share and share alike

now, you wouldn't guess it to look at me, but as well as a fat person, inside me there is a do-gooder desperate to get out. i indulge my 'helping the greater good' fantasies by visiting a local primary school and helping with their literacy programme.
this morning, during register, cute little Arnan put up his hand and, apropro of nothing, announced: 'last night, i went to my cousin's house and had porkballs. they were really hot and i burned my mouth. i had to ask my aunt for a glass of water. and it still burned.'
'thank you, Arnan,' said the teacher without batting an eyelid. 'we save things like that until sharing time, don't we?
'and what time is sharing time?'
sharing time, it turns out, is just after numeracy and is 15 minutes long. during sharing time, the kids sit in a circle and tell each other their news. i imagine it runs along the line of:
'still haven't found the thierry henry football card yet'
'i've got a pink hoodie for my birthday'
'my mum, yeah, she was late for work yesterday'
'i was involved in a porkball incident last night'
but what a great idea.
i think we should start having 'sharing time' at work. 15 minutes where you just tell each other what you've been up to/eating/doing etc. what would you bring to the table?

the sun always shines

isn't it incredible the difference a bit of sun makes to how we feel about the world and how the world feels about us? i left the house this morning at 6.40am and it was light. for the first time this year i didn't feel like i'd had to get up in the middle of the night.
on the train people smiled at me, little fluffy baa lambs gambolled around my feet as i walked to the gym where angels helped me lift those heavy weights. and all because the sun has started shining.
i then got to work where i have been so bloody busy that i haven't had a chance to get out and even look at the sky.
and now it's 6pm and it's STILL light.
i'm going to make a mercy dash for the last of the daylight

sights for sore eyes

just back from Paris, where i was reviewing a (lovely) hotel for work.
while there, i saw:
a woman who had accessorised her car to her outfit (maroon suit and matching blusher, maroon hat and maroon-framed glasses, maroon fiat)
clare danes in miu miu
a babapapa moneybox (which i bought)
endless black tights/killer heels combinations (on a sunday morning)
a blind man playing accordian in the gutter (yes, really)
a dog in earrings. i kid you not. earrings and a pink dress!
how we laughed

scratchie billie

'I say, do you blog?' I'm definitely going to start using that as a chat up line/ice breaker at parties.
It's actually a tough old do this blogging business – should you be funny (ha ha or peculiar), and if you usually are, can you get away with being deep and meaningful every now and again? Is it ok to whitter and rant or do you actually have to SAY something?
I'm obviously in a more sombre frame of mind today as I am using capital letters, which, as I'm sure you've already noted, do not figure much on this site.
So, a sensible, stiff-upper-case kind of day.
It's raining in London and we (the office we, rather than the royal one) are listening to Billie Holiday while trying to sort out our April issue.
Tonight I'm going for a curry and a pie. Which is a nice, waistbelt stretching combination. Actually I'm hoping to resist the curry nibbles (opening of a new posh curry house) and to eat the nimblest, if not humblest, pie possible.
Just realised that the Billie Holiday stuff I've downloaded is live and crackly.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

make mine a double

it's a long story but a stranger once sent 2 glasses of champagne to my table because he'd overheard my date saying she'd got lost on the way and apparently last time he'd been lost someone had given him a glass of fizz. all very 'pay it forward'.
i bumped into the guy again a while back in some swanky hotel bar (which, as all Londoners will know is pretty amazing given that you never bump into anyone anywhere in this town) then i thought of him today because i saw a homeless guy who was his absolute spitting image.
then i started thinking about the whole doppelganger thing – that we all have a double somewhere in the world. and i found myself thinking how weird it would be if we all have a homeless double somewhere and how complicated it could all get if you, or someone you know, bumped into yours.
just a thought.

is there a doctor in the house?

'what the hell is that banging,' thought i, at 4am this morning, as i surfaced from a dream about the date giving a friend of mine a masonic handshake. the banging turned out to be the cat, which had somehow got herself shut in the living room. by the time i had let her out and returned to bed i was wide awake, natch (which, by the way, is a word i have banned from my magazine!).
so, spent the next couple of hours
seething at my sister for locking HER cat in the living room
fretting about how much i have to do today and how tired i'm going to be
wondering about what to wear
worrying about the date and the weekend (we aren't spending it together)
trying to be calm, and at one with the universe and all the great things in it
i finally got up at 6am and had coffee. went to the gym to do my legs but was pressganged into a boxing class as demonstration model for someone i used to train with. which i didn't mind at all UNTIL HE GAVE ME PINK BOXING GLOVES!
i ended up doing bare knuckle boxing - you should see my fists, they are very manly!
got to work full of the joys of spring at 9am.
by 9.20am the joys of spring had been ripped from me, chewed up and spat out, replaced by an acute bout of misanthropy and irritation.
this was caused mainly by trying to book a doctor's appointment for 2 weeks' time, when i have a day off.
the earliest appointment i could get was five weeks away. so i now have to 'just turn up' at 8.30am one morning and they'll give me an appt for that day.
which is patently ridiculous, as i pointed out to the stepford wife receptionist.
thank god it's the weekend.

fluffy pink clouds

apparently it takes 4,976 muscles to frown and only 2 to smile! whoever made that up had obviously never heard of botox.
anyway, have an acute attack of FBS (fluffy bunny syndrome) today - the sun is out, the sky is blue, i had a good night's sleep, nice date to look forward to this evening and all is well in the world.
so, to counter the list of annoying things i compiled a while ago, today is about the nicer things in life:
- beetroot, avacado and sesame seed salad
- laying in bed on a sat morning with a coffee and a magazine
- waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain outside, knowing i don't have to get up for work
- the feeling i get when i'm running and i think 'i can't carry on' and a song comes on my ipod and suddenly i feel like i can't stop!
- a perfectly chilled glass of chablis after a tough day at work
- laying on the beach listening to the sea and the martini that comes after a day frazzling
- a new jumper
- box-fresh pants
- walking home in the rain, splashing in all the puddles, getting totally soaked (for some reason, this doesn't have the same effect if you do it on the way to work!)
- being recognised by kids
i would go on, but i feel myself slipping into trite hallmark territory so shall stop here.