time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so…
A change of pace! Admittedly a change from virtually motionless to merely leaden, but it’s progress nonetheless.
After a full month languishing at home and with a fast-expiring return train ticket glaring at me (not to mention the threat of invalid contents insurance and an estimated electricity bill that made me glad I was still capable of a sharp intake of breath) time was ticking, and following a quick pack up of necessities on Sunday morning I was headed back to be firmly ensconced in my City flat well before Countryfile. Even without taking bookings there are always things to do (a meter reading, for one) plus there’s nothing quite like the realisation that there are Pringles somewhere else to inspire some purposeful movement.
We still have no sign of even a rough timeline to plan around and the temptation to exist in a type of pyjama-clad suspended animation is great; several weeks of doing next to nothing bar cook and bake, then eat, watch TV and sleep have resulted in the gradual loss of any meaningful sense of time and even days. I can only speak for myself, but I know I’ve barely looked at my watch with anything more than the sort of polite interest with which I might regard a casual acquaintance’s child for at least a month, and after finding myself inbetween box set episodes one day last week I decided to walk around the block just after 3am while the kettle boiled and saw at least a dozen lights on in my street alone. It clearly isn’t just me for whom – after a relatively short pretence of trying to pay lip service to routine – times and days have just fallen by the wayside altogether. Not that it matters.
Thankfully a return to my London stomping ground immediately had the desired kick-up-the-arse effect, and I have so far managed to both entertain myself and make myself useful; boredom and lack of recourse to either my hairdresser or a manicurist having left me feeling more than slightly dull and unkempt I have cheered things up a little with a Betty Beauty colour kit, another happy bathroom cupboard find along with some elderly Corsodyl and a jar of home-pickled eggs I stashed in the back the other week to keep them out of the light, and which will be perfect when I get home. I have the current (as pictured) cerise pink, lilac, turquoise and cobalt blue to play with and the eyebrows are next. Cobalt blue is looking favourite.
It did remind me of a particularly tedious email exchange (where else but Adultwork?) which went along the lines of:
“Your profile says your pubic hair is natural. Is it?”
“Yes – if I change anything I update my ad.”
“So it’s thick and dark, like the hair on your head?”
“No, not especially.”
“But you said it was natural?”
“Yes I did. I never said the hair on my head was.”
Far more excitingly, after a spot of lateral thinking and some digging about online I have finally had a delivery from the makers of my favourite spelt flour Dove’s Farm which might well be the current Holy Grail of the kitchen at the moment; actual bread flour and yeast! Batches of enthusiastically-kneaded dough are proving on top of the tumbledryer as we speak; I will be sure to update (with pictures) next time and the link for the boxes is above. I’m told the best time to buy is around 9.30-10am on a weekday before they sell out, and I got mine on the second try – may my muffins be risen, and my pizzas not lose their toppings in my lap. Praise be!
The inexorable midweek slowdown is upon us – the long run down to Battersea Power Station and back I had planned earlier has been somewhat scuppered by the rain and it’s looking like a ramble around the skyscrapers catching Pokémons (with possibly a brief picnic sandwich stop on the astroturf outside the Leadenhall building) for todays exercise again, which given the lack of people compared with an average Wednesday afternoon could be worse. More kitchen disco too once my pizza dough is ready to crack on with, and some topping creation is on the teatime agenda.
Back on non-baking matters and whilst it isn’t terribly pertinent for now at least, I’ll be hanging about here for another ten days or so before returning to HQ to sit it out by the seaside and hopefully it won’t be too long after that we’ll have something to work with! Thankfully some help with the bills is (fingers crossed) finally on it’s way in the next few weeks, and if nothing else filling in endless forms from HMRC will give me something to do.
Song Of The Week was the first thing I heard this very morning when I opened the window thanks to my neighbour opposite having done the same, and set the mood for the day. Luckily for me, my neighbour has excellent taste.
More soon! Just to reiterate – whilst I’m checking emails fairly regularly and at least daily, my phone is switched off so please don’t email me and ask why I didn’t reply to the text you sent me a week ago. When it’s back on, I promise you’ll be the first to know.
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