THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO - II

I'm off to Paris! Don't worry, I will return.

THE HEART

© wellcome

I confess that within my soul there lies a small element of slight morbidity which may explain the appeal of the Heart exhibition that's on in London at the moment. On the day I visited, I was lucky enough to have one of the artists as a guide and was enthralled by the tales of his project shadowing a heart surgeon. A tiny exhibition but quite thought-provoking and precious.

STARFISH

© usborne

Some swimming days, it has to be said, are better than others. Sometimes, I am slightly terrified of the horizontal position I have to assume in the water if I want to go anywhere. At others, I feel like a proper swimming person in that I am moving arms and legs and breathing and moving – until you see the telltale stick of bendy foam under my chest. However, with the aid of analogies like bunnies, frogs, starfish and dolphins, I’m getting there, slowly.

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO - I

.. the Inauguration Party of this beast:

© foldingboat

Come on, get to it, Mr. 10-Thumbs; me and party frock (and lifejacket) are at the ready ..

‘MEGAFLOOD’

It’s official: we really do belong to Europe and it’s only a quirky twist of natural events a long time ago that made us an island nation. Scientists have been studying our Channel and finding an underwater world of lost valleys which prove that once upon a time, we were physically joined to France by a chalky landmass. That is, until a huge burst of water swept it away, forever confining us to our watery frontiers. Had it remained, it could have made getting to France so much easier.

HERE'S A NICE THING ..

© innocent

The next time you're passing nearby a Starbucks, do something tree-mendous ;p

oh go on, please laugh, it took me quite a long time to think of that ..

BLOOD

© blood

Blood has moved into the modern age and gone online which enables me to do all sorts of things, including view my ‘history’. Besides being a bit startled at how long I’ve actually been donating, I learned that from every other donation, not only have they used my plasma and my red blood cells, they’ve also extracted my 'buffy coat', apparently rich in platelets and white blood cells and DNA. Makes you wonder.

TOUR DE FRANCE

Last Sunday, a little bit of France came to England as Stage 1 of the Tour de France wended its way from London to Canterbury. Normally, I am not that interested in men in clingy outfits unless they are rugby players but since the Tour was almost literally passing by my doorstep, I naturally had to go and see. There was even an English man in the tête de la course as they all whizzed by. Merveilleux!

STITCH

Last week-end was the first warm, sunny week-end we’ve had here for ages so we made the most of it and headed down to the coast. Who’d’ve thought that hours of fun and intriguing conversation could be had out of a small blue loop of plastic (fuzzy picture above) and some bits of wood in a garage which do not in any way resemble a boat (yet). I also learned some new terms which the young people have brought into common parlance while I’ve been away and with which I was unfamiliar, such as 'muffin top' (from which, ever so thankfully, I am assured I do not suffer). If you want to learn more about the pieces of wood, and maybe even some more vernacular, then go see this lovely (but surely not as lovely as mine) blog. I can’t guarantee that you’ll discover more about the blue thing though, sorry.

JUICER

After much waiting and anticipation, I recently became the proud owner of a quite scarily efficient juicer. It was great stuffing whole pieces of fruit down the chute and enjoying the ensuing delicious juices. And then I (foolishly) read the free book which had been kindly slipped in with the juicer by the manufacturer. So, for the last seven days, I have been on a liquid diet consisting of various cold green juices (see above). Occasionally, as a 'treat', they were even yellow, or pink. After the first day, I had a headache and was craving a guimauve (bear-shaped, chocolate-coated, marshmallow, sickly French sweet) and something warm. The headache and the guimauve craving soon settled but all week, I admit I have been vaguely longing for a bowl of steaming rice or some warm mashed potatoes. Or just something warm. Still, I have to say that most of the results the book promised have been delivered, but in future I’ll only be making delicious fruit juice and smoothies with it.

ACTIVITIES

So, despite the fact that I’ve nearly been suffering RSI from the work I’ve been doing, I’ve still managed to have a tiny social life. Tristan disappeared off to the mud, sogginess, loudness and general uncleanness that is Glastonbury. I can’t reveal any more at the risk of sounding like an old git, but does this really look like fun to you?











Meanwhile, I disappeared off to London to help celebrate the birthday of a very special friend and I can assure you that birthday parties with chocolate cake in the warm indoors are much more pleasurable than sitting in a soggy Somerset field.

And I’ve been busy planning for future jaunts and have booked the eurostar back to Paris (return journey). And rugby in Marseille. And I managed to lose a corner of a tooth while munching on a baguette; having spent almost the last two years happily chomping my daily baguette in Paris, the irony is not lost on me. And if I needed the excuse of ‘good preparation for my courses in September’, there are some really interesting exhibitions in London that I’m looking forward to visiting. And the swimming is going very well (if only I could get out of my floating position properly). And I spent a week-end enjoying the delights of Breda, a very mooi place on the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa.Oh well, back to work, more to follow ..

ABSENCE NOTE

You may have noticed that I have been very remiss of late for which I would like to offer profuse apologies because I realise that you’ve probably been getting a smidge bored with the lovely, cheerful photo of the Bergabrothers and also because it looks like I have left blogland. The truth is that I did abscond for a while, well, at least I found some work and had become slightly dedicated to, dare I admit to fixated on, the task. Anyway, I'm back and just to prove that I can talk about other things than rugby players’ buttocks, I will from now on be back to my old self, ruminating on topics not so far and wide to reassure you that yatje blog lives (and rocks!).

sorry – just couldn’t resist ;)