Things can always get better...

Of course they can, but lately life's been just about as good as it can be!

Things at work are going well. I know I always like a rant and a moan, but I should be honest and admit that I'm loving doing mornings at "my" place, then moving on to the other one and spend the afternoon with my colleague, not least because it's really busy and times flies. Also, my colleague is quite hilarious and it's never dull with her.

The Loreley escapade was absolutely brilliant. It took me the whole week to recover (I *am* getting too old for all this, but who cares!) but it's lovely to meet friends that you only see once or twice a year, and just enjoy each other's company... the music is just a bonus, really. We are now planning the next tour of the boot (i.e.: Italy) for the three dates at the end of November/early December in Milan, Rome and Bologna, where on top of seeing the 12 apostles (or flying 8), I'll get a chance to meet people I've indirectly "known" for years, plus other old friends. Some of the Loreley bunch (including yours truly) are also considering Krakow at the end of October, and of course there'll be the Milan break at the end of September to see friends and their new baby, with a lightning trip to Turin to see The Police just before I come back.
Should Krakow fall through, plan B is Carmina Burana at the Royal Albert Hall on the same weekend. I saw it some time ago and it was wonderful. And let's not forget Rush, also in October, and Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker in January, which I am looking forward to as my birthday present (and hopefully Michiel will make it over here from the Netherlands, and spend a few days as it seems more and more unlikely that I'll have the time and money to go over myself this year).

On Wednesday I went to see The Car Man at Sadler's Wells. Pwhoarrrr, the show itself was great, as was the company I was in, but the full frontal male nudity almost at the beginning would have been worth the ticket in itself. Give thanks for gay producers, is all I say. The only pity is that it was totally unexpected so I wasn't paying as much attention to that part of the stage as I should have, but the attributes in question still managed to catch my eye (wink wink nudge nudge, say no more)! I'm convinced that was a cheap ruse to increase the sales of DVDs to oglin... I mean, artistically inclined, women.
What made the experience even better was that I had taken the afternoon off work to try and get the tickets on the day, as we hadn't booked, and my friend couldn't make it until after 6, so after I secured the tickets I decided to go and sit in a nearby pub's beer garden, enjoying the sun and Diamond White (no K, bah!), feeling smug at the thought of my colleagues and most people I know being stuck at work for another 4 hours or so :)))

I'd also taken this afternoon off, so today I went from work straight to my friends' flat that I'm keeping an eye on while they're away, and sat in their garden with a magazine and a chilled drink for a couple of hours, with the smugness again creeping in. Flat-sitting's hard work, but someone's got to do it; I just hope they realise the effort I went to to ensure the safety of their place!
When I left I jumped on a bus to the Green Lanes end of Finsbury Park, and started walking across the Park towards Stroud Green/Crouch Hill when I saw one of those little buses approaching, the ones that only bob and their drivers know the route of, so I hailed it and hopped on. I was taken on an almost magical mystery tour of the back streets of Crouch End, hopping off at the Northern side of Crouch Hill and walking back home. Pure bliss!

Another recent highlight was meeting Al, his lovely wife and his gorgeous daughter on their way back to the US last weekend.
Unfortunately I could only do the Saturday as I had just about recovered from Loreley then, but I had a lovely evening.

Now I'm looking forward to welcoming my sister and her family to London in less than two weeks' time. It's the first time she's ever come in all the time I've been here and I can't take time off work (as she made her mind up too late, colleagues had already booked their leave), but I'm looking forward to showing my niece around a few places and spending some time with them.

One slightly puzzling thing in recent months is that there seem to be a few blokes up for a bit of horizontal fun (well, ok, vertical, diagonal, whatever). The downside is that I've actually been too busy or tired to actually pick the offers up, except once so far, but it's nice to know nevertheless. As I've been feeling pretty settled and contented, it's probably the pheromones doing their bit. I'm not complaining :)))