All clear

Got the all clear from the doctor this morning ... my shoulder is not fractured! Hurrah! Means I can go back to the gym and wave excitedly at all and sundry.

Find of the century

Not a lot to report so far this week, until I get the all clear on my fractured shoulder I'm loathe to do anything too active.  I don't want to end up being the moron who went to the gym with a fractured shoulder.  Highlight of the week has to have been finding a new suit in a charity shop. Lovely place on Northcote Road, I'd seen an Empori Armani suit in there before and was sorely tempted to buy it.  However, it was £90 and I came up with a lot of reasons why it was too much. Went back and had another look and I thought they'd reduced it by £10.  Turns out it was a new Armani suit ... Giorgio Armani, Classico.  Classico was the line designed by Armani himself (since renamed) and uses the finest materials and construction methods.  Had a look at the label and it was 100% cashmere.  So I got a £3500 suit for £80.  Can't complain.

Started applying for jobs today, weather is on a down turn and I'm desperate to move out.  Sooner I can get a job the sooner I can have nice flatmates (at worst).  Got a call back about a position too!  Mind you I registered with 11 agencies and only got 1 call back.  Plus NONE of the websites came up with suitable positions.  Some of them would have thousands of jobs, I'd search for Paralegal work, any location, any sector and there would be 0 results.  Good times.

Lots Part II

On Thursday I started, drum roll please, work!  Only for three days, but involved the exchange of funds nevertheless.  I was helping out a guy with his stand at the Antiquarian Book Fair in the Olympia  Centre.  Pablo Butcher, the guy, was the husband of a friend of mum's from OUP and she'd helped him in years passed.  I showed up Thursday morning and helped him set up his stand thus:

He specialises in photographs of foreign countries and travel books about them - lots of Africa, Indian and Asia (Ukraine - Borneo and everything in between!).  Really interesting job, lots of old and very rare things to see.  Fair opened at 4 for the preview and I went home at 8:30.  The clientele were quite extraordinary - perfectly prepared to spend tens of thousands of pounds on an old book but NOT ONE PENNY on dandruff shampoo.  If I'd been a germaphobe I'd have to have showered every fifteen minutes.  Some proper English eccentrics too which was also nice to see.  One ex-military type barked at me 'Have you got anything on the area formerly known as Chinese Turkistan?' .... ummmmmmm?

I'm a huge fan of reading and a great lover of books so I'd always thought at the very back of my mind I'd get into rare book collecting.  Now I'm not so sure.  Believe me there were some EXTREMELY covetable things there.  I loved the original Art Deco graphic leather covers for sets of books and a four volume set of an encyclopedia of animals including Hydras and other mythical creatures which was £322,000!!!!!!  That was the problem - everything was insanely expensive.  The four volume animal encyclopedia I get - its beautiful, 500 years old, in amazing condition and an actual physical bit of history.  But I don't think that that should have a trickle down effect.  Pablo was pricing something up for £680 and I was thinking 'Oh I guess that's not too bad, still a bit much but ... oh wait, he's adding another 0'.  

It just seemed like books were worth what people were prepared to pay for them, everything is priced so high to try and skim off the one person crazy enough and rich enough to pay what they're asking.  A leather bound, boxed, first edition set of His Dark Materials signed by Philip Pullman - covetable? YES! £12,333?  No.  Why are they worth that?  Because other people want them? Hmmmm.  Made me very disillusioned with the whole thing.  I'd advise rebinding new books with exquisite covers, creating your own future valuables, rather than starting collecting in that market.

So the job was meant to go on for three days but I had a big bike accident cycling into work the next day.  Van pulled out suddenly from a side street, in front of me, I had to brake really hard (admittedly I was FLYING along a busy street with no helmet), it had been raining and as I swerved to avoid him my bike went down.  I smacked my head and landed heavily.  Guy didn't even notice and drove off - the reason the accident happened was because he hadn't looked in the first place.  Nice lady helped me up and looked after my bike while I went in Nero to examine my wounds.  I decided I was in OK shape and cycled off to work.  By the time I got there I had a bump the size of a grapefruit on my temple and was so confused I couldn't work out how to get into the exhibition.  I couldn't work out how to get from outside to inside, the transition between the two realms made no sense to me.  Obviously I was in great shape.  So I called Pablo to come from his other stand and went to hospital in a taxi.  

Ended up waiting FOREVER for a doctor (3/4 hours) while organising Henry and mum to cover work for me (saviours).  By the time I got in there my bump had subsided and my shoulder had started to be the main source of discomfort.  Had a few x-rays and the doctor thought I might have fractured my shoulder.  Put me in a sling and sent me home with an appointment at the fracture clinic on Thursday.  I don't think so, it really doesn't hurt any more and I've hardly worn the sling.  I can get full range of motion without anything hurting or grinding so I really don't think its fractured.  Still going on Thursday, just to be sure, of course.  It might not be fractured but it sure ain't pretty:

Lots

Haven't I been a bad blogger.  Dear me, lots to report.  The Sunday following the last time I blogged I had a picnic in glorious sunshine on Clapham Common, wore some extremely short shorts.  After everyone came back to my house and we had drinks and nibbles in the garden while getting ready to go out.  In the end Henry, three Amys, Craig, Doig and myself went to the 2Brewers on Clapham High Street EXTREMELY worse for wear.  I didn't realise that by the third drag queen one of the girls was lying on the pavement outside the club waiting to be carried home by everyone else.  Amy Murray and I stayed until 3 am.  I was so drunk that even though we left the club together we manged to get separated almost immediately in the street.  I ended up going to sleep on the common right on the busiest paths.  Eventually a guy woke me up 'Are you all right mate?' 'I'm FINE, I'm just waiting for my flatmate'.  Eventually stumbled home to bed.

As you can imagine the next couple of days were something of a write-off.  Had a wondrous evening Tuesday night though.  Went shopping all day with Debora and then went to Battersea Park to walk her very cute Miniature Jack Russell Pepe.  Such a nice Park - winding gravel pathways, a restored Victorian Sub Tropical outdoor garden, an island, tree lined roads.  Gorgeous.  We'd bought along some weed to get stoned in the Park because it was such a nice evening and this is where we ended up smoking:

Where Debora's bag is is where we were smoking and where the bright lights are there was a ... I shit you not ... reggae band playing.  So nice, bats flying overhead, duckings in the pond in front, reggae music.  Can't ask for much more!  Rest of the week

 was uneventful until Friday when I hosted book club at my house.  No one had read the book as it was changed last minute so really it was just a drinks and nibbles thing with general discussion of any books we'd read that month. Was lovely.

Last Sunday Brittany's brother Johnny arrived for two days on his way to an internship at an engineering firm in Mozambique.  Hadn't seen him since he was 14, now he's 22.  It's weird that I'm that old.  Many pints were had on the Sunday on Brick Lane and it was such a nice day I crapped out on a BBQ I'd agreed to go to.  Bad boy.  Alcohol soon eased the pain, especially after we played Kings on the roof of the Brick Lane flat - here's the view (with Johnny):

and we ended up getting Vindaloo at cinnamon.  We then went to the restaurant owners car to get high.  Got stoned and drove around the dodgy back streets of east London with the windows down, the new Eminem album BLASTING out of the car, smoking joints and all at 2am.  Was one of the strangest nights of my life, very surreal.  Ended up cycling back to Brittany's VERY drunk and staying the night.

Monday we did the best thing you can do in London and just wandered round for 6 hours enjoying the buildings and the sunshine.  Swung by Buckingham Palace, stopped off for lots of pints - us in Covent Garden:

had some Moroccan food in Soho.  Ended up at the John Snow pub drinking big bottles of organic cider with lots of ice with Harry and his friend Alexa who lives in Clapham, has just broken up with her boyfriend, is a nutritionist and a yoga teacher (I accidentally typed 'Yoda', teach you she will).  So I think I may have found my new best friend (he says, eating crisps). Finished the evening off at the Friendly Society, basement gay bar where they have barbie dolls stapled to the ceiling.  So I think Johnny got a taste of everything London had to offer

On Monday I had a picnic with Amy, Henry and Doing in Govesnor Square outside the American Embassy.  GLORIOUS sunny day.  Cycling around Mayfair cause I was there 25 minutes early.  Lovely picnic, great to see everybody.  Amy had to go back to work, Henry to the gym and Doig shopping (it was a day off work for him) and I pootled around on my bike then came home.  More to say to bring things up to date but I think I should probably post this before it becomes too big to fit on the Internet.

Other stuff this week

Completely forgot to mention that I went to the launch of the magazine CENTREFOLD this week, of which my ex-flatmate Gayden is the fashion editor.  So proud of her.  I'd have been prouder of her if the magazine had come back from the printers in time for the launch and I had something to be proud about, but it was not to be.  Didn't really matter though -they blew up stills from the magazine and had them on the walls of this gallery (its a biannual fashion magazine so you can imagine its very arty) and there was a massive turn out.  Lots of UBERtrendy, monied, media types. Lousy with hot guys too.  Events like that are SO much more suitable for potential boyfriends than stupid clubs.  Anyway, here's a picture of Gayden looking AMAZING in some Versace cheetah print at the opening:

This week

Had a rather lovely week all in all.  Most activities revolved around exercise and desperately trying not to eat bread.  Actually, to be fair its only last night and today that I was tempted to break my diet and the only reason I didn't was because I could actually SEE I was thinner in the mirror this morning.  Bearing in mind I spend at least an hour (in total) every day poking at my fat in the mirror, to have changed enough for it to be noticeable under that degree of scrutiny is truly an achievement.

Exercise reached its peak on Wednesday this week when I cycled 4 miles to my gym, lifted weights for an hour, did an hour Pilates class, cycled home.  Then cycled 2 miles to my friend's gym in the evening did a 90 minute cardio workout and then cycled home.  Then got a call saying my friend Fed was around - he's been in Uganda for two years - so I cycled 6 miles over to my friends flat to see him.  Have to say I didn't make the gym the following day but really there was no need (and I did walk around for four hours all afternoon and then cycled 6 miles home)!

Bought some seriously snappy shorts this afternoon.  They are the very embodiment of short shorts.  Not only do they look great but they'll save me having to tell people I'm gay.  They have turn ups and everything.  Maybe I'll post a picture the first time I wear them.

Diet and Exercise

Made the executive decision to go back on the Paleo diet today.  Although it is one of the more restrictive diets you can go on its really easy and very nutritious.  Basically you're supposed to eat like a caveman and definitely not eat any processed foods.  So no wheat, dairy, rice, legumes, potatoes or salt but lots of lean protein, fruit and vegetables.  Its easy cause you can have as much as you want of the foods you are allowed to eat - no calorie/carb counting and weighing things.  I really like it because you start to think of food as fuel which is good for someone who basically uses food as a mood stabiliser.  The major downside is that it really sucks all the fun out of food.  For example today I've eaten an omlette with half a can of tuna and then for dinner I had a turkey steak, kale and broccoli.  No salt, no sauce, no nothing.  To be fair you can use herbs and spices but I wasn't feeling very inspired today.  If I make something more interesting I'll blog about it and take a photo.

I've been on something of a health kick for a while (lots of gym, lots of cycling) but haven't made too much of an effort with the diet.  I've lost loads of weight cause I'm doing so much exercise but now I want to take things to the next level and get the twin benefits of a healthy diet and lots of exercise.  I'll be a relief map of veins on no time.  Plus I've been on so many diets of the years that psychologically I feel like if I'm not depriving myself of something I'm not really trying.  Have to see how it goes - first day no problem, ge ready for lots of posts about how amazing bread is though once I start to miss it.  In fact I think I'm going to start a new blog all about my Paleo experience!  YAY!