So I've had a very eventful and extremely stressful week. The beginning and end were certainly better than the middle, which I can't go into here, but hopefully will be able to share in the future as a totally horrendous and almost seemingly impossible fictional story.
So I started off the week in Angel as a very grateful guest of my friend Kate who was putting me up on Sunday night as I had to meet with a client in London on Monday to discuss a candidate short-list. In payment I took her out for dinner at a gorgeous French restaurant which we went to the last time that I visited. I highly recommend this restaurant - Le Mercury.
I had poached pears with walnuts and blue cheese to start. For my main I had some really rich duck breast with some incredibly well cooked cabbage and beautiful creamy mash. And for dessert, I had a very decent crème brulee.
To burn it all off the next morning we got up bright and early and went to Virgin Active Angel, met one of my other friends Rachel and did a hardcore session of Circuits for 45 minutes. It certainly woke me up and I felt much more energised for the day (although I did end up aching muchly afterwards).
On the train ride to and from London I occupied myself by practising the embroidery that Hayley had been teaching me last weekend and I started to make up the kit that she had bought for me (for 50p from Embroiderers Guild). I used my friend Gemma's blog post who had also made the same kit up as a guide to help me know what I needed to do. The train guard was very confused by how I had managed to avoid stabbing myself. The kit was based on a child's drawing and reminded me of this amazing post about children's drawings made into toys
Here are the finished results which I gave to my husband instead of a birthday card.
On Friday I had the not particularly pleasant (but at least not painful) experience of a Colonoscopy. (I'm writing this in reassurance of anyone that might have to experience this in the future) There is thankfully nothing wrong with me, but more of a check-up, but I deliberately didn't google this before going in as I didn't want to scare myself.
The reality was that I was fortunate enough to be referred by the NHS to The Spire which is a private hospital in Roundhay. I don't believe that I received any particularly higher medical expertise or treatment, but I had my own private room and after the procedure was served a very tasty tuna sandwich with a garnish and a pot of tea. There was also free wifi and a TV.
I was given two Enemas which weren't as scary as I thought and certainly less painful that some things I've experienced in hospital examinations. What was more painful was the embarrassment of having to walk up to the theatre in my dressing gown (fluffy and with stars all over - not embarrassing and my only pair of slippers - a horrendously kitsch pair of elf style Christmas themed slippers - mortifying!) The procedure itself was not painful, but more uncomfortable and probably the most off putting thing was lying on my side and being able to see in real time an Embarrassing Bodies style view of my own insides. I have to confess that I did shut my eyes at some points. The good news was that I wasn't given a sedative before the procedure and so I was able to head out to join my colleagues on a night out leaving do.
We started off our night at Lazy Lounge where I was warned by helpful bar staff that a Gin and Tonic would cost £8, so I opted for a nice glass of Prosecco which was on happy hour offer at £3.50. We then walked up to BRB on Call Lane and had pizza and a few more drinks before heading to Elbow Rooms for a few games of pool. I'm *awful* at pool, but do have an odd ability to sneak in the occasional fluke shot and managed to pot 2 balls at once in opposite pockets at one point. A few people started to drift off home and so some of us walked over to Mojo (where my WI Buns & Roses originally used as their meeting place) and I had one of my favourite cocktails an Amaretto Sour. We made a swift exit when a couple of over amorous ladies were chatting up some of the guys and we went next door to Verve. Both bars played some really good music varied Indie and rock music, so I made the suggestion that as it was getting later (about half midnight) we could head over to Leeds Met Student Union and go to Fuel which seems to be the new name for Star which I went to every Friday night that I possibly could when I was a student from about 1999 through until I graduated in 2001 (in fact I discovered evidence of my frequent attendance when tidying through some boxes yesterday evening in a scrap book with 13 old tickets stuck in for posterity) Impressive that it's only gone up to £5 from £3 in the last 10 years!
We were out quite late and the night got mixed reviews as it's not the usual haunt for a bunch of recruitment consultants. Star was a pretty straightforward formula cheap entry + cheap drinks + loud music + dark dank room + students and Fuel was similar with an addition or Cirque de Soleil style rope acrobatics, pyrotechnics and more video screens. Nonetheless I think that the general feedback was positive (I certainly had a good time) and in summary I remember dancing to Rage Against the Machine, Blink 182 and even this...
PS. Check out the lyric translation here - it's amazing!
Saturday was a much lazier day of crafting on the sofa whilst watching repeats of Sex and the City and The Bill. I managed to finish off my Pumpkin Head Felt Zombie from the workshop that I did at Buns & Roses last year so the Standard Zombie has a friend.
I then put my skills to good use - my boss has 3 boys and they all wanted the same cuddly pig toy for Christmas so I offered to help them differentiate by sewing their names in their favourite colours. I suggested the ears, but she reckoned that (as they are boys) this location would be better - what do you think?
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