!! Miss Andrea and Senor Danny are booked in for a visit. They arrive on the 1st. I can´t wait. It will be so fab to get to see them again. I feel like i´ve been away forever... it doesn´t help that my phone is still in the shop and that i have no ones phon numbers... talk about feeling cut off!

I´m off to see the art school shortly... would be great if I could start this week as the language school I´m going to doesn´t start until next week. We´ll see... Fredu has been busy working working working... so i´ve been gymming and reading... it´s funny as it´s so strange for me to spend so much time on my own. It´s good, it forces me to relax and unwind...

The sun is shining today and i´m due to collect Clotilde this afternoon... she´s my new silver bike... how exciting!?!?! okay play along

love for sale

i can´t get the song out of my head... don´t worry it´s not me selling it but there are many others all around Barcelona offering it round the clock... you can spot them on many many street corners... Alfredo keeps saying´"look she´s selling love"... must be a good trade as there are so many girls in the business...

Today was a productive day thus far and it´s only 17h20. I´ve managed to open a bank account, find the MAC counter (to purchase an emergency lipstick) have lunch with Maria... accidently swallow a fish bone... (okay yea i was trying to be a carnivore for once... that´s the good it did me)... hmmm I guess that´s all I´ve managed to do thus far today but it feels like a lot... oh yea... I also checked out a language school... they dont´have another session of classes starting till the 26th but now that my bank is sorted I can start the gym full time and I will be more than happy (so will my bellies) to get back at the gym on a regular basis.

My new bike is ready... and Fredu is picking it up from the shop on his way home tonight... of course I tried to collect it but they were not open at 16h like they were supposed to... long lunch I suppose. No passe nada LOL

I´m hoping the weather holds nice until the weekend... a week full of "slow rushing about" is tiring... I think we almost merit a break in the sea for a splash about.

hola

well well... it´s been a while but much to report so read this just before bed as it may send you to sleep... on the other hand it may intice you to send me hate mail so don´t say i didn´t warn you...

did i mention that when blogging from Spain, blogger is in Spanish? Good thing I can pretty much figure it out!

I arrived in Barcelona last Tuesday evening after a week of crazy work and frantic packing... I made a 40pound donation to easyjet in exchange for them letting me carry 30 kilos of luggage and a massive canvas bag. All arrived safely and ze boi met me at the airport to take me to our new home (still feels strange saying that) it´s been a long time since I last co-habitated but it´s good. We´ve got a tiny (or Bijou) flat as Andrea calls it right near St. Antoni Market... it´s 50m square but split across two levels... it´s nice and bright with two small balconies. I´m not sure how long we´ll last there but we´re thinking approx 2 months then we´ll find a bigger place. But all is good for now.

The gym here is right on the beach and I kind of have to pinch myself when I´m there as when you´re swimming and the Med is right there in fron of you it´s a bit surreal! At 29 euros a month, it makes my LA fitness membership back in London look extortionate!

I´ve been painting... trying for days to unlock my mobile (of course I have a tricky model) and then yes of course... our ever elusive search to find a bicycle. The city is teaming with bikes but strangely there doesn´t seem like anywhere to buy one second hand... We´ve clearly no place in the flat to keep them so they´ll have to live outside... so i would rather go cheap and avoid heartbreak when it enevitably gets stolen!


I´ve started looking for a language school. There are so many to choose from. I think I´ve narrowed it down to about 3... so I hope I can get started next week.

Meeting the lovely Maria (an ex colleague of mine) who works in the GT Barcelona office. Will be nice to see a familiar face!

More updates to come within the next few days. I´m off to hunt second hand bikes once again...

hmm is it normal to not get up until 11am? *runs*

i have an...

unnatural obsession with busses in london... anyone who knows me will openly taunt me about this fact... I don't take the bus that often to work but on the off chance 'm going out after work then I'll take it. Any other weekend or evening travel I do in London is on the bus...I've got a pre-pay oyster card here which i just top up when it runs out... To my surprise when hunting about to confirm just why i was paying £1 in the morning and only £0.80 at night... and to my surprise I found that the max they will charge you per day on your Oyster card for ANY amount of journey's is £3. That is so news to me... why oh why oh why did i not know this!?!?!?

an ex...

colleague of mine is getting a kitten tonight... she was pondering what name to call it and I suggested the oh so cute 'minou'... works for a boy or a girl... yea so it means kittie in French... should I have told her that?

I'm not so sure but I think it may be possible that I've just gotten over the hump of work I've been struggling with this week at work. It's been chaotic and mental... but I see a light at the end of a tunnel and I'm pretty sure it's not a train.

I sent one of my big suitcases home with miss andrea and mr danny last night... I guess it's the first time that the move has felt real... putting my bag in the back of the car was very surreal. They're going to bring it over to me at the end of the month when they come to visit. I'm not quite certain how I'm going to manage to get my remaining 20 pairs of shoes and the rest of my clothes into a bag... but I'll cross that bridge on Sunday.

KJ is back for the day on Saturday... we've set up some sneaky match making... we'll see how that goes... She's been championing the idea that I should set up a table outside our flat on Sunday afternoon and sell all the things I'm not taking with me for a pound... Don't know but I'm thinking it's kind of illegal in this country... I've never seen anyone do anything like it before... hey hey, maybe I can get arrested!

You know...

sometimes the world is too small of a place... and sometimes the fates are pretty freaking evil. How is it that out of hundreds and hundreds of flats for rent I managed to email the person who's letting my bf's ex girlfriend's flat? What horrible coincidence... I saw her name on the cc of the message and my heart nearly stopped. I've just opened up a whole world of evil and I didn't even intend it. She is not going to be a happy camper when she sees my name... If I could I would go back in time and not send the email... *shudders*

I don't think I can get far enough away from my computer right now.

bring on the long weekend

can i just say...

I have NO idea how I'm ever going to be able to convince myself to roll r's when I learn Spanish? I'm truly at a loss... I spent and entire year when I lived in France ridding myself of the French Canadian tendancy to roll r's when speaking... now I've got to replace my gutteral french r with the rolly spanish one.

Things like this keep me up at night.

very sad jarrett, very sad.

I was just sitting at my desk

and in a second within a second I thought about how strange it is that I'm moving to Barcelona... Strange because the first time I went there I couldn't wait to leave. I went about 8 years ago with Denise and Noeleen just before I left France. We took the train down for a mini holiday. We got driven mad by all the backpackers and their mean spirited competitiveness to race to find the hostel... no one would help anyone and it was a really stressful arrival to the main train station. I remember walking for hours... when we finally made it to the centre we were so hot and disillusioned we wanted to leave and we had just arrived A quick consultation with the tourist office and then we then jumped the first train we could out of the city and to the coast... I had no regrets I wasn't keen on seeing much more of Barcelona. It wasn't until I went back last year with KJ that I gave the city another chance... and as chance would have it... also met someone who would encourage me to do so.

I remember once reading an entry in Francis' blog about the special kind of anxious/excited feeling that he gets when he thinks about Barcelona... I believe he met his partner there. I'm a silly romantic but I like the idea of having this sort of connection with a city... I have that buzz feeling when I think of Berlin... but I'm not so sure if that has more to do with the fab time I spent there when I was last there... I wonder if the more you travel the more places like that you'll find or if your connections to cities is truly limited to one or two really special places?

I've started a new painting and it's fab. I am chomping at the bit to get home and finish it off. I found this amazing picture on the weekend in this bookshop outside of the British Museum. I didn't want to buy the book so I took a picture of the image using my camera phone and I've been painting off of that. I'm slowly learning the value of not speed painting like I usually do... it gives much better use of colour when I'm not constantly mixing paints by excitedly painting over layers that aren't dry yet... good thing I don't paint with oils!

Saturday morning Sally and I went to Smiths for brunch. How yummy!!! Too bad it's all the way across the other side of the city. I'm officially going to be dining there every Saturday until I leave (okay so there are only two left).

Seestor arrives for a proper visit this Thursday and then the long weekend is this weekend... it's carnival too and a colleague of mine's b'day party. Lots to do! Someone want to pack for me? Don't quite know when I'll get to it! I'm so very very very lucky to have a seetor who is so amazing.

I was reading my horoscope...

in the Sunday paper and it said something about today being a day where something that I had been wanting would come to fruition. I was certain that it meant that we'd find a flat today... no such luck just yet, but what the fates did deliver was the news of the new Fiona Apple album release date. Now that's almost as exciting! I guess that after all even if we don't find a flat today... it's still pretty exciting!

My neck has decided to regress into my old 'can't move it an inch' injury incurred during a fateful event in circus school 2 years ago... I have very little clue as to what triggered it... I was even forced to forego cycling this morning! Taking the bus didn't help much either... all the jerking about wasn't pleasant. I've still got health care here for another few weeks so if my massage tomorrow morning doesn't help then back to physio I go.

Got to stroll through my old hood this morning as I had a doctor's apt. I really miss that neck of the woods. I think If I ever move back to London, that I'll move back to that same neighborhood... Notting hill is interesting but just doesn't have a scratch on Angel to me. There is of course the small matter of ever being able to afford to buy a place in Angel... but lets not even go there.

the skinny...

so I just just pressed purchase for my flight over to BCN in slept. Very exciting... I was anxious to book as it's so much cheaper the further in advance you book it.. Knowing my luck something disastrous is going to befall the booking between now and then... but I'm no pessimist *scoff* The lovely miss Andrea will be hopefully jetting over to see me at the end of Sept... and will bring whatever I'm not able to get over with me. I'm sure I can bribe some other willing mules to traffic my shoes and handbags over for me :)

The weekend was fab... having a half day off on Friday afternoon is fantastic... working late every night leading up to that Friday afternoon is not so good. I was so tired by the time I got to mid-day. KJ was here already so she was home to greet me when I finally arrived. Had a nice cultural afternoon with her *aka shopping* and boy oh boy are we the queens of bargain shopping... pretty good considering I didn't even break my £8.50 a day budget. You may disbelieve but at the end of sale season... it's a goldmine... buy one get one free sales do help... so do forgotten xmas vouchers at the bottom of your handbag! I managed to buy 4 pink T'shirts (one for me,one for Sal,one for Seestor and one for mum) using said gift certificate... then scored when we found two fab black casual dresses at miss Selfridges for £15 (but it was buy one get one free!) so that counts because I didn't buy it the seestor did!?!?!

Saturday morning KJ headed back to the airport early and I hot footed it down to the gym for a long overdue visit... I can't believe that I still knew how to find the bloody place it had been so long! Saturday night I braved the tube once again... and traveled right along the path of the Kings Cross Bomb area... not nice but I did it... albeit slightly shaken... Micha's bbq was a bit wet... but only due to the rain... summer was just not making an appearance here this weekend!!! Sunday morning amidst much more rain Sally and I drudged to Regents park in search for an ever elusive England Rugby player... Suresh was in Madrid but requested that he wanted a pic of this rugby player as his birthday present... We searched high and low and finally managed to talk our way into getting one girl who worked there to snap some pics for us... sadly I don't think she got any of the guy we were looking for... ah well... I'm sure Suresh will appreciate the effort!!! Then we went down to the Touch exhibit at the V&A which was cool... I think it's been on for a while now... most of the exhibits were looking a bit worse for wear... but it was good fun anyway!

Jeesh I managed to do a lot... however not so much in the line of sifting through my things or packing like I was supposed to... this must start soon... This week should see me hopefully deciding on a language school to attend when I arrive and finding an art school where I can take that paining course I want to do... I'm looking forward to doing some learning again for a month or so when I first arrive... mind you my hunt for a job is also gaining momentum as well... it's the realisation that this is my last pay cheque ... scary stuff! I can't wait to get there and be with Fredu... the wait seems like the only hard thing left... 22 sleeps and counting!

I've just fallen in love with a flat...

I can't describe it, as who knows I may jinx it... but I secretly love flat hunting... I do it often enough for goodness sake... I'm gutted that being in London doesn't afford me the luxury to flat hunt in Spain... can you tell I'm getting anxious?

how cool is it that Barcelona has a Craig list equivalent. http://www.loquo.com/
I blew my £8 a day budget on a new book... I bought the new John Irving book in hard cover... the bloody thing must weight about 10lbs definitely not a hand bag book... I can't wait to get home and read it. I was just lamenting the other day how much I was desperate to sink my teeth into a new book. I've not read anything since I was reading ' An intimate history of Humanity' during my holiday back in March.

We've got a company shin dig this Thursday from mid-day... not sure what it is yet but we're all kind of hoping that they canned the idea of doing a treasure hunt around the city using public transport... not what most of us fancy doing on fateful Thursday...

Speaking of tubes... I finally plucked up the courage to take it again the other day. It was Sunday and jo jo assured me that the baddies would much rather blow up the tube when it's busy... and not so much on Sunday early evening when there is no one on it. I accepted her argument and jumped on... felt like it took ages... I felt bad for two young Muslim men wearing traditional dress across from me. No one would sit next to them. It was pretty embarrassing. God you just can't paint everyone as a suicide bomber just because they're Muslim. I had half a mind to just get up and take a seat next to them... but then I thought it would be aggravating the issue... so I just stayed put.

Seestor returns at the end of this week. I'm SO lucky to get to see her this often! I can't wait!

Is it...

a bad omen when outlook crashes just as you press send on your resignation email?

oh so very exciting

had a fab holiday and really enjoyed the time with mum and sister and ze boi... the Aussie visitors over the weekend were a good laugh too. Being back at work now seems surreal...

adding to the surreal feeling I quit my job today. I'm moving to Barcelona in Sept! Crazy! I'm still waiting to see if they entertain the possibility of me working remotely... who knows what will happen...

Did a whole painting yesterday morning in about 2h... guess all that time off relaxing really restored my inspiration... I'm hoping that this feeling carries through until I've actually got more time to paint in Sept.

Work is mental busy. I'm hoping these last four weeks fly by.

Last Thursday

everyone in our office and all around London stood outside our office buildings at noon to mark 2 mins of silence to show respect to the lives that we lost only a week before in all the terrible bombings on the tube. It was really moving. I think everyone felt a little bit stronger because of it.

In my spinning class on Sunday morning the instructor arrived telling stories of his exhaustion... he's an emergency services person and was working all through the night still down at Edgeware Road. He had 2h sleep before coming to teach the class... he said that they were all receiving 2 sessions of counseling a day as what they've seen was totally horrific... it's just so so sad. Luckily I had already begun to sweat profusely at this point while listening to his story... sweat very effectively masks tears.

Three more sleeps till I see ze boi and ze family!!!! I don't know why but I'm full of anxiety... amazing how most normal people relax while I'm so uneasy about it for reasons beyond me that I even bolted out of my sleep Saturday night in a cold sweat. I wonder what on earth is going on in my head? I have the fear.

Watched the Royal Tenanbaums on Saturday night as I stayed in... I've finally figured out why I don't like that film... I saw it on the plane over to Canada the day my father died... guess it was just a bit too close to the bone... especially the end scene where Royal dies of a heart attack in the ambulance. But on a positive note... if dad were still alive today he would be 65 today. He would have looked as fab as ever. Still don't quite understand how he didn't manage to outlive us all like we all thought he would... tricky little devil he was. I miss him.

Cycling to work

has now become more than a standard way for me to get to work... but it is however starting to do my head in... the amount of road traffic in London has quadrupled. I'm hoping that once everyone sees the 0's in their bank accounts from taking taxis to work instead of the tube that they stop and re-think... Wouldn't this just be a great time for the city to pour some money into making more bike lanes and encouraging people to cycle??? Kills me that it's an ideal time to champion this sort of thing and no one seems to be acting on it!

Work has launched a 'make all employees comfort eat campaign' Monday morning it was crispy crème donugts, Tuesday it was pastries, Today is muffins... Lord knows what they'll manage tomorrow... I'm sure hoping it's more fruit baskets as I can't quite cope with all this temptation... my food diary is looking more like a shopping list for someone who is considering becoming morbidly obese!

KJ arrives on Friday again and It looks like I'll not be starting my holiday as soon as I thought... Since the wedding mix up, I shall not be flying to Canada as planned... I was hoping to go see my love but alas he's shooting so I shall have to wait until next Thursday. I'm beginning to forget what he looks like!!!

Work is filled with training this week... I did a course on presentation skills yesterday in which they video you doing a 5 minute presentation. It was so embarrassing. Watching myself it was just overwhelmingly comical how much of a teacher I am... it was equally ghastly when I heard how English I sound... god I sound like that character on east enders who arrived from America but sounded like she was from somewhere in the mid Atlantic... not American but not British either just a swirl of both *shudders*. Team communication training in a few minutes... would help if there were more than 4 people on my team here today... most of them are in San Fran doing Search Engine funny business...

We are blessed with really lovely weather this week... I'm so thankful. Picnics in the park like we had early Sunday evening will indeed become more frequent! I think I'm going to really miss living in my flat... being just across the road from Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park is such a treat!

Scary!

you know I cycle in to work mostly every day... yesterday i took the tube because I was supposed to meet andrea... she cancelled so today I took the bus in as we are supposed to meet today instead... bombs on busses and underground. not nice.

My office is right inbetween kings cross and euston... one of the busses exploded not but 2 blocks from my office. Everyone one here is safe minus one but she lives in North London so we assume she's fine.

I've send emails to family to let them know I'm fine but the phone lines are jammed... bbc site is down... it's very very scary.

Looks like I'll be walking home tonight. Work has offered to pay for hotels or have us stay here if we prefer. I'm not liking this very much.

anyone have a teleporter? I would like to leave here now.

3rd time lucky!?

Beautiful Karm has just become engaged to his lovely lady friend... I'm hoping that it's 3rd time lucky! They seem quite happy together so I'm pretty sure it will all work out just fine... how is it that all my friends seem to have gone and grown up all at once... marriages and babies and such... I thought we would all be spinsters forever? Just me and KJ then?

The weather has turned unseasonably cold here but for the first time in about 5 days We've got a few rays of sunshine this afternoon. For that I am thankful.

Work is becoming reminiscent of being back at school... I've got assignments to do but am for some reason doing whatever I can to get out of doing them... procrastination seems to be my only talent as of late!

KJ is back for a quick visit next Friday so I'll be popping down south to visit her after work on Friday. Will be nice to get out of London for a short spell. She's bringing me canvases, I am so lucky!!!!

Plans are under way to sell sell sell paintings... Anyone interested? Go on make me an offer...

Following advice from all those in the know...

I've started a food diary... to try and take an active interest in what I eat... and perhaps convince myself to care. My Personal Trainer that I've been seeing for the last month has told me that I'll not make any more progress if I don't stop having a cheese salad and a bag of crisps every day for lunch... I'm playing ball but I think the food diary Sally sent me doesn't have enough room to not what I consume in a day! It is pocket sized! Perhaps it's a good thing... that way I can't eat so much!

Interestingly I got a % of body fat test done on Tuesday (by the trainer) and I'm 26% fat! I found it highly amusing as it's the maximum that I should be for my range... of course my goal is to trim that down a bit but I don't quite understand why my trainer didn't see the humor in me rejoicing that "I'm the maximum of fat that I'm allowed by law" some people!

The possibility of me attending Noeleen's wedding in a few weeks dwindled down to (not possible) this week when after haggling with the airline for ages... I looked at my paper ticket and saw in black and white (NON EXCHANGEABLE NON REFUNDABLE) damn it! I feel terrible about not making the wedding but really... it was due to circumstances beyond our control so not much can be done... unless of course I win the lotto!

KJ is due in London again next weekend... this time for a good long while (compared to her last 6h visit) I believe the plan is for me to go down to Crawley where the crew are staying and meet up with her... The week after I will finally be able to get back to bcn for a visit with fredu!!!!

Tomorrow is Canada day and in an attempt to be true to our land of birth... my Canadian colleague and I are going to partake in the Canada day street party in Covent Garden... should be funny... Don't know how long we'll last but hey, we're trying!

I've a pink tongue...

pinker than normal... it's the calippo ice lolly's fault... I like my job, they stock up the fridge with ice creams and such in the summer to keep everyone happy and pacified (to the true sense of the word).

London is hot hot hot! The transition back from Barcelona on Sunday afternoon was seamless... to be fair it was hotter here yesterday than there... so it made it feel like my mini holiday was a bit longer...

The week spent in Barcelona at Sonar was good fun... a few tears from some of the parties in attendance... but all in all mostly a good time... Poor Fredu, however is still recovering, after having caught a nasty case of salmonella poisoning on Sunday morning. It was so heartbreaking to have to board a plane knowing that he was so ill...

God how I laughed when I read my seestor's blog today... she writes about the kids in her neighborhood booing as she returned home... this because they use her drive as a play area when she's at work... so cute.

Nine hours and fifteen minutes until I complete my 3 month probation at this job... wonder if they'll keep me... wonder if they'll release me with a handshake and a fist full of dollars?

Keep dreaming shall I?