When I arrived home on Tuesday night Peter was in far better spirits than I had seen him in for some time… why? I hear you ask. Well, he had finally got that damn college proposal off his desk, meaning no more 2am on the laptop, no more 6am out of bed for a meeting half way across the country, he could relax and chill… well for a little while anyway! We decided to celebrate this new found freedom (and the fact that I actually have someone to converse with of an evening again) with a pint of the black stuff in the Hearsal, this isn’t our most local pub, but it is the most local one which lets dogs in… and seeing miss Prudence was waiting patiently for her ‘walkies’ it was only right that she should get to the pub too… not to mention the fact that Peter loves it in there because it is probably one of the most Irish places in Coventry!

We made the 20 minute walk there, and stumbled in to find 18 musicians tuning up in the corner, by 18 musicians you understand, I do not mean an orchestra, or even a band, there were no amps, no microphones… not even much sheet music as far as I could ascertain, but there were an array of traditional Irish type instruments; tin whistles, bodhrans, accordions, fiddles, and a guitar to round it all off… we had inadvertently stumbled into the middle of a ceidleh. There wasn’t a young crowd of Irish dancers waiting to strike up a jig or anything, but you can tell when you’re in the company of a lot of like minded Irish… suddenly the band burst into a jig! It reminded me of my youth when Saturday mornings would be spent being taught endless jigs and reels by Mrs. Duffy at Irish dance classes. Everyone was enamoured of Prudence, she was getting fuss and attention all over the place, which she loved. Peter was soaking up the atmosphere and both of us were soaking up a few more than the 1 pint of Guinness we had come in for! The music would break every now and again and another talented musician would pop in in their jeans and Irish rugby shirts to set up another fiddle or accordion, or an old man would sing a traditional Irish ballad, acapella as everyone listened on! Finally Peter could contain himself no more, and with the permission of the gathering sang his favourite traditional Irish song, Kevin Barry… He can belt out a good tune can my Peter! They all loved it, I think it reminded them of youths in Ireland, Peter was ecstatic he had managed to sing it! With thoughts of work the next day in mind, we decided it was probably best to leave while we could still walk (well I could still walk; I had great fun in pushing Peter and watching him sway as we walked home). It was really nice to stumble on something like that unexpectedly; it just made me want to learn to play the fiddle though!

I had a pretty good weekend this weekend… it started off with half a days leave off work on Friday, yey! So I popped off to Toni and Guy for a hair cut, it’s fab, my hair seems to grow with no style whatsoever, so I have had a lovely chin length bob cut into it! It looks great (even if I do say so myself) and is much easier to groom in the morning, although I could probably do with the straighteners which I have left at mums house… I’ll pick them up tonight! Anyway, Friday night I spent with mum, we were meant to be going out into Birmingham, but unfortunately mum took ill… I think she has caught a damned stomach bug which is doing the rounds! So we stayed home and I read tatler magazine while we watched the bride of Frankenstein on DVD!

Friday morning we were up (bright but not early) to go out shopping, I didn’t really have the money to shop with, but mum was intent on getting a new handbag, so I tagged along! I was swayed along the way though by a glorious pair of black, Rock and Republic jeans… which I hastily emptied my purse for… and then felt guilty for the rest of the day for getting! Mum found her a bag, a great black leather DIOR city bag, it looks lush… I think she did the right thing in buying that one! We spent a little more time wandering around Stratford upon Avon (it was meant to be moreton in marsh but I took the wrong turn) and the river had burst it’s banks… so we took Bailey down to the geese and swans, but as they are all so much bigger than him he didn’t dare start on them lol! I’ve never seen Stratford so flooded as it was on Saturday! After a wander around the town and the joy of noting that a Space.NK has opened there, woo hoo, it was time to head home!

Saturday night was to be a night out with Peter! I had planned I was going to wear my new Jeans and the Jimmy Choos which had not yet graced the pavement! Peter suggested I wear the new corset he bought for me too… by the time I was laced into my purple Victorian corset it was too late to travel to Birmingham and I probably wouldn’t be able to drive in it anyway! So we went into town! I felt like the cat with the cream going out in my Louis Vuitton earrings, vollers corset, Jimmy Choos and Rock and Republic jeans… not to mention my fab new hair! We had a ball rolling from bar to bar, from Coundon, to Earlsdon, to town!!!! It wasn’t until we were in the last bar where things started going a bit tits up! First there was this one woman who was stood behind me and thought it would be funny to untie the cords on my corset! Why??? Anyway, Peter caught her and stopped her, and was a pretty angry chappy too… so we moved to another part of the pub where some oaf decided he wanted to push me off my Choos, I would have left it at that if he hadn’t have been pointing me out to his mate then in a trouble making way! After shouting my case down his ugly ear hole… he finally relented and gave me an apology… but I swear, that is one of the nicest bars in town and was just full of tossers on Saturday night! Anyway, we still had a good time and at about 1am jumped in a taxi to get home! Let me tell you, breaking a corset and Choos in on the same night is not wise… and neither is topping the lot off with a few glasses of wine! Needless to say that when the corset was undone and the Choos were off I was very very sick!!!!! You would think that having only had half a big mac, half a ham baguette and a few drinks and then being violently sick that I would wake up a size 0… but I didn’t!!!!!! lol!

Anyway, yesterday I spent much of the day feeling sorry for my self inflicted injuries ;o) nursing a bad head and a worse stomach… but today I’m back in work and feeling right as rain!!! And so another week commences!

Last week I was at a conference and this quote particularly struck me as being very… useful!

“ the most important plan for the long term is to make sure you are part of it”

Sir George Cox.

I had a fantastic time this weekend. It was majorly busy, but well worth the exhaustion I am feeling back at my desk today!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early and heading over to pick mum up for the drive Southwards to London! First though, we had to drop Bailey back at my house. Peter had kindly agreed to dogsit and Pru was looking forward to having a playmate for the day! So once all of that was done and the car was topped up with petrol I began the hour and half drive down to Stanmore where I could park the car up and hop onto a tube into the centre of London!

We arrived in London at about 12pm and made our way to Gloucester road tube station and as it was London fashion weekend we were going to and we were convinced there wouldn’t be much in the way of nutritional respite (food) I mean, when was the last time you heard of a fashionista eating? Unless they were going to throw it back up of course! We stopped off at a greasy spoon and bagged ourselves a lovely English breakfast, after the trek we had already made across London this was going to set us up nicely for the rest of our day! Then we set off again (in the wrong direction) but stopped by an estate agents window to do a little daydreaming, looking at £1m+ apartments available for 999 year leasehold in very distinguished areas of Knightsbridge and Kensington… if only!!! If I won the lottery and won lots of money I might consider buying one of those as a ‘weekend residence’ you can’t lose out with property can you? Anyway, finally we descended on the lawns of the grandiose building that is the natural history museum, which is where London fashion weekend was being staged! We entered into the huge temporary building, past the security guards who were trying to filter those who had tickets (including us) from those who didn’t (including the fake baked, bleach blonde wannabe it girls who were giving everyone dirty looks on the way in)! Finally we got in and who should I run into almost immediately but my friend from uni, Sharika, and her sister Ashira! What a shock that in the whole of London I should run into 2 people I know, although Ashira is studying fashion design in London so I guess its not unreasonable to think I might run into them there! Anyway, it was great seeing them so we had a quick catch up and as they had already been around half of the show we agreed to meet up for a quick cocktail later on! It was time to shop!

We walked around looking at the wonderful designer creations, Lulu Guinness, Ben de Lisi, Jasper Conran etc etc, and although everything was much less expensive than it would be in the shops, it was still beyond my financing capabilities! But then, I stumbled upon the Philip Treacy hat stand! Now, I’m not sure if I have told you this before, but both Peter and I love hats! Whilst stumbling upon the hat stand, I happened to be on the telephone with my loved one, which invited a little remote shopping on his part! The hats were fab, there were hats with Warhol style Marilyn faces and Liz Taylors, Philip Treacy’s signature designs. But then I found the most tremendous hat, it’s hard to describe what it is like really, white, with a grey fine stripe through it, tall on top with a wide brim… although that really doesn’t do it justice! It had a show reduction too, from £210 to £45… It was heaven sent, and Peter was also adamant that I should treat myself to it! Meanwhile I was regaling him with descriptions of the hats which I thought were man suitable! None of them fit though and for a while it seemed as though lovebug was destined to be hatless! Until, my mum pulled a hat out of a corner, it kind of looks like the love child of an Irish stove pipe hat and a trilby! It’s beige in colour and with a narrow brim and the customary Philip Treacy Unicorn! It was fab, and it fit me so it would fit Peter! “Buy it, buy it” he excitedly exclaimed from Coventry! Reduced also from £225 to only £50 it was another super duper designer bargain! After scouring the whole show and not really being able to afford much else, we hooked up with Sharika and Ashira again for a free cocktail; it was really great to catch up again and to compare purchases, such a girl’s world lol! Then mum and I head off to shop!

On the way out of the show I decided it probably wasn’t wise to carry 2 hats in bags around London as the crowds would probably end up squashing them, so I put mine on! Instantly I was transformed into an object of wonder, as I left the gates the security guards asked me “is that a Philip?” … “Why yes it is” I responded, happy in my purchase! I have to say, the hat drew many looks on the streets of London, I’m not sure if they were all admiring glances, I’m sure some of them were a bit wary of the eccentric tall girl in a taller hat… but nonetheless, it gets me noticed!

After waiting for 3 tubes (the crowds were terrible, we couldn’t get on them) we finally got to Bond Street where we stopped off for a much needed cup of tea and Panini in starbucks. For those of you who haven’t been to London, Bond Street is fab! It’s a big long street which is just laden with designer boutiques. We went into a few, Gina, Chanel (where I have already eyed up my next fragrance for once the COCO has run out, a fragrance you can only buy in the Chanel boutiques in London Cuir de Ruisse… I dread to think how much it might be, I should try to find out really), prada, Armani etc etc! We weren’t going to go in each and every shop as we were trying to get to Oxford Street before it began closing!

Finally we got there, I was hungry again! We made our way through the crowds weaving in and out of shops, mum bough a new LV bag, whilst I purchased a Gucci belt type bag, hugely useful! Then we stopped off at a Chinese eatery where I polished off a huge box of (very greasy) sweet and sour chicken with noodles… I was eating my way around London, no fear of me ever becoming a size 0… or even a size 12 for that matter!!! Then we head back along Oxford street to Topshop on Oxford Circus! This is the hugest topshop in the world and stocks everything from nail varnish to dog clothes to jelly sweets! We looked at the lush dog clothes but they were a little expensive, and as Bailey had been bought a lush new dog coat only the week before, we decided he didn’t need another just yet! I did buy some lovely purple nail varnish and some gold eyeshadow though, the store was about to close, it was 9pm and so we decided it might be a good time to head off for the tube again! It was a long tube ride back out to Stanmore, we were tired and shopped out when we got there, but had had a fab day! We jumped in the car, happy for the familiarity and that we were going home and I began the long drive back!

Peter had called me a few times through the day, and was in hyper happy mode as Ireland had won the Rugby game! But he tried to stay awake until I got home safe and sound! It was 12am by the time I had finally pulled up onto the drive of the house! What a long day, but what fun we had… and at least now we know where to park we can all head off to the big smoke a little more often… hey???

I had a lovely time lastnight. One of my old school friends whom I had lost touch with for a significant amount of time (but now we are in contact again) has moved to a village which is about 10 minutes drive from me. So lastnight, Peter and I went and met Kim and her husband Mark at a local pub. We had a great night… admittedly I may have had one too many sherberts… but nonetheless it was wonderful! We reminisced (or bitched) about people we went to school with. Kim seems to know all the goss on everyone, which is absolutely fantastic! I think Peter and Mark enjoyed themselves too (although Peter is a human dustbin, I had made a glorious Thai sweet chilli chicken before leaving the house only for him to buy chip butties when we got to the pub)!

Anyway, it’s good to stay in touch with friends isn’t it? I mean even if you have lost touch for a while… it’s always good knowing that you have another friend you can meet up with a share a laugh with at any time! Hmmm, I hope I have many more nights like lastnight!