So I’m in a shoe shop last night trying on some quite high platform sandals and saying to the male shop assistant, “I’m just making sure I can walk in them”, as I tottered around he replied “ah yes these ones are very easy to walk in” and I said; “Yeah? you wanna try them?”. Impressively he very quickly replied “sadly no, we do not have my size”…
February 22, 2008
The Stranger
I met him on a dark night, no, I mean a sunny day. He was swarthy with a startling raven mane, no I’m mistaken he was pale with very short hair of indeterminate colour.
He was obviously some kind of Sheikh/ Oil rich Emirati, no that’s not right, he was English through and through (I could tell by his overly apologetic manner).
The mysterious stranger swept me off my feet and into the desert toward a Bedouin tent complete with manservants and trays laden with hummous, flatbreads, olives and choppy salads. Hang on, no, it was a café which served generous portions of carrot cake and creamy coffees and he wasn’t so much a stranger as he was someone with whom I am intimately acquainted.
Afterward he scooped me up onto his horse and we galloped along the desert road to Oman, or rather he guided me to Flight VS001 Dubai to London and we headed home together…
February 21, 2008
Email exchange of the day
Emails between me and my mate who I am meeting up with tomorrow night:
Her: So how are you feeling today?
Me: I feel achy and yuck, my hair is greasy and i have spots popping out all over my face….
Her: I feel tired, ineffectual and slightly stressed. And my hair needs re-dying desperately!
Me: Excellent – can I suggest we both pop on a bit of slap for tomorrow evening to jolly ourselves up a bit? You may also consider wearing a hat…;)
February 19, 2008
Pashmina me
I had a very relaxing break in Dubai and have even managed to pick up a slight tan on my previously English winter white arms. Remarkably I didn’t do terribly much shopping. I did however manage to visit at least 5 souks and in the course of doing so picked up 7 pashminas. Possibly this is quite a lot for one person however I do have an explanation.
Basically the further into the Souks we got the better the pashminas became, so by the time we reached the 4th Souk the fabrics had become less flimsy and to my untrained eye more cashmere-like. Seven purchases later and I have two black ones, 2 grey, red, purple, silver and turquoise. One will go to a friend as a ‘My mate went to Dubai and all I got was this lousy pashmina’ type gift and three of them will remain with me. The Boyf has taken up some of the slack by claiming two for himself (a grey and a black), he thinks they will be perfect to throw around his shoulders in a ‘manly’ fashion on those chillier summer evenings outside the pub. He is a metrosexual you know.
Other activities included sharing the biggest wedge of one of the best slices of carrot cake I have ever had (twice), eating a lot of hummus and choppy salads, drinking in hotel bars (one on the 44th floor), spending an afternoon at the beach, visiting a shopping mall so vast that it contained a ski slope (with actual snow on it), being woke up at sparrows fart by the kiddies, speaking two year old with the youngest (incomprehensible, but cute), trying not to kiss the Boyf in public (not the done thing in a Muslim country), visiting the site of the new Dubai metro (under construction) and hailing many a cab complete with mad driver.
Oh and on the way the Boyf very kindly sprung for upgrades to Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic. From the sparkling wine on being seated to the extra legroom, better food and less people – it was all fab.
All in all a relaxing break, a shame then that on arrival back to work I am confronted by many, many emails and the news that a valuable team member has quit….
February 18, 2008
Flying Home
The in flight telly wasn’t working for a good portion of the flight – therefore I have no idea what country we were flying over at the time. Neither of us could figure out what the circles in the desert below us were all about. (Click to enlarge).
February 12, 2008
Assimilated – You better believe it
When a stranger talks to me, I react with suspicion (albeit polite suspicion) and reticence. In the gym today a woman just started talking to me in the changing room, there was no hello, or excuse me, just a launching straight in with ‘so how many times a week do you come?’ During the course of conversation I veered between thinking she was a- just being friendly b- a little bit crazy and c- just a bit lonely.
So is my crazy detector tuned just right or am I in fact the perfect example of an unfriendly Londoner? All I know is I wasn’t sticking round to find out. Bad enough I had to undress in front of this lady without her holding up the lunch portion of my lunch hour. So I said ‘Crazy lady say what?’ and she said ‘what?’ as I moved on toward the showers.*
*didn’t really
February 11, 2008
Patience – lack of
Conversation with my mum (60 years old):
Her: So I’m handing in my notice tomorrow
Me: Why’s that then?
Her: Well I just find I’ve reached an age where I just can’t be bothered dealing with fuckwits anymore.
Me: 34 then?
Her: heh – yes, I’ve had 26 years of it…
February 7, 2008
Untitled
Interesting conversation with a friend today. We were talking about relationships and the fact that they do require care and attention and she said something very telling and true; ‘It is easier to walk away, than work on it, annoyingly easy’. I think that’s very sad, it’s like people break up because they can’t be bothered trying anymore, its easier to run from a problem than address it. The question is: is the easiest option the always the right option?
I’ve only run away once in my life, 14 years ago I ran away from my life in New Zealand because it seemed easier than having to make a conscious decision to grow up. In doing so I effectively delayed growing up by a further 4 years. Looking back, do I think I did the right thing? I can’t really answer that because I feel like all of the things that have happened since hang on that one decision (which wasn’t very well thought out), but if I hadn’t done it a lot of the good stuff might not have happened. Conversely the fact that I did do it may have directly contributed to some bad times – so who knows.
I was about to carry on by saying that running away from things was no longer my style, but that’s not true, I ran from my ill fated last job after just 6 weeks. Thankfully that’s worked out for the best though and to be honest I don’t think anything I could have run to could be worse than working there.
February 4, 2008
Blue Monday
I feel like my smile is broken. I try but it resembles nothing more than a grimace, even a caramel crème egg couldn’t cheer me up, although its hard to tell since I ate today’s crème egg quota (1) this morning….I think I peaked too early.
