Inspired

...combination for dinner last night: mashed sweet potatoes, sausages, watercress cooked until barely wilted. The smoothness of the mash, the slightly fatty meatiness of the sausages alongside the peppery, bitter cress... yum.

And the colors were pretty on the plate, too. Less gluttonous bloggers might have taken a photo, but not I.

It seemed to last forever

...and now it's over. The rugby, of course. While France were being ousted by England, we were at a Richard Thompson concert. An unfortunate scheduling conflict, but no regrets. He's a genius and I cried like a crying thing during his rendition of Who knows where the time goes.

Love it !

Le Match : Zidane/Galthié
Video
Envoyé par orangerugby sur wat.tv

Anger management

The number of cars, motorbikes and scooters that run red lights just when you think it's safe to cross the street is shocking. Is it normal to give each and every one of them the finger while muttering "crash and die, motherfucker", though ? I'd happily kick and/or key the paint too, except my reflexes aren't quick enough.

Too cynical

... for wildlife documentaries.

Went to see Un Jour sur Terre - very impressive visually, stunning in fact - but the excessive anthropomorphism, twee narration and over the top music (look, I'm a cute furry baby animal and I'm being hunted by a predator! quick, bring on the dramatic crescendo orchestration during the chase and have a lone sweet violin playing while I'm being eaten!) are enough to make me want to go out and buy a gas-guzzling SUV and say to hell with climate change and the disappearance of cute furry baby animals.

Anyway, it's OK, because Al Gore just won a Nobel prize and I saw his documentary, too, so that's enough planet-friendly action from me, right ? Bah humbug.

Note to self

Give up going out for lunch with more than 3-4 colleagues at a time.

In a larger group, there will always be someone who bitches about the choice of restaurant. Someone who doesn't drink wine and "jokingly" calls the drinkers alcoholics, and/or someone who does drink wine and "jokingly" accuses the non-drinkers of being no fun. Someone who brings the conversation back to petty office gossip after the rest of the table has only just, with great effort, managed to leave work topics behind and are discussing what movies they've seen recently or what their plans are for the following weekend.

And last but not least, when the bill arrives and gets divided, most people will put down enough money, even rounding up a little, yet when the money is counted there is always an amount missing.

Next time around if anyone is looking for me, I'll be at the salad bar with a good book.

Things men do not understand.*

Why it's upsetting when 2 pairs of your favorite work shoes (smart enough for office wear, that look good with either skirts or pants, yet are amazingly comfortable, so that you can go straight from work to whatever you're planning to do in the evening without wishing you had time to go home and change, you know the kind - the ones you wish you had bought in every available color) give up the ghost within the same week.

So what, he says, you've still got 53 pairs left.

*Lest I am accused of blatant sexist stereotyping, let me say here that no doubt some men understand. But not the one I share closet space with.

A perfect mango

... is wonderful thing indeed.