25 Apr 2001

Enough with the nephology, I'm ready for Spring already. Got soaked by hail-addled rain at lunch today. Now I'm damp and grouchy.

23 Apr 2001

So, America is now dealing with Anne Robinson and the Weakest Link. Raising both the ratings of NBC and the ire of critics the show and its acerbic host are all over the place. Well it's only the start of retribution for all the whingeing Friends, Ally McBeal, and American talk shows we have to suffer through here in England. I find the show hard to watch -- it made me very anxious.

Had dinner at Louise's house in Balham on Saturday night. She had invited the American-heavy management group to her home and made us blend with other English people at a sit down dinner for ten made by her husband. It was a fabulous evening, although yesterday the cumulated hangover from four nights of parties and pubcrawls took their effect. It's time to dry out.

18 Apr 2001

Had dinner last night in Covent Garden with Lance. We went to a sushi restaurant that was overlit and watched the wilting sushi travel around the conveyor belt under re-used plastic domes whilst he filled me in on his travels to Buenos Aires and Prague. I had a small suspicion he's not planning on living in London long what with this new-found wanderlust. We then went to the Box and admired the steroid-pumping half-dressed bartenders and plotted finding the perfect mate.

It's still bitterly cold here, but the sun visits occasionally reminding us that Spring is, indeed, on its way. If only work would slow down so we could take walks in the park at lunch...

17 Apr 2001

Tried several times to update this page -- Blogger isn't happy.

The recap: Andy G. came to London in March and spent a week keeping me up late, eating curries, shopping, and barhopping. I had a tremendous time. It's a bit of a stress having houseguests, but it's also time we can catch up with everything (we hadn't really spent that time in a couple of years) and I missed that we used to be closer.

Organic went through another round of redundancies. This kept me hugely occupied and anxious for the whole of March. As a department head I was in some very difficult discussions. We had a voluntary programme in London, however, which was far gentler and allowed people to make a decision to have a life change.

To combat the stress of the whole thing I went to Paris. Stayed in Montparnasse and shopped, walked, ate, and flirted with the French -- especially the very dapper Benoit. I just adore Paris and hope, at some point in my life, to live there. Not that I don't adore this country, but Paris is an altogether more sensual place. The trick will be to live a Parisian life in London.

I'm trying to not use exclamation points after someone pointed out how often I did!

Had a domestic weekend. Went to see the gloriously gothic Shockheaded Peter with a colleague and her visiting boyfriend and spent the night in the bar at St. Martin's Lane Hotel getting reacquainted with Ketel One martinis. Then bought a Dyson vacuum and realised how little dust and debris my old vacuum was picking up (it was disgusting.)

That's all the news I'm going to give anyone. More soon.