Some Very Sad News

When I first came to London and I was skint I took a walk down Bond Street, pausing by the Alexander McQueen window and promising myself I would one day buy this dress.



RIP Alexander McQueen - an amazing designer and true Londoner xx

Balancing Act

Tallulah Bankhead once said "It's the good girls who write the diaries because the bad girls don't have the time." Now no offence to Tallulah (who is one of my all-time heroes), but sometimes being good will restrict your time also. And sometimes the combination of both good and bad behaviour can be responsible for neglecting your diary/journal/blog. The last couple of weeks this combination has been my downfall and led to me doing no writing whatsoever. Confused? Let me explain.

Since the whole ordeal of Christmas became officially over, it has become increasingly difficult to return to a new routine. I still can't put my finger on why this is, but I have found myself becoming quite frustrated about how I didn't have everything in my life completely under my own control. To combat this, I began embarking on completely impossible projects to attempt to turn myself into an organised human being. This luckily came to a halt before I went completely insane when a friend told me that in fact nobody is completely in control of their own life and that I was just the same as most other people who feel like they are losing it. And these words were coming from the most Superwoman-esque person I know.

So then I decided that I was just actually going to chill out a bit and not worry. Which was great until things began to pile up when I neglected stuff I had to do in favour of the pub or an old movie marathon and I started running really low on money as I hadn't found a part-time job. Then it occurred to me that that the most difficult thing for me to do was to find the middle ground. I have always kind of been this all-or-nothing person who is completely unable to do anything in moderation. This is why my weight continually fluctuates, why I cannot be a social smoker and why I often change my mood every hour on the hour. So in order to combat this I have been attempting to balance one action with another. For example, eat a pizza but cycle to uni the next day. Chain smoke at the pub, no smoking for two days afterwards. Spend loads of money on a dress, don't go out for dinner for the whole of next week.

So am planning on living by this but it sometimes becomes difficult when life gets in the way. For example, the last week has been a crazy hectic time of uni, work, essays and various social engagement which include over-eating, chain smoking and over-indulging in inebriating substances. And to compensate I have been completely virtuous when it comes to managing the home, have been reading a whole bunch of books in preparation for my dissertation and have been cycling back and forth to New Cross in arctic weather conditions. So THIS is why I haven't been writing. It doesn't even make much sense to me, so I doubt it will to many of you.

In other news, am planning a trip to South America for 2012. I know it's a really long way away but it will cost £4,000 and I need to SAVE xx

Weekend Ahead

So tonight I am going to put on my dancing shoes and go on a night out for the first time since getting back from Holland. Essay deadlines + lack of funds + home improvement projects = hermit Gempop. As soon as I finish this I am going to rifle through my wardrobe and find something suitable to wear.

In other news, I have a training day tomorrow and the lovely Adrienne is flying in from Toronto once again which is very exciting. Also I am in the mood for some serious cooking and baking, so will be making everybody goodies from my favourite cookbook xx

In a Sense We're Exactly the Same

Tonight I will be dancing to all of these:







Like I used to in my bedroom in '97 xx

Hooray for Gingers

Last night I dyed my hair and it went bright red. I looked awful - pale and about five years older (shudder). So this morning I had to undertake a major rescue attempt on my poor ravaged locks. So I put on a beret and hotfooted it to the nearest chemist to see what I could do to make myself look less like a safety match. I decided that a light-mid ash brown would be the best option to counteract the brightness and it worked. Kind of. I now have hair that is the colour of merlot, and although it is still too dark for my tragically pale skin tone, I am starting to get used to it (despite the fact that Mike greeted me with "Hello Goth - not letting that one slide).

Went for some little drinks at the Union with Sam, Mike, Jen Ven and her friend Louise and then for a yummy and cheap dinner at The Thailand in New Cross before braving the baltic bus journey back home. Jen is going to Borneo and not only am I super jealous, I'm going to miss her LOADS xx

Centre of....what??

So today was a struggle. My shiny new blackberry decided to play a little trick on me and disable its alarm, which made me sleep in until 9.15. This is unfortunately the time that I have to leave to be in time for a ten o'clock lecture as the bus service from East Dulwich to New Cross is not that great (TFL - take note: There are indeed Goldsmiths students living in SE22. And not just me - I met three third years who live on Lordship Lane). So I missed my Africa lecture and instead decided to accompany Ollie to the emergency room at Moorfields Eye Hospital. So it may sound a little ridiculous, but we stopped in Pret in Finsbury Square for a little spot of lunch on the way (the eye emergency is not a real 'emergency' etc) because we skipped breakfast and also because Ollie injured himself skateboarding with John Allen at the weekend and cannot far/fast enough.

Emergency rooms are all full of crazies. Groups of people sat on those little plastic chairs which are wayyyy too close together complaining about everything from the waiting time to the lack of Diet Coke in the vending machine. It all smells of generic cleaning fluid and piss. After a spending a little while there trying to read my book whilst ignoring the guy opposite me who was shouting across the room at his wife despite the fact that she was deaf, I had to leave my broken boy there to get home in time to receive some deliveries. He arrived back a few hours later feeling he had completely wasted his afternoon. I put the kettle on.

Also today I discovered from reading The Londonist website, that the actual geographical centre of London is close to Lambeth North Underground Station, which is a mere 4.6 miles from my flat. Closer than when I lived in Hampstead, Golders Green and Forest Hill. The only more 'central' flat I lived in was when I was so central I could practically smell the tulips in Russell Square. I suddenly feel as though I am not so much in the periphery as I originally thought xx

Painty-Paint

My apologies for not writing a single thing last week - sadly the essays I had to do momentarily took over my life. Unless it was regarding psychiatry in colonial Africa, the boundaries of the human in medieval literature or the Indian resistance movement - I was not giving it the time of day. The last essay was completed on Thursday and I am now a happy girl once again. I even gave myself a little day off on Friday as a reward for all of my hard work. I spent the majority of the day in my pyjamas watching lovely films and eating ice cream. It is a great source of annoyance that all of my days cannot be spent like this, although I would eventually get bored with it. Anyway, my first me-day of the year was a good one.

Ollie and I spent the majority of the weekend undertaking tasks relating to our flat. We have decided that it is indeed time to step up our game and dive into some serious home improvement projects. I am one of those people who can gladly spend all day looking at paint charts and fabric samples. Reading the Habitat catalogue is my idea of fun. However, the difference between playing interior designer and playing full-on painter and decorator are very different, as I have learned today. Spending five hours applying (beautiful) olive paint to my living room wall has left me with a bad back and paint-encrusted hair and nails it took a VERY long shower to remove. However, it will all be worth it soon when we can have a complete overhaul of every wall. After all, there is nothing more depressing than magnolia.

Have just read this and realised that I need some drunken debauchery quite soon to balance out all of my domesticated tasks.

Aside from this, we had a lovely Saturday lunch at The Plough in East Dulwich (love that place) with the Harcourt-Smiths and spent much of the afternoon playing with adorable little Anna. Have also been reading The Motorcycle Diaries, which I cannot seem to put down xx