Autumn arrived

Autumn is here! Last night I used my new duvet for the first time, and tomorrow I will need to wear a jacket in the day - it was like July in London ;-)

Last weekend after work I stayed with my cousin. It felt like I was going home for the weekend, and indeed I had reached a point last Thursday where I needed family. He cooked a good homemade Guyanese dinner and took me shopping in Westchester county in his car. I bought three coats ( the angora and wool one by Calvin Klein will be returned as I don't like the straight cut, though I like the velvety angora/wool blend). I do love the CK quilted waterproof jacket and the Cole Haan raincoat with detachable herringbone wool liner. The duvet is CK also. I didn't try, it's just that they were the things I was attracted to this time. (Sorry Ralph Lauren!) One reason I put off buying winter bedding and coats is that I couldn't carry everything on the subway.

My duvet cover is a lovely Raymond Waites. Again, didn't even see the (exclusive) name when I picked up the pattern, but it looks like cotton sateen and the label recommends dry cleaning. Does that mean the sheen will be lost if I send it to the laundry? Any advice? I already wash a number of things that insist on dry cleaning, with no ill effects but I have noticed that sometimes the shinier materials look dull.



Yesterday as I was coming home from work a cold front blew in, so today the landlady put the heating on. Ah, the smell of hot dust as the radiators burn off summer accumulation. The days are now around 18C (65F) and nights in the 10s (50s). Tis rather pleasant, bu the leaves still haven't turned.

Guess how long I slept last night? 15 hours! It goes up an hour each week I think! 11.30pm-2am in my homeclothes, followed by a shower and a potter around my room, then 3am-2.15pm in bed. I used to love sleeping but now I dread it. Oh, I'm so good at sleeping standing up now that one day last week on the subway I woke up with a smile thinking, "Oh my gosh, I fell asleep standing up and had a dream." I can't wait to return to my exactly-eight-hours-on-weekends routine.

Some of you have been asking how the notice-giving went last Saturday. All is well. Of course the doc was disappointed as he felt we got along and communicated well. I like to work, and I work hard, just ask the folks back in London at JLT or Makinson Cowell. Some consultants used to jump the queue to ask me to do their work. But I can't work at this frenetic pace, on my feet for nearly 9 hours, with no real breaks, and as you all know from the past year, my nervous system rests on a light trigger. So I guess it's back to the office for me, no more complaints about being stuck at a desk...

A couple of new girls have come and gone, which means he had to beg me to stay a few days more. This week I've been training one who looks like she will stay, and another starts on Monday who has relevant experience, so the doc says my job will be done sometime next week.

I miss blogging and visiting you all. Not long to go, but in my spare time I am looking for a "normal" job.

Summer High

You know what I like about New York? People talk to each other.

If you look nice, someone is guaranteed to say, "You look nice."

If you air a question in the subway, more than one person will answer immediately - of any race, any age, any gender.

For instance, on the way home from seeing an apartment, we got on the wrong line and looking at the map I said to my cousin, "I don't see 86th street on this one." The guy sitting nearby overheard and said, "You need to get out right here and change to the 5 - right here!" And we jumped out before the doors closed.

Then, on the 5, after a minute I let out a sigh - more from entering the cool carriage from the hot platform than anything - and another guy nearby heard me, indicated to the half seat next to him and said, "Come sit here, there's space" and he squished over and I sat. Later on, the train braked really hard, a few people nearly toppled, and he shot out his arm in front of me thinking I was going to fall off the seat, and I laughed and said, "I'm ok, I'm ok."

Next stop, a couple of mothers got on with their toddlers in strollers. The kids were eating crackers and the mothers were quaffing chilled water. Pretty soon, as she leaned over the top of the stroller the mother wondered out loud if her son had finished his snack, and someone with a better view commented helpfully, "Sure, he's finished it. Maybe he needs a bit of water, his face is red..." So the mother gave him his sucky cup as if taking a suggestion from a stranger was the most natural thing.

Did I ever tell you that the only person who ever spoke to me in 6 years on the Tube was a jazz musician from New York?

The other day, an older lady and I were nearly shopping together at Macy's:
"Have you seen this? It's pretty."
"Oh look at this, it's in your size. Try it on."

Just one comment and you might enjoy a pleasant exchange and a laugh with a friendly random person as many times as you care to venture.

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A teaser of the clothing I've been acquiring:


Ann Taylor Loft (didn't buy this outfit, though I did get a couple of summer suits for upcoming interviews)



Jones New York Signature - look no sleeves - and white!

Next blog I will try to show you the others.


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We're having a summer heatwave here which started on Saturday but might end tomorrow. It's wiping out my cousin but my energy levels are still way up there. We went out today and he couldn't believe how active I was, until he remembered my Texas factor.

I guess 15 years in the Lone Star State is enough to harden anyone to heat, but I thought that 6 years in the London greyness would have reset my system.

The other good thing about the heat, the activity, the sun, and the food, is I am going back down a size and shaping back up, a process that started almost as soon as I got here, so promptly I was quite shocked - but I do feel much healthier and less bloated.

My cousin (Ryan) is a gym buff and has no problem pointing out what bits he thinks I need to sculpt! Bring it on.

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Good news on progress:

Went to surrender my TX drivers license, but got a bit emotional at having to part with it because for the past few years it has been like a friend. I'd take it out and look at that Lone Star flag and I'd remember good times.

Anyway, I can't get a NY license yet because they require my Texas records (all clean) so when that comes through later this week I can go back and get it done.

Then Ryan took me to open an account, the service was friendly and happy and everything's free, so I walked out smiling.

All of this was accomplished before 1pm.

As the temps were over 100 today, when we got back home it was 97 and we didn't venture out for the rest of the day. Stayed in basking in the A/C. He's lucky, his job is supervisory so he only has to lay out the plans early in the morning, and then his team takes over and he is free to go.

Oh, nearly forgot to mention, I found a place already!
It's in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a residential enclave by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, full of neater than usual brownstone rowhouses, sweet cottagey houses on cute streets as well as wide avenues lined with pretty little churches and quirky mansions built in the early 20th century as summer escapes for wealthy Manhattanites. The community areas feel villagey and the neighbors are helpful and friendly. Amenities are right on my doorstep or round the corner - subway, express bus, laundry service, pharmacy, groceries, banks, tennis, gym. A park overlooking the bay is a couple minutes' walk away too with bike trails.

The apartment is on the top floor of a quaint little house. It's small but spacious enough for two petite girls, with many original details. It's simple yet feminine, homey and peaceful.

As soon as I mentioned I'd read a listing there he jumped right on the idea and said it was a good area - being like the big brother I never had, and also having discerning tastes, Ryan doesn't want to leave me anywhere he doesn't approve of - anywhere with an iffy walk to the subway, a smell in the elevator, a badly lit hallway, whatever. The minute we drove into Bay Ridge it felt right. I said, "I want to be here", and I was praying my potential roommate would pick me. We clicked very quickly as we share not only many interests but many feelings about things. So I'll be moving in before the end of the month. Also, we both studied art history...

Only 10 days and things are falling into place. Next up: getting a job.

(And Ryan is the best cousin in the world.)

First week of April

Except that I do want to complain about the 2.5 hour commute I endured on Tuesday morning. There were no eastbound services on the Tube, and I work at the eastern end of the Metropolitan Line. And it had taken 45 minutes southbound, stuck in a tunnel for half of it, to find that out! Followed by 3 buses and then a 15 minute walk.

Oh, not to mention a power outage on the entirety of the line I live along, on Thursday evening. Some people were stuck underground for 3 hours.
Fortunately it started before I left the office and so I took the Met line and a bus.

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My suburban street (spacious Edwardian houses) on a typical grey day. Once upon a time it was probably tree-lined with these huge trees, but they have been lopped to halt the damage caused to the house foundations.



I went for a little ramble last week because it was still light when I left the office!
Here you see Spitalfield's old shops.



Spitalfield's new shopping street next to the shiny ABN Amro building (see top left corner), Spitalfields Church, and the old shops opposite all span centuries



Christ Church Spitalfields, 300 years old, restored in 2004 not as a church but a venue



Lincoln, the life of the party, taking a nap whilst trying not to miss a thing.



With my honorary nephew, taking a guess as to where the phonecam was pointing, hence all the empty space.



Alicia and me covered in grins.



Snow on Saturday, my early birthday present.



Very wet clumpy snow which fell off soon after and melted.

The Last May Bank Holiday [updated]

I started this blog two days ago on Blogger and saved it, only Blogger decided not to save it after all *sigh*

So I am here at work, and starting again - on Yahoo.

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Only...what did I say?

After a glorious warm May, our second bank holiday of the month turned out to be rainy and cold, as cold as February. All I wanted to do was hibernate, but I got out and started the weekend with a cozy birthday bash with Adie and two of her uni friends.

Sunday it rained like nobody's business and I stayed in and did laundry. Monday I was supposed to go to dinner at a friend's house, but they were just back from holiday and had caught a cold. What's new?

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Jojo in Australia, who has been reading my blog for over two years and seen all my ups and downs, insisted that I tell you this:
British men are all lame for not going out with Olivia.
He says, "Come to Perth, you won't be single for long."
Isn't it funny how only the people I know tell me these things, and the people I am trying to date just don't get it?

By the way, if anyone is looking for a curly-haired lad with a cheeky smile, ask for Jojo :)

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And then I got a wonderful e-mail from my Dad, who rediscovers my blog every few months:

Baby,

I have been wandering around your Blog.

Absolutely fascinating the way you describe simple things and events with such illumination and enthusiasm.

I know one thing about my baby: she exudes love and caring in all she does....which makes her Daddy very proud, because love is 'the essence' of the universe.

The astrophysicists are welcome to seek the 'absolute truth', 'The Theory of Everything' and 'The Grand Unification Theory', but I am convinced that the ultimate common denominator will NOT be a waveform, particle, string or worm, but an emotion called "LOVE".

It's been around so long they can't see it.

Praise from Dad is like manna from heaven and I am grinning like a fool even now.

I don't know how he found it after this length of time, but the post he is referring to is either this one from March 2006:

I can follow the Volcano post!

Or this one from March 2005:

Snow and castles and the universe

Both posts show a side of me that hasn't been seen on this blog for many months, a facet I have neglected of late, but something my father nurtured in me from an early age. When you click on the links, be brave, be brave :)

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UPDATE:

After everyone's lovely comments, I called Dad this afternoon to tell him I love him, and of course he did that wonderful laugh of his and I said I missed him and he said he'd come visit before he end of the year (Yay! To see mum and me in our apartment?) - and he said he didn't know I had blogged about those theories I mentioned. He was recalling a conversation he and I once had on the long drive between Houston and Dallas, about string theory. (I vaguely recalled it, and I don't remember when it was, but I know it was the first time I heard of it! I mean, goodness...the first time he introduced me to parallel universes, I was definitely under 10. I love how he never underestimated what I could understand.)

First spring walk

What a pretty day it was. Although I woke up with a migraine and some deafness (still congested), I decided to get rid of the laundry I haven't done since before I went to Dallas. In the afternoon, I went for a walk in Regent's Park. I love how it's just round the corner from my house, and every spring I take my first uplifting walk through it. The paths were packed because a lot of people get Good Friday off, even though Easter Monday is a public holiday.

I was bombarded with sounds and images and snippets of life:
Tiny green buds on the ends of branches.
Blossom petals on the ground.
Groups of geese flying over the bridge.
Pigeons doing the courtship dance.
Lady feeding the squirrels and a robin joined in after singing in a bush.
Italian greyhound arcing across the pathway at full bound.
Couples of all ages laughing, chatting, holding hands, kissing.
Mixed groups of adults and children kicking a ball around.
I saw a duck dive and not surface for over 10 seconds.
Children on bicycles have no sense of direction.
A football rolled towards me across the path so I stopped it and kicked it (perfectly directed, may I add) back to its owner.

Standing by a bush looking at some tulips and topiaries, I spotted a robbin who popped up from behind a tulip, peeping at me with his big beady eyes and little red breast, so I stayed there and next minute he'd flitted over into the hedge, and a second later he popped out right at my foot! I had my phone out, but was so excited I couldn't turn the camera on without moving. He hopped about for a bit looking cheeky and then flipped over onto a bench. Sweet!



On my way back home, still enjoying all the sensations, I started sniffling and my eyes got sore, so I decided to pick up some allergy tablets. On a rather empty bit of pathway on my way out, I passed a couple of Middle Eastern men in their late 20s-early 30s, bowling about on the pathway like they owned it. As soon as I was level with them, one of them said something that sounded like, "Hi." In the big city, people learn to ignore what other people say sometimes, so I did. Then his mustachioed companion said it louder and his friend said, "Too much". I was at least 5 steps past them by now and still going. Then I imagine they turned around a bit and the first guy said, "Scuse me!" and his companion followed with, "Hello, scuse me!"

I mean, what am I supposed to say? English guys do not do that unless totally drunk. Italians do, but they are kind of laughable. One time I was waiting at the Tube turnstiles for [the first guy I nearly dated when I came to London] when an Italian man standing near me said, "Would you like to go out for a drink?"

How do they come up with that stuff?

So yea, the only attention I get is from [you fill in the blanks] instead of the guys I am interested in. When I am interested in a guy, I only get as far as "being friends". (See rant below, yes it is happening again.) I will let you know if that ever changes.

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Assign Me

I don't know what to blog! I am having a week in limbo. I didn't get the job at the arts council, but I have two applications to send in this week.

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After a promising start to the spring (remember my London walk last week?), winter is back. The south of France and London were both cold as each other, about 5 degrees C (upper 40s F). The heating is back on, plus my little space heater is back in service, and it was even too chilly to have my window open a crack as it usually is in winter - I guess I had acclimatised to milder weather.

It is supposed to snow somewhere this week too.

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I had an idea whilst I was washing dishes this weekend. I shall open the comments to anonymous voting - on any point of art history that you would like me to research and write about. (But please nothing after the 20th century.)

Go on, get your thinking caps on! But remember, make your vote anonymous so that I can't be accused of favouritism.

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And finally for the listening (not necessarily viewing) pleasure of you old-timers out there.