Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Penny for my thoughts?

As I trawl through Freecycle postings of hamster bedding, cloth nappies and out-of-date jam I wonder if I am wasting my time.

I’m all for reducing consumption and recycling (if only because I am down to my last fiver) but somehow Freecycle isn’t coming up with the goods I need: designer heels, dark chocolate and some hot red lipstick. The news that Britain is apparently temporarily crawling out of recession hasn’t seemed to have hit the magazine bosses judging from their seemingly eternal staff freeze so I am skint, broke, ain’t nothin’ but lint in my pretty pockets.

But I’m a girl of action and I thought that it was time to do some research. I scanned something about percentages, stocks and investment options and quickly developed a headache. Then I remembered: I am allergic to numbers. Damn. I needed an alternate plan, much like a super hero who has been temporarily thwarted by their evil enemy. Maybe I could be the next Robin Hood? I could steal from flagrantly rich people that annoy me like Simon Cowell who throws multi-million birthday parties for himself or plastic Paris Hilton (enough said). Then I remembered stealing was illegal and being in jail time might affect my brilliant career. Hmm. So I decided to become a freegan, rummaging in supermarket bins for out-of-date food. One man's trash is another man's free treasure, right? I decided that it also counted eating off other people’s plates when they were in the bathroom and nicking fruit off neighbours’ trees. It was when I thought about how I would get clothes that I realised that my secret plans and clever tricks had more flaws than a Primark jumper. Maybe Micha Barton and Mary Kate Olsen can pull it off but hobo chic just doesn’t work for me. I just end up looking like, well, a hobo. Must be my lack of stylist.

Right before I sold my hair for cash (isn’t that what Britney was doing? Poor girl) I remembered some recent world events and realised I had more money than most, a lot more. And that if I stopped mainlining coffee I could give some more of my money away. I wonder if we all have luxuries we could cut down to fund charities and what exactly would happen in the world if we did. So, penny for my thoughts? I reckon that one’s worth at least a pound.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Introducing me. Oh dear.


I walk out the door running very late, coffee in one hand, totally overweight handbag in the other. I’m thinking “Why can I never remember it always takes longer to get ready than I think it does?” when I slip slapstick style (like on a banana peel) flat on my back. Coffee is somehow miraculously un-spilled and nothing hurt beyond my pride so I gracefully pick myself of the pavement and laugh all the way to work. Just another day in the world of me.

I would like to say my life is glamorous but it ain’t. I may be able to pull off a nice dress (hang on, that sounded wrong) and bake a mean chocolate brownie but sophistication is not my middle name. I’m just an average girl trying to make it back into the magazine industry where I belong and even then, that is more in the Ugly Betty sense than in the fab fashionista sense.

In the meantime I’m just trying to tackle life’s big issues: how to make it through the day without doing something like sneezing juice out my nose in front of my colleagues, trying to invent calorie free chocolate that still tastes like, well, chocolate and remembering that how much I am loved bears no relation to my facebook page. So far I’m not doing too well but I figure if I do this blogging malarkey at least I’ll be accountable to trying even if it is only my parents that reads it (Hi mum! Hi dad!)

Why should you interrupt you week to read my humble blog? Well:

1. I am real. I won’t pretend I’m Belle du Jour or Mother Teresa. Mostly because I’m not.

2. I’m nice. You won’t have to skim over swear words or seedy stories. You may have to cringe at my mistakes but I’m hoping you will be nice about it.

3. I would like you to. And I would like to hear your stories: what makes you tick? Do you fall over for no reason like me? Can you help me muddle through London life with fab city tips? Are you someone other than my mum? If you can answer any of these questions then please put on the kettle, make yourself comfortable and stay for a chat.

Love Miss Londongirl