All these things that I have done

Well! Last night, the traffic out of work was utterly appalling and so I didn't get home til 10 to 8. I don't know what the problem is with the traffic at the minute - it's been terrible all week. I hope that now the train strikes are off next week it won't be so bad. Anyway, I finally got home and Alex, Ian and Ruth came round. We role-played for a while (another fight with kobolds and a great big weasel - I shot 2 but the weasel had attached itself to Ruth in the meantime :( - and then attacked by rats) and then my parents arrived for their visit. Tea and then bed and hugs :)

Then today, we lounged around in the morning and then made the trip to B&Q where I bought paint to cover the institutional yellow on my walls with much more tasteful lilac. Then, in the way of these things, Mum and I got rather enthused about the whole thing and decided to get started with the painting. We've done the whole first coat and about 2/3 of the second and it looks really nice which is a relief. It actually goes much better with the carpet than the yellow did and I'm really pleased with it but now I'm zonked :)

Off to the Ashmolean tomorrow and then the Petit Blanc (Raymond Blanc's Oxford brassiere) for birthday dinner :)

Well, here I am at home at last. The open fire is burning, I've had lots of tea and I'm going out to see friends this afternoon. Lovely.

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Those of you who don't have to get up at god-awful hours of the morning may not be aware that the 6 and 6:30 buses to London are expresses - after Thornhill park and ride they don't stop til Marble Arch. This is good because it actually shaves a lot more than you might think off the journey time. The fact that it's the express is clearly marked on the front of the bus and is also mentioned on the timetable (albeit in quite small print). In addition to this, the bus driver announced it to the queue on arrival at the stops this morning (which they don't always do). Despite this, there's always some who get on and expect to get off at Shepherds Bush. Normally they take this in good grace and wait for Marble Arch but todays was a Frenchman. Complete with faux french accent he went absolutely ballistic, going on and on at the bus driver about how he 'wasn't doing his duty' and how he was going to do 'really bad things' and claiming that he hadn't heard the announcement. It was really funny - we were all sitting upstairs giggling quietly. An interesting start to the day, definitely :)

Who would have thought I could have bought so many Christmas pressies? I was doing my packing last night and I can only just close my case! Unfortunately I still have a few things (like clean pairs of socks) which need to go in so I might end up having to wear my rucksack as well! I'll have to see this evening. Am going to see Amelie tonight with Alex after I've done some pressie wrapping for him which should be cool. I wanted us to get together for something as I won't see him for 3 whole days after that, until he comes down to Norfolk - poor minou :(

So don't do it, OK. I feel so tired today. Actually, I've perked up a bit in the last hour or so - Weezer and tea kicking in - but still, I'm not feeling good. I'm going to another play tonight but I don't know if I'm going to have the energy - plus the house is in a bit of a state and really needs a good tidy up. Still, theres always tomorrow.

Arggh. I wish people would drive a bit more carefully. Someone crashed near Park Royal and so we didn't get out of London til 6:30. And I need to go shopping before I have dinner. I guess my early night isn't going to be as early as I thought. It really annoys me when things like this happen. It doesn't take much to drive carefully but some people are so impatient even when its not going to make any difference they still rush and then fuck things up for everyone else. Grrr.

For some reason the traffic went insane this morning. I thought it was pretty bad but when we got to the roundabout on the westway where it usually thins out it was actually gridlocked! I ended up not getting in til 9:50! Trouble is, when it's like that there's not much you can do about it. The driver told me that the bus which had left Oxford at 5:45 (i.e. an hour earlier) ended up only being about 15 mins earlier than us! I guess that's good as they can't start making a case for me actually getting up even earlier. The other really big plus is that my brain seems to have twigged the routine and has started to wake me up pretty much in time with my alarm so I don't feel so exhausted. I still doze on the bus but I'm not nearly so zonked in the morning even though I was out til 12 last night which was cool. The only thing is, once I get my laptop (a couple of weeks hopefully) I don't quite know how I'll react because the days I'll be working from home will be quite random probably. We'll have to see.

Had a really nice evening in the end. Met up with Alex early for a meal in the pub before the hoards arrived (forgetting of course that some of them always turn up early) and we sat around and hugged and stuff. He always makes me feel good - I love that 'looked after' feeling I have when I'm being hugged. I think we're going to try to have a quiet night in with a movie on Thursday which should be cool - we had a really good time with Charlie's Angels. I think I'm going to skip out on the beer festival though on the grounds that I really don't like beer! I can sort things out for Mum & Dads visit - I really ought to hoover and I haven't got the duvet and stuff yet either. I might try to go and get those tomorrow lunchtime although they might be a bit of a pain to hump home on the bus. I wonder if Oxford has a late night shopping night...