anyresemblance

Midnight

How can I do 2 massive walks a day with the dog and still not reach 10,000 steps? The system is rigged in order to compel to buy a flipping Apple Watch.  And no, I've lost too many fitbits in airport security or had them drop off my wrist.  I only want the Apple Watch with the Hermes band which shows how shallow I am.

Notwithstanding this jinx, I have had a most enjoyable weekend with glorious weather and lots of time outdoors.  I washed all the throws in the house to remove the stale odours.  I virtually seem to live in Adairs (I swear I buy something every week) and got a nice cream and grey wool rug reduced from $790 to $230 which pleases me greatly.  I also swapped the cream sofa for the old grey one I reclaimed from Sydney daughter as I knew I would need more space for my leg post surgery.

I listened to quite a lot of podcasts as I did stuff and walked the dog:

• George Clooney on Desert Island Discs, it was ok but nothing wonderful
• Jessie Cave on Love Stories, loved, loved, loved her.  Also, that her everlasting love is her mum.
• Bryony James on Love Stories, found her incredibly annoying and the whole patronising thing on older feminists made my hackles rise (why do young people think they invented reckless behaviour or is it just the chronically of them? clearly none of them have read Diane di Prima)
• Sara Bareilles on Table Manners which made me wish I had gone to see Waitress when I was in NYC.  I admired her good manners in the face of some careless questions.
• Sharon Horgan on Love Stories was incredibly warm and funny
• Matt Haig on Love Stories, ditto
• Lily Allen on How to Fail.  I find her unbearably sad to listen to and want to give her a big hug though she apparently doesn't really do hugging.  

In between, I've been listening to Jessie Ware on Spotify and Stevie Wonder's Innervision and watching endless episodes of the new season of the Blacklist.

Lily, Rosemary

I've gone down a rabbit hole of music I haven't listened to in a while having listened to an old episode of Ricky Gervais's desert island discs.  So good and thank you to Spotify for being able to search and find someone who delights in creating playlists of the full tracks of the desert island choices.  One of his tracks was Bob Dylan's If you see her, say hello which led me to other BD tracks including my favourite cover of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts by Tom Russell.  I loved Marlon James playlist too but am struggling with his fiction. 

TYT

This week's stuff that was good.

I went to Sydney for the day yesterday.  The weather was lovely and between meetings and meeting my kid for lunch, I bought some new Essie nail polish  which pleased me.

I had a delicious dinner last night at Raku to welcome my new boss.  He is perfectly affable but has yet to ask me a single question about myself.   The food, on the other hand, was amazing.  You have to like a lot of raw stuff but it was so amazing.

I have lots of books to read: I am simultaneously reading Queenie, Little Deaths and Conversations with Friends.  I should put two down and just concentrate on one but it good to have a welcoming pile beside the bed.  

Having said that, I read nothing on my commute to Sydney and instead listening to The Drop Out about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes. It is so good but sadly that corporate "don't say anything that might be construed as negative" is rather familiar.

 

Melancholia

This time three years ago, I went to my daughter's graduation, then I got on a plane to Melbourne, to Dubai, to Paris.  Then I got a bus to the rail terminal.  Then I got on a train to Brittany.  And walked to my hotel at 10 at night across wet cobblestones.  To say goodbye to my sister who had died 6 months previous.

Everything changes and nothing changes.  With the all the people I loved that are gone, I still wish I had listened more, asked more questions that didn't seem relevant 20 years or 5 years ago and told them more how much I loved them.

Start of week

Today felt interminable, maybe because I work up so early and there were so many hours in the day or I was cold in the office or unproductive.  It could also have been my decision to try a diet without carbs for a month and the fact that this hot cross bun does not feature in such low carb eating.  Let's hope it can only get better.

I watched some Line of Duty but I'm not really sure I am loving it.  I switched over to Mrs Maisel and enjoyed the wonderful costumes and the wise cracking.

The dog had obviously spent some of the day snoozing on my bed as there were twigs on the pillow.  We walked to the shop when I got home and for once I didn't have my headphones in and enjoyed the dusk and the sliver of moon in the sky and the cockatoos screeching as they got in to roost.

Pumpkin

I have had a very satisfying weekend which comes from making some tangible plans and spending a goodish amount of time outdoors.

On Saturday morning I walked the dog early and then went to the NGA with S where we saw the Yayoi Kusama's infinity installation of pumpkins.  It was hugely enjoyable though S did tell me that every 20 something girl has a selfie with those pumpkins as her profile on tinder.  I saw more of these pumpkins when ganching and I were in DC a couple of years ago.  We wandered around the sculpture garden and then had lunch in Manuka.  I cleaned my house and then went homeware shopping.  In the evening I watched a few episodes of queer eye and then read my book.

The clocks changed and with the extra hour of sleep, I got up at the usual time and took the dog for a longish walk.  The Alsatian at the Saudi embassy barked fiercely from behind his fence as we walked past.  I feel sorry for the security dogs and men at the embassy for their excruciatingly boring life.  I have never seen a soul enter or leave that embassy though I guess we should be grateful for that since poor old Khasshogi got murdered so gruesomely.

I had breakfast with some friends including N who makes me feel smarter just from listen to her articulate a sentence.  After that, I took back the homewares I had bought and bought a cushion instead.  When I got home I did some more light housework and then went to Messina for ice-cream where I had a salted coconut sorbet with mango.  It was delicious.  I came home and did another long walk with C dog as the weather was so beautiful and finally got over 10,000 steps.

I finished off Queer Eye, watched an episode of Line of Duty and ate left over mushroom risotto formed into arancini with salad and felt good about the weekend.

Thank You Thursday

I've started doing positive affirmations in our slack channel for my team on Thursdays.  At first people thought it was really hokey and cringey but by dint of me strong arming a few of my team to post something, we've got the momentum going and people try and out do each other with cute gifs and it just gets us through to the end of the week.  So here's my blog thank you for today:

1. thank you to ganching for giving me yet another nudge on writing in the blog.  You'd think after nearly 40 years, I'd actually realise she's right about a lot of things, but I'm glad she never stops reminding me
2. thank you to my sister for sending me a giant box of violet creams despite me giving her my wrong address and them getting sent to some obscure neighbours - and returned to England - she resent them
3. thank you to my colleague R who I had a delicious dinner with last night at Movida Next Door and who made me laugh.  He's the same age as my daughter but married with a kid and another on the way and an absolute breath of fresh air.  
4. thank you to my youngest for being there to talk her sister off the ledge when she couldn't get hold of me
5. thank you to whoever made dogs, no matter how crap the day, the dog is always glad to see me

Faded grandeur

I am in Melbourne again.  Much as it kills me, the casino hotel is actually the best located for my purposes with the nicest bathrooms.  I have learned that the reward points can be traded for dinners and even the retail options in the casino (which are not all paspaley pearls and Tiffany for high rollers).  When I was a teenager we went on a family holiday to France, my mother's first trip outside the UK.  One evening my parents decided to go to the local casino and having watched so many James Bond films, I was insistent my dad at least had to wear a suit to keep up appearances.  He was very irritated to tell me later that everyone else was in shorts and t shirts.  So it is, that I realise that casinos are full of people who look like they just rushed out of the office on their tea break.

My latest thing is, when I spend two nights in Melbourne, I make sure that I have a good dinner on at least one of them. Tonight was not one of them.

Things which have been happening

I went to a new hairdresser who was a disaster and took my hair to a ginger mess.  Fortunately, my daughter's hairdresser rescued me but it was a close shave.

Last week was insanely busy: end of the financial quarter, three visiting SVPs (all separate, all with massive agendas to service), lots of early mornings and work dinners.  I was just glad to limp to the end of the week.

I have a date for foot surgery and at least two weeks of sick leave in which to main line pain killers, watch a lot of tv and listen to pod casts.  The kids are working out time off between them to care for me and walk the dog.

I had a long conversation with ganching on Saturday night and a realisation that I have to get my act together for the year.  Trips to plan etc.  I am hoping for a fancy wedding in November in Miami.  I'd almost resolved myself to not getting invited but the bride asked me for my postal address so am hopeful.

Lots of change at work.  Plus ca change.

I am doing good on the reading front so am very happy with that life change and accounting.

Autumn chill is upon us but the heating works and I have a hot water bottle and new cosy pyjamas so it's all good.

Catholic lapse

George Pell, well, well.  Here's a reminder of our brush with the former cardinal.  What a despicable man.  David Marr wrote a good piece in the Guardian.