It's like Christmas

This week I have received a lot of things I wasn't expecting:

1)* A pencil
2)* A mug
3)* An umbrella**
4)*** A panda****
5)*** A fan
6)*** Some tea

* My company has rebranded itself with a new logo and we all received things with the new logo on it.
** I have a folding one because I am a girl. The boys got big golfing ones.
*** I was expecting these this week but I was meant to receive them two weeks ago when I wasn't expecting them.
**** Not a real panda - a very soft small toy one.

Things that make me happy

There is something quite nice about sitting in Leicester Square next to a man playing the piano and singing along to "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" on a warm Summer's evening (especially the bit that goes "ba da ba da ba da ba ba ba...").

"unprompted" and "prompted"!

SHOES! Pt. III

I had to go back to my shoe wearing lessons. I have managed to wear shoes three days this week which I think is pretty good going. I have had five unprovoked* and two provoked* compliments on my taste in shoes. On one of my days off I had the "How can you wear boots in this heat?" question.


* "unprovoked" and "provoked" aren't quite the right words but I can't think of the ones I want so they will have to do.

Case of Mistaken Identity

Last week my tango teachers held a milonga with a short beginners' class beforehand and since a few people I know are interested in the tango thing I took some of them along. I recognised a few people who were there from my classes and one of these people who was at one of my beginners' classes recognised me and invited me to dance. I accepted.

I had the slight misfortune to have been mistaken for someone else: someone who had been dancing tango since the 1990s. Despite my protestations to the contrary and my inability to understand what steps my partner was leading me into, he continued to fling me around like a loon. I told him repeatedly that I only started learning tango this year so please be easy on me and eventually he stopped flinging me around and asked me my name. "Lucky" I replied. "Oh, Lucky!" he said "of course" and proceeded to fling me around some more. Then he asked me if I remembered someone-or-other at The Dome. I have never been to The Dome. I told him this. Eventually, as the music finished, he came to the conclusion that there must be two Luckys and he allowed me to stagger away out of breath.

It was not that enjoyable.

Inner Hippy

It would appear I have turned into a bit of a hippy. I have developed a liking for big floaty floral dresses and want to spend the Summer sitting in fields making daisy chains.

I'm going to have to get some more Simon and Garfunkel

I have also learnt that it pays to be stupid. I would tell you why but it's a very boring story about an electricity meter and bills.


Today's music in my head: "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel

Skip Skip Skip

I am very tired today. There was a surplus of women at my Tango class last night which meant I sometimes had to pair up with other women. Since we can't both follow at the same time I had to do a fair bit of leading and now my arms ache (I'm really not built for leading), however, the teacher saw me and was very impressed with my perfect leading of a cross step*.

In work news, we recently employed a new member of staff who managed to antagonise everyone he spoke to and then left to go and work elsewhere. At our team meeting today my boss asked how I felt about him having gone. I was very diplomatic and said that if he was antagonising everyone then it's probably for the best. What I was actually thinking was that ever since he left my life has become beautiful and carefree and if I ever see him again it will be too soon (unless I can throw a drink over his head).


Today's music in my head: "Sick Muse" by Metric

* step, step, step, prepare, outside, turn, together, forward (for followers: step, step, step, step, step, whee, thonk, backwards)

This is my plan:

Pay off my mortgage.
Leave my job.
Become a concert pianist and water colour artist and dressmaker and ballroom-and-Latin-and-Flamenco dancer.

In other news:
There can't be many people who use the word "simultaneously" in text messages*. I am one of them.

I saw two ducks in the dark the day before yesterday and I don't think I've ever done that before.

Someone, on finding out I've started tango classes, suggested I would be good at it because I look tragic. Someone else agreed.

The problem with digital photographs is that they rely on modern technology.


* or at least those who don't use predictive text - I don't know much about that

Miffed

I have been feeling the physical effects of stress lately and so I decided last night to go back to carrying out relaxation and stress busting activities. Like inhaling lavender and meditating and listening to Beethoven and thinking about flowers. That kind of thing.

All my efforts were undone this morning firstly by my train being delayed due to "signal failure" and then by an evil pigeon from hell (I'm assuming it was a pigeon; the man in the dry cleaners' eyes widened as he saw the size of the stain so it certainly wasn't a wren.). And looking at the dispersion of pigeon evil my mind boggles at the ability of demonic pigeons to carry out malicious deeds in a curvilinear fashion.

I am very cross.