Monday, 10 August 2009


Monday 10 August 2009

It’s a rough start to today. The heat isn’t suffocating like the past two mornings but still its bad enough, enough to keep a person from getting the required in order to fully function.

When I check my phone this morning there is a message from Ross, which is good news and means it looks like our meeting tonight is still on.

I exit Bohm Grove a little late this morning and annoying the first thing I hear when I get into my car and turn it on is Vernon Kay. This fucking hack brings me down at the best of times but being right at the beginning of the working week could there possibly be a more mentally decapitating way to start the week?

Regardless of all this I still make it to the station on time in spite of much worrying huffing and puffing.

Today’s train appears to be about returning faces – are the summer holidays over already? Obviously The Wookiee scowls/frowns at me, there would be something wrong with the world if she didn’t. Also today on the train there is yet another adult reading a Harry Potter book – are these things fucking government issued with view to keeping people stupid and immature?

The train gets into Liverpool Street with boring predictability at 8.04AM. I’d complain but who is listening?

When I board the tube at Liverpool Street it smells of piss – welcome to Monday.

There is a blind guy on the tube and briefly it makes me feel optimistic for the human race as so many people/passengers offer him their assistance. Also add to this that he is Asian, which only serves to add that I truly believe that the UK is the least racist nation on Earth.

Eventually I stroll into the restaurant long ahead of the rest of my department. Today the stairs are being carpeted which pretty much means we are stuck/trapped upstairs until the guy is finished. I hope there isn’t a fire.

Today the stairs are being carpeted which pretty much means we are all beached upstairs until he is finished. I truly hope that there isn’t a fire.

I should be busier with things but I’m on accounts clean up. The Girl is posting invoices but I am not fully confident that she is actually doing it right. Then the posh boss decides to sit opposite me and being that he possesses one of the short attention spans in history he is soon distracting me with comments and jokes.

For lunch I have tomato soup as a gesture of effort towards healthy eating. With this I also have the prawn starter in chilli lemon sauce. Surely that isn’t too unhealthy.

On the radio today for some reason Radio One is playing “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. This is probably the best constructed song of this century so far. Shortly afterwards Radio One then plays “Come As You Are” making it the second working day running that Nirvana are played on the radio. Things are looking up.

The afternoon pans out OK as I concentrate and continue with balance sheet stuff, the troublesome area, the area that takes all the time.

Eventually the end of the day comes around and I arrange to meet up with Ross and his new girlfriend at Oxford Circus for 6PM.

On cue we meet up and head to Kingly Street. As we head in the direction I see one of Mark’s Japanese friends Chika who ironically is usually part of the party when I drink in Kingly Street.

Confidently I lead us to the regular haunt only to find it closed. Instead we head to The Red Lion, which is quiet and has an empty upstairs, which suits us.

It’s a pretty laidback evening, catching up and ticking boxes. Slowly I get drunk and gobby, which isn’t necessarily a good thing when it comes to me.

Both Ross and I have birthdays over the next few weeks and as a result we have gifts for each other. This rules! We exchange books and they are both books. Ross gives me the latest Tony Hancock biography by John Fisher which is an enormous tome and I figure is best approached when in a healthy frame of mind as I have heard that it is quite comprehensive, bordering on intrusive. In exchange I give Ross my book of the year in Luke HainesBad Vibes book. I get the impression from Ross that he was never a fan by the way he reacts to it but I endeavour to ensure him it is good stuff, especially the chapters about recording with Steve Albini.

The night ends with my waxing lyrical about writing and my new book and my old book. I get the feeling that I don’t make a good first impression on his new girlfriend.

Walking from Kingly Street back to Oxford Circus it is a magnificent evening, the climate/environment is just right and there are not too many people around to ruin in.

We head back just before 9.30PM and I manage to get the 10PM train to Ipswich which then subsequently feels like one of the quickest journeys home I have ever made/experienced. Soon I am back in Colchester and walking to my car.

Back at home in Bohemian Grove I eat a tub of Jalapeno hummus. Unsurprisingly a little while later I cough up a bit of sick.

Didn’t even have to use my AK, I have to say today was a good day.

No comments:

Post a Comment