Act Like There's Stuff I Gotta Do

Salutations!

Apologies again for the lateness of this post, but I do have a pretty good reason in that our internet...box...thing (router?) just gave up last night. I ended up completely livid and extremely passive-aggressive towards anyone that came near me. It was one of those last-straw type situations; on its own, I probably wouldn't have become so immeasurably furious, BUT I'd just got back from Sainsburys where:

1. a small ratty child kicked me and its mother just carried on gazing into her shopping trolley full of junk food

2. a car full of d-bags parked next to me and one of them had opened their door onto my car and left a lovely right-angled scratch and when I looked at it and looked at them, they stared back at me in a very threatening....'do you dare accuse us?' kind of a way. 

3. as I returned home, carrying 3 bags of shopping-which-should-really-have-been-packed-into-4-but-I-didn't-want-to-admit-that-I'd-bought-4-bags-of-shopping-just-for-myself, the wind simultaneously blew my skirt up and my hair over my face so I was humiliated and blind. 

And then I got home, and I fell over Pin. And then the internet broke. So I think, by that stage, my rage was justified.

The internet being broken was also a total timing fail in terms of the London riots and keeping up with coverage and contact with people.  I have a lot of family living near Croydon, my brother is in South East London and I have friends living all across London. Last night was a fearful time, sitting glued to BBC News 24, watching entire buildings engulfed in flames, people's homes being destroyed in minutes, and wondering how on earth this had happened. It felt like I was watching scenes from a film, or coverage of riots in far away countries. It's a terrifying time, and I can hardly believe it's happening. 

It feels, to me, kind of flippant to do this blog as usual but I am going to carry on as normal and hope that you enjoy this week's selection of goodies. 

ONE. 

Starting with a little light relief, this has become one of my favourite videos of all time. I found it this week and I laughed and laughed and keep going back onto it and laughing again. Even thinking about it is making me lol. HAHA enjoy it, it's magnificent. 

TWO.

I spent last Tuesday at my delightful friend JJ's house, accompanied by other Great Mate™ Jess. JJ had made loads and loads of food for us, which we ate. She had bought cans of Pimms and Cosmopolitans, which we drank. She had put up bunting, which we admired. We lay in the sun all day, bemoaning our mothers, despairing over our unemployment, and making extravagant plans for the future. When the sun went down, we clambered into her hot tub and continued in deep, meaningful conversations, and didn't talk at all about drunken misdemeanors, weird old men, or the pros and cons of bikini waxing. Then JJ's neighbour approached us through the hedge and informed us that her "bathroom window was open" meaning she could "hear literally everything you are saying". We apologised, and giggled a lot, and carried on more quietly. Oh lols. 

THREE. 

This website is absolutely amazing. I'm such a fan of incredible sky photography (cliché much?) and these photos of terrifyingly sublime weather are wonderful. I found it through time-wasters-website-of-choice StumbleUpon which you should definitely spend some time on. 

FOUR.

When I was at uni, I had the pleasure of living with some hilarious people who I am blessed to call my very great friends. We had various ongoing lols, as I'm told most friends do, including "lovely tender African bananas", "fried-day", "-bagpipes? -oh you twat" and "low is good". However, a topic soon arose that we bonded over, laughed over, and felt deeply moved by.... 

The horrendous, yet somehow compelling, writing of Jodi Picoult. We love to hate her.

Here is a wonderful website that lists some truly exceptional quotes from her books. I mean, we're talking "You don't need water to feel like you're drowning, do you?". And "The bottom line is that we never fall for the people we're supposed to".

This week marks a new chapter - creation of our own Jodi-esque quotes. The die was cast by Kate, who opened with "Our hearts beat to the left of our body and maybe that is the reason why sometimes the heart isn't always right"

Please feel free to submit your own. PLEASE. 

FIVE. 

Last but not least, I began a new book this week, entitled The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. It's about a trip Freud made to America before he was super famous. It's all conjecture but it looks like it has the potential to be acceptable. At the moment, it's not that well written, with loads of random, unnecessary sentences thrown in, or clarifications that the author seems to feel require whole sentences of their own. The jury's out, I'll let you know the verdict. 

Til next time, slackers.