Old News - Newsletter October 2002

I am off to SA for 3 weeks this Friday night. I really can't wait - I can't remember the last time I saw decent sunshine!

I’ll be spending a week and a half in Pretoria, visiting friends and family, and a week and a half in Cape Town doing the same. Plus plenty of shopping, tanning, sightseeing, sunbathing, walking, basking, boozing and browning. Mmmmm.

Otherwise I’ve been madly busy. My project at work went critical a while ago, and I am desperately trying to finish my portions of it before I leave. I’m working lots of late evenings, and everyone knows how much I enjoy doing that! I’m still not particularly happy in the job, but at least I have one - the job market is still useless, so there is no escape. Living around the corner has made a wonderful difference though – even when I work until 7pm I get home earlier than I would have when I lived in London and left at 5:30!

Things are going swimmingly with Northerner. I don’t see much of him during the week as he works stupid hours, but we spend the weekends together, and he’s lovely. The weekend before last he took me away for the weekend to Cornwall, which was superb! Not only because it is a stunning part of the country, but because I can’t actually remember when last someone took me on holiday. I feel really spoiled! We passed our first Montheversay this week, and he still thinks I’m worth hanging around with, so I must be doing something right!

This last weekend was a wet and stormy one. It made me a bit homesick actually, as it was just like a good Cape Town howler, except it only lasted for a day. Lots of trees came down, and people were killed, and parts of the country are still without electricity… you can tell they don’t have storms often! I had arranged to travel North to Altons Towers rollercoaster park for the day on Sunday, but the weather was so bad I stayed in bed instead for most of the morning, and spent the rest of the day watching videos. I have since heard that the party went all the way there (several hours drive) only to find it closed! Sounds like I made the correct decision!

Anyway, between work and bloke and touching base a couple of times per week with various friends I don’t seem to have enough time to do my ironing let alone anything arty at home! One of these days things will settle down, and I will rig up the easel and find my sketchbook. But I am certainly not bored or lonely! I love living alone in my cosy little townhouse, and I am becoming decidedly selfish in my habits ;-). I had wondered how I would like living alone after 6 years of company, and I adore it!

It’s gone quite wintery here now. The clocks went back by an hour on Sunday, so now it is completely dark by 5pm. I’ve had the central heating on for the last month, and I’ve had to scrape ice off my car a couple of times in the mornings. But my house is warm and cosy, and I have all the bulbs in my garden to look forward to in Spring! And I am REALLY going to appreciate the African sun in just 4 days time.