After my last post oh-so-long ago, I have two quite stunning
new developments to report. The first, chronologically and probably in
importance too, is the appearance of The Boyfriend. Almost exactly a year after the previous one
jumped ship in fact, which has a pleasing narrative symmetry. He is, of course,
wonderful in every conceivable way, and given that we’re seven months in and I
still honestly believe this it may very well be true. Any man who’ll mop your brow
when you’re awake all night hallucinating about trees because you’ve wiped up a
winter fever must be pretty decent, especially if he cleans your kitchen the
next day when it’s a mess but you can’t stand up long enough to do something
about it without fainting and falling over and potentially concussing yourself
on the fridge.
The second stunning development is The Flat. Two weeks ago,
after two months of mind-boggling stress in which everything managed to go
horribly wrong all at once, I moved all by myself (to live with just myself I
mean – moving itself took two parents, one boyfriend, and two burly Polish
removal men) into a lovely flat in Crouch End. It is effectively two rooms with
two outsize cupboards, one of which has a kitchen squished in, and the other is
the smallest shower room anywhere that isn’t a sleeper on the 23.55 from
Paddington to Penzance, but I like it. (In fairness, I realise that I am very
lucky not to be living in a lean-to against nothing with the bed in the kitchen,
and having to choose between mutually exclusive options like ‘Laundry or sleep?’
and ‘Cook salmon or avoid smelling like a fishmonger?’, but it would have been
nice to have a bathroom where the sink was actually in the room and not in a cupboard with the boiler.)
Living alone is an interesting experience. I have previously
rhapsodised about the joys of alone time, but having so much of it is incredibly unnerving. So, with impeccable logic, I
decided to use all of this time to actually get some hobbies besides ‘reading’,
‘telly’, and ‘knitting while watching telly’. Today, I had actually allotted
some time in my evening to go for a run (momentous in and of itself – I generally
run only for the bus) but as it was raining I decided to stay in and do yoga.
In my hunt for a suitable YouTube video, I came across one for a guided meditation.
OK, I thought, I’ll try that. I put a blanket down on the floor, pressed play,
listened to the soothing voice and the calming music emanating from my laptop...and
fell asleep right there in my living room. It would appear that my new hobby is
‘sleeping’, but at least no one came home and saw me lying prone on the fake-wood
laminate flooring, snoring gently.
