Lights out in Wonderland
A frustrating couple of weeks in terms of buses. Had a fantastic week off with Kel and Thomas – look, we went to Legoland London!
- but with Thomas still suffering from travel sickness on the bus, there’s no chance of him sneaking a route or two in with me. Hopefully that’ll change before too long.
Then again, perhaps he’s faking it.
It also meant I wasn’t able to capitalise on the incredible weather earlier in the month. London had some great skies during that 10 days of glorious sun so it was annoying not to get out. Still, I hope to get out on Wednesday, which will no doubt signal the full onset of autumn.
Getting out on Wednesday is slightly dependent on getting a decent night’s sleep the night before because it’s my one weekday off this week. Thomas is very keen on climbing into our bed at 4am. He sleeps fine, but within 30 minutes he’s usually turned 90 degrees and is headbutting me in the small of my back and I am rubbish, utterly useless, at getting back to sleep.
Someone was asking me about motivation and I have found the most difficult time is when I only have one day off in the week, because even doing only one route invariably takes four or five hours out of my day and if I have to be back to pick Thomas up from nursery, motivating myself to traipse around London’s transport system on my one day off can be a challenge.
It’s not the buses that are the problem; it’s the trains and tubes in between. The last time I was out, I spent 80 minutes completing two routes and more than three hours on trains and tubes travelling to the first route and then home again after the second.
Occasionally, the temptation to relax and do nothing on a day off is just too strong. I thought I should admit that.
I did achieve something this week. I finished American Tabloid, by James Ellroy. I’d read the first 150 pages four times in the past and never finished it, despite really enjoying it. Each time I just ran out of steam or got distracted by a different book with a shinier cover (one reason I could never get a Kindle I think – I love the tactile feel of books. Each one is different in the hand) but this week I ploughed through it and utterly loved it. The sequel is on order. In the meantime, it’s Lights Out in Wonderland, by DBC Pierre, which is proving to be terrific tale of our time. It’s the sort of book that I’m boring people about and I’m only 80 pages in. I hope it doesn’t let me down.
