Mid-week blues

Is it really only Wednesday today? After 2 four-day weeks I think I am struggling! It is so grey and wet outside and I seem to notice all the police sirens in London more when it is like this. I scurry along the crowded, rain slicked pavements in the drizzle desperate to get to my final destination, even if it does mean sitting in the office for 10 hours!

I had a business dinner last night at a smart, top notch restaurant in Soho called Arbutus. I had been quite looking forward to the meal but my stomach was doing backflips and cartwheels when I saw the menu.

One starter was 'braised pigs head with potato puree and caramelised onions' and the main dishes included bit of a rabbit I would never consider eating or lamb's tripe with trotters. I used to play at my friend's house aged 8 years old and we would help her mum by feeding their greyhound dogs. We had to feed them tripe and it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.

WHY? Can someone tell me why this food makes it to the menu of a top London eatery? I thought tripe and trotters were a delicacy which only a handful of people would ever consider eating! Most of the menu was like this. I managed to get them to rustle me up some asparagus for a starter and I had a nice vegetable risotto for a main. Phew! Off the hook!

There was a balls up with my taxi home. I ordered one on my corporate account but the driver actually kicked me out about 400 yards up the street because he thought he was going to SW18 and not SE18 where I live. His employers gave him the wrong postcode but it didn't stop him throwing me out on the street. I refused to get out of his cab until a new one had been ordered for me. It meant I had to stand on the street for 35 minutes. I was pretty peeved to say the least as I had promised Davo I would get back by 9.30pm to be online with him!!

As it happens, Floyd did a marvellous job of entertaining Davo! I think it was a 'boy's night in' :-) Well done Floyd!! The banjo playing was great!!!!

Weekend

We had an exhausting but wonderful weekend.

It was my aunt Jean’s 80^th birthday and there was a huge family get together in Hereford where she lives with my uncle.

I am so blessed to have a very large, fun-loving, warm friendly family! Floyd and I were sucked in to the sea of cousins, aunts and uncles and distant relatives we haven’t seen for years. There simply wasn’t enough time to chat to everyone. Everybody loved Floyd and he seemed to have a wonderful time. There was a big lunch in a church hall and then back to Uncle John & Aunt Jean’s to continue! We had tea and sat around in their beautiful garden (all 61 of us!). Floyd was playing croquet with some of my cousins. All I could hear was “we gotta knock Floyd out” or “right, let’s get him this time”!!!

On Saturday night we stayed in a gorgeous converted barn B&B near the Welsh border with some of my cousins. Even though we’d been up since 5.30am that morning, we were still totally up for meeting up with everyone else that evening. We went to another farm cottage where the rest were staying and sat up eating and drinking until late. Lovely. Just what I needed!

What I haven’t mentioned yet is Floyd and I should have driven to the B&B to join everyone on Friday night, as was the plan, but we wanted to spend time with Davo, my dear friend who is terminally ill with leukaemia. Davo keeps being given weeks and then days to live. This past week has seen him get weaker and weaker and his blood counts, heart rate and blood pressure are all faltering. I spend all day, every day on MSN Messenger with Davo and have done since October. Even though he has been in so much pain recently and struggling with his breathing, it hasn’t stopped our daily marathon chats.

I promised him on Friday that I would just go home and carry on messaging him from home. We would not go to Hereford until Saturday. That’s exactly what happened. We recorded some hilarious home movies on Friday and emailed them to Davo as each one was recorded. We were all laughing our arses off!! Floyd gave a ‘guide to the Scottish language’ which was great!

I had helped Davo arrange a special mother’s day present for him to give to his mum on Sunday. It was a top secret, military style operation which required sleuth like detective work from both my end and in Davo’s house. Even from Hereford, we were emailing on Saturday with ‘has the FedEx man been yet?’ ….. ‘the doorbell just rang! I think it’s him!’ etc. But it all worked out for the best possible result on Sunday!!

We rushed home yesterday and got in late afternoon. We had given a lift to my wonderful, amazing ancient relative Jock who is 92 years old. He usually drives himself everywhere but a his hip is playing up at the moment, he needed a lift home. But we still had time to hang out with Davo.

I was crushed to get news of Davo’s condition from his mum this morning. It’s not good and his breathing is much worse and he was unable to communicate this morning.

I cannot describe the anguish I feel at the thought of losing one of my best friends. But I refuse to give leukaemia any kind of victory. It tried to take Floyd from me and now it’s tugging away at Davo. It will never win because as Davo told me, it will die with him when he goes. So true. It will.

The plans we made just mock and make me sad. But the happiness, laughter, fun and love that we created always wins and that is something leukaemia will never get it’s hands on.

I love my friend dearly and send you arms of flowers and hugs Davo.

Meh.

xx

Need a Pick Me Up?

This is an article we did for Pick Me Up magazine. My goodness, what a piece! It was for Leukaemia Research and to highlight them and their work. The magazine were interested in our story and it's lovely happy ending.

It is a little cheesy and it sounds like leukaemia was a doddle! And at no time did we say Floyd's lips cracked and bled! And he couldn't eat or drink in Dublin, let alone enjoy the craic!

Anyway, it was sweet! My mother and I became a bit obsessed with buying Pick Me Up after the article came out and kept cutting things out and sending them to each other! Like the 'I Grew A New Vagina' story!!!!!!! I know.....we thought that too!!!

Anyway, here's the article.

Seeing Red

The May edition of Red Magazine hit the stores today. Floyd was interviewed by them back in February. The title of the feature was "I Love Her More Now Because...". He never did tell me what he said so I had to buy the magazine yesterday to find out.

I bought a copy at the newsagents in the tickethall at Green Park and stood out on the street reading the article. Awww...Floyd said such lovely things about me and our relationship and how we got through the leukaemia together. It was really well written actually. He suprises me every single day of our lives.

My mother also bought the mag, saw the picture where I do look a bit plump I admit, and said "when's the baby due?". Bloody cheeky old woman! Old people think they can get away with away with saying anything!

But the photo shoot was a pain in the bum. They sent a photographer and make-up girl round to our flat in February. He had already been to our local woods and had found a great location he said. So all of our late night polishing and cramming laundry and junk under the bed and in to drawers was all for nothing!

I had to have my hair twizzled and lots of make up but on so I looked like a dolly with huge eyelashes. Then they attacked Floyd with powder a bit (hilarious!!!). But the worst thing was that because the mag is the May edition and comes out in Summer, we have to look like the photos were shot in Summer too.

So our wardrobes were attacked by the photographer/stylist bloke who laid everything out on the bed and said things like "ooo yes I'm feeling that" or "ooo no, not picking this up at all, oh no, not the yellow, not doing it for me". So we wore thin clothing and traipsed up the woods in our puffa jackets and gloves. I had to wear little strappy sandals. The usual dog walkers through I was mad picking my way through the mud in the car park! And it was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing!!!!

He found the mouldiest most fungus covered log possible and then decided we had to pose on it.

Chin up, left little finger towards Floyd, bit more, bit more, no too much, chin up, face floyd, eyes to the camera, point your right big toe down more, that's it, left little finger back to where it was, no on Floyd's knee, no back again, chin up, can we get that curl put back behind her ear someone?, left knee down a bit, chin up, head towards Floyd, straighten your back a bit, chin up, no put your elbow on his knee, that's it, Floyd move your hand to the left a little bit, chin up Sophie, Floyd relax that hand, chin up Sophie, straighten your arm Sophie, no, put it back again, chin up, Floyd, can you cross your legs? Chin up, Sophie look towards floyd, left foot down more, floyd relax that hand, chin up, left finger in, okokokok we've got it, we've got it, lets go for it, chin up, ok here we go, yes yesyesyes, hmmmm, no it's not doing it for me. Scrap this one. Lets start again.

And then imagine cramp, freezing cold wind, fungus which you have to sit in on the tree trunk, lipstick being applied etc etc etc etc.

After all the "chin up"s, at the exact moment the shutter went I tucked mine in and I now have 10 chins in the photo. Gah!

Oh well, I loved the article anyway. Well done Floyd xx

ps: everyone keeps saying 'aw, what a special moment, you look so happy, actually Floyd was whispering 'bacon sandwich, brown sauce, bacon sandwich, nice and crispy' which is why I did the 10 chin bellow!! :))

To Blog or not to blog?

Hmmm...

Shall I or shall'nt I? I am not sure.

Bah.

Soph x