Since I've decided to be all healthy, the thing I need most in my life is pop drinks flavoured like jelly beans. They were okay actually, at least once I added the lime vodka. ;)

It's been a beautiful day of letting the dog swim in the ponds at Richmond Park, forcing him to have a bath, then having a barbecue. And now it is time to laugh at Eurovision.

I've instituted a new regime for the dog and me: a daily walk around the neighbourhood, just to keep his joints limber. The vet thinks short, frequent walks are a good idea and Luigi hates the local park. To be honest I do too: it's small and boring and full of noisy aggressive kids. So I've just been walking him on the lead through some side roads. People often comment on him or want to know what sort of dog he is, and yesterday a girl asked if he was a Spinone - I'm always impressed when someone recognises his breed since they're still pretty unusual.

Walks are easy and fun to do now that the weather has finally turned. It's so nice to go out in the garden to read or to open a window and not get hit by a blast of cold air. Once I take the dog back home I go on another, longer walk by myself to get fit and burn off a few more calories. I cannot for the life of me shift any weight lately, even though I've been doing a food/exercise diary with the My Fitness Pal app. It's so frustrating, especially since I promised myself I wouldn't read the manga I bought until I reached a certain number. It would be nice if I could do that before the summer is out.

The downside of all this walking is blistered feet which are really living up to the old rhyming slang of 'plates of meat' - they're definitely red and raw, but a week or two of blisters is the price of summer. Here's to slimming down and toughening up.

A couple of days ago I went up to the Courtauld Gallery to see what might have been the smallest exhibition ever: a mere two rooms (and not very big ones at that) dedicated to some paintings by Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson. I was really shocked when I went into the next room and realised I was back in the permanent collection. I probably wouldn't have gone if I had known, especially since it cost £6 for the gallery entrance, but at least it didn't take up too much time. They have quite a few famous Impressionist paintings which are always good to see and a nice display of medieval paintings so I looked around a bit, but I probably spent less than an hour there.

Today it was the private view for the Ballgowns exhibition at the V&A. Private views aren't as quiet and serene as they might sound - in fact they're pretty chaotic - and I got queue-jumped twice while I was waiting to be let in. Never underestimate a posh woman's determination to be the first to look at a ballgown. 

There was quite a variety on display: one Beyonce wore to perform for Barack Obama, one Princess Diana wore to a film premiere, some shiny ones from the 1980s, lots of pretty hideous polyester dresses from the 1970s. The simplest gowns are usually the nicest and most elegant, though.

I knew it was Members Week but I resisted buying anything in the shop despite the 20% discount. They have a necklace I like but I'm going to wait until I finish my writing project before I think about buying it. I enjoy things a lot more when I feel I've earned them. I did pick up a little gift though: they were giving away quite nice Zandra Rhodes-designed canvas bags at the Members Desk. Cloth bags are always useful and you never turn down a freebie in this overpriced town. 

Remarkably it hasn't rained for a couple of days now, although it's not exactly warm. Today we went for our annual flower peeping at Richmond Park.


( Plant life... )

I really have missed days like these. With any luck the weather will take a turn for the better soon. 

The other day I found a dead mouse by the side of my bed. :/ It was lying right next to the laptop cable so when I reached to plug it in I accidentally touched it, realised what it was, and yelled. So gross. I will spare you the picture I took just to prove to TJ that it actually happened. 

I don't have cats, so I'm not used to small dead animals in the house. Eventually I grabbed a plastic bag and disposed of it, but I really was so disgusted. TJ was at his parents' place for the day so when he got back I asked him if he did it as some sort of prank and of course he said no. I didn't really think it was him - he's not much of a prankster and I can't really imagine him carting a dead mouse through the house for a silly joke, but I thought I should cover all the bases. It just seems like a really strange place for a mouse to expire: upstairs (where I have never seen a mouse) and right by the bed.

That's why I'm pretty sure Luigi did it. The night before he came upstairs quite late and walked into the bedroom but didn't whine to be let out. He left after a few seconds, so I think he may have dropped off the mouse before climbing into his basket. I haven't seen a mouse since so the dead one might have been a solitary rogue, although I doubt that somehow. If it was Luigi I'm pretty impressed with his rodent killing skills- he must be part cat. 

Well, that's it. The mayoral election was Thursday and we're stuck with another four years of Luigi-lookalike Boris Johnson. :/ That, the freezing, February-style weather and the combined forces of Paypal, Ticketmaster, and my bank dicking me around all weekend have put me in a pretty bad mood.


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At least I've got some nice cups to use.

Figuratively at least. I earned my pegasus badge over at 750 Words the other day, which means I have written every day for a year. Pretty good for someone who was blocked for years, or so I thought anyway. Now I need to go for the final badge: the spacebird, which I should earn in a few months once I hit 500 days in a row.I can't imagine not writing every day now, although it's only recently that I've felt confident about working up all those words (over 500,000) into proper stories. But it's been very good practise.

So I treated myself to some manga. Not cheap, but I thought I should commemorate the occasion. Now I just have to keep the dog away from the letterbox until they come - his hobby is catching post in his mouth, and if he sinks his teeth into those I will not be happy. :/

Can't say I'm thrilled about the invasion of mice we've been experiencing either. They've been chewing through the plastic bags of dog meal in the kitchen and I'm paranoid they'll get into the cupboards. We've set a live trap with the intention of releasing them on the common if we catch one, but that's a big if. They've come and gone several times and we've never got one yet.

We're about to come to the end of one of the rainiest months I can remember. And yes the start of the rain coincided almost to the day with a declaration of drought.

I don't really mind. For one thing a rainy spring is usually followed by a dry summer so with any luck things will improve soon. Also, it's been a great opportunity to read. I know I said I wouldn't buy any more books until I'd worked through the pile lurking in the office but Amazon was selling The London Enclyclopedia for less than £20 and I've wanted it for a long time, so that's 1040 densely-packed pages to get through. I've also watched a ton of DVDs and done boring things like ironing. If it were sunny I would be out in the garden skiving off, so at least my conscience is clear.

It was dry for about two hours today. Tomorrow a major storm is coming in. It's getting to the point where I can't remember what a warm and clear day is like, but things have to get better eventually. Right?

Casu marzu, that rotten cheese crawling with maggots. Nope - cannot see the attraction, not even as a dare.

There are a lot of things I don't eat but almost nothing I absolutely won't eat. Sushi, squid, almost any sort of vegetable (not kale though :/), natto - it's all okay to me. If/when I go back to Japan I'd like to give fugu a go. It's a supposedly poisonous type of blowfish but the risks are really exaggerated, so if I feel confident enough I'm going to try it. Of course, that's easy for me to say when I'm sitting here thousands of miles from any fugu restaurants.

The odd thing about London is that there aren't really very many old buildings here. War and fires and starry-eyed modernisers have put paid to a lot of pre-Victorian places, but there are a few lurking about. Some of them like the Tower of London are very famous but some are not so well known. Tonight we went to a building that has hardly changed in four hundred years.

Normally non-lawyer types can't visit Middle Temple Hall - it's intended for the use of barristers, and is conveniently located near the  Royal Courts of Justice - but they have the odd public event. We went to see a production of  A Midsummer Night's Dream which has been playing all week. It's appropriate since Twelfth Night premiered here - not some random production but the very first performance in 1602. It really is remarkable.


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