This and that

Sat at the kitchen table tapping away listening to BBC6 with the smell of the lamb casserole I've just made permeating the air.  Delicious.  Yesterday I baked my first ever loaf of bread and it worked but my god what a lot of kneading.  This was eaten with a lovely cumin soup from the Hugh Fernley-Dingaling's recipe in last Saturday's Guardian magazine.  So what's with all this talk of food?  It's freezing and all I can think about is eating.  Once Spring has arrived I'll be waddling down the path full of casseroles and soups consumed in the depth of Winter.  

So what's new?  I had a two hour driving lesson today that was HARD.  Driving instructors should be awarded peace-time medals for their patience and ability to keep calm when their pupil is unable to understand the most basic of commands.  The driving up and down dual carriageways was joyous, three point turns were painful.  I've been instinctively positioning the car (because I know everything) when really I should be aligning little yellow stickers on the windscreen with kerbs.  I just couldn't understand him and why and why do I have to do it that way?  I left Abdul (my instructor) wiping his brow and then watched him leave my house at high speed, I don't think he even said goodbye!

The good news is I arrived home to a nice parcel from the Open University.  I've been trying to get on an archaeology course which starts in February and I'm in!  Woohoo.  It's going to be hard but hey after today what harm is a bit of Wetwang Woman circa 300BC (or should that be Before the Common Era?).  I am genuinely excited at getting stuck into something that I'm really interested in and seeing where it takes me.  

 

In the mix of all this I skyped with my old pal Lou in Ibiza.  Don't you just love Skype.  My relationship with Lou always involved a lot of talking (and lots of errr work), in her office or mine and it felt just like the old days.  Talking about not much of anything but it was just what I needed today.  Her life has completely transformed since she left London and I'm so happy to see her in such a good place.  Of course I'm not at all jealous that the view from her flat is the Mediterranean and mine is the back of a North London flat.... haha. 

As you've probably gathered I like to put a clip up once in a while and I came across this today.  It must be hard following in the steps of a living legend and I think James McCartney has probably found it hard to find his way but I found this clip of him playing at the Viper Room in LA a couple of nights ago.  What a great voice!  His dad should be well proud.  

The Week That Was

Well last Monday was positively charged with positivity.  Me and my not yet legal business partner had a meeting with an older colleague who had a wealth of information about our new business venture.  She had confidence in us, which was so important to me and as we chatted away and picked her brains we inadvertently made her get incredibly excited about our venture too!  After the meeting me and the BP had a pint and dutifully started planning our next move, company name etc.

Tuesday I spent asking for a favour or two.  We needed a designer for our logo and a valued friend who happens to be an Art Director agreed to do it.  Meanwhile I spent all day trying to read up on actually setting up a business - will we be a partnership, an LLP, a PLC or a dingdongdee?  After reading and doing some online business tests I realised that we need to organise a chat with an accountant.  A nice, properly qualified chap or chappess who can relay this maze of information to me in bite sized portions.  

Wednesday was driving lesson day.  I'd convinced myself that after my previous week's performance (I thought I did pretty well) this would be a more involved and enlightened day.  I actually waited outside on the pavement in anticipation of Abdul's arrival.  We drove to our "spot" where he made sure I can remember how to put my seat belt on and adjust my headrest etc.  But then he said the words that changed the whole experience "today I'm going to show you a different way of moving off..." - me blind panic, I thought there was only one effing way, the way you showed me last week.  Well apparently not, there are two ways, and there are  reasons but they all melted away into different biting points.  

How he tried, we stopped, started, parked, started, parked, again and again.  Drove into scary busy lanes and I felt poor Abdul holding on to his seat for dear life.  Well that was until the local schools started to empty.  Cars were coming from both directions, mothers, prams but no children at this point - thank God.  So I approach a zebra crossing at probably 15 miles an hour when a woman runs across the crossing from nowhere and what do I do??  Miss the brake and floor the accelerator.  Abdul ever the good instructor prevents me from sending her 50ft into the air and brakes for me.  She waves with an apology and meanwhile I just want to undo my seat belt, unlock the door, go home and whimper in the corner.  Abdul has a different idea, "come on now keep driving" whilst directing me into one of the busiest roads in NW6. 

Thursday I was a little hungover.  Wednesday's experience sent me to the pub to meet a friend for a quick drink and then over dinner I shared/had a bottle of wine with Mr C whilst relaying/boring him with the horror of my afternoon.  However I did research a lot of websites.  I came away thinking they looked a little dated and not representative of the creative industries they represent but they must be doing something right as they're making money.  I want a website that either we create or we find some lovely peeps to help us (payment = a delicious dinner?).  It'll be a simple layout but nicely designed with some bite.  

And Friday came all wrapped up with that end of the week feeling.  I spent time doing more research into what our competitors are doing right now, drinking a lot of tea and trying to visualise me and my BP actually getting this off the ground.  We will be in a very competitive market and our knowledge is very one sided but I'm hoping that talking with the right people will even this out.  I won't tell you what the business is just yet as I don't want to jinx it until we are in a good place.  We need to make sure all the boxes are ticked and every thing's underlined.

Finally don't download W.E.L.D.E.R. - it's the app of the moment.  Weekend newspapers were hastily read and books held no meaning... it was all about W.E.L.D.E.R.  I just LOVE it!

     

Fears

It's been a long time coming but if a 17 year old can do it, so can I.  Today I had my FIRST ever driving lesson.  Two hours with a lovely man called Abdul and his dual pedal BSM car.  First we sat in a side street and looked at pictures in his folder and then after I'd demonstrated a level of understanding, off we went.  I realise I should have done this a long time ago but I moved to London quite young and only had to walk to work every day plus we have the best public transport system so why bother?

My years of riding a bike around London has put me in good stead apparently as I have an understanding of road signs and it's helped that I've been navigating around traffic on busy roads.  So after my two hour lesson concluding with me driving and parking outside our house I felt incredibly confident, however in my excitement I got out of the driving seat and opened the door into the path of an oncoming taxi!  Ouch, it was a close move.  Thankfully the instructor sensing my nervousness made me get back in the car, buckle up and re-park the car.

So that's one of the many fears I've conquered this year, silly fears like I could never drive a car (I could kill someone!!), I could never join a gym (but I don't know how to use the machines blah blah blah) and I've done both.  I realise they are silly but they were obstacles that I needed to overcome and so today I'm giving myself a little pat on the back.

I hope the next one will prove a little more interesting readers.