Note to self #2

Stop going out drinking the night before you are teaching. People want information, just not from someone who smells like a wino.

Note to self #1

When roads have "hill" in the name, it's there for a reason.

They're playing our song

Oh, Bookish Barbara, Andrew W.K. 'Party Hard' is on tv. I'm sorry to tell you, but this reminds me of you! Remember when we saw them at Reading? Oh, such happy memories.

I actually have no idea what I'm watching, but it seems to be some kind of cruel joke chart, in which Good Charlotte 'lifestyles of the rich and the famous' is higher up a 'rock' chart than R.A.T.M. 'killing in the name of'. I think it may well be tv from the world of Just Plain Wrong.

R.A.T.M.? Why, Bookish Barbara, remember when we went to see Audioslave record 'cochise' for kids tv? And we were so excited that we got a bit drunk before we went, and then we worried that we wouldn't be let in? And remember how we made everyone we know watch the tv programme over and over until they agreed they could see us? Ah, happy days. No freakin' way! Super spookily, Audioslave have just come on tv! It's the cochise video! Ooh, I need a lie down, too much rock for someone who has to go to work in the morning.

Living for the weekend?

No, I'm living for Monday when I get to see Hard-fi for free. Why free I hear you ask? Why, because I'm on the GUEST LIST!!!!! (Yes, that does justify capital letters, bold type and plenty of !)

This is the second time in my life I've been on a bands guest list, (this is the first) and it makes me so disproportionately happy! I did a little jig when I found out. It makes me feel special, and yes, I am going to be stopping strangers in the street and telling them, and yes, I am going to be going on and on and on about it for at least the next six months.

Why you shouldn't talk to strangers

Last week I went to speak to a group of GPs and other community staff about the services that the library I work in can offer, and in particular my amazing training sessions (how modest of me). The talk was as productive as it gets, people hear the word library and switch off, but just as I was about to write the day off, I had a super journey back to work.

I get to the bus stop and there's a bus pulling away. There's one woman waiting "You just missed one" she said "Ah, always the way" I said. I thought maybe that was it, a few pleasantaries with a fellow bus-stopper, but no. In the space of the next two minutes here are some of the things I learnt about this lady;

1. Her mum is in her 80's and has always smoked.
2. The lady herself has never smoked, and hates the smell of cigarettes.
3. She plays darts on a Wednesday.
4. She had lived in this part of London all her life until last year.
5. Her oldest son is disabled and still lives at home.
6. She has one other son, he doesn't live at home.
7. Her mum has her old mobile phone.
8. The lady is always forgetting her mobile phone.
9. Her husband had tickets to the test match the next day.

And with that last remark, she got on a bus and sped away, leaving me to wonder if I'd been out in the sun a bit too long and had imagined it all.

Shoes, glorious shoes

My feet are shrinking! Now, this would be a cause for concern at the best of times however this is not the first time that this has happened to me. When I was 14 I had (UK) size 5 feet, sometimes even a six. Cut to four years later and I was wearing 4's. Which was weird, but I like it. I like having small feet, call me a shoe snob, but I just think shoes look better on small feet. Ah, who am I kidding? I think shoes look better on my feet.

Yesterday I went shopping to spend the new wages that were burning a hole in my pocket. I wanted to get some new work trousers (the pair that I have now are disgraceful, I've worn them so much the pinstripe has worn off!) and a couple of work tops, but most importantly a pair of new dancing shoes for my fake birthday. Shoes to go dancing in, you understand, not magic dancing shoes like Lisa Simpson gets when she discovers that she can't dance.

So I tried on a pair of fabulous heels in Debenhams, the only pair left, and they were a 4! These shoes were perfect, turquiose blue with a peep-toe and a full ankle, a 2 inch heel, and they were reduced from £40 to £9.45 - extra perfect. I tried them on, they fit! Until I started to walk in them, and they kept slipping off my heel. Like when you wear your mum's shoes when you play dress-up. "Dammit" I thought "I bet some sneaky size five has tried to ram their feet into these 4's just to get a bargain, and they've stretched them. Grr." So I left them where I found them, tried not to cry, and carried on with my shopping.

I found a pair of flats that I liked in Clarks. I tried the 4's on. Too big. Hmm. Suspicious. Also, the most uncomfortable shoes I've ever tried on, (and I have tried a lot of shoes on in my 28 years)there's no way that these babies would ever get comfy. (Yes, Clarks, what's that all about? You're making your shoes a bit cheaper, and they look great, but I can't remember the last time any of your shoes were comfortable - sort it out!). Then I try on a pair of gold, ankle strap, strappy sandals from Next. Too big! If it wasn't for the ankle strap they would've been off my feet flying across the shop in seconds.

So, it must be me. Three pairs of shoes, from three very different shops, all too big. And I just can't bring myself to buy a smaller size. Because 4 = cute and ladylike, 3 = small child weirdo feet.

Say it with a card

After finding these little beauties via Just Jenn I have decided to write to Ken to demand that they become compulsory and free in London. I would buy some for myself, but I would get through about 500 packs a week.

Three little things

that cheered me up on the way home from work last night:

1. My mp3 player behaving when on random and choosing (amongst others) Veruca Salt 'Seether', Maximo Park 'Graffiti' and Hell is for Heroes 'You drove me to it', excellent choice little music buddy! Glad to hear the days of Random=Manic Street Preachers are over.
2. Seeing two sisters wearing the same outfit - they were in their 60's! Fashion faux-pas, psychic sister powers, or just uncanny co-ordination? We'll never know...
3. The lights turning to red almost straight away at the crossing by the hospital, I usually have to wait about five minutes!

They're off!

Today is the 1st September, which means it's Day One of Adam and Marty's trip from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. "So what?" I hear you ask. So, they're doing it by cyclo. Which is just crazy. Infact, it's Crazy with a Big C. They're not doing this for fun, oh no. They're doing it to raise money for KOTO which is the main venture of the Australian charity Street Voices. KOTO trains street kids in the hospitality industry so that they have the skills to get stable jobs, to give them a decent future. Which is just bloody brilliant!

Follow their adventure, and if you can donate some, please do. If you've ever visited Vietnam I'm sure you'll want to help, and if you haven't visited, you really should!

Happy birthday to me?

Two of my bestest friends have birthdays this weekend. I know, I know, I keep meaning to audition my friends so I have their birthdays spread throughout the year. I currently have availability for new potential friends with birthdays in February, May, June and July.

Apart from having to think of two present ideas so close together (oh, the brain ache!), my main problem with them being born a day apart is that they always have a 'do' and I get so involved in their preparations, I start to think it's my birthday too. I am aging twice as fast as everyone else! I'm three years younger and two years older than these guys!