Hurrah, Gardeners World

Its back at last. Having spent the day frantically shopping the arse off New Bond Street what could be better than settling back in your hotel bedroom and watching Monty Don and the gang? (I still miss Alan of course). The alternative was late night gallerying at at the Royal Academy but frankly I'm shattered (not helped by being hungover this morning following drinks at The Grosvenor with Ms Hill where, over a VM or three, we put the world and our relationships to rights).

Ms Drury has not made it this far south so don't have to turn out and keep her in the alcohol to which she's become accustomed (thank the lord). Talking of traveling south, what news from Marrakech Ms Murray?

Will have to see if I can fit in 2 galleries tomorrow as am seeing Ms Benson on Sunday - and its impossible (as I'm sure everyone knows) to do 2 galleries and have a good gossip all in one day. Opera at ENO tomorrow night though which I'm looking forward to despite the fact that my aunt thinks I'm as mad as Lucia herself to have booked it!

Bank is playing silly buggers with my payment to the builder. They returned my cheque as unpaid despite there being oodles of money in the account. Ad no-one there can tell me why they did it. Now have to arrange a CHAPs payment which will take up valuable tourist time tomorrow or Monday. Hey ho, these things are sent to try us. That's all. J x

Spoke to Designers Today

Apparently there were 11 people on site at my flat today. 11! The thing'll be finished by then end of this week I'm sure... That's all. J x

What Have I Done?

Spoke to designers today. Apparently my apartment looks like hell on earth. No bathrooms left, walls knocked down... Remain confident that it'll all look good in the end. That's all. J x

Hello 21st Century

Am now at home in Swansea and father now has Wifi and therefore I'm able to blog remotely. Will also attempt this feat whilst in London (should I have the time!). Not much to report so far. Have left the flat to the tender mercies of the builders. Am gong to try and not worry. Some hope!

Aged Ps are both fine. We've had good news about my uncle (see earlier post) and the blood disease he has isn't the worst kind. Looks like Venice is on the cards for September/October (assuming no-one else gets ill!). Have to have a special mention for the Ts, since my father really liked his birthday card. Rest assured Mrs T is still an artist... That's all. J x_

2 days to go....

Aaaaargh..... J x

Latest Update

So, where were we? Refurb stuff getting me down a bit but the gallant Ms Drury has been addressing this with me by making me go out and get absolutely smashed on vodka martinis. Well, we got a little tipsy on Saturday evening. Well, at least I did. She was on red wine which, as anyone who knows her knows, is like mother's milk to her. Anyway, we've booked to go and see Joseph on my birthday (05/09 for anyone contemplating sending a card). This will be our first time away together. Will we survive? And how many VMs will it take? Watch this space.

Was at the Lesbian and Gay Foundation most of Saturday daytime for an Induction Day. It was really good and interesting and the people there were lovely. Think I made a couple of new friends. Got the gay book group meeting on Wednesday. It'll be interesting to see who turns up.

Sunday was spent packing and finding out how much off site storage costs (a fortune). Have decided therefore to squash everything into one room and move it around as required by the builders, plumbers, electricians etc. Although obviously can't do this for the first 2 weeks as will be away.

And talking of being away, have managed to plan things to do in London. Am going to the V&A (glass exhibition and fashion exhibition and to buy the "love" mirror I saw in the shop last time I was there), the Wellcome Collection (an exhibition on Sleeping & Dreaming that sounds really interesting from the website), New Bond Street (natch), Saturday night have booked for the ENO (Lucia de Lammemour which has just had the most fantastic write up in the Times) Friday night will either be meeting up with my friend Sarah or getting drunk on Old Compton Street or both. Um and loads of other stuff too!

And on top of that Ma & Pa are planning a few days away in Cornwall when I'm with them although that will depend on the old man being well enough (he may be coming down with a cold). So I haven't even got time to worry about the refurb and how all that will be left of my block when I return is a pile of bricks...! That's all. J x

Damp Squib News

Builders can't start next week so we've had to delay the commencement of the refurb until the following Monday. Hey, ho better to get it right than to rush it... That's all. J x

Scorching News

Fig has just e-mailed me to tell me he and Mark are getting married. Congrats to them both and the outfit planning (mine, not theirs) starts now... That's all. J x

Panic

Start a fortnight's holiday on Tuesday (who was it arranged a stupid meeting in work on Monday - oh yes, that would have been me. Idiot!). No panicking about all the stuff I need to do for work and all the packing up of stuff I need to do at home. On top of all that I have an induction day at the help line on Saturday and so can't spend that day packing either. Aaaaargh. Sure it will all work out though. DD, bless her, is also having to do a lot of clearing out as I'm dumping a lot of stuff at her place too. Holiday plans now are just Swansea and London as anything else is just too stressful. Will have to sort out the travel insurance soon though before Portugal in May and Milan in October.

And what else is news? Dad has just come down with a cold so it looks as though he and Mum are going to have to miss the bowls tournament this weekend. Its "short mat" though which isn't like proper bowls (although I've no idea what it actually is).

Can't think of anything else though as my mid has gone blank from the panic! That's all. J x

Hungover

Just got up after having been to Graham's party last night. It was a "burlesque" theme. Denise looked fantastic. Incredible shoes. I copped out and just wore my tuxedo. God we were pissed though. Never in the field of partying has so much vodka been drunk by so few people. New meaning was brought to the term binge drinking. It was also the gayest party ever. Needless to say she didn't make it home last night and ended up staying over. This morning we make a sorry looking pair. But we had a fantastic time. I think. No I'm sure we did... J x

One Never Has Enough String

Why is that? When one is packing up ones belongings into little bundles that are easily movable from room to room and neatly tying each one up with string, inevitably when the scissors snip one doesn't have sufficient string for one's bundle-tying needs. And each time one would swear that one had measured out enough string to hog-tie a cowboy (if one needed to). And yet, no, not enough. Its most inconvenient. Have spent the evening tying up bundles of belongings: books, CDs, DVDs, records - yes, records. I have 230 vinyl records that I simply can't throw away - and about 100 that I have thrown away. And how do I know I have precisely 230 that I'm keeping? Why because I tied them up in bundles of 25 so that they'd be easy to carry. And I counted the number in each bundle. That's how anal I am! I could have just arranged them in nice sized piles but no, I had to count them all. Madness I tell you. And then I never had enough string for each bundle (see above).

Enjoyed Cloverfield last night. Camera work was a little annoying in places but not enough to make one sick. Thankfully. At least it was on - when Gill and I went to see The Golden Compass on Friday we found out it was no longer showing and had to go and see Enchanted instead (have I already told you all this?). Never mind. That's all for now anyway. J x

Hmmm

So what have I been up to since last we blogged? Well, work has taken me to Stockport and Shipley. Stockport was interesting and useful and Shipley was a waste of time. Leisure has seen me going to Panacea (well,actually that was DD), a night out in the Village with Jim, Cloverfield at the pics with Paul (enjoyed the film- even with all the wonky camerawork). And my funding has been confirmed for the refurb! Full steam ahead therefore... Have started packing stuff up already but its going to take a while I can tell. Nothing much else to report at the moment. That's all. J x