Tuesday, January 30
Monday, January 29
Pole Hill is a hill in Epping Forest near our home. Rod Stewart has a home at its base but we didn't see him when we went walking there yesterday. It was a lovely mild day and the mud was soft. The view across London is pretty good but couldn't be captured on a paltry 3megapixel camera. I dressed up as a country squire and Darren captured this:
There's an obelisk on top of the hill which has something to do with The Greenwich Observatory and travelling through time and Megadeth but don't ask me what. Here's Darren looking at it (moments before he was sucked into a time vortex and spat out in the middle of the battle of Balaclava):
Apparently, notorious homosexual and masochist Lawrence of Arabia once owned land on Pole Hill and lived in a shed there for a few years.
There's an obelisk on top of the hill which has something to do with The Greenwich Observatory and travelling through time and Megadeth but don't ask me what. Here's Darren looking at it (moments before he was sucked into a time vortex and spat out in the middle of the battle of Balaclava):
Apparently, notorious homosexual and masochist Lawrence of Arabia once owned land on Pole Hill and lived in a shed there for a few years.
Thursday, January 11
Last Saturday I was up with the lark and on the M1 to Rotherham for an "assessment day" for the possible future career. Driving during a winter dawn is beautiful don't you find? I passed the theory and practical tests and was given the all-clear to progress if I so wished. Don't know now though. I'm scared that I'm going to be saddled with a job I don't enjoy once the novelty of wearing a tool belt has worn off. My money-grabbing greed gene is spurring me on but my lazy "I-just-want-a-quiet-life" gene is pulling on the reins. I'll have to make a decision soon as I can feel the breath of bank managers, boyfriend, parents on my neck.
After the assessment I drove onwards to Newcastle to see my Mum and Dad and to collect Edward as he'd been with them while we were in Vegas. Mum made me ham and pease pudding baps when I arrived and I fell asleep as they watched Cheaper By The Dozen 2 on tv (the end titles woke me up and Mum was wiping tears away; is this film not a comedy?).
The next day I drove back to London but somewhere in Yorkshire I had a blowout. Scary! The tyre popped at 70mph and was instantly shredded off by the wheel rims and as I was trying to control the car on the busy A1 the tyre cheekily whizzed past me just like they do in tv and film car crashes. I hobbled the car into a layby and Darren arranged for an AA man to come and put a new wheel on. I was back on the road in under an hour. In a 5 hour drive I must have heard that Pink Floyd remix thingy ("teacher! leave those kids alone!") 10 times on the radio. The pulsating bass synth is really good isn't it.
I've been painting the house this week cos Katie Grand has accepted a job in London for two days a week for the next three months and asked if she could stay with us. I'm not having her going back to Bobby and saying "oooooh Bobby, you should have seen the state of their door frames, they need some serious gloss paint on them". Tonight I emptied everything from the dining room and painted the floorboards 'pebblestone'. Now Edward and I are trapped upstairs until it dries (Darren is in the Fens or somewhere being all bossy and showing off cos he has a job).
After the assessment I drove onwards to Newcastle to see my Mum and Dad and to collect Edward as he'd been with them while we were in Vegas. Mum made me ham and pease pudding baps when I arrived and I fell asleep as they watched Cheaper By The Dozen 2 on tv (the end titles woke me up and Mum was wiping tears away; is this film not a comedy?).
The next day I drove back to London but somewhere in Yorkshire I had a blowout. Scary! The tyre popped at 70mph and was instantly shredded off by the wheel rims and as I was trying to control the car on the busy A1 the tyre cheekily whizzed past me just like they do in tv and film car crashes. I hobbled the car into a layby and Darren arranged for an AA man to come and put a new wheel on. I was back on the road in under an hour. In a 5 hour drive I must have heard that Pink Floyd remix thingy ("teacher! leave those kids alone!") 10 times on the radio. The pulsating bass synth is really good isn't it.
I've been painting the house this week cos Katie Grand has accepted a job in London for two days a week for the next three months and asked if she could stay with us. I'm not having her going back to Bobby and saying "oooooh Bobby, you should have seen the state of their door frames, they need some serious gloss paint on them". Tonight I emptied everything from the dining room and painted the floorboards 'pebblestone'. Now Edward and I are trapped upstairs until it dries (Darren is in the Fens or somewhere being all bossy and showing off cos he has a job).
Thursday, January 4
Wot I got for Christmas: DVD box sets (Family Guy seasons 4 & 5, Entourage season 1, Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 5), The Clash Up Close And Personal DVD (featuring sketching genius from late 70's era NME Ray Lowry! Hurrah!), Joe Strummer biography (please don't think I'm some sad 40 year old who thinks today's music is shit cos that is soooo not me), new books by Paul Auster and DBC Pierre, Mercury for the PSP, a Swatch watch (the really really thin one), Musk by Kiehls and lots of chocolates.
On holiday in Orlando before Christmas I bought myself some presents in anticipation of receiving money from lazy relatives. Unfortunately my relatives were not lazy this year and I now own shirts which don't fit me, jack russel calendars and 38w tighty whities (38!!! bastards! I'm a 34 and soon to be a 32. honest). Good job the dollar is so weak at the mo or my DVD purchases (The Office (US version, seasons 1 & 2), The Comeback (underated Liza Kudrow show) and The Critic (Woody Allen-esque animated show about a, guess what, critic) would have to go on ebay before I'd watched them.
Last day at work tomorrow. Forever. And ever. 19 years as a civil servant. Keeping secrets and flying around the world. War torn regimes my speciality. Must remember to hand in my gun.
On holiday in Orlando before Christmas I bought myself some presents in anticipation of receiving money from lazy relatives. Unfortunately my relatives were not lazy this year and I now own shirts which don't fit me, jack russel calendars and 38w tighty whities (38!!! bastards! I'm a 34 and soon to be a 32. honest). Good job the dollar is so weak at the mo or my DVD purchases (The Office (US version, seasons 1 & 2), The Comeback (underated Liza Kudrow show) and The Critic (Woody Allen-esque animated show about a, guess what, critic) would have to go on ebay before I'd watched them.
Last day at work tomorrow. Forever. And ever. 19 years as a civil servant. Keeping secrets and flying around the world. War torn regimes my speciality. Must remember to hand in my gun.
Wednesday, January 3
At 5pm on New Years Eve I was lounging on my big bed at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas watching Running With Scissors on the 'pay-through-the-nose' TV channel. The time in the UK was 1am on New Years Day which was approximately the time Darren approached me to say hello at the shitty local gay bar exactly 6 years ago. We've been together ever since that night and only Eric Bana (dripping with chocolate and lying on my side of the bed) would be able to split us up. And that isn't going to happen.
Tuesday, January 2
Back from Vegas. Baby! Food, oppulent hotels, money, winter sunshine, The Beatles (never a big fan but the Cirque Du Soleil show was foot-tappingly moving), Celine, CELINE! sings her heart out and wins me over (60 dancers and gymnasts and aerial special effects helped), buffets, New Year crowds, Britney Spears, food, Running With Scissors (the movie), cheap Kiehls products, did I mention Buffets?, no flight delays and valet parking at gatwick....4 whirlwind days that have left us dizzy but very happy.
December has made me fatter by over a stone! Florida then Christmas then Las Vegas were the culprits. Got my work cut out in January. Still, I'm the king of the diet yo-yo'ers so shouldn't be too bad.
*dashes off to purge a whole tin of Cadbury's Roses*
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