Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

I have been planning a trip to the beach all week and finally settled on today as having the best afternoon weather.

My face is redder than a tomato (No, I will not be taking a picture!) I have mild sun burn on arms and legs. Every item of clothing I left the house in this morning is wet (well, damp now) and covered with sand and the occasional rogue piece of seaweed. I ache everywhere from walking on sand, slippery rocks, climbing stairs and sitting in a traffic jam for an hour on top of the 2 hour drive home. I've had about 3 hours sleep the last 24 and I'm tired, ravenous and thirsty. All in all, I think I can safely call today a resounding success!! :D

And now, at the staggeringly late time of 9.30am, 'm off to bed. I'm whacked.

*thud*
*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

I checked the weather forecast yesterday and it's going to be warmer tomorrow. Also, I realised I'd have to leave the beach early to miss the rush hour because I needed to get home in time to see Spain v. Portugal. As I don't give a fig about Germany v. Italy (for some reason), Operation:Beach will be a go for tomorrow and I won't have to belt back so can relax allllll day. Also i won't have to leave at stupid o'clock to get there (I'll leave around 9, should miss the worst of the early morning traffic ohpleasedeargod)

Just watched Heather Watson win her 2nd round match at Wimbledon. Good for her. Be good to get one of the younger female British players into the later rounds, it'll encourage people. Of course, the media will still be Andy Murray, all the time, because we can't possibly be successful until a male player wins Wimbledon *rolls eyes*.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is sufficiently warm I think I'll make a run to Westbrook beach :D This will be the first of the year!

Now to get off my backside and go and stock up on Stuff. i could do with a cooler bag or box for my food and drink and I may investigate how expensive folding loungers are. There's a perfectly good deck chair rental place there though so it's not a huge deal.

Beeeeach! :D *bounce*

All is ticking over in the Land of Mitchy. Only fly in the ointment has been that I've managed to acquire a mild chest infection, probably from the smog I inhaled last Friday while I was busy being lost in North London. Now have pills, pills and more pills and I think I'm winning :)

The chest infection meant I didn't get out and about as much last weekend and commoncomitatus was foiled in her plans to meet me for boozing and chatting by stupid bank holiday trains. New plan is for me to go up to Nottingham last weekend in May for the aforementioned booze and chatting :)

If I feel better tomorrow, I may well do a beach run on Sunday. I'm determined to get to the beach soon, dammit, because goodness knows how long this lovely spell of weather will last. I was tempted to go today - figured there was a possibility I'd be the only one on the beach - but the weather and the chest infection made me decide to stay at home and watch the Royal Wedding instead. Which I am watching and enjoying ;) I think Kate looks gorgeous, William very happy and it's a great occasion. I blame the media for making people sick to death of it, it deserves better really.

Found a cattery for Rob the Furball for when I scamper off to the States (5th to 12th May). It looks great, I've provisionally booked it but am going over tomorrow to inspect it just to be sure. It's here - I particularly like that there's a lil' outside run he can snooze in if he wants to :)

And that's all the news that's fit to print methinkest :)

Gosh, I keep forgetting to post in here *dusts off* I tend to post quick things on FB these days, I'm a bad LJ-er *hangs head*. Also, I'm a hypocrite because I whine like heck about people leaving LJ so I should really practice what I preach and update this thing more often :)

Perhaps I should start another 30 day meme? That encouraged me to post. Hmm. I was threatening to do compile my own 30 day film meme, I could do that. It's going to be a blissfully quiet 2 days at work Thursday and Friday because there's only going to be 3 of us in and that doesn't include any managers or people who like to give me jobs *evil mousey grin*. I think I shall peacefully compile a meme and start it on the 1st August. What sort of movie questions would you like to see, people? Can you think of anything other than the routine best/worst/fave etc.?

In other news, there's no other news. I'm still job hunting like crazy but it's a poor time of year for opportunities. I've been contemplating a move to Kent but I dunno, the job situation seems very poor indeed. But I've got about 10 months, I reckon, before the restructuring here hits my level, so I shall keep looking. In the meantime, if something great came up in Herts, I'd have to go for it, I'd be daft not to.

This week sees me indulging in a rare bit of being social for two whole days in a row! thalinoviel and I are off to see The A-Team on Friday night, meeting up for food and a thorough catch up first as *cough* there have been developments *cough* since we last met :P Then on Saturday I'm dragging the dear girl out at OhGodEarly to my favourite Kent beach as she foolishly expressed a wish to do such a thing this summer. Hopefully the weather will hold.

And that's all the news that's fit to print :) I must do a post tomorrow about new TV shows wot I'm watching - the tv addiction is alive and well and thoroughly kicking :)

Friday night, I made a Plan. At ohgodearly on Saturday, I would scamper down to Chigwell, grab commoncomitatus and then tootle at high speed over to my favourite beach in Kent. It mostly worked like a charm :D Had I read the map more carefully or even got directions from a route planner, I might have realised that there wasn't actually an exit on the M11 where I thought there was. Consequently, on the way there, I found myself on the North Circular. Fortunately, I didn't panic, recalled where I needed to be and was able to swiftly correct the mistake, arriving at the pick up point when I said I would. I was impressed :)

The trip to Westbrook didn't take long and we were both pleased to see the blue sky with white clouds become crystal clear blue sky as we headed further into the Kent. The temp soared and it was just blissful to be on the beach. There was snoozing, and roasting and more snoozing and in between, I was able to be a total water baby and swim in the sea. OK, swimming implies exercise, I mostly floated (fat floats!) and enjoyed the sensation of being able to get my entire body out of the heat in the delicious cold water. I discovered that the water at Westbrook is shallow (mostly waist height at the deepest) until you get past the rock pools, although I never went that far out. Perfect for floating in, or looking for wildlife - the water was so calm, you could see the bottom with no bother at all.

We left around 3pm, and the journay back to commoncomitatus was painless. We went through the Dartford Tunnel and boggled at the southbound tailback. Seriously, I hadn't seen it so bad since Christmas. A quick jaunt up the A12 (hey, cookwitch, I went through Harold Hill, I didn't realise I would until I saw the signs. I mentally waved in your direction!) and I dropped commoncomitatus off and headed back the way I came. Or so I thought. I got soooooo lost. I ended up on the North Circular again and finally made it back to the A1(M) from west side of the M25...don't ask. I was not pleased at all. Looking at the map though, I've only got myself to blame and I at least now know the proper route :) One alarming thing I saw though was the warning signs on the Eastbound M25 about the "Long delays" at Dartford and, get this, advising people who wanted to get to Dartford to follow the M25 via Heathrow. Yep, from the north M25 it was apparently easier to go 3 quarters of the way round anticlockwise than to go a quarter of the way around clockwise. I desperately feel for anyone who had to do that yesterday in the heat and traffic.

Got home in plenty of time to watch the 3rd place playoff in the World Cup. Cracking game, was kinda hoping Uruguay would win but Germany were excellent. Was so sleepy, I was in bed before midnight of a Saturday - uheard of! - and I slept like a log until 8am this morning :)

Today I've been out and bought a shiny new washer/dryer for the flat, to replace my old washing machine that currently sounds like it's breaking rocks whenever it goes into the spin cycle. It's old and it's done well but it's time it was replaced. Done some food shopping and now I'm back in for the afternoon. I have to say though, if I'd known it was going to be this warm today, I'd have given serious consideration to go back to the beach.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend :)