"If this is living, how come I never feel alive?"

Barring unforseen emergencies, I am no longer a vagrant and should be moving, hmm, as many of my worldly possessions as I need for a month (and can carry) into a lovely little flat in Kennington. The place with the piano fell through and the Auberge Espagnole place was nice, but a bit far away from my comfort zone (friends, places I know, train to Wokingham)... maybe in future... But the place I'm meant to be moving into is very pretty and in a superb location, so yay for that. Am terrified I'm jinxing it now!!

This week has been more sedate than last, in a good way and a bad way. I went to intermediate/advanced yoga on Tuesday, and it was inspiring to see people doing fabulouly bendy things, but a wee bit intermediate for me to keep up with. I also ache... I've never ached after yoga before... And there were men doing yoga... duly added to my list of 'things you see in London that you don't see in Wokingham'.

Yesterday I went and played at beekeeping. Due to an administrative cock-up (whose, we aren't sure) Sarah wasn't on the list and very disappointingly couldn't go, so I was on my own... but that notwithstanding bees are VERY COOL. I want some (but not imminently... a) I wouldn't be very good at looking after them yet, and b) it would probably alarm my new housemates if I turned up with a beehive). I won't bore you with boring bee facts, of which I know many, but it was amazing seeing the hive. Just the sheer quantity of bees!! They're fascinating creatures! We also tasted lots of different kinds of honey... Like with wine, I could kind of taste that they were all different, but was unable to describe how...

My new flat is near the bee place.

And today was promised to be stressful but was actually kind of okay. I'd asked Nik to send me a dictaphone which I Really Really Needed for the work event I was going to, but, typically, the postman delivered it while I was in the shower, so I had to trek to Brixton to pick it up today. This involved borrowing Liv's driving licence, in case they wouldn't accept my proof of ID as it wasn't my house, and getting there obscenely early so that if it all went tits-up I'd have time to leg it to work (or to Liv's work) and borrow a dictaphone. This meant I had an enormous hiatus between picking it up and the actual start of the meeting, so I took a bus into central London and did a bit of shopping. Bought a cafetiere for Liv and Sarah as a thank-you present in the wonderful Algerian coffee house which I'd never have discovered if it hadn't been for Thomas, and also some henna. I let the man in Lush talk me into buying the 'rouge' rather than the 'marron'. I sputtered something like, 'Doesn't it say "For shiny, bright, orange-red hair"?' to which he replied, 'Yes, but your hair is so dark it'll probably just go a little bit redder. The 'marron' won't really show up on you at all.'

Hmmmm. Watch this space, people.

And the meeting was fine, and very short.

My friend's hen party is this weekend, which promises to be fun, if a lot less demure than Mairi's... Tomorrow night is a sleepover, which is a fantastic idea, and for Saturday I have to somehow concoct a St Trinian's themed fancy dress outfit. Suggestions? There will also be cocktails, badges and probably penis-shaped tat. (I am sort of anxious about it... I don't know any of her other friends and what if I betray my snobbish distaste for fancy dres and penis-shaped things?)

But in the meantime I have a work-related day trip to Swansea, which involves getting up at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. Groan.

Vagrancy, with added hummus

'Replace Wokingham with London as my weather home page.'

Oh, BBC, you have no idea how happy you made me.

I have, not as spontaneously as it appears, actually done what I've been threatening to do since late 2007 and buggered off to London. Been staying with Livvy and Sarah for a week, which has been a) great fun and b) really useful, because the enormous sense of obligation I feel has forced me to do things like wash up after myself and the fact that I'm sleeping in their sitting room has forced me to get out of bed, neither of which I was doing particularly efficiently or with any regularity in Wokingham. Am now hoping the people at one of the flats I looked at over the weekend will allow me to rent a room for a month while I find somewhere long-term. One of them has a piano and one of them would essentially involve living in L'auberge espagnole, which would be equally exciting and I can't choose.

I've drunk lots of coffee, which feels very urban, and eaten mainly hummus and olives. I shall go and buy some vegetables this afternoon, because hummus and olives, while delicious, do not constitute a particularly balanced diet. I'm forcing myself to take buses so I can learn my way around better than if I'm on the tube, seeing lots of my friends and generally starting to feel like a Whole Person again, which is a distinct improvement on the previous few weeks. Have many exciting plans for the immediate future, including (but not limited to) a yoga and massage weekend in Wiltshire and henna-ing my hair. (Hair also needs cutting. Gaah.)

Unfortunateness

"bed available for girl to share with other girl in prime location"

From gumtree.

Who'd'a thunk?

Well, my 17-year-old self would never have believed this, but you know what?

It's even less fun trying to explain what 'The Anthropology of Food' is than it was trying to explain what 'Linguistics' was.

No, really.

--------------------

I really need inspiration for dinner. It should involve broad beans, but not pasta, and be quick. This cider is REALLY STRONG. REALLY REALLY STRONG. I feel it would be unwise to wield knives after much more of it.

Not economics

I was (and still am, just not today) going to share with you some of my thoughts on, 'What I have learned recently about economics.' Not a lot, but I'm proud of it. However, this is my life atm (aside from the moping, and stress, and crying):

Today - get up 6.3o, go to London, yawn through meeting on energy stats, furiously make notes, come home, drink pot of coffee, type furiously, eat Chinese take-away, type furiously, reassure freelancer, small glass of wine to counteract coffee, small sleep.
Tomorrow - get up 5.30, go to computer, track down and shoot freelancer if he hasn't emailed me his transcript, proof-read, coffee, proof-read, breakfast, proof-read, coffee, reheat take-away for lunch, collapse into bed.

So yeah, a happy combination of extreme tiredness and need for accuracy and, hence, intoxicants.

In the meantime, an article which I first reacted to by rolling my eyes and saying, 'God, yeah it's soooo tough being young, rich and clever, isn't it?' but by the end I was thinking, 'Ohmigod, I've never achieved anything, why did I give up the violin, why haven't I taken singing lessons, I've never read Said's Orientalism, there is so much stuff I need to do, everyone expects me to do this stuff, I have to do it well!'

Which kinda proves the point.

I have a FUCKING FIRST FROM OXFORD! And know SHITLOADS MORE ABOUT ECONOMICS than I did six weeks ago! Someone please SLAP ME!

Linky

Ack....

Right now, because the weather's kind of gloomy, and I have no energy, and I am unable to summon the inclination to get up and find some shoes, and I just want to stay at my desk and drink tea and not have to go outside and see people, I am totally, pointlessly procrastinating about getting my arse down to Boots to get some St John's Wort, which I'm going to take in the hope that this will help give me the energy and inclination to do something other than procrastinating at my desk and feeling gloomy, without me needing to take The Scary Drugs.

I'm noticing a flaw in this plan somewhere.

"The fact that he's a giant purple hippopotamus should have tipped you off."

"Well, you know, I'm tempted - if for no other reason than to keep 'Bulldog' from further alienating the Asian-American community. I just want to make sure that I don't compromise my principles."

I love Frasier so much it hurts.

Awesomeness

http://www.savagechickens.com/2009/06/coffee-is-my-muse.html

*chortle*