I really must stop neglecting this blogging lark, it's actually been a month to the day of my last entry!
I guess the lack of entries in a way is a good thing as I don't need the outlet for my crazy thoughts and moods. My 'flipping' of moods is far better controlled but I'm still having 3 or 4 really bad OCD days a month. At the moment I'm in a lower cycle after pretty much being on a high for the last month and a half. Although it's not nearly as bad as it was it is still a pain, I hate waking up feeling miserable when I've barely opened my eyes, it does make getting out of bed and on with the day pretty difficult I must admit.
Work is still good, it's very menial work, I spend the day stuffing envelopes and printing letters but to be honest I really think that's my mental level. Anything more advanced or with any more stress just sends me loopy, I've tried more 'advanced' and 'high powered' jobs twice now and they've both ended badly, although I think I should get some kind of award for the crash and burn nature of my last one! It does make it kinda hard when I'm seeing my friends from school and college achieving really well in the workplace and I know that it;s never going to be me, ditto with the marriage and kids. I do often feel that I've achieved nothing at all.
I'm also still struggling with my semi-label of Borderline Personality Disorder. Whereas with depression, Bipolar or OCD which are fairly well accepted now with famous figures coming foward to discuss their own experiences which is fantastic. In all my searches for information about BPD (also known as 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder) all that gets turned up is very limited information or horror stories of knowing people with the disorder. There's no positive angles on it whatsover, you have stories of people with other conditions saying how tough it is but also that it's brilliant for their creativity etc. Also how are you supposed to tell people you have a condition with the phrases "unstable" or "personality disorder"? They'll run a mile!
Ok now my moan is over I'll fill you in on some of my adventures from the last couple of weeks.
Firstly off mine and Mum had our long awaited trip to see The Who in Hyde Park!
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| Festival Chic |
We started off the day with lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe
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| Hurricanes all round |
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| I always love this living wall next to the Hard Rock |
I like the big, outdoor concerts, they have a real festival feel. I guess in a way they're mini-festivals.
There were two stages, one 'mini' stage where some smaller bands were playing and a couple of the main support acts played some acoustic sets.
The good thing about these big concerts is that you're guaranteed some fairly well known support acts. First up was Johnny Marr formerly of The Smiths who sent my 18 year old self to heaven when he included "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "How Soon Is Now?" in his set. Next up were the Kaiser Chiefs who I've been a fan of since I was at college and was super excited to finally see after 10 years of waiting! They were fantastic and really got the crowd hyped up - I need to see them as soon as they tour again. Paul Weller was the final support act and I was a bit disappointed in him, he started off well but lost the crowd halfway through his set.
The Who were obviously fantastic, Roger Daltry still has one of the best voices in the music world in my opinion. We were under the final approach flightpath to Heathrow and I thought of the people up in the planes looking down and probably wondering what the hell was going on in the park!
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| We were spoilt with this gorgeous sunset which set off the evening perfectly. |
The next day was tattoo day! I went with the blue butterfly I described in my previous blog along with a white feather for Kay and a ladybird for Helen (our nickname for her). They came out perfectly and I adore them!
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| Ta dah! |
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| Yep it's gonna be a sleeve ......... |
Speaking of long awaited trips the British Formula E race was finally upon us. Formula E is basically Formula 1 but with electric cars, it was held in London's Battersea Park which I hadn't been to before, it's a really lovely park with a huge lake and plenty of squirrels - an important factor in a park in my opinion!
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| Chris, Vana and Milan |
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| Checking qualifying times |
We were of course blessed with the best of the British summertime weather ......
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| Nice |
Chris and I were in heaven as there were loads of photographic opportunities, not least for me being as we were under Heathrow flightpath .........
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| I couldn't resist a snap of this A380 |
Next up on my travels was a trip with Helen (and Corney the unicorn) down to Gosport to visit Kay and her furbabies: Millie & Maxx the dogs, Bella the cat and Lola, Miffy, Magic, Kanga, Pebbles, Barney, Honey, Bikki, Tilly and Clover the bunnies (jealous of the animal collection, moi?).
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| Millie dancing |
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| Relaxing in the garden |
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Bella
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| Kay and Tilly |
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| Helen, Kay and Tilly |
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| Hello Tilly! |
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| Me, Helen and Honey |
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| It genuinely dropped in the shape of a heart! |
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| Helen, Kay and Corney |
Me and Helen also had a brilliant mini break to London, we spent 3 days there and looking back squeezed in a crazy amount of things. I felt the amount of walking we did fully justified the amount of cake and ice cream consumed!
We based ourselves at the Covent Garden
Travelodge we've stayed there quite a few times, it's cheap, cheerful and central to everything. They even arranged some gorgeous sunsets for us to sigh out of the window at -
We started off our first day with a walk from our hotel through St James Park to the Imperial War Museum.
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| Classic London skyline over Horseguards Parade |
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| Cabinet War Rooms |
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| Imperial War Museum |
The
Imperial War Museum is located on the site of one of the original Bethlem hospitals .... also known as Bedlam! So there were a few jokes about locking me in but luckily I managed to escape!
If you're a military geek like me then you'll love the museum. I ended up abandoning poor Helen in the cafe whilst I wandered around "ooohing" at the exhibits. I have since decided that the obvious career choice for me is as a secret agent after exploring that section of the museum.
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| Flight through the years, a Spitfire and a Harrier |
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| Helen with a Lancaster |
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| The creator of the most beautiful sound in the world, a Rolls Royce Merlin engine |
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| Cake!!!! |
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| This Victoria Sponge was absolutely lovely |
The main reason for our visit was the
Fashion On A Ration exhibition.Despite falling in love with pretty much every dress on display it really bought home to me how lucky we are to have the option of buying new clothes every day if we so desire. Nowadays would we be able to cope with the 'make do and mend' or utility clothing that was essential to everyone?
The next day we were joined by Kay and went to
Comic Con which I feel now makes us official nerds! I went with a Steampunk inspired outfit that quickly paled in comparison to some of the amazing costumes on display.
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| Steampunk in Victoria Station |
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| Helen, Kay and Corney stocking up on some nutritious crepes from the Kensington Creperie before facing the crowds |
There were all sorts of costumed people wandering round, I spotted quite a few Alices' !!! I was most excited to see a girl dressed as Bucky O'Hare my favorite cartoon as a kid! Check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KIa3suwH8w
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| Amazing!!!!! |
We ended the day with dinner in Chinatown. All I can say is nommy!!!
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| Helen - lady what dinners! |
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| Me and Kay |
After seeing Kay back onto her train me and Helen decided it was a nice summers evening and decided to have a walk which lead us to
Foyles Bookshop ..... wow! It was huge!
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| Helen in heaven |
It was definitely the best laid out bookshop I've ever been to, the different topics or sections were on mini floors of their own. Best of all was the cafe at the top of the shop. Helen took some snaps -
As we were technically on holiday we also indulged in ice cream in Trafalgar Square whilst watching the street performers.
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| Yum! |
We started off our final day in London with a trip to the V&A Museum Of Childhood's
The Alice Look exhibition. It was documenting the influence that Alice's Adventures In Wonderland has had on fashion over the years. It wasn't a big exhibition as it was a tiny museum, I would love it if somewhere like the main V&A museum picked it up and made it into a major exhibition. Perhaps I should curate it!
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| I always carry an Alice prop with me! |
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| Yep I went in Alice clothes |
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| I loved the 'Mad Tea Party' display they'd created |
After the exhibition we decided to visit the
Museum Of London, they had a "walk through Victorian London" feature where I took the opportunity to pull a pint!
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| Eat your heart out Peggy Mitchell! |
They also had London through the last century, it had some gorgeous 1920s outfits along with a replica of Sothebys' entrance.
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| Tea and Cake! |
St Pauls' Cathedral was a short walk away so we had a wander around it's gardens (we objected to paying £18 to go inside when we went into The Vatican for free!). I also managed to get this cool photo of a vapour trail going through the middle of the dome.
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| Photos taken at exactly the right moment #145 |
It was another brilliant trip and continues with my mission to make Summer 2015 really good fun!
Love Jen
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