it’s (already) that time again…
I’m officially (I think) mid forties! I might have been last year, to be fair. I’m not actually sure what the official criteria is.
This year I’ve definitely had no opportunity to forget my birthday – beer and Cosmo buffet in York on Saturday, pasta and chocolate gnocchis in the snow on the seafront yesterday and a trip to Manchester with Chinese dinner thrown in tonight plus the utopia that is a hotel breakfast buffet in the morning. It’s a good job I signed up at the sports centre.
In keeping with blog tradition, the number forty five has a few mentions in popular culture although most of what I found when I googled it concerned guns. It is the atomic number of rhodium, a rare and precious metal from the platinum group and with which my favourite piece of jewellery is plated. There have also been forty five presidents of the United States, although I doubt I’m the only person who would have been happy had they stuck at forty four. Apart from anything else, I do miss New York.
Having only just returned from a flying visit to Aldgate East mid week, I’m now (yes right now, thanks to my trusty phone) on my way to the Beyond The Gaze launch, a research project which has looked at how the internet and digital technology has shaped not just the way we work but the way punters punt – some people reading may have taken part in the interviews and surveys, and now it’s all done! And I get to go and see what happened – needless to say this will be taking up tomorrow in it’s entirety and whilst I may get the chance to answer the odd text, that’ll be it until Wednesday.
The London Winter Run with accompanying (and very keenly looked-forward-to) return to Waterloo is getting ever closer and after a new personal best time when out and about the other day despite getting stuck trying to cross the road, nearly tripping over a dog and forcing myself to run back up the cliff instead of walking I have high hopes for the day! These are also being fuelled by a promised treat – if I beat fifty minutes – in the shape of Miffy, a Dutch rabbit I adored as a youngster and who I was overjoyed to see is currently for sale in various crocheted forms in the shop at the Tate Modern – for twenty five pounds. Even with my members discount that’s a lot for a knit bunny and I left sadly Miffy-less (but having very much enjoyed the Modiglianis, the jasmine tea and the sitting on the carpet underneath a giant desk toy) so if I’m fast enough back to the Cenotaph, all bets are off and I’m going back to get one come hell, high water or any amount of outrageous overpricing for the tourists.
I also have dates for the next couple of months overleaf! There has been some hardcore forward planning going on and whilst some are fixed (Edinburgh for example, since Dead By Dawn isn’t going anywhere) others may be subject to the odd bump, but nevertheless should be worth keeping half an eye on for those who like to organise themselves; admittedly this would mostly be me and my pathological fear of paying any more for a rail ticket or anything else than I have to.
Back to the present and to those who have texted birthday wishes, thank you! As mentioned, it’s looking like one of those weeks but as ever reasonable notice should get you (mostly) anywhere and the even the blizzards seem to be laying off for now – yay!
Song of the week is entirely appropriate if not particularly celebratory, and made me want to dig a few old friends out of the album collection. Happy birthday (again) to me!
More soon. Manchester here I come and (thankfully) back to Scarborough again almost immediately. You won’t even notice.
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