sincerest form of flattery?
As is starting to become par for the course, today I am writing from seat D12 on the Cross Country train from Birmingham, having spent the last 3 and a half days in a completely new city for the first time since last August. The city turned out to be unexpectedly and unashamedly fabulous, although the net result of this has predictably been that virtually every penny I have earned has been spent in Selfridges, and a comparatively quiet few days has meant the unmissable opportunity for exploring the many and varied retail outlets of our second city. It is worth pointing out once aga9in, that booking in advance is paramount – since taking my seat n the train I have fielded no less than five calls from gentlemen all expecting to see me later on today (having clearly not bothered to read my site properly) and if I had known before today, at least two of them could have been accommodated (although not at the same time).
True to form, I have also eaten enough to satiate an average sized party conference, this lunchtime being no exception and part of my ongoing task as I type is to prevent the ever present danger of train fatigue. I will not soon forget the time I boarded at Kings Cross following a hefty pub lunch and woke up dry mouthed and disorientated in Edinburgh several hours later just to have to throw myself on the guard’s mercy and promise to immediately turn around and come straight back, missing my York connection in the process and also a particularly gripping episode of Hollyoaks which I ought to have had ample time to attend.
My Birmingham base deserves a mention of it’s own, being as it was fitted out with what used to known as all mod cons; including, a completely new one on me, the memory foam mattress, which whilst not quite ideal work-wise, has provided me with blissful sleep for the last three nights and is next on my shopping list when the time comes to begin the next-but-one project at home (the bathroom, thanks for asking, is coming along nicely and an exciting day of grouting awaits me tomorrow, interspersed with a couple of early-ish gentleman callers and a growing pile of laundry. With Valentine’s Day approaching (a period when an hour can last either a minute or a week, depending on the activity), I find it imperative that precision plans are made to fill every moment, even if those plans are nothing more than updating the accounts, catching up on cleaning and bagging up junk for the tip, and I have been carefully (and in my best writing) listing domestic tasks to complete over the weekend. I am also planning on trying to get some new photographs taken, having been promising this now for nearly two months – sorry!
In fact, a small victory for the honest and hardworking was had yesterday following the discovery of a random advertiser on (yep) Adultwork, whom had not apparently felt able to write her own advertising profile but instead took the some would say maverick (and others would just say lazy, thieving and despicable) decision to plagiarise large chunks of my website – an act which I am happy to say, did not impress the gentlemen at Adultwork HQ, who had said slapper deactivated within a singularly impressive half an hour of my complaint. An expensive case of writers block indeed. Hopefully.
I propose to celebrate in my usual Valentine style of buying up all the leftover £20 bouquets for £2 each at Tesco closing time, and then possibly a DVD and Chinese takeway comprising a great deal of deep fried carbohydrate and some soup. The diet starts here – tomorrow (and as soon as I get the keep fit Wii thing sorted out, find my sports bra and arrange some more saintly and virtuous raw vegetables in the fridge). Well, it is the weekend.
So the next stop is Liverpool, but not for a couple of weeks – I will be available in Scarborough throughout this week and next for advance appointments as usual. As my sources tell me that the coming week is half term, parking MAY be a problem around here, but it’s all good practice for the summertime. I am also planning the my next London visit and should have the dates organised by the end of this week – watch this space for details!
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