So if Taylor Swift had written her song about being twenty instead of being twenty-two, it would have sounded a bit more realistic, and wouldn't have had the silly line "we're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time". I am happy and free, but not confused and lonely! You would think that by the time you reach 22, you'd have some idea of how to make yourself feel less lonely, and that you'd have some friends! I don't really like that song very much.
Anyway, after that slightly negative introduction, I bring you happy news: I bought lollipops today! And I submitted my essay! And I wrote a letter. So much joy. Oh, and how could I forget? I met up with Sabrina - the girl from Yale - today! We sat in an expensive but beautiful cafe, which was coincidentally right next to the one I was in yesterday. I had a latte and some carrot cake, and although none of the carrot cake I have had here seems to match up to a carrot cake I made once a long time ago, I'm not sure if that is a fair comparison to make, because the-cake-I-made may well have grown in virtue over time. But I have struggled to find a carrot cake with the right combination of vital organs - it has to be moist, but not too muddy: fruity, but not too itty bitty; it needs to have been iced by a munificent chef (I have been trying to force that word "munificent" into a sentence since I learnt what the word meant, and this is the first time I have been able to do so. More cause for joy!), and it needs to taste somewhat like carrot! This one came close, but it was a bit too crumbly. It was lovely seeing Sabrina, and seeing as she lives near(ish) London, hopefully I'll be able to see her again.
I didn't get much - really any - work done today, except for finishing off my essay! I woke up late and just simply didn't feel like working. You know how you just have those days when it's more difficult than usual to sit down and do work. And of course everything that possibly can collaborates against you to prevent your half-hearted attempts from coming to fruition. I couldn't decide what to eat for breakfast, and I also didn't feel like eating in the dining room, but the kitchen was hot, and so eventually I decided that I would take a picnic breakfast to the new spot I found yesterday, behind the post office. I was in a fiddly mood today, which meant that everything took four times as long as it usually does. I would traipse with my goods and chattels from my room to my bathroom to the kitchen and then back to the start and repeat and repeat and repeat, achieving one miserly thing at each station, and then realising that I needed something from the room I'd just left in order to do something in the next room. FINALLY, I was ready. I think that it probably sounds a lot more depressing than it actually was. It wasn't all that bad. I don't mind ferreting around if I have the time to, with nothing else to do. But unfortunately I did have other things to do!
I set off with a flask of tea, a tupperware container of scrambled eggs, my laptop, my notebook, my watercolours, my drawing book, my lid for water for the watercolours, my water bottle, and two cards to write letters in letters. Oh and a pen. I sat down on the steps and ate my egg with the spoon from the flask, one of the most satisfying things I did all day! The other satisfying action was pouring tea into the lid of the flask and drinking it as the wind swept hair across my face and the world rushed around me. Tea is beauty, world.
I didn't feel like rereading my essay, so I decided to start my photography essay instead. Unfortunately there was no wifi, so I couldn't pull up the readings or the questions because they were in the Dropbox folder. I could hear it mocking me from some cloud in the sky. I was not in the mood for patiently waiting for a wifi signal to appear, and so - and what else is one supposed to do in this situation? - I dived into the nearest coffee shop, which would undoubtedly have wifi! The cafe I found was strange: retro-modern, the furniture was a combination of metal, wood, and brick. That doesn't sound particularly exceptional, but there is something about the style "retro-modern" which necessitates the exaggeration of each of these elements. So the bricks were REALLY brick-y, adn the metal bare and bold, and the wood almost unearthily earthy! Also, a weird combination of pastel and orange colours made for an eccentric appearance! It is a Scandinavian cafe, and their mochas are wild. I say wild because I can only assume that they are made from giant, untamed cows' milk, with water from some natural geyser somewhere, and chocolate straight from the cacao beans in the wilds of somewhere else exotic. It was the strongest and most bitter Mocha I have ever had in my entire life. I was saying to a friend today that I don't actually drink coffee because I like it; I drink it because I adore the cafe-going experience, and coffee is an integral part of that. You can't say you had coffee at a cafe without actually having coffee at a cafe! I mean, even the word "cafe" means coffee! They are a pair which cannot be separated, and thus I have been obliged to embrace coffee. And mochas are usually sufficient compromise, because at least they're sweet, But this one had not one milligram of sugar in it. EW>> If you're going to call it a Mocha, it is only fair on your average customer who thinks mochas are sweet to provide them with something with some semblance of sweetness! I suppose that would be one way to deter children from eating chocolate, or sweets: you give them something really gross right at the beginning, and call it some deceptive name, and they will never want it again. The epitome of a misnomer.
However, it was an interesting experience. I didn't get much work done there either, because I realised that my notebook was full and I needed a new one, and I didn't want to start reading if I couldn't take notes, and I needed to do the reading because I have to use those sources in my photography paper! But that gave me an excuse to go back to the stationery shop, where I had a funny conversation with the salesman. I was examining a selection of notebooks very closely when I was accosted by this salesman. He just wanted to help, but really I didn't need help: it's a notebook! But I listened to him patiently and answered his questions. Eventually he asked me if I had any specific colour in mind, and so I said, matter-of-factly, "No. You see, the notebook has to speak to me." After that he left me alone.
I forgot to avert my eyes as I passed the card section, and a splendid card with cats and mice on trapped me and I couldn't not buy it. Thus when I came to the counter, I discovered that I was one pence short. I had my card there, which would have been fine, but a sweet lady at the other counter handed me a 20p coin! In the end I didn't actually need it, because there was a student discount, but when I told her that, she said "no, no, just keep it." This 20p resurfaced later this evening, when I had THE EXACT amount in coins for my lollipops! I absolutely love the self checkout at Marks & Spencer, because you can use coins, and so you can literally pay all in pence if you want. I enjoy that so much.
Thus with my new notebook, cool card, and 20p more than was actually mine, I made my way home. I made lunch and then set off to meet Sabrina. I caught the right tube and arrived in good time. But I couldn't find the exit which the app told me to take, so I ended up walking in almost a full circle (just one block)! I was early though, so I sat down outside, on a concrete sculpture thing that people sit on and wrote in one of the cards. Then I went to the coffee shop and Sabrina came soon after that. We chatted away for about an hour and a half, and then she had to leave to catch her train. I stayed and drew some strange pictures of the people sitting outside. Then I packed up my goods and left. Somehow I got on the District Line Tube instead of the Hammersmith and City one; I am not quite sure how that happened because I triple checked. Anyway, it was not the end of the world because all it meant was that I had to change two stops along. I made it home in one piece!
All in all, it was an odd day, accentuated by a selection of satisfying high points! Tomorrow I think I am going to go down to Pret a manger and just sit and write! I also had yummy supper.
No comments:
Post a Comment