SEPT 7 – RAIN BLOG #5
We just had some serious rain (and flooding in certain parts of the UK - west and north), but it didn't last too long and was mostly overnight. Everyone carries on. I see people cycling in the rain, apparently quite happily, including the postmen!
It always made me laugh in LA when people scurried indoors at the slightest drop of rain, and were incapable of driving in it. I used to think; do they think if they get wet they're going to shrink or something? Call me weird, but there's actually something really invigorating about being out in a downpour - as long as you are properly dressed, welly boots. waterproof hat and all – and preferably not going to an important meeting!
I was out with the dogs the other night, after a rainstorm, and a huge frog literally jumped out from the side into a deep puddle in the road, with a splash, right in front of our Scottie dogs' noses. Saint's eyes almost popped out of his head and he lost it, barking like a mad-dog and pulling me along with undreamt-of strength, as he desperately searched for it.
Last night we drove into London to have dinner with friends who live in Holland Park (Notting Hill area). Lovely, classic, higgeldy-piggeldy Georgian houses around a private green square. Then we all took a taxi into Soho to see their son (my godson) in a National Youth Theatre play called "The Sick Room". It was very funny and edgy, basically a string of sketches based on life in doctors' offices and hospitals. Apparently BBC3 has already sent scouts to check it out and to see if it can be developed into a sketch show for TV.
When we left the theatre at 11pm, the London streets were humming with life – people in cafes, bars, restaurants, clubs, walking, and public transport running very late, sometimes 24 hours. It's an exciting city. I loved living there when I did, but was ready to try a different pace.
We're going to the Stevie Wonder concert at the O2 stadium on Thursday. T gets to stay over at school and pretend to be boarding.
Did I mention that our mail delivery man (postman) cycles round, and is wearing short navy shorts and a peaked cap? I swear, he looks like Angus from AC/DC!