Colours of autumn

If I thought I was escaping stress by leaving Bangkok and the possible floods, I was wrong.

In four days I have ridden in two ambulances and spent a total of twelve hours in casualty.  (My Dad is now out of hospital; my Mum still in…)

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen autumn in England. When we arrived ten days ago it was mild; the sky was blue and the leaves rich and russet. In the last few days it’s turned damp. Last night, when I walked across the hospital car park, I felt a sharp sting in my skin, the stirrings of winter. 

Must get my gloves out.

Hello? *Waves*

I'm sorry I've been AWOL.

What have I been up to? I've been to the UK and eaten quite a lot of cake - most of it wheat free but not all of it. Sorry body. It was my Dad's 82nd birthday and Daughter and Sister made him a 'light chocolate cake' from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache book. It was quite simply the best cake I've ever eaten.

My sister taught me to make tzatziki and I cooked quite a lot; most out of character.

I raced like a maniac around the countryside seeing people and doing things but people drove and trained around England to come and see us too. Thank you people. Several things got cancelled and we weren't able to reschedule and other things didn't get arranged in the first place. I'm so sorry to people I didn't manage to see.

We got back to Bangkok just in time for Sister in Law and her family to arrive. They had a week in the city and then we all set off for a week by the sea - Koh Samed. I'll skim over the fact that I had what I think might have been flu while there. At least I could look at the sea while I felt crap.

And then the kids went back to school and it felt like we'd never been away.

I feel very 'start of a new term' though. We've started planning for our Melbourne Cup hats - I am feeling very excited about these. And I've bought myself a food processor (both Husband and I bought food processors to the relationship. We both had them as students and bits had broken off so that nothing fitted together in the end. They were judged too falling apart to make the trip to Thailand. Both were twenty years old which I reckon was pretty bloody marvellous and is why this week I bought a new Kenwood.) I've continued to cook quite a lot - tzatziki, hummus, leek and potato soup, guacamole. I'm failing to buy sweet potatoes in Bangkok at the moment so I can make Leon's sweet potato falafel. Leon says it must be the ones that are orange inside. Somewhere else it said there are Japanese sweet potato and the internet said that what Americans call yams, often aren't. Or something. So I keep going to gaze at sweet potato shaped things in greengrocers, wondering if they're the right thing to buy.

And I'm writing. I've had five days of storming writing or rewriting to be accurate. I appear to have worked out what needs doing with the novel and I feel a bit floaty about it.

I'm beginning to think the fairies might have dropped in and exchanged me for a slightly better model.

Just been released

I was nodding off in the departure lounge on Tuesday night. Anyone who knows me – actually anyone who’s read my profile – will know that sleeping tops the list as one of my favourite pastimes. A midnight flight, when it’s on time, is a challenge to me. But one that’s delayed causes me consternation: will I make the flight? Will I be curled up in a corner of the airport, sleeping?

So it was delayed and I really was nodding off in the departure lounge but when at last I did get on the ‘plane, I wrapped myself in my blanket, I buckled up, put my eye patches and ear plugs in and I went to sleep. I was unconscious before take off.

Not so nice was waking with a migraine the following morning, which beggared me all day yesterday. During landing I got my ear thing. (One out of ten flights, I can’t equalise my ears and I’m in rocking pain until they ‘pop’ themselves.)

My room is tiny but in an achingly trendy part of London and I am entertaining fantasies of a pied-à-terre here. That is what fantasies are all about.

Landing in my own (home) country is so odd. It never fails to surprise me how strange it feels to be in a place where I am likely to be understood. Still there is the feeling that I don’t understand the place, as though I’ve just been let out of prison and am not familiar with how things work. I had to buy a coat yesterday because it’s cold and I didn’t have one. My wrap wasn’t sufficient. I forgot to put my card into the machine – I tried to hand it to the cashier and he motioned to the machine as though I’m a bit retarded. “Do you want to wear it now?” he asks, and I think he thinks I’ve just been released too.

Flying

At last school is finished (for us) and we’re flying to the UK tonight in time for my meeting on Friday. I thought I’d done all my chores yesterday but I still spent the day running around finishing off.

Actually, that’s a complete lie. I delivered a CD to a friend’s condo, bought face masks for the aeroplane (am I overreacting?) And then I got a text message from my friend, Andrew Computer, asking if I was coming by to pick up a DVD … he signed the text ‘From Andrew with Chocolate.’ I mean, who can resist?

So I spent two hours over at his office, gossiping and planning what to do with my blog… or making a website. Then I still had to go home and pack. But I think I’m there now. If I’ve forgotten anything now, it’s got to stay forgotten.

I shall see some of you in the UK. YAY.

Newsflash!

I’m taking a blog break.

I’m tired and a bit bored with myself.

I’m struggling with my book and need to concentrate on that for a bit. I shall continue to read blogs but I'm not sure about commenting. I will update my wordmeter and reading material.

Blogging has become more of a pressure than fun, which is no good at all.

I don’t know if it’ll be three days or three weeks that I am away for. I will be in the UK for the last two weeks in April. I suspect that it will be so exciting to be there again that I’ll have lots to say.

I hope to see you back here soon.

Q & A

Q: When is a big bag of new (to me) books not a complete and utter delight?




















A: Ok, it’s when you’ve only inherited the books because your best friend is moving back to the UK. Chris and Carol edited their book collection so that they only ship to the UK what they really wanted to keep. Yes, we were down on the remaindered books like vultures but now I haven’t the heart to even unpack them. I’m pretty much in denial about Carol going…