I wanna dance again!

I saw Shall We Dance? on my own as no-one else wanted to tag along. Anna wanted to see Hitch but its looks like the same old run-of-the-mill boy-meets-girl story and I wanted to see something with a bit of pizzazz!

Richard Gere was pretty cool, displaying his modest dancing talents previously seen in Chicago. Susan Sarandon didn't have a great deal to do and I think more could have been made of her character. Jennifer Lopez was surprisingly good and she is one helluva fabulous dancer! I have to admit the film itself was pretty lame (what was the deal with Gere and Sarandon's daughter?!) but the dance scenes were excellent. The showpiece was a dance between Gere and Lopez done in semi-darkness (no lights except a glow from the outside streetlamp). It was tight, sensual, and made me wish I did Latino-Ballroom dancing!!

I need to find a dance class...

London through a lens

Beautiful, ethereal, and London-based... This guy is great and his page is worth a visit!

http://myphotoimpressions.blogspot.com

Criminal

I met up with Mina today so we could go shopping down Oxford Street. Mina was running a little late so I hot-footed it to Borders so I could buy some maps for my holiday this year. I got these detailed maps of South and South-West England and they include touristy hot-spots so I thought they were pretty cool to have. I hope Melissa and Jenny are boning up on their map-reading skills...!!

Mina arrived and we ended up darting in and out of department stores until we got to Debenhams. We spent ages in there, browsing around the Fiorelli bags and the racks of clothes in Star by Julien McDonald, Jasper Conran (so love his stuff!), Oasis and Jane Norman. Eventually tried on some Jane Norman things and decided on a floral top. It was the only fitted thing there - everything else either had an empire line or just hung from my shoulders and made me look pregnant. Not really a look I'm going for...!!

We went for lunch, during which time Mina's cousin turned up to take her to Notting Hill to see her baby niece(?). We parted and I hunted around for jewellery before heading home. I got home, pulled my new top out of the bag to show everyone, and... the ink-and-glass security tag was still attached! I was horrifed to say the least! Absolutely horrified!!! The salesman was so busy fiddling with it and putting it into the bag, he obviously didn't have time to remove the tag. In any case, the security alarm should have gone off as I had exited the building. I'm so annoyed because I have this great top and it looks like stolen goods!

Anyway, to save me having to go all the way back to the West End, Pam is taking to her son who works in a branch of Debenhams in Eltham so he can get it removed for me. I added the receipt to the bag just in case any questions get asked...! Is it criminal to remove something from the store with the security tag still attached, even though the item has been paid for?

Buh-bye B&B

Anna told me today that Dad lost the house he wanted in Cheshunt; the ex-B&B. Apparently some big business guy is buying up at the full price all in one shot, with the intention of splitting the property into two and selling each individually. This shouldn't be too hard since the property is basically a house with a 'granny annexe' attached, the wall space between the two being knocked down. All this guy would need to do is re-build the wall and knock through the 'dummy wall' at the front of the annexe, where a door used to be.

I asked Anna if Dad could buy both properties and re-knock the wall down, but apparently they would both go for a lot of money than they are now, more than Dad can afford. I haven't been told officially but Anna said that Dad is pretty gutted by it.

I did try and explain earlier in the year (as did the estate agent) that you can't simply find a house you like and then put your own property on the market. It doesn't work like that. You'd think he'd know by now!

Declutter

Anna and I spent most of today tidying our bedroom. We reckon that since it's the largest bedroom and part of the loft conversion, it's gonna get photographed. To make the room look bigger and slightly less cluttered (hard when there's two sets of everything stuffed in the same space!) we took down nearly all of our wall decorations: Rosemary's drawings to us, postcards, photos, posters... anything that wasn't an actual picture in a frame or a mirror. It all looks so bare! Decluttered, but bare. I might vacuum later... Just in case...

Estate agents & car salesmen

Dad and I went to the Estate Agency today. I decided that if I had to move again, it'd be into my own place. When the saleman came into our house to valuate it, it made it out that it was easy for first time buyers to come onto the market, provided they didn't have any outstanding debts. Since I don't have any, I'm willing to give this a shot.

The guy in the EA was a different story. I worked out I could only afford £92K and he started raving about this place for £130K. Was this guy even listening to a word I was saying?! I can't afford that! And it's ex-LA. No thank you! Then another guy chipped in and started going on about this studio flat overlooking the tennis grounds on the Ridgeway. It seemed as if the tennis grounds view was the best thing going for it, the amount of times he mentioned it! I'm trying to stay away from studio flats. Who chooses to sleep in their lounge?

Dad did better. We managed to get an appointment for someone to come and take photos of the house on Monday afternoon, and they have a client who is very interested in buying in this particular area, and apparently tried to buy next door (who have since sold up and are moving to Cornwall within a couple of months). I guess we have a weekend of tidying coming up then!

Anna also tried to buy her car today. She is waiting for the garage to get the documents through for her Peugeot so she can actually buy it. She already has the insurance paid for, but the saleman at the garage is being uncommunicative (unusual for a saleman, let me tell you!). She phoned him all day, every hour on the hour. I think in the end he was just giving her the brush-off. What he would have her believe was that the Peugeot head office was being unhelpful so it was reflecting badly on him.

Anna's annoyed anyway, to say the least, and has decided that if the car isn't delivered with the appropriate documents by Tuesday, she's cancelling the insurance and demanding the garage pay for wasting her time. Er, good luck with that one, sis!

Visting Marco

Mina texted me and said that she and La were going to the twins' parents to see Marco, Linda's newborn son. So straight after work I headed off to find a pressie and found the most gorgeously soft baby blanket in Next. I figured that it would be more useful than clothes, which are grown out of within a couple of months.

As per usual, I was the first to arrive (I'm so annoyingly punctual!) and I got to talk to Linda properly for about half an hour. She filled me in on the latest while I played with her niece, Daniella, and I informed her of the going on's surrounding the house move. She said that she and Pamela were also looking to move, as their 2-bed flat is now, obviously, rather crowded. They're thinking of moving towards Ware as it's cheaper and they're more likely to find a 3-bed place within their budget if they go further out of London. They're not too happy about it generally, but it needs to be done!

Mina and La eventually arrived and Mina immediately tried to wake up the heavily-sleeping Marco! News was exchanged and Joni told us about his driving test, which was hysterically funny, but he didn't seem to get the joke. He was saying how he drove fast because his instructor told him he was going too slow, and when he was told to pull into the next convenient space to stop, he pulled into someone's driveway! We were all in tears!!

Hylands Park here we come!

So I deliberately took today off work so I could, at 9.00am sharp, be sitting at my telephone and ordering V Festival 2005 tickets. I rang a couple of times before getting into the radio station hotline. Cool! I start listening to the options and Dad comes in: "Are you ill? Are you okay? Clare, are you listening to me?"
"Shhh!!" I go, but its too late. The options speech is over and I haven't been able to hear them. Bugger.

I randomly push a number and get through to the switchboard. (Halfway there...!) The lady politely informs me that I have bypassed the ticket hotline and would I like to be transferred? The line then goes dead. Noooo!! I frantically dial the number again. An automated message tells me the number I've dialled has not been recognised. I shortly become the fastest Virgin Radio hotline dialler in the country as I repeatedly dial the number and get told the same message over and over for 20 mins straight.

Finally I give up, stomp upstairs, and hook up to the Internet. Within minutes, the SeeTicket website has ordered me two tickets for me and Anna, plus car park passes. People are probably still trying to get through the phone line. I pity them. The Internet is sooo much better! I love 21st century techonology!!

Reception

I've just spent the last few days sitting at reception on lunch-time cover. It isn't all that bad, really, but the computer doesn't have any of the programmes I need to work so I pretty much do nothing. Of course, I do take filing or some other form of paper shuffling with me so I don't get told off, but it's basically pen-tapping, thumb-twiddling, and chair-spinning!!

I've been told to answer the phone in more 'cheery' tones. I think it was meant that I had to have a perma-smile... and I'm not the perkiest person in the world, expecially whilst at work and/or doing something I don't wanna do! But I tried it out a couple of times. It just sounded fake. But at least I didn't get any wrong calls or whinging tenants, which was a small blessing.

Reuben assures me that the reception is a 'chilled area' and he can't see what the fuss is about. I can only say that the 'chilled' part must be in reference to the door draught...

Dontcha wanna V?

No-one wants to come with me to the V Festival in August (except Andy). I'm worried... Why would people not wanna see the Scissor Sisters or Franz Ferdinand?! Bizarre...

Happy Friday

Linda had a baby boy this morning at 1.30am via c-section - 7lbs. Tiny tiny!! That must have been during the snowfall that had covered everything by the time I had woken up by 8am. Anna looked out of the window and said, "It's snowing. I hope my driving test isn't cancelled."
I assure her that it won't be because by the time the test comes about, the roads will have been fully gritted and the snow would have melted away. It's not cold enough during the day for the snow to settle in London. The city produces too many exhaust fumes and other warm airs for snow to settle properly.

Anyway, I drove off to work (after searching for my snow-buried car for a good ten minutes) and hit traffic for most of the way. By the time I got to Tottenham the traffic was murder. Engines had been turned off. I sat under the bridge, the North Circular traffic thundering above me. Anna texted me to say that she had a place at University of Hertfordshire. Two pieces of good news and it isn't even 9am!

Later in the afternoon, Anna texted me again to say she had passed her test. She then phoned my work phone to squeal her delight to me. It took a lot of willpower not to squeal back!

At home, Chris told me that his band's place in Emergenza was pretty much finalised. XMTS are going from strength to strength and need your support!!

So it was a good day in all. Happy happy Friday...!

The mystery bank statement credit

I got a weird entry on my bank statement today. I'm checking through it as normal, and I have a £40 deduction from 17th February. I rack my brains to think what I was doing on a Thursday that required money to be deducted from my account. Hang on... Where's Dunmow? There, in black and white, is somewhere called Dunmow, and £40 was taken out there. I'm confused and ask Anna if she can remember what I was doing.
"Thursday of half-term?" she muses. "You took Rosemary out Wednesday, yes?"
Yeah, I have the 16th February and a deduction for Pizza Hut in WC12.
"Didn't I see Marita that day? I think I met Terry's dad."
Marita lives in Enfield Town and Terry lives in Palmers Green. Not this weird place...
"I know I had a driving lesson on the Friday." (Pause) "What on earth did you do Thursday?"

I couldn't remember. It bugged me for ages. And then later, whilst washing up and my mind is just wandering, I remember. I run into the living room, foam dripping from my wrists, and yell at Anna, "GOTTIT!!!" I had my card credited by the B&B owner in Felsted, Dunmow. I've paid for a room I'm not gonna stay in until 3rd April. Weird... But I'm glad that little niggle has been cleared up.

This reminds me of when I had to wire some money to Melissa last summer. The form had a box where I could put a special message, so I would know what the credit was for. I put down something along the lines of "From Athene19 to Liarbyrd - S'bort". I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows at the head office...! And it makes a fun entry in an otherwise boring bank statement.