- George Orwell, "Why I Write"
Truly ideal weekend: Friday evening I met up with my mates, as per always on Friday evenings, though this time out in the provinces (Egham). But it was well worth the trip. We laughed an awful lot. I'm even starting to twig to this whole ale thing. It was the lack of carbonation, not to mention the only-slightly-cool temperature, that were tripping me up at first. But once you get past that, it's darned tasty. And, all things being equal, I suppose I'd prefer not to be a lager lout.
A really memorable and lovely moment happened early on in the evening. I had come in quite brassed off about my never-ending laptop repair situation. But I also happened to mention to Fifers that my (quite cushy government) contract had just been extended for six months. His face blossomed into a huge smile as he leaned back and he said, "Man. You've got your work permit sorted; you're all settled into your flat; and you've got lucrative work for most of the rest of the year. You're completely set!" And I couldn't help but smile as I realised he was pretty much right. As Alex recently and sagely noted, "It's funny how some perspective changes your perspective…"
Got up Saturday morning and dragged myself to the gym, where I did (as I continue to do) what stuff I can do without the use of my right arm. Showered, dressed, and met Peter Nolan at Barbican Station for a very informative walking tour of Smithfields (in the heart of the old City of London). Dashed home, changed, and met some new friends right back at Barbican Center, for a concert by Kronos Quartet. My first exposure to "contemporary classical". The show was very enjoyable – as was the company.
And, by the way, if I'm sending hypertext shout-outs to the blogs of friends (as in the paragraph above) there's no longer any way I can deny that what I'm doing is blogging. I built and launched this puppy to document my extended period of wandering, dislocation, and searching – hence the name – as well as related travel. But I've ended up with what ten million other people have: a blog. Bloggity blog blog.
Sunday I had a very nice lie-in, did some shopping, took a walk through Fulham, and went to the cinema. As Sara will asseverate, no weekend is remotely complete without a trip to the cinema.
And so life is good.
