What I Did On My Holidays

Trips up the river on a boat in glorious sunshine: 1
Hugs and kisses from friends and relatives: 34
Work meetings, good, also involving hugs and kisses from lovely clients: 2
Fabulous art exhibitions (one hats, one Constructivists, one Picasso): 3
Sumptuous meals out (one V&A lunch, one Gordon Ramsay gastro-pub, one gourmet vegetarian, one Thai): 4
Delicious dinners in: 4
Glasses of wine: errr, lost count
Beers: 2
Large Calvadoses (or should that be Calvadii): 2
Hangovers: 1 (oops - I think it was the Calvadoses, or possibly the Calvadii, or maybe there is no plural because you're only supposed to drink them in ones, hmmm)

Highlights: all of it, really, except for the hangover. Let's try for one per day.

Monday: sitting in the V&A cafe with my laptop, working on the plot of my novel, feeling like a proper writer. (And the exhibitions - I saw the hats before lunch, then after lunch I looked at the frocks and the shoes. Now that's what I call a real museum.)

Tuesday: the boat trip, riverside walk and pub lunch with my lovely auntie who retired from her job as a special school teacher last summer. We've been promising ourselves some weekday fun since then and it couldn't have been better.

Wednesday: the Constructivists. I knew very little about them and it was fascinating. I particularly liked Popova's work, and was sorry she had such a sad short life - she married, had a son, then the following year her husband died of typhoid, then four years later her son died of scarlet fever and soon afterwards she did too. She was only 35 and I think she had a lot of work still to do.

Thursday: Picasso. It's a themed exhibition, rather than simply chronological, so there was a room for self-portraits, another for nudes, another for still-lifes, etc, with the paintings displayed chronologically within each room. I really liked the way this helped me to think about his work differently. The gourmet veggie lunch was pretty damn good too.

Friday: coming home after a terrific work meeting. I landed a great project last week, a writing assignment with some research but it's mostly about using language creatively to explain complicated stuff to people who need help to understand it, and I like doing that.

And the weather was perfect! I think London looks at its best in the sunshine.

I'm still glad I don't live there any more, though. It's exhausting - I'm knackered now - and although I had a wonderful time, I'm very glad to be home.