It's a bit like Bunty, but it's written by tramps.

After all the doom and gloom and woe-is-me-ness of my last blog post, I'm relieved to say that I am feeling much better. After I finished writing on Thursday night I had my dinner (enchiladas - YUM) and watched an episode of Inspector Morse (not a great one, not enough Lewis) and had an early night. I had some weird dreams, but I woke up on Friday morning feeling much more positive and much more like myself. Getting to the end of the week probably helped a fair bit, even though I was pretty grumpy about having to go back to London.

The atmosphere in the office on Friday was pretty good, considering the election outcome. Whatever happens, my organisation is facing yet more upheaval and everyone is worried about it. That said, it was good to be with my colleagues and to talk through what we might be facing. The sun briefly came out at lunchtime and I decided to go out for a walk and make the most of my last few weeks of working in London. I started in Green Park:





The elephants are on parade at the moment in London, and I was to meet a few more on my travels. I walked up Piccadilly and through the Burlington Arcade, where I saw a few more:







I love in in the Burlington Arcade, I walked through it pretending to be Bertie Wooster (on the search for a silver cow creamer) and peering in through the windows of the expensive shop. It's so peaceful and pretty in there, and just getting out of the office did lots of raise my spirits. I had a wee dander through the back streets and came out onto Regent Street, walked back down to Piccadilly circus and back down Piccadilly towards our office. I stopped in Laduree to buy some macarons, for Nic and I to eat while watching french films in preparation for our trip to Paris in a few weeks:


I didn't think they were as tasty as the ones from Paul, but maybe buying them in Paris will make a difference. I'll just have to go into Laduree when I'm there and experiment scientifically, it's the only way.

I got home fairly late so Nic and I had a really quiet night and got to bed early (after eating the macarons along with Antoine et Colette) and I thoroughly enjoyed my lie-in on Saturday morning. We ventured out into town to do a bit of shopping and I broke in my new shoes from eBay:


Fever Daisy dress and IC Hermia wedges - both insanely cheap from ebay

It was really miserable in town so we didn't stay long, instead we came home to eat lunch and watch Roseanne, after having bought the box set really cheap in The Works. I unpacked my new sewing machine to try it out and spent some time figuring out how to thread it. Actually, threading it wasn't that difficult but winding the bobbin took me a while because the instructions were wrong. Anyway, once I got it figured out I started on my first mini-project, which is to finish taking up a dress. I started doing this by hand about a year ago but got bored, and it's better to do it on a machine anyway. It isn't perfect because my stitching is a bit wonky but it's okay for a first attempt, I think. I think my first project is going to be an easy patchwork blanket. I bought a book of easy craft projects and there are instructions in it for a blanket using a fleecy blanket as a backing. I think I might use some scraps of material from charity shop dresses etc and see how it goes. It'll be good practice at doing seams and sewing in straight lines, and if if looks rubbish it doesn't matter because it's only a blanket. I'm looking forward to it.

I only spent a few hours doing that because Nic and I were off to watch Doctor Who with lovely Tom. I really enjoyed the episode, it was extremely silly but I think that was the charm. I can't believe how well Matt Smith is doing and how much I like him, it was a thoroughly enjoyable episode. Afterwards we headed over to the Somerville to meet Sugar Plum and N, Martha, Lauren and Alysa and a good evening was had by all. One of my favourite things is just hanging out in the pub with my friends, and I went home on Saturday night feeling much happier and much more at peace with myself.

I did a bit more sewing on Sunday and Nic and I had a potter in town before catching the bus to Coventry to see Mr and Mrs Z. I have been meaning to try Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc for a while, and having bought a bottle in Leamington's new wine shop, I wanted to share it with Mrs Z. She did a wine tasting course a few years back and it was so much fun to drink the wine with her. It was good to spend time with her daughter Lyra as well, look at how cute she is:





We left at Lyra's bedtime to catch the bus home, and had another nice early evening. The weekend felt like it was very short, but it was a tonic and I feel really rested as a result. After my attack of the blues last week, it did me good to spend time with my friends. As I said, my instinct when I'm feeling anxious or unhappy is to hide away, but that makes things worse, so it did me lots of good to get out and do things. So, you know, hopefully it's back to my regularly scheduled blogging and far less "waaah my life is so tragic" posting. Well, here's hoping anyway!