Something strange has happened to me since I arrived in London. I have started talking to people I don’t know. Not in a crazy-lady kind of way, but if there’s something to say. And you know, it’s really working well. Take last night. I was on the tube travelling back from an event in the centre of London (which, as an aside, had Brendan Cole at it, who came over as much less arrogant than he does on the telly, I have to say) and I decided to get the Bakerloo to Elephant and Castle so I’d be on the line down to Balham, rather than changing at Waterloo and then again at Kennington. DOH! Because we waited for aaaages at waterloo and then again at Lambeth North. The woman next to me seemed to be getting quite irate, so I asked her if the Bakerloo was always that slow. We talked about the tube system a bit and then she asked me if I had anything planned for the weekend. I told her that, at the risk of her laughing at me, I was going to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. Turns out, she’s really keen to learn to knit and while she can’t make the Ally Pally think, she might come along to Stitch and Bitch. So you see, get talking: you might find yourself taking up a new hobby!
The event last night was an opportunity to learn a few new dance steps – we did a bit of Lindy and Mambo, and the really great thing was that i found out where all the swing dance classes are. So might try some of those, especially as one is in Balham!
We had Vice-President Verheugen in town today and I was there while he was talking to the Observer. Very interesting to hear his take on the impact of the current stock market turmoil on what everyone seems to be calling the “real economy”. Which must make banking and finance the “fake economy”… Will link to any article that comes out of the interview on Monday. He was supposed to do an interview with a German radio station but infuriatingly the ISDN line seemed not to be working again. We’ll need to get the technicians in, because it’s just embarassing when that happens.
Otherwise not a particularly busy day, just answering calls, providing people with links to information and doing the things you can do in slightly quieter times, like filing and clearing out your e-mail. Glad it’s Friday – I plan a very quiet weekend at home, apart from the above-mentioned trip to Norf London.