Busy busy busy. Against my better judgement, I ended up in Ikea yesterday. That’s the second time in three weeks. Hmmm. Well, I did have something specific in mind so at least I wasn’t aimlessly wandering the mock bedrooms and fake kitchens in vein, then sat in the canteen with Paul watching the security guard shame able bodied drivers into vacating the disabled spaces.

That place is a terrible waster of time. It was only going to be a flying visit, but by the time we’d navigated the screaming kids, oversized housewives and slobs who only seemed to be there to roll around on the beds like beached whales it was well into late afternoon.

Came home and worked for a while, then ate and headed out to the pub. Steve’s Challenge and the Midnight Weatherman were there, looking decidedly ordinary and sane among the demons, Darth Mauls and vampire wannabes who’d turned out in force to celebrate halloween. I’m guessing the guy in the Scream face mask wasn’t there for the purpose of pulling.

As usual, it went on longer than it should, with the blinds being drawn and a ‘closed for private party’ sign tacked up on the locked door, and I spent close on half an hour chatting to a guy who turned out to be a nurse, complete with the requisite number of gruesome on-the-ward stories. He explained in great detail how you drain someone’s beer belly after they’ve suffered chronic liver failure. It’s not fat, apparently - it’s the surplus poison the liver can’t process.

I made the mistake of asking if it came out like urine and rather wish I hadn’t. Apparently it smells of freshly baked shortbread.

So, that’s another treat spoilt.

Came home and had bizarre dreams about trying to save all the food in a burning Sainsbury’s superstore, then woke up to rain. The weather has certainly turned in the last week, and winter looks like it’s well and truly set in. Undeterred, though, we headed east to the coast and sat in a slimy beachfront cafe in Clacton to drink dirty tea from chipped mugs.

Through the window we watched the brown sea churning beneath the pier, and kids with dogs, whipped into a frenzy by the gusty wind, picking up mermaids purses from the sand. I was so glad to be inside in the warm, chatting over a hot drink and not out there having what once I would have thought was fun. It’s moment like that that make me think I should invest in some slippers.

It looks like this is the start of a troubled week, though. Already the railway people are predicting 30-minute delays for tomorrow morning. They’re counting on there being a lot of wind tonight tearing the leaves from the trees. Apparently the fact they can predict this in advance doesn’t necessarily mean they should do anything to make sure it’s not a problem, though…

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2003 at 11:58 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.