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| London two weeks ago... |
New York feels like forever ago. We arrived
back dazzled by the rare London sunshine and not even two and a half hours of
re-root canal the day we landed could diminish the warm, soul polishing embrace
of the sun. I don’t really want to relieve my dental disaster so I won’t,
suffice to say that I feel unwittingly dragged into adulthood for having been
mature and (mostly) brave throughout the whole ordeal. Jetlag and temazepan may
have helped.
We had an – god, do you know, I was about
to write “an unseasonably beautiful four days” but then realised that actually,
it’s freaking June and four beautiful days should be seasonably, reasonably
expected. But then this is London. And this, currently, is London Summer:
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| This afternoon, crossing Vauxhall Bridge. Normally you would be able to see the London Eye from here |
Anyway, we had a lovely four days back in
London before returning to work, which we spent mostly with Lovely Boy’s
brother and his kids, who were at the start of a holiday through Europe. Lucky
for them. We took them for a gourmet lunch at Borough Market before spending
the afternoon drinking Pimms (lemonade for those without the necessary id….) in
the wildflower garden atop the Southbank Centre. It was so delightful.
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| Preparing for the Jubilee. Pre-appalling weather. |
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| Fiona Banner's boat atop the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank |
And then it was work for a week (busy,
mental, stressful, changes ahoy) before another four days off to play in honour
of the Queens Jubilee. I have to confess to be totally fascinated by the royals
– not fascinated enough to brave 70,000 on Pall Mall for a fleeting glimpse of
them and certainly not fascinated enough to spend seven hours on the side of
the Thames, wedged in a crowd and getting totally drenched. But you know,
fascinated. As I’m sure every man and his corgi already knows, in the greatest
of British traditions, it rained. ALL weekend.
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| The neighbours getting their Jubilee on |
Lovely Boy and I spent most of it on the
sofa watching the pomp and pageantry on the television. Though on Saturday,
when it was only mildly miserable, we went for an amble along the river towards
Putney, where boats were beginning to muster for Sunday’s flotilla and snooped
in a neighbourly sort of fashion on all the street parties going on around us.
Quite a bit of bedraggled bunting is still about
the streets even now and all the flags throughout central London hang limply –
like depressed wet washing. It’s a bit tragic really and only makes me wonder
what kind of weather we can expect for the “Summer” Olympics next month. It
would be churlish to say I hope it rains, yes?
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| A moment of forlorn homesickness when I spotted this on a bench along the river near Putney |
The long weekend wasn’t a total bust
though. On Sunday Lovely Boy recreated Clinton St Bakery pancakes – DELICIOUS –
and on Tuesday I moseyed down to Crystal Palace with a work colleague for a
swim. I can’t remember the last time I swam laps in a 50m pool, and it was
pre-Easter chest infection that I so much as gazed at my swimmers so it was
quite the return but I loved it. Loved feeling totally pooped at the end, loved
being able to just swim, and loved the company actually – because let’s be
honest, sometimes swimming laps is fucking boring.
A three day working week can only be sweet
(and swift) and the weekend just gone was intermittently windy and wet but on
Saturday Tori took me for some mani pedi pampering as an early birthday
present. Shiny new nails and lunch at Hix in Selfridges to follow before some
window licking on the third floor. It was the ideal girly day.
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| Lovely Boy's Clinton St tribute. #impressive |
And today, for a wet, cold Monday, wasn’t
actually bad. There’s a lot of things on the work horizon, most of them
busy-making, but a constructive, exciting meeting first thing has given me a
renewed sense of direction about work and my role and opportunities to really
learn. There’s also a huge new professional development that I’m reluctant to
talk about lest it disappear again but once I know for certain I’ll be shouting
modestly from the rooftops about it. So stay tuned for that news broadcast.
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| Spotted on the corner of New Oxford and Museum Sts on Saturday |
In the meantime, I have 32 to prepare for.
I’ve stopped looking for grey hairs in case it becomes some sort of
self-fulfilling prophesy and am preparing myself, Zen-like, for a philosophical
sort of birthday. I don’t care much for the even numbers so this year is going
to be mostly about consolidation. Dead sexy I know but this is what getting old
does to you.
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