Packages, Portobello Road, and Kinky Boots
It came it came!!! The first instalment of what I hope will be very many packages full of good ol’ American TV DVDs has finally arrived! I went to the post office this morning on my way to work to pick up my package and I nearly had to bribe the guy to give it to me as the post office portion of the store didn’t technically open until 9:00, but he was really nice and gave it to me anyway. I didn’t have time to make it home to drop it off, so it took a ride on the train with me and is now sitting here on my desk at work. I haven’t opened it yet, but I saw on the customs form that there is peanut butter inside…Mom, I love you! It was nice to get a package and see my mom’s handwriting on the outside, and it even reminds me of Dad as it is packed up in a box that some of his fishing shoes came in.
I came down with a bit of a cold at the end of last week (I’m blaming the mildewy carpet here at work), but that didn’t keep me from enjoying my weekend. Friday night Kelly and I went to Sandra’s house (Jim’s mom) for Shabbat dinner, which, as always, was delicious. After that we went home, met up with Becky, and walked down to this Australasian place called The Redback that’s just down the road on the high street. I had been told by an Aussie girl I worked with on my last job that it was a bit of a dump, but I was actually really impressed with it! The place was huge, there was live music (NO cheese, score), and best of all it was close by and we didn’t have to take the notoriously bad buses. And they also do a free barbecue on Sunday afternoons, how cool is that? I love Acton.
Saturday I slept in for the first time since moving in to the house – and it was wonderful. The three of us went to Portobello Road to have a look at the market and I found some cool stuff for my room to brighten up my bland walls. I’d been before, but I hadn’t really had a chance to look around that much, and this time I just loved it. The weather was nice and there were so many people out. Kelly and Becky weren’t much in the mood to shop, so I had to curtail my trip a bit earlier than I would have liked, but I will definitely be back again soon. Notting Hill is only 3 stops down on the Central line, so it’s a very quick trip.
Sunday morning I was up early and proceeded to watch pretty much all of season 6 of Sex and the City. I just adore that show. I cried at the end of the series finale just like I did the first time I saw it when I was watching it with my girls back in Northampton. It was different to see it this time after so much has changed, and since we’ve all changed. The whole Samantha-has-cancer thing definitely threw me a bit this time around, but like Carrie, we all know everything will be fine.
Kelly, Becky, and I had an easy night of it Sunday night and took the bus down to the Park Royal Leisure Centre (sounds like an old folks’ place to me) to see a movie. We went to see Kinky Boots, which had a lot of potential to be a very funny film. The movie takes place in Northampton (hooray!) and is about a man whose shoe-making business is about to go out of business. The company’s only hope is to find a niche market – which just happens to be women’s shoes made in men’s sizes for transvestites and drag queens. Sounds funny, right? Well, sort of. It was a very nice film, but much more of a drama than a comedy. Had I wanted to see a drama, I’d have been happy, but having gone to see something silly I felt a bit blah about the whole thing. It was, however, very nice to see Northampton on screen, the little bits I recognized. Had they had a scene at the university or in any of the downtown shops I’d have felt right at home.
Now it’s back to work again. Work work work. Day in and day out. I don’t know how the whole world does this 9-5 thing (or in my case 9:30 to 5:30). You work all day, get home, spend a few hours trying to forget about the fact that you have to go back to work the next day, then you go to bed, wake up, and do it all over again. I don’t think I’m cut out for this! It’s really not so bad though, I haven’t forgotten the struggle it took to get here by any means. I am happy with my job and the people here are cool. Ten of us from the office went out to lunch today and I was speaking to one of the semi-managers, and she said that she’ll see what kind of work there may be for me to do after the project I’m working on is done in about 6 weeks. Hooray! Maybe they’ll hire me to go tour exotic locations and write up consumer reports…or maybe I could be the tea girl. I’m not too bothered either way.
Tags: London, Random, sick, UK, work, Working
Administrator
Hi
I’m not sure where you live (although I guess “three stops down the Central Line” means you’re not too far away), but I thought I’d let you know that there is a knitting circle in Notting Hill which I started.
Here’s a link with the details:
http://www.spittingyarn.com/blog/?page_id=55
Come along if you fancy it!
We’re not a bunch of old fogies, BTW.