Floods, books, and maps in frames

The weeks are really flying by at the moment – I don’t mind, it means we are one week closer to lighter evenings and the possibility (I am entertaining the idea that there is at least an outside chance) that it might, just might, stop raining.  The flooding near us keeps getting worse and worse with lots of fields around us flooded and roads closed, luckily we haven’t been directly affected but I really feel for those around us (and across the country) that have, it must just be terrible.  This is just a quick phone snap I took whilst out on a run the other day, this field normally has horses in it and not water!

{001} This weekend I’m going to London to see an old friend and I can’t wait to have a long overdue catchup with her and a good mooch around some of the London sights.  Whenever I come back from London I always make a promise to myself to go more frequently as it’s only a couple of hours on the train and I really do enjoy being there, there’s so much to see and do (and eat!).  In another life I would have loved to live in London but having a surfing/kitesurfing/windsurfing obsessed fiancĂ© means that’s off the cards for me unfortunately.  For this visit, my friend has planned trips to Brixton Village, Pimlico Car Boot Sale, Borough Market and an exhibition – we were thinking of going to see the Isabella Blow exhibition at Somerset House but I’m guessing there’ll be lots of fashionable types swanning around for London Fashion Week and I’ll feel majorly underdressed in my boots, jeans and backpack!

{002} Last night Tom and I had our Valentine’s night in – tonight I am going to yoga with Hannah so we had our celebrations a night early.  We bought some yummy food from Sainsbo’s and had a sofa based evening in with some fizz and a DVD.  We watched Captain Philips which was really, really good, though I did have some odd dreams about pirates afterwards! Tom made me an amazing present, a frame with maps inside of where we met, our first kiss and our first house.  It was such a thoughtful and romantic present and meant more than any bunch of flowers or box of chocolates.  I will be hanging it in our bedroom as it very handily fits with the colour scheme…

Valentines frame

{003} Last week I was very excited to be going to see one of my favourite bands, City and Colour at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth.  I was completely gutted when, on the day, I got really travelsick coming back from a day’s training on a ferry (in some very rough weather) and ended up having to dip out.  I was going to force myself to go but I was so dizzy I had to spend the evening lying down with one foot on the floor instead! Luckily I have seen City and Colour before so was able to console myself with memories of their gig at the Royal Albert Hall, and some rather awesome photos I was sent the next day.

photo credit: charlie raven photography

O2 have also published an awesome Valentine’s Day playlist on their YouTube channel that might be appropriate if you’re getting ready for any Valentine’s celebrations tonight.  I love Ellie Goulding’s version of Sweet Disposition.  Now we have a Blu-Ray player that’s connected to the internet I’m forever using it to put YouTube playlists on in the background when pottering around the house and this one is a new favourite. The Blu-Ray player has turned out to be an excellent purchase, I’m very much enjoying the ability to have Netflix and Lovefilm marathons – last Friday I spent my Friday night watching TEDTalks on Netflix, what a geek!

{004} Last Monday was Book Club and pub quiz night, we had all read Mary Poppins (the original book by PL Travers) over Christmas and were eager to discuss how bizarre it was and how mean the original Mary Poppins was! Our next book is Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed and looks really good.  It also fits with my current theme of travel memoirs as I’m just about to start One Man and his Bike by Mike Carter, about a man who cycles 5000 miles around the British coastline.  That looks really good too.  I’ve been lugging it around in my bag all week and not had a chance to start it yet so I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it on the train journey tomorrow.

{005} Next week also has lots of fun things on the horizon, with a lunch out on Monday in my favourite little café, a trip to the cinema to see American Hustle (our little local cinema gets films about a month after all the rest of them!) LimpBizkit at o2 Guildhall Southampton (reliving my nu-metal youth), more yoga and possibly dinner and drinks with some Bournemouth bloggers on Saturday.

Happy Friday, and Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, and hope you all have awesome weekends,

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