Saturday 25 October 2014

#87 Ok fine, bring it.


Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to stepping up my indulgence in a particular area of socially unacceptable behaviour. The increases in self-awareness and confidence that comes with age are only gifts in strong hands. Unfortunately for all of us, not all pairs of hands are the right ones. Who knows though, maybe I'll get lucky.

In other news this week, I got tasked with a bit more responsibility at work. Actually I asked for it. It's necessarily a good thing. There's little benefit of looking over one's shoulder during a run. This isn't a run though. It's a fucking rat race.

Speaking of races, our dear new housemate (who was already our mate) took Liz and I out to the new Peckham Rye Parkrun at eight thirty this morning. Why is it lately that everyone's dragging me out for runs? It was awesome though. I mean, the second lap was pure hardship but it was awesome if that makes any sense. It will to some. While I ran, I thought about a girl over whom briefly I'd held an umbrella last month. So what if that's the happy place that my mind went to? It was a nice image. 

Sunday 19 October 2014

#86 There's nothing quite like a 10k

I wasn't sure how I felt about McDonald's using their children's charity to sell burgers. On one hand, it might encourage people to give. On the other, maybe there was something inhumane about the link between suffering kids and a conscienceless fast food business. 

Jamie Oliver might agree that McDonald's contribution to the global epidemic of dietry related diseases grossly overshadowed any positive impact of its charity campaign. In short, you'd be better off not going there in the first place. Unless of course, you're ordering carrot sticks... or a fruit bag... milk, water, tea, coffee, orange juice... or you're just going in there to use the facilities although you really should buy something if you're going to do that.

It's 9:05am on a Sunday and I'm on a train to Orpington to run 10k because this is how my dad most wanted to celebrate his 59th birthday. I was out last night checking out this new bar in Peckham, where some bunch of farmer lookalikes have got in some old American arcade machines and craft ales. Hauling my ass onto the replacement bus to London Bridge at eight thirty this mornig was less fun although McDonald's at London Bridge was open so at least I've had breakfast.




Saturday 11 October 2014

#85 Tiger Tiger

It wasn't that I'd intentionally lied to my friends. I'd worked the tail off of a donkey this week and instead of spending time making small talk, I just wanted to go home, do some laundry and go to bed. Then it got to about 4pm, I changed my mind and wanted to go out alone.

Lately I prefer the tube to the train. It's warmer. I made my way north of the river and over to Picadilly. "Evening" said the bouncer outside Tiger Tiger. "Have you got friends inside?" I paused for a minute, tempted to ask how I could possibly know. "No, no" I replied with quasi innocent breeziness. He checked my ID and waved me in.

This was a pokey little place compared to its Portsmouth cousin. The tunes were good but I got bored and decided to see what Covent Garden had to offer instead.

As I started walking away from Tiger Tiger, I realised I had a stitch. I tried to walk it off but it just wouldn't go away. So I sat on a wall for a while to rest. A girl came over and talked to me about God for half an hour. Afterwards I still had a stitch and was feeling rather tired so decided to go home for food and sleep.

This wasn't quite the colourful night that I'd imagined. I wondered if I might try it again sometime.


Saturday 4 October 2014

#84 Nando's

"Third floor, walk in like you belong, get the lift just on the side of reception". It had been a while since I'd set foot in a university. We dress down in the office on Fridays. My backpack was corporate issue but it did the job. I came out of the lift and stared blankly for a moment at the members of the classroom opposite. A few looked back. Swallowing and putting my phone up to my mouth, I unsubtly looked at the room directions on the side wall before wandering off down the hall. Room 325. 

"Hey :)" said a familiar face. Her expression quickly changed. "It's never ending! I think I'll be here another hour". "It's ok" I replied, plonking myself down in a wheely chair. "Here, you can read if you want". She passed me The Writer's Book Of Hope by Ralph Keyes. I spent twenty minutes skim-reading it. It was ok. A pretty good crash summary of the challenges of writing and the qualities needed to meet them.

I was in a happy enough mood but carried inside a sadness, from a decision to let go of something earlier in the week. Something beautiful. I'd been holding onto it but had felt uncomfortable and uncertain. I didn't even really know why. I just...

Maybe this extra extra hot sauce would help. We'd decided on Nando's as the Marquis of Cornwallis was completely packed. I poured the bottle over some meat and a few chips and let the fiery chilli dance around the inside of my mouth for as long as I dared. We ate until we were both completly stuffed. Before leaving, I went up for a refill of Coke Zero. I mean why not? It was Friday night after all.