3:29 p.m. - 2002-11-11
big long catch up entry
You know how sometimes you really want to but you just can't write your diary? I just haven't had the time or.. the ability lately. I haven't written in my proper, paper diary since (I think) my sister read it. I know one doesn't HAVE to write every day, but it would be nice to have a record of what was going on.
And that's how it's been lately. I guess because so few people know I'm here as well, I don't feel like I have any kind of audience and therefore feel less inclined to write sometimes.
On Friday I went to Somerset to deliver a package for work. God these consultants are an arrogant bunch of c*nts sometimes. They sit there on their thrones, denouncing all the support staff as useless when anything goes wrong, blind to the fact that things are partly down to them. So anyway, I ended up taking a package to Somerset for them. I volunteered because it meant I'd see my parents for a couple of hours. Dad kindly offered to pick me up from the train station and to this guys house to deliver the package, and it was on our way home from that that we crashed.
We were going down a hill, towards a corner, and it had been raining all day, so when Dad went to apply the brakes, they locked and we headed straight for those barriers things and hit the kerb and the front left wheel collapsed and Dad swung into the other side of the road (only because nothing was coming the other way, otherwise we'd have headed straight into a marshy field (well, we were amidst the Somerset Levels), then back onto the right side of the road before shuddering to a halt, me with the puppy on my lap, looking bewildered and Mum a bit shaken in the front. We were all okay, a bit shaken, natch, but sound. The front wheel wishbone collapsed, so that's not going to be cheap to repair.
Inevitably, I felt that twinge of "If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have been here anyway" but Dad was cool and said he believed these things happen if they're gonna happen anyway, if you see what I mean.
On Saturday Boo and I went to Bristol to visit his nanny and take her shopping. I swear to god I have never seen so much stuff in one house, far more than even I own. It was a ripe candidate for that "Life Laundry" programme, with Royal Commemorative Cups and saucers, ornaments, photos, slippers, towels, cushions, serviettes and just stuff crammed into every available place. You could have filled a small warehouse with all the nik naks she had. In fact, there was probably enough of everything to fully stock a second house. Chris's nanny is very old, and she has this way of telling a story, where she begins and you think it's about one thing, but the story delves off in so many tangents that just as you're starting to think she's forgotten the point, she arrives back at it. Or not sometimes, making you think it was a different story she was telling you in the first place. I think she was glad of some company, as she talked at us till we were yawning and making our way to bed on Saturday night, and we had eaten so well at a delightful restaurant called Muset, that we slept soundly and fully.
Bristol really is lovely, with beautiful old buildings and lovely little shops. On Sunday I found a little shop called Village where I bought a string of 10 pink chinese lanterns, and we had hot chocolate in the fantastic bar chocolat which sold handmade chocolate in all manner of flavours and shapes, and hot chocolate so rich it was like a whole meal.
I could easily live in Bristol, and I think Chris could too, from the way we talked about it. It's not much cheaper than London property prices though, and without London wages... oh well.
We also visited Clifton Suspension Bridge on Sunday, which was smaller than I had expected, widthways anyway.
There's loads of things I want at the moment - a long grey angora cardigan from Next which costs �49.99, black leather gloves also from Next, Lord of the Rings game for the PS2, a big black leather handbag, and some knee high black boots (impossible to find the perfect pair). I'm trying not to be instant gratification girl though...
because I want to drive all around America. I was talking about it with Dad and funnily enough, he said it was something he'd wanted to do when he was younger, but feels he's too old now. He made me realise that my sense of being left behind in terms of buying property is misplaced, and that I shouldn't stress about that or getting my debts paid off. It'll all come good. On that note; Chris has found a new flat - in Vauxhall, zone 1, and only �200 odd a week between him and Martin, so he's well chuffed. His mate Brett, who owns a gorgeous place in Archway, is off travelling in January and is offering his place to let at "mate's prices". It's a two bedroom place, absolutely gorgeous. I'm just not sure the timing's right. Too much to think about.
Oh and my notes work now, so feel free to leave one :o)
