i-want-more

Norfolk 'n' chance

Going back to last weekend...

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with toocoolforschool. We had a good old natter and a curry on the Friday, and the following day she took me to visit her pals A and W in Bethnal Green at their new flat to discuss all sorts of things, including America's Next Top Model and fraudulent psychics/TV psychologists. A further attraction was their cat Dave, who spent a lot of the time eating a bamboo plant and making 'rowwww' and 'prrrrraa' type noises, as if joining in the converasation. We then had a splendid time at MBV. The following morning we recovered with a continental brekkie and about two hours playing games on the Wii. That's pretty much a perfect weekend, as far as I'm concerned.

The lady also told me that a few years ago we often used to pitch up at the same places as Julian Barratt, but I had no idea about this at the time. On three separate occasions he was present at the same events as us (once at 93 Feet East at Impotent Fury, he was laughing at us dancing ludicrously to Uptown Top Ranking by Althea and Donna; once at an Earl Brutus gig at the ICA [described a couple of posts ago]; finally at a New Romantic-flavoured comedy show in Camden). I wish I could say that I noticed him, but he wasn't even vaguely on my radar at that point. Instead of thinking 'who is that tall, oddly good-looking and no doubt exceptionally talented gentleman who is clearly from Leeds?' I was almost certainly thinking 'where is my pint?'.

Back to reality. We spent this weekend at an idyllic B&B (highly recommended) in the North Norfolk coastal town of Cromer. It truly was a lovely break. I arranged it as a surprise for JJ's birthday and surprised myself by managing to get a surprise right for once, because I am generally bad at buying gifts and bad at surprises overall. The mark of a control freak, I would guess. JJ once put on a surprise 30th party for me, and it just made feel stressed (it didn't help that the first people to arrive were his workmate, her boyfriend and toddler, whom I'd never met before). We spent our time in Norfolk wandering about, firstly enjoying then getting annoyed by the affluent surroundings of the Georgian town of Holt, and eating very large and delicious breakfasts.

So what else is new? Well, we almost put our flat on the market, having seen a house we liked towards the river. We've had a change of heart and will be staying put. I'm not heartbroken, but I do feel a little forlorn. I love the flat we live in, but there isn't much space, and we can't stay there forever.

I caught up with PL yesterday over lunch. It was very pleasant. We got to talking about a mutual friend who I no longer speak to. I'm sure that makes me sound very childish, but there are some very valid reasons for not doing so. It was kind of odd to go back over that ground again, but it made me relieved and thankful that I have some truly fantastic mates. And all without signing up to Facebook, how novel is that!

posted by deafdisco @ 8:35 am