Happy Birthday, Mom.
The sun is finally out and the temperature starting to warm. We may have Spring yet, though I'm sure I'll soon be complaining about the humidity. We had another holiday weekend here in England but I stayed home and worked on getting over my recent cold. I got up early on Saturday to look at yet more tacky, pastel-coloured, overpriced, badly furnished, inconvenient flats in Clapham. If I walk into another peach-coloured room I may scream. And as several agents have described places as tasteful, I'm starting to doubt there's any taste at all in the industry. Plain white walls would be a blessing right now. I then had a mediocre mexican lunch with Lance to celebrate cinco de mayo.
Rented a tuxedo for the Insead ball at the end of the month. They're quite cheap to rent here, 46 pounds for the four-day weekend, but I'm afraid I'll rather look like a waiter in mine. I'm looking forward to a weekend of drinking champagne in a French chateau even if it is with a bunch of MBAs.
8 May 2001
25 Apr 2001
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.
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...
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.
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.
16 Mar 2001
Hello from the land of burning sheep.
We've got terrorist bombs, a collapsed NHS, persistent Tube strikes, a farm animal epidemic, a tumbling economy, terrible weather, exorbitant rent, and oh nonstop Big Brother on the tele.
Yet, for some reason I'm agreeing to another two years here!
More of the same. More work, more stress, more weight, more hairloss, more no sex, more exhaustion, more drinking too much, more dull client meetings, more soppy rainshoes, more black phlegm, more tourist madness.
Yet today, in a mad dash in a taxi we rounded the Trafalgar Square roundabout and the sight of Nelson's Column, the National Gallery, and St. Martin's in the Fields, made my heart leap and I couldn't help but smile.
I still love it here, fool that I am.
We've got terrorist bombs, a collapsed NHS, persistent Tube strikes, a farm animal epidemic, a tumbling economy, terrible weather, exorbitant rent, and oh nonstop Big Brother on the tele.
Yet, for some reason I'm agreeing to another two years here!
More of the same. More work, more stress, more weight, more hairloss, more no sex, more exhaustion, more drinking too much, more dull client meetings, more soppy rainshoes, more black phlegm, more tourist madness.
Yet today, in a mad dash in a taxi we rounded the Trafalgar Square roundabout and the sight of Nelson's Column, the National Gallery, and St. Martin's in the Fields, made my heart leap and I couldn't help but smile.
I still love it here, fool that I am.
7 Mar 2001
Bombs and Chocolat. Sunday morning a car bomb exploded in front of the BBC building in West London. The explosion injured one, caused damage to the buildings in the area and reawoke the possbilities of bombings in everyone's mind. The Real IRA (an IRA faction group) was blamed for either trying to damage the suffering peace process or for retaliating for a stinging Panaroma exposé. I was unaware of the explosion until I was attempting to get home from shopping at Habitat on the Tube and many of the lines were closed for safety concerns. It seems impossible in this day and age and in this country that terrorism be a factor of daily life. And we return to days of security alerts at tube stations and panicking at the sight of empty bags on the sidewalks.
Last night a group of us ate dined at a rather informal Thai restaurant in Clapham Common, then went to see Chocolat. The movie has gotten mediocre reviews and we had low expectations, but I found is absolutely delightful. Juliette Binoche , one of my favourite actresses since I saw Blue, is one of the most radiantly beautiful women. It's a story set in a small town in 1950's France of a wandering chocolatière, Binoche, who sets up shop in a small town stifled by its "tranquilité" whose desires are awoken by this mysterious Mayan chocolate. There is a shop in the Parisian left bank that sells mayan chocolate and it's magical. Judi Dench deserved her nomination for her role. Johnny Depp is lovely to look at, but didn't quite manage his Irish accent which only appeared once he said he was Irish. Go see it. There's no sex, only a little violence, and few special effects. But there is Binoche.
Last night a group of us ate dined at a rather informal Thai restaurant in Clapham Common, then went to see Chocolat. The movie has gotten mediocre reviews and we had low expectations, but I found is absolutely delightful. Juliette Binoche , one of my favourite actresses since I saw Blue, is one of the most radiantly beautiful women. It's a story set in a small town in 1950's France of a wandering chocolatière, Binoche, who sets up shop in a small town stifled by its "tranquilité" whose desires are awoken by this mysterious Mayan chocolate. There is a shop in the Parisian left bank that sells mayan chocolate and it's magical. Judi Dench deserved her nomination for her role. Johnny Depp is lovely to look at, but didn't quite manage his Irish accent which only appeared once he said he was Irish. Go see it. There's no sex, only a little violence, and few special effects. But there is Binoche.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)