Yes I am going on holiday!
Finally got the go ahead at 7.30 so now have a week in Majorca booked. Possibly not my first holiday choice but it’s a week away with my boy and hopefully some sunshine. Hurrah!
Will be on the plan on Saturday without any of my holiday essentials but I have a credit card so I’m throwing caution to the wind which is very uncharacteristic behaviour.
It’ll do us both good though…I hope.
It has arrived! My sandals are on and - according to the weather reports - they will remain on all week - hurrah!
Bank Holiday weekend was a nice little break. Went down to ye olde countryside and avoided turning into too much of a sneezing mess.
Watched I Am Legend which I had wanted to see when it came out but was scared off by the reviews and poor reports from people who had seen it but actually it was really rather good. Okay so the whole virus, zombie thing is not exactly a new format but it was a pretty good effort. The only thing that annoyed me was some fairly poor CGI.
Not a lot of note recently as I’ve been generally taking it easy following the whole hospital thing (although I did end up slightly addicted to Wii bowling on Saturday night but that’s only because I had beginner’s luck as my normal bowling technique is really crap).
I have decided though that I really need to go on holiday. I know I went travelling last year but to be honest very little of it could be described as a holiday and the six months since my return have been emotionally draining (to say the least) not to mention the physical drain of recent ill health. So I want to pack my little suitcase and head for the sun. Unfortunately my travelling companion of choice (although we haven’t actually travelled anywhere for over two years) has decided he doesn’t want to go on holiday. This is very irritating because he really doesn’t have any moral objections to the concept of holidays (we’ve been on enough in the past for me to know that he likes sunshine and seaside and stuff like that), he just “doesn’t feel like it”. Actually he’s just being awkward and you would have thought that, considering he causes quite a lot of my emotional drain problem, he would be slightly more inclined to be nice to me.
It’s all rather tension causing (which is exacerbating aforementioned need for holiday).
I have decided to try and be happy and have a generally more positive attitude. Of course this doesn’t mean that crap stuff doesn’t happen and you don’t worry about decidedly random and unpleasant things (especially at 4 in the morning when there’s no chance you can realistically do anything about them), but at least if I try to wake up, get out of the house and get to work in a happy frame of mind then things don’t seem quite as grim.
As part of this venture I am trying to be more committed to my morning meditation which has taken something of a backseat on these dark days when most of the time I just want to stay in the duvet and get jolly annoyed when the first song after the 7 o’clock news finishes (this is my cue to haul myself out of bed). I am actually a morning person but find getting up in the dark deeply disturbing. Anyway, because I still can’t bring myself to get out of bed before the 7 o’clock news, I thought I would give meditating on the tube a whirl.
Now I know what you’re thinking…how can you possibly mediate on the tube? Well I’ve done it twice - this morning in the relative peace and comfort of an emptyish carriage and a seat (from Kennington - most happy) and yesterday I even managed despite my battery chicken status. Okay this isn’t super duper transcendental meditation (leave that for the weekends) but I think this is actually better. This actually allows me to feel centred, calm and positive even though I am squished on a tube being breathed on people with poor oral hygiene and battered by their bags and briefcases. Hmmm…perhaps I should go and knit a nut roast as I am worrying myself!
Why would you want to wash a turkey? Beats me.
I am feeling rather smug because I have ordered all my Christmas food (although Ocado - “we’ve released new delivery slots” - have let me down which is v annoying). It’s a pretty low key Christmas this year though with just me and the Beloved. I don’t think either sets of families are delighted but we just want a Christmas without everyone looking at us because no matter where we go, we do feel as if we’re being scrutinized and we’re under enough pressure as it is. Despite it’s low keyness, the bill is still rather disturbing which is a bit of a mystery as Christmas dinner is - in effect - just a poshed up Sunday roast and neither of us like mince pies, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake etc (it’s a dried fruit thing rather than a bah humbug thing honest). I’ve even resisted the overwhelming ‘need’ for Twiglets and Bendicks mints although I’m sure I’ll cave on the latter at some point.
Rather foolishly I am attempting to do my remaining Christmas shopping this evening. I had meant to go last night but spent the day feeling horribly sick and the prospect of battling with shopping hungry crowds did not aid the digestion at all. Actually though the shopping may not be too bad tonight as it seems about 75% of people will be at Christmas parties, well I live in hope! I haven’t got too many things to get. The one advantage of falling out with most of my family this year means the Christmas present buying and the Christmas card list has been significantly shortened although I do seem to be buying an inordinate amount of presents for children - why are all my friends so intent on producing? At some point I really do need to make a conscious decision to STEP AWAY FROM THE PRESENTS FOR SMALL PEOPLE.
I urge everyone to watch this series - especially now they’ve reached sub-Saharan Africa. I had a smile on my face the size of the Equator - it really brings Africa to life from poverty and senseless fighting to elephants on your doorstep.
So I actually have a worse case of culture shock being back in London than I did going to Tanzania.
For example: I went to buy some Parmesan in M&S on Monday. I got so bewildered that it took me 25 minutes of confusion before I walked out clutching some cheese and a tub of pineapple. I can’t even face the possibility of doing a ‘proper shop’ so it’s living out of the freezer until I feel able to go into Sainsbury’s without having a nervous moment.
GMTV’s coverage of Tanzania this week has also had something of an upsetting effect on me. Not least because what have the Tanzanians ever done to deserve ‘the pleasure’ of having Fiona Phillips visit them in an oh-so-charitable fashion?
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