Cold, wet and miserable

...and that's not just the weather...

I came so so close to just coming home again after I left the house this morning. I think it was when the second bus went past only letting two people on. At least they were slowing down at the big puddle by the bus stop and only one of them splashed the waiting wet potential passengers. I did, however, leave my brolly at home and while I had on my waterproof coat this did not stop my glasses from needing windscreen wipers and my trousers from getting soaked. Urgh. So this morning I ended up in work a bit wet, cold and just a smidgen miserable.

Now I’m at my desk I have put the bad-for-the-environment electric heater under my desk on, have a fleece on and am hoping no people come in today - the weather should put them off right?

Have I mentioned that I dislike November?

I spent a great deal of the weekend getting wet and grumpy too. Wet, well obviously because of the rain (some of it torrential); grumpy because I was tired and London was full of stupid people who get in your way, bump into you, stop suddenly and crowd out the shops. Mostly, I should say, it was a great weekend, despite the rain and the ‘other people’. It started with a ludicrously early start on Saturday morning when both Flâneur and I got up at 4:50. Yes. 4:50am. A time when ordinarily I would look at the clock and think ‘magic, another two hours at least until I have to get up’. We had booked ourselves onto the first train down to London and got up when we woke up to stop ourselves going back to sleep!

The train was good actually, despite it being so early. We were in First Class so had loads of room and the carriage was pretty quiet. I tried to snooze some more but it wasn’t happening, so we watched the sun come up and got excited about our trip. It was pretty nice weather when we arrived, even verging on warm (!) and we decided to walk the two miles or so to the hotel as the tube was buggered. As usual! The hotel was lovely. Flâneur had won a free night in a Hyatt hotel, partly I think because he is a loyalty card holder (Platinum no less!). So we decided to take advantage of it at the Hyatt Regency London, The Churchill. We arrive before check in, but figured we could leave our bags and go and find lunch. The reception was really busy (check out time!) but we were delighted when we got to the counter to find that they had decided to upgrade us to one of their club rooms on the 8th floor, which has its own private check in area. Oooh, get us! Checking in up there we were also told there was a room ready for us immediately, that they served complimentary cocktails and canapés in the exclusive lounge between 6 and 8 and that there would also be a complimentary continental breakfast in the lounge the next morning. Hurrah! Our room hadn’t come with breakfast so this was great news! ;o)

I got very overexcited by the fact we had been upgraded. I never get upgraded for anything. :o)

The room was lovely, but we only stopped in it momentarily to change and then headed out to the shops, the other reason for coming to London. Ah… Selfridges, Liberty, Muji, independent design shops, Fortnums… Bliss!! We had a very pleasant (but enormous) lunch in John Lewis and then the rain started. It was not so bad on the Saturday and we did enjoy all our shops, but having got up so early we both went through tired-grumpy-hysterical several times while brollies hit our faces and people barged into us and we tried to keep ourselves going. We were pretty exhausted and wet by the time we got back to the hotel around 7, but we sorted ourselves out and headed through the lounge and gosh, it was lovely. It was so nice to just kick back, enjoy a glass of champagne or three, some nibbles and just relax. We’d pretty much been on the go since for 14 hours so it was very very welcome.

Sunday we got up in time to enjoy the continental buffet (never one to let something free pass me by…) and then lounged about our room sorting out our packing (all the lovely things we’d bought the day before!) before checking out. It was lovely that check out wasn’t til midday as nothing opens in London on a Sunday before then anyway. We were Knightsbridge bound on Sunday and decided to head across Hyde Park as it shouldn’t have taken us long to walk. The weather, however, turned our pleasant stroll through the park into a steely determination to find cover! It was not just raining, but windy and by the time we were nearing the Hyde Park Corner end the deluge started. We got soaked. Well and truly properly soaked. I don’t think my feet dried out until Monday morning!! I was glad when we got to Harrods (where I had wanted to pick up one of Flâneur’s Christmas presents) and thankfully it had died down a bit by the time we left. More walking (we worked out we had walked a total of over 13 miles over the two days!), more shops and then the last train back on Sunday. Boy I was glad to have yesterday off work. It was a great weekend, but totally exhausting.

And now it’s back to work and me stuck spending all day shivering without seeing any natural light (sit in a draft, heating not working properly, come to work in the dark, no windows near where I sit, go home in the dark). Everybody say ‘ahhhh’…

Hmm… I wonder if going to the gym tonight will improve my mood? Maybe I should get some Vitamin D to replace the lack of sunshine which is clearly getting to me now… Maybe I should just quit my job so I can stay under the duvet every morning like I want to. Hmm… maybe not so practical. Still, it’s nearly December and that means nearly Christmas and sometimes it stops raining a bit in December. Finger’s Crossed!