I had a nervous breakdown at Old Street this morning. Why would the first tubes go at 7.30am on a sunday?? Unbelievable! People have to get to church and stuff!
Loreena MacKennit, at least and that means I have to be at hers just when the first train leaves Old Street Underground Station... what to do?
Wake up your girlfriend, who knows more about buses in London and has internet and cry into the telephone.
If you are lucky, your girlfriend sorts it all out while you roll around on the pavement in a panic. I am very lucky.
And Loreena MacKennit is, cause she is currently singing and praying in her church.
Plus she said I did a brilliant job this morning and was all organised and that and she could see that I was well rested and energized.
Couldn't help saying "Really? I had a bit of a stressful morning." She asked if I had overslept and I said yes, cause I didn't want to tell her that it was more of a lovely wine-and-stew-sit together with dancing around to cheesy music at midnight in East London and a big portion of stupidity of not checking if trains are running on a sunday. Anyway. Won't happen again, ey.
It reminded me, though, of how massive and scary London is. I mean... I start bumping into people I know in the streets and I know lots of bus routes and tube connections and never even have a map on me anymore. But that is because the parts of London I actually "use" are probably, put together, not even as big as Konstanz. And then I strand at Old Street at 6.30am on a Sunday and have no idea what to do and there's 15 bus stops with 57 buses and a million street lights and a huge scary poster of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and that is all it takes to make me feel completely lost, cause I have no idea in what direction Wimbledon is.
I am calming down now. Will go for a nice cup of tea in my next break and make peace with Johnny Depp's face.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Wednesday 17 November 2010
A Mad Tea-Party
BIRTHDAY BLOG - I wrote this on Monday.
Hello lovelies,
I know it has been ages and I owe you a long update. Today I am off work, and it is "Nio can do what she wants day", so I had a lollipop instead of brushing my teeth this morning, greasy bubble for breakfast, breakfast TV instead of a shower and later I will go for lunch with lovely people, and in the evening I will go for a Nio-day-meal with someone terrible. But right now all I want to do is write my blog.
So what happened, where was I, am I OK?
Yes, thank you, I am very well! London is still amazing, still exciting, still feels right. I can't WAIT to go to Germanland for a weekend in two weeks, but I think for now a weekend will definitely be enough.
Someone somewhere once said in a very melodramatic voice "No matter where I am I wish I was somewhere else." Then she fell off a boat and died, I think.
That was in some TV show I watched when I was 13 and I always could relate to that sentence so well... restless teenage me. Not only teenage, actually, the last 5 years weren't much better. But I remember sitting in the kitchen in the Vortex thinking... "There's nowhere I'd rather be right now." It was a very new feeling for me and it was nice. But even Galway I left over two years ago and frankly, I wouldn't want to live there again. I love it with all my heart, but it is a weird place, Galway. It's in a bubble. Surreal, in a way. The one place farthest from the world.
Anyway, my point is: I feel like that again. There's nowhere I'd rather be right now, even if it is a kitchen looking out on Tooting High Street. I feel like I'm in the right place. And this time it is London, which is pretty much in the middle of the world and also very real.
Work
Work is still good, quite challenging, lately, but good. Loreena MacKennit is very happy with me, which means she gives me more and more more and more difficult things to do. When I am not fighting Wandsworth council, BT or her Evil Social Worker on her behalf, I am mostly babysitting little Em and little A, who just introduced me to the world of BBC cebeebies. I can feel my brain cells die in dozens every second I spend with the little ones and Tom and Mr Sluffy and Mrs Mouse or whatever their names are. Someone who drinks as much as me mustn't complain about dying brain cells, tho.
Booze
Yes, Boozenews. Some people around here were planning on making November a dry month and I was already worried about no one having a single birthday pint with me. Luckily, by the 2nd of November all those people were already so drunk that a "dry November" was impossible anyway and we all just kept drinking for the next two weeks. Happy hungover nio face.
It was Halloween of course and my first proper one. We had pumpkins and sweets and candles and scary costumes and beer and Sarah killed our faces with make-up, so that they would look proper zombielike. Also we were too lazy to open the door, so could keep all the sweets to ourselves. Halloween is brilliant.
Then, even more exciting, it was Bonfire night. Unfortunately I didn't really get to see any of the big firework displays, but we went to a little house party in a former dog food factory and had our own little firework fun on the roof terrace. With amazing bread.
Bread
People can say what they want, neither baguette and brioche nor ciabatta compare to proper lovely fresh German bread. MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmh...
Christine, a former volunteer, came to visit us for a few days the other weeks and she brought lots and LOTS of amazingbread. So we had a breadparty. We got all excited and almost choked on bites of bread, that's how excited we were. Lisa and me.
Then there was this home made amazing bread at the house party and THEN I got more of it for my birthday on Saturday. So I am stuffed with bread and there's no real reason to go to Germany anymore, BUT...
Germany
... I am going for the weekend! I have booked a flight that leaves Gatwick horribly early on a Saturday morning and another one that arrives there horribly late on a Monday night. Am looking forward to it, though. Am planning on strolls over lovely Christmas markets with lots of Gluehwein, meeting lots of Julias and having dinner with my parents and my brother and get drunk with everyone I meet. If your name is not Julia and you still want to meet me in Konstanz the weekend after next, let me know! I also will have to squash in two doctors appointments, so I won't have an awful lot of time.
Nanowrimo
So while November has been amazing and fun so far, Novelber worries me a bit. I am about 10 days behind schedule and doubt I will finish in time, but who knows. I am still writing. Maybe I'll just make it into a Christmas Present for someone.
Food
Project "get fatter" is now completed. I am fat enough again, thank you very much.
Promise
I will get better again, I promise. I don't want this blog to fall asleep. there's still so much to discover for me in this city, my mouth is still hanging open half the time. I might focus on my thoughts on London more, as well, and less on booze and bread...
Innit
Haven't said it at all this time, innit.
PS: I am going to have a shower and brush my teeth now.
Hello lovelies,
I know it has been ages and I owe you a long update. Today I am off work, and it is "Nio can do what she wants day", so I had a lollipop instead of brushing my teeth this morning, greasy bubble for breakfast, breakfast TV instead of a shower and later I will go for lunch with lovely people, and in the evening I will go for a Nio-day-meal with someone terrible. But right now all I want to do is write my blog.
So what happened, where was I, am I OK?
Yes, thank you, I am very well! London is still amazing, still exciting, still feels right. I can't WAIT to go to Germanland for a weekend in two weeks, but I think for now a weekend will definitely be enough.
Someone somewhere once said in a very melodramatic voice "No matter where I am I wish I was somewhere else." Then she fell off a boat and died, I think.
That was in some TV show I watched when I was 13 and I always could relate to that sentence so well... restless teenage me. Not only teenage, actually, the last 5 years weren't much better. But I remember sitting in the kitchen in the Vortex thinking... "There's nowhere I'd rather be right now." It was a very new feeling for me and it was nice. But even Galway I left over two years ago and frankly, I wouldn't want to live there again. I love it with all my heart, but it is a weird place, Galway. It's in a bubble. Surreal, in a way. The one place farthest from the world.
Anyway, my point is: I feel like that again. There's nowhere I'd rather be right now, even if it is a kitchen looking out on Tooting High Street. I feel like I'm in the right place. And this time it is London, which is pretty much in the middle of the world and also very real.
Work
Work is still good, quite challenging, lately, but good. Loreena MacKennit is very happy with me, which means she gives me more and more more and more difficult things to do. When I am not fighting Wandsworth council, BT or her Evil Social Worker on her behalf, I am mostly babysitting little Em and little A, who just introduced me to the world of BBC cebeebies. I can feel my brain cells die in dozens every second I spend with the little ones and Tom and Mr Sluffy and Mrs Mouse or whatever their names are. Someone who drinks as much as me mustn't complain about dying brain cells, tho.
Booze
Yes, Boozenews. Some people around here were planning on making November a dry month and I was already worried about no one having a single birthday pint with me. Luckily, by the 2nd of November all those people were already so drunk that a "dry November" was impossible anyway and we all just kept drinking for the next two weeks. Happy hungover nio face.
It was Halloween of course and my first proper one. We had pumpkins and sweets and candles and scary costumes and beer and Sarah killed our faces with make-up, so that they would look proper zombielike. Also we were too lazy to open the door, so could keep all the sweets to ourselves. Halloween is brilliant.
Then, even more exciting, it was Bonfire night. Unfortunately I didn't really get to see any of the big firework displays, but we went to a little house party in a former dog food factory and had our own little firework fun on the roof terrace. With amazing bread.
Bread
People can say what they want, neither baguette and brioche nor ciabatta compare to proper lovely fresh German bread. MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmh...
Christine, a former volunteer, came to visit us for a few days the other weeks and she brought lots and LOTS of amazingbread. So we had a breadparty. We got all excited and almost choked on bites of bread, that's how excited we were. Lisa and me.
Then there was this home made amazing bread at the house party and THEN I got more of it for my birthday on Saturday. So I am stuffed with bread and there's no real reason to go to Germany anymore, BUT...
Germany
... I am going for the weekend! I have booked a flight that leaves Gatwick horribly early on a Saturday morning and another one that arrives there horribly late on a Monday night. Am looking forward to it, though. Am planning on strolls over lovely Christmas markets with lots of Gluehwein, meeting lots of Julias and having dinner with my parents and my brother and get drunk with everyone I meet. If your name is not Julia and you still want to meet me in Konstanz the weekend after next, let me know! I also will have to squash in two doctors appointments, so I won't have an awful lot of time.
Nanowrimo
So while November has been amazing and fun so far, Novelber worries me a bit. I am about 10 days behind schedule and doubt I will finish in time, but who knows. I am still writing. Maybe I'll just make it into a Christmas Present for someone.
Food
Project "get fatter" is now completed. I am fat enough again, thank you very much.
Promise
I will get better again, I promise. I don't want this blog to fall asleep. there's still so much to discover for me in this city, my mouth is still hanging open half the time. I might focus on my thoughts on London more, as well, and less on booze and bread...
Innit
Haven't said it at all this time, innit.
PS: I am going to have a shower and brush my teeth now.
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