Geological warfare

I always find it nice on that odd occasion when Mother Nature says "take that world! You may think you rule, but let me show you who is really boss". We had it in wintertime with the snow dumps; and now she has done it again, via volcanic activity.

Last weekend found the skies of London eerily quiet. No vapour trails slicing through the skies, but no roaring of 737s overhead either.

The weather was stunning, which led to the thought that the ash cloud is perhaps now nothing to do with an Icelandic volcano, and more about the vast number of bbqs which were lit on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday.

Speaking of crazy thoughts, I do love a good conspiracy theory. Apparently this Icelandic ash cloud is actually just an excuse to get all the planes out of the sky because of a massive terrorism plot. Genius. Even the Met Service are involved it seems. Brilliant.

If only those in power were really that creative.

The romanticism of rail

Yesterday, for a dull reason I wont go into, I made my way to work by train, rather than the usual red double-decker 155.

There really is something quite romantic about arriving into a grand railway station like Waterloo. I felt I should have a stack of brown suitcases and a bodiced dress with a quaint hat for daytime wear. Certainly not trainers and a shoulder bag.

But all the same, it was quite lovely to step off into a nice piece of history, rather than my usual side of a road at Elephant & Castle. It just reminded me how much I love almost everything about rail, and that maybe it is nearing time for another rail adventure.

Just a B- week

It's been a B- week so far.

One of those weeks you can't quite put your finger on why it feels average; it just does. A week that is neither a complete fail, nor a blinding success; just hovering around the darker side of good.

It is the kind of week when your toast lands jam-side down. And three mornings in a row you see the bus accelerating away from the bus stop as you get to the end of your road. A week when it is bound to start raining just as you step outside, umbrella-less.

To coincide with the B- week, it has also been one of those infamous, and much dreaded 'what am I doing with my life?' weeks. To be fair they used to be a lot more common, so I should be thankful and put up with the odd 'life reassessing' week every few months.

I had to warn my colleagues to not pander my self-reflection; and don't get alarmed at my depth of feeling sorry for myself. Still it has been quite fun shocking them with alarming exclamations all week.

I guess sometimes it is nice to wallow for a bit. And the B- weeks make the A weeks feel all the better.

Repressing bridge urges

Every morning I make my way across Blackfriars bridge, towards my place of work.

Apart from spending my bridge time concentrating on not getting mown down by determined commuters, I spend most of my crossing trying to repress the urge to throw the entire contents of my pockets over the side, and jump over after it.

Don't get me wrong: life is good. It is just that I always get the strangest urge at high places to either jump off or throw precious things over the side.

I like to call it quirky not weird...

Five great things about today

1. My morning Jedi powers in getting the lights to turn red as the bus pulled up to the stop, and my charm to encourage the grumpy bus driver to re-open his door for me

2. Cliche I know, but it is a Friday. That's a great thing

3. The thermometer says 16 degrees, and Mr. Sun is spreading his cheer across London. Spring may well have finally arrived

4. Because of the balmy temperature, this evening I'm going to enjoy my first run home for this year

5. The fact that I just remembered I have all the ingredients for the perfect gin & tonic in the house, meaning I can soak up some late-evening sunshine on the terrace listening to the sound of ice cracking in a tall glass

Mr Fox's sunny spot

It seems nature is starting to come back to life, despite the continued chill.

A magnolia tree (my favourite of all the flowering trees) across the road from us is threatening to open up its alien-like flowers any day now. The bush in our backyard that has mountains of bright red berries for the wood pigeon in the summertime, has now re-gained its leaves. And the animals are making more of an appearance.

Despite encouragement from our kitchen window, one of our squirrels completely missed the fruits of the neighbour's Easter egg hunt this morning, instead going for something tasty in the compost bin.

And just before the rain that is now tapping on my skylight arrived, there was a spot of spring sunshine. And Mr Fox decided to make the most of it, by finding the sunniest spot he possibly could...

On top of the neighbour's fence. What a way to spend a weekend afternoon.