Does life change in a year? One year ago today, an American colleague visited the UK office for the first time. I showed her some of the sights of London, including the London Eye and Old Compton Street!
It seems like a lot more than a year ago. I’ve had a new job since then, but I guess day-to-day life is not that different. I’m lucky to be living in one of the most vibrant cities in the world and, in spite of the fact that it gets me down occasionally, I love it.
Well, despite the weather and the somewhat officious woman searching my bag on entry, this year’s Pride in the Park in Hyde Park was fabulous – the best I have been to (probably ever – although my first Pride on Clapham Common was pretty cool too).
After breakfast at a friend’s house, PY and I headed down to Embankment for the parade. This is the first time I’ve ever marched with the crowd, and it was brilliant – the only downside of actually taking part is that you do not get to see it all. In a bid to overcome this, we ran ahead and watched part of the parade (including the fabulous OutEverywhere bus) and then joined in at some point (for a great deal of the time we marched near a float that Josh from a previous Big Brother was prancing about on). The atmosphere was superb, and the crowds watching were huge. Coming up to Piccadilly Circus was just a mass of people – it was quite exciting really.
Then we made the park. We made our way to the main stage and saw Liberty X (who were surprisingly good), Ulta Nate ( who sang a whole stack of songs that I was familiar with) and Blue (who were also very good). Later in the day we caught Tom Robinson and Jimmy Somerville (this after standing on the sidelines singing along to Bananarama – but as nobody has a picture of that, I will deny it at a later date).
At some point in the afternoon – just after it started to rain – we had a wander around the market stalls (which seemed more varied than other times) and had a poke in some of the dance tents (although it’s not really my thing). By late afternoon, the rain was pouring, but spirits were not dampened (and, luckily, for most of the afternoon the ground in Hyde Park held up).
It was an exhausting day, but it was worth it, and it was great to be with a bunch of other homos just having a good time. There will be some pictures in the gallery, eventually.
UPDATE: Other sites:
overyourhead – some irreverent musings by a gay Londoner
07:15pm Briefly consider the idea of eating.
07:30pm Meet rest of gang at Hammersmith Apollo bar.
08:30pm Erasure on stage.
08:31pm-10:30pm Dancing, singing and back to bar for frequent top-ups.
10:31pm Over-ambitious plans to ‘make a night of it’ are formed.
10:32pm Over-ambitious plans to ‘make a night of it’ fade.
Me too!
Well, the bit about seeing Erasure tonight at least!
2004: Troy
2004: Polo Shirts: A Fashion Idea For 2004
2003: Open Secret
2003: Crossroads ‘was all a dream’
2003: Unfortunately There Are Effectively No Funds Available To Pay The Salaries
2003: No Consensus In Support Of Same-Sex Unions
2003: Dr Kildare is a Sissy
I am in Florence, Italy. I know that I am lucky to be able to travel (this trip is business) but I am not sure I want to be here right now. I am only here for meetings tomorrow. I arrived at almost midnight, have the meeting all day and leave the following day at seven in the morning. Somehow this doesn’t feel the right way to be visiting this city. Surely, I should be on holiday with time to explore the Plazas rather than rushing between office blocks. Still, I am told the first meeting is within walking distance, and so I might – for once – get to see some of the city.
I feel very strange about this Monday morning. You see I didn’t do any of the things I wish I had done over the last weekend. I had great plans to spend the time decorating the exterior of my house before the windows fall out due to the winter rains and frosts. Then I thought I might finally finish clearing the back garden so that some form of order is visible (again, before the winter frosts come). No. I couldn’t do any of this because I went to sleep.
Instead of going out late at night drinking after seeing Taboo on Friday night, PY and I came home because I was exhausted (I don’t think anybody else really wanted a long drinking session either, but that is not the point). I slept late, got up, had breakfast and started a few general household chores. Then I thought I would have forty winks. Unfortunately, I slept until 5pm and then realised that Saturday was gone. A whole weekend had then to be squashed into Sunday (where I stayed in bed late again), and I wasn’t very enthusiastic. I also had to have a late-Sunday brunch-style event in Notting Hill with some friends over from Australia. That was great (and seeing people who live outside London always makes me crave space and forget the advantages of this great city), but I can’t believe I didn’t do much around the house. I had such great plans.
So, that’s why I am now somewhat deflated. The weekend – which I look forward to like every other office-bound individual – turned out to be a letdown. And now I’m facing another full working week before I get some time off. To cap it all, I will then have to do all last week’s little jobs, as well as any new ones I come up with. I hate days like this and weekends like that! And I resent the fact that it is all my fault.
I was certainly right. I ached this morning. Almost every bone and several parts I didn’t really know that I had. It remains, however, a great feeling not to have spent the day indoors watching television on a wet Sunday afternoon. I tackled nature, and although nature probably won in the end (watch as all my careful pruning results in a whole pile of dead plants by spring) it was a rewarding task. I don’t get to spend much time outdoors and I don’t to do much physical work. I am a desk-jockey and it probably isn’t that good for me. I never really wanted to be a desk bound. For me, sitting in an office all day has strange overtones of turning into my father. I have nothing against my Dad, I just never thought of myself as being a desk-based person but I am. I sit in front of a screen and type for most of the day. I guess that’s why I enjoyed the rain yesterday and, luckily, I don’t seem to have the cold I thought that amount of soggy clothing would bring on.
So it’s all getting a bit spooky. There I was on Friday night, remembering the songs from the TV series of Fame (I preferred the TV series as it was much fluffier. Being so young, the grittiness of the film version didn’t hit me for several years) and remembering Danny as one of my childhood lust objects (download your Danny wallpaper here).
I spent yesterday doing all the boring things you occasionally have to do around the house. Cleaning. Paying bills, etc. At some point, I switched on VH1 to find it was their 100 Worst Videos day. And the song I switched on to? No 62 (I think), which was Starmaker, by the Kids from Fame (OK, it would have been a better story if it was Friday Night, but still).
So let’s see if I can tempt fate – I want to see more about the following: Play School, Rainbow, Harley Hare, The Clangers, Trumpton. How spooky would it be if this actually worked?
It will aid my aching bones. I’ve been in the garden all day cutting down bushes and pruning. I was outside for the grand total of seven hours, and it rained for most of them. Strangely, I feel invigorated after spending the day outdoors. No doubt I shall ache tomorrow.
Well, in a few minutes I’ll hopefully be leaving the office. I have been here late most evenings and, to be honest, I am really looking forward to going home and sleeping. The air-conditioning in the office has been broken, so we have gradually baked our way through today. I would he happy without the nonsense air-conditioning anyway, but all the windows have been sealed shut so that you can’t get any really fresh (well, fresh for London standards) air into your lungs. I have a weekend of hard, manual labour planned. I have to tame some of the wild growth in my garden. I can’t wait. Friday Night, as Danny (one of the Kids from Fame) once sang, is “gonna be alright”. I’m sure I remember that because I used to have a huge crush on Carlo Imperato.
Start shaking your hips
Baby, pucker your lips
Cause I’m coming to see you soon
I must only have been about 10 years old!
Anyway, why, you may ask, do I spend ten minutes writing this? Well, our dumb systems are taking forever to do some processing, and I am not going to sit here all night watching the screen!
Last night I met up with some old work colleagues. I used to work with most of these guys six or seven (if not more) years ago, and we’ve all remained in contact ever since. This is fantastic, especially for me, as they were the first people (apart from some ex-University friends) whom I met when I moved to London. We have, however, fallen into the trap of thinking we are all six or seven (if not more) years younger than we actually are and spend the evenings getting very drunk in various London drinking holes. We then wander like (drunken) startled rabbits around the West End looking for a post-closing curry. A fun, if somewhat painful, experience.
Well, not last night. Firstly, we added some extra people – friends of ex-colleagues – which made the night more interesting. Secondly, we decided (this is all very grown up) to go out for a meal. We decided to go to Belgos in Covent Garden. I had very little to do with the decision (in fact, to be honest, I never replied to that email, so I have nothing to complain about), but the great thing is that I love Belgos. I’ve always enjoyed the whole pots-of-mussels thing and make a mess to show I enjoyed the food.
And to add to that, there was the cutest waiter serving the table next to ours – which was all the better as he got to lean over and serve them. Ah, the joys of lust!
[Written on my Palm & posted Sunday 6th]
Arrived in Weymouth last night and went out with PY’s mother and her husband to a lovely Chinese restaurant (I do love Chinese food). Today we spent the morning ambling around Weymouth town centre (which was busy) and buying tickets to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding later today.