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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Busy!



I woke up able to walk, so we took the train to Charing Cross Road and had fun in the bookshops.

Stephen has If Minds Had Toes, Sophie has The Carbon Diaries 2015, Emily has Finding Violet Park, and I have The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

We felt bad about not getting a book for Bobby, but he has a whole pile next to the bed that he's working his way through, so he really doesn't need one... We did buy him a little box of tamarind chilli sweets from China Town, though - thought he'd like them as he likes spicy things but alas, they are rather vile. Like those dried fruit snacks we used to get in South Africa for lunch boxes, the ones with sugar on the outside - only burny and nasty. Poor Bobs. Stuck at work, and with a horrible present to boot.

After we'd been to the bookstores, and had a cup of coffee, and bought our customary samosa from our favourite cafe, and wandered through China Town, we watched the person on the 4th plinth in Trafalagar Square for a while. The fourth plinth is used for temporary works of art, and the current one is Anthony Gormley's conception - random people stand up there for an hour each and do whatever they like. Seems like it could be pretty interesting, but when we were there the woman on the plinth was not making the most of her time up there. She has a thermos (of tea?), and was throwing sweets at the onlookers. Not terribly thought provoking, really. Here she is...



By the time we got home again, my back was hurting quite badly, which meant that we had to take the car to see the Harry Potter movie, which, despite all the nitpicky reviews, we all enjoyed very much indeed.

So that was yesterday. A good way to start Sophie's summer holiday - term only ended for her yesterday, though the rest of us have been on holiday for a while. Today's been equally busy, though not nearly as fun. We had Emily's appointment with the endocrinologist (she's still growing beautifully, and we'll keep things as they are till the next check-up in six months time), the vacuum cleaner repair guy had to come (at least Dyson has good service) and Emily had to be taken to (and fetched from) a party in creepy-Crawly this afternoon(laser-hub and then a movie). All well and fine, except that to my horror, as I went through the pile of documents-to-be-dealt-with, efficiently making pap smear appointments and sorting out pension stuff, I realised that our car's tax disc needed to be renewed two weeks ago. And in order to do that, its annual MOT (roadworthiness test) has to be done. Shit. So much for my efficiency. The first slot I can get is for next Wednesday - Sophie's birthday - and we really shouldn't drive the car meanwhile. What a nuisance! And then, to add insult to injury, the next letter I opened was a speeding fine. For Bobby, last week when we went to the beach - 36 miles in a 30 zone. £60 and 3 points on his licence - ugh!!!!

The only good thing about today is that my back is hardly sore at all. With any luck, if I rest up tomorrow, I'll be back to normal this weekend...

4 comments:

zunzun said...

Glad your back is feeling better...meant to write that sometimes alternating heat and cold on the affected area works short term but you seem to be on your way back. pain sucks.

Lisa said...

Glad you're feeling better and I envy you the book shopping.

Maddy said...

How lucky are you that Charing Cross is just a hop skip and jump away, I envy you. Lovely to hear your back is on the mend too. What would you do up on the plynth? Hmmm think I'd sing, I'm really crap at it but it would be fun anyway.

Annalise said...

I would probably do some kind of anti-war thing ... not sure what though!