erming

Monday I was up early and found I'd almost run out of coffee in the room. Got ready and packed then headed to the nearby Christmas market (Hafen). Bought an elderberry wine and a quince wine off a lady who's stuff looked like it was for sale in the pagan village. She was prepared and had a list of what all the names were and translations of them. She gave me a canvas bag as a pressie and I put them in my rucksack before I forgot about them.

I then went to the Altstadt christmas market where I had a goulaschsuppe. I went to the backerei where I got a stollen and some biscuits. I then went to somewhere that looked nice and had a monkfish fillet on a risotto which was lovely. I had some kolsh, a kids beer (had never heard of it) and a creme caramel.

Afterwards I explored the rest of the market (it was a lot bigger than I'd realised) and got some cheeses and some sweets. I got some more kolsh for Squirry and settled in Papa Joe's. I'm guessing they had Markus's worst nightmare - an automated accordian and tuba band. Service was painfully slow in there but it was pleasant enough till half the bar sang along to the mechanical band!

I then found the Cathedral Christmas market where I got many things.

I then staggered to the hauptbahnhoff and tried to catch a train only there was one on the platform that wasn't going anywhere. I tried to get another train from the moved platform but didn't understand. I then went back to the first platform then followed an announcement the train was from a different platform. Almost missed it as the train wasn't going there, but behind it on the platform was a train that was. Got it and it slowly went there - it took 25 mins to get to the airport instead of 10 mins. Still they said 2 people were under a train (hence the delays).

At the airport I remembered my promices to Ashleigh and had another attempt at getting Orkus. Groundside had one copy so I got it. Went airside they also had a copy so I also got it. The plane was 20 mins late but it was a good flight.

At stansted tried the automatic passport control but it didn't recognise me. Human did though. I waited ages for baggage then just as I was going to groundside the world duty free had an offer that grabbed me - 2l of baileys for £22!!!! Had to get that.

I went to the station and got my special ticket then was on the stanstead express.

A while later the train went slowly but eventually we got to Tottenham hale from where I caught the bus.

At home I spent a long time unpacking and giving mum stuff who was very pleased.

I then hopped in the bath then went to bed.

It had been a busy few days.

Friday - somehow I didn't get to bed till 9:30 - not great when you have a 4am start.

On Saturday I was up stupidly early and was just getting ready to drink my coffee when my phone rang - the minicab driver was 20 mins early!!! Thought he can wait 5 mins for being so early and got ready quicker than I would have.

Went outside and I thought I'm sure I've forgotten something as I kissed mum goodbye. We were just seeing signs for Colchester when I realised - I'd forgotten my glasses :-( Got to the airport and had a baked potato and a coffee. Then went airside and had a cider then caught the automated train to the gate. There were 2 German wings flights in that area and the ambulance came for the one going to Hannover. Luckily the one to Cologne was unaffected by the excitement.

Flight was good and I realised I could see Cologne cathedral and the Tanzbrunnen on the way over Cologne. Cologne airport seemed tiny and soon we were through passport control and our bags were waiting on the other side. I ambled to the station and a kind woman from Deutschebahn sold me a ticket to the main station. Train was ok and I got a seat despite the train being half full. We were soon at the hauptbahnhoff where I got a bit lost on my way into town. I got so lost it took me an hour to find the hotel during which I went at least 4 u-bahn stops the wrong way and only found my way back with satnav. On the plus point I did discover but not visit 3 christmas markets along the way.

Got to the hotel and it was too early to check in so left my stuff at left luggage. I went to the hotel dining room but they only had snacks containing wheat. I thought the review of the hotel praising the dining must be a mistake. I then went to the nearby Christmas market and had a portion of mushrooms and a couple of individual feuerzangenbowles. I was right by the entrance to the Chocolate museum so it seemed rude not to go in. €7.50 later I was given a small chocolate and an admission ticket. Inside I was relieved that 90% of the stuff was in both English and German. Twas interesting and I liked their mini planted rainforest greenhouse. Upstairs they had a mini working chocolate plant where they made Lindt chocolates that you could buy!!! I got some for the office and some for mum. I then went to the shop and bought a bottle of chocolate licquer for mum then went to the cafe. Cake was out of the question but they had some very interesting hot chocolates that were incredibly chocolatey!!! Or at least the couple I had were.

Afterwards I went to the hotel and checked in then in my room unpacked and moisturised myself. I dozed in the bed listening to Virgin alternative on the tv. I then went to the hotel restaurant - Chino Latino at the Art Otel. I surprised myself by not asking for an English guide but had a delicvious duck breast with pac choi, mushrooms and sauces and jasmine rice. Yum.

Afterwards I went to the Altstadt Christmas market (though I later found I only visited half of it). It was lovely and the drinks were nice though I didn't buy anything non drink related (though there were a lot of delicious Christmas drinks for sale). Afterwards I went to a bar to warm up then on to a lovely brauhaus - Pfaffen. Had a couple of drinks of Bockbier and thought the menu looked interesting. Decided to come back on the Sunday.

Thursday a package arrived for me at work. This isn't unusual but this one contained 10kg of dead sea salts.

This led to a slight logistical problem - how to get it home ok.

Well by tube was the obvious answer, so I lugged it to the nearby tube and after a little juggling of package and ticket got through the barrier ok. I had to ride the escalator rather than walk down as usual.

The problem occurred on the platform - it was packed and while a train was there it was packed. I manoeuvred my way down the platform and realised there were delays in the kings cross area, so found a seat to sit on with the parcel on my lap. Eventually a train I thought I could fit on arrived and I had to hold the central pillar while holding the package. Luckily I managed to get a seat at the next stop which solved most of the transport issues. I only just managed to get it home in one piece and when I opened it I found they'd chosen a box only just big enough for the two 5kg sachets.

Found a program to do so and kicked it off at 11pm Tuesday night. When I left this morning it was still running!

I guess I do write a fair bit, but still...

I had a dental appointment this morning. The appointment came about as I realised last week I'd not heard from them in a while and when I phoned up they'd not sent out appointments due to a cockup.

So this morning I was half dreading it as I'd not been for over a year. However the magic that is my Braun electric toothbrush meant that I needed no fillings, I had virtually no discolouration of my teeth and I just needed some minor cleaning.

But the really good bit is my dentist remembered me and said that I was looking well and that my eczema had virtually completely gone! So the treatments are working.

Saturday I was woken at noon by noises outside my room I rekoned was probably Zed having a shower, then mum banged on my door to get me up. Got up and went downstairs to find mum and Zed chatting. Zed hadn't been reading LJ in a while but wanted to see the difference between my before and after photos for weightloss. She reckoned there was a major difference in the before and after photos. Zed headed off then I tried to find stuff to eat (not easy as most things have bread in them that were easily available. In the end I had a cuppa soup, some cruchy nut cornflakes and some porridge. I then was bathing when I heard the phone go and reckoned that was probably Squirry (as she and Laura are the only people who call the landline for me). When I was out of the bath it was Squirry who'd called. She wanted to play pool at the fallen Angel, so we met at 6ish at The Glasshouse in Angel.

Music in there was shit and a few of the decent beers were off that day. We had a pint and headed off in search of food. We wandered past a new looking place called Made in Italy and it looked good. Squirry overcame her fear of the unknown when she saw they had courgette stick fritters and I was keen on the idea of gnocci. We went in and it was nice though we were both very hungry by then.

We had courgette fritters as a starter (it was a side) and mozerella in breadcrumbs in a tomato sauce then I had gnocci and Squirry had bruchetta. Twas very nice and I looked at the desert menu and they'd only sodding put hazlenuts in the cream on the tiramisu. Not happy about that. I had an interesting cake that Squirry liked the bit she tried and we had coffee that was strong and delicious.

Squirry wanted a look around Waitrose for yellow courgettes but they didn't have them, but they did have a tray of cobnuts that was looking decidedly empty after Squirry had filled a bag with them.

We then wandered to the Fallen Angel getting slightly lost on the way as I thought it was round the corner and it wasn't. It was busy when we got there and I got drinks while Squirry set up the pool table. I said hiyas to a few people then told Glenn and Stuart Squirry was in the back room. Got us a Cassis each then went to play pool only to find no cue ball (mental note, next time check for cueball before paying for the game).

Introduced Squirry to a few people, then we played with the black as the cue ball. Every shot I nearly pocketed a yellow only for it to bounce out of the pocket so I well and truly lost to Squirry. A little later people were attacking the quiz machine so we joined them and Squirry did well on some questions. People left the room to see Terminal Gods leaving Squirry to play her fave games on the machine.

Terminal gods started playing and I said hiyas to people. A little while later the smoke machine filled up the pub with smoke and Squirry got smoked out of the back room so briefly joined Terminal Gods on stage. She then said goodbye and hugged me goodbye. Terminal Gods put on a good show then when I mentioned Squirry to Stuart he said I should marry her so that when people think we are an old married couple they'd be right! I think she'd be horified by that idea. Afterwards Shreena had a long chat to me where she was apologetic about being dismissive of me at Reptile and I said I didn't remember. I then joined Glenn, Emily and friends for a while till they went to Slimelight (and tried to persuade me to go). I then chatted to Paul Sticks, Lily and Lisa (Lily's sister) for a while before heading to Slimelight.

Got to Slimelight and found half of it was closed but got a drink and went to the Goth Floor. It was quiet but there was good music and after a while I danced a bit. There was one lass who took it in turns dancing with Alcuin and dancing with me. She had a habit of twirling just in front of me, and well her dress was on the ground a bit. The inevitable happened and twice I nearly ripped her dress off by treading on it as she was twirling. She seemed ok about that but I was feeling guilty. She spent the time not dancing talking to Alcuin.

About half four I thought I'd call it a night so headed for the nightbus stop. 16 mins till my bus and it was quite cool. I thought I'd get some chips from the nearby kebab shop and that and eating them nicely killed time till the bus arrived. I think I didn't get to bed till 5:45am.

At my last job I felt I wasn't getting enough done so bought the book getting things done.

Their main premise was to write everything down in a list and update it regularly and cross off things as you do them.

I've recently been reading and listening to the mind programming cd of Instant Confidence and they emphasise action. This is great you actually start the things, but on the other hand I often find it a little harder to track progress as it takes less time to start on something than it does to write it down on the list.

As an example last night while listening to one of my many unlistened to cds I thought I should shred my ancient bank statements, so I duly wrote it down on my todo list. I then realised it had taken me longer to do so than walk to the bookcase to get the statements. I then did so grabbed them and went downstairs and started shredding and almost shredded the lot (about 140 pages of thick paper) before the heat sensor cut out the shredder.

Still talking of progress yesterday I walked about 4 miles, I bought a pocket diary for next year, I bought a pair of a lot smaller work trousers (which are 32" but the waist being higher is over a bit of my gut meaning it needs to cover 34" so am 2" into the elastic) and I bought an excercise bench. I also shredded a lot of ancient bank statements and a lot of ancient receipts and listened to two eps for the first time. I also tried to watch Schandmaul's Traumtanzer dvd but it just seemed to be 2 hours of the band chilling and making the album Traumtanzer, so I gave up after about 10 mins.

Metal Zed is in town this weekend. Anyone fancying a trip to the Crobar on Friday night to say hi to her and to make her feel welcome?

Yesterday was Neil's birthday so after work we went to Quinn's.

Twice in the night I got the last bottle of something interesting much to others jealousy. Still good beers, good food, good conversations etc, though I think Paul upet Sue a bit by his questions to everyone of what was the skankiest thing you've ever done and what was the best thing you've ever done for others.

I know that is a tricky one as I once asked a friend what their main regret was in life and got the answer that they didn't succeed when they tried to commit suicide. I mean how can you turn around someones opinions who feels like that to show that life is worth living and all the good things they can and do experience.

I mean I've been to one wake this year for a friend (Donovan) and that was one too many for my tastes. I'd rather not be in the situation where there was the need for a wake for a friend.

I'm trying to do a bit more as while my gut has diminished quite a bit, I think it went more proportionately with the rest of my body so is still to my mind a bit on the big side.

So yesterday while fired up from my Paul McKenna cd I rowed 1km. To many people that doesn't sound much but the increased body temperature triggered my eczema so I had to give up and cool down to stop itching.

Today mum mentioned when I next have my German lesson that she'd like some of the nice bread from the great Greek or Turkish place (not sure which it is and with that one it doesn't pay to ask questions). This is mid way between Manor House and Turnpike Lane station. So after work I was feeling in an energised mood so thought I'd walk it. I had Roxette's greatest hits on (and no Anki it isn't a blank cd) and it provided a great stompy beat for walking to (strange - it never occured to me it might make good excercise music). I stormed through Haringey reaching the place, paying for the bread (and resisting the very tempting cakes) before coming home with it. Mum was surprised and pleased. I then was perspiring and over heating which was triggering my eczema so went to my room to cool down a bit.

I also found after the Paul McKenna cd I thought I'd try and do some sit ups and managed 12 before realising it was getting trickier to do properly. This kind of stretching / toning excercise is a lot better for me as it doesn't trigger my eczema.

So yes, thats my progress on one of my goals to excercise more.

I've also had a nectarine every day for the last week and a half. That is another of my goals.