My friend was teaching in South Kensington, I was dayjobbing in South Kensington and the locksmith I met at her birthday party was coming over to bring the extra two security keys for the new lock on my door at my flat, very near South Kensington… I am out of the habit of entertaining at home but twas the perfect opportunity to make use of the two rib-eye steaks that I got at the butcher the other day before I realised Brian is busy every night right now.
She came for dinner at my flat. Nom. The locksmith swung by but couldn’t stay. He’s a brilliant lad and ended up charging me fifty quid less than we had arranged as I paid him cash.
The beginning of the evening was a little muddled as, by chance, my lovely french neighbour downstairs took a bit of a fall and was feeling pretty bad about the world. I wanted to give her time, as her family is mostly absent and she is a brilliant human. She used to model back when mum was doing it, and still has all the copies of Tatler. We have a trust and an understanding, both of us being perhaps old fashioned enough to still seek community here in Chelsea. She isn’t very well supported though by friends and family, and I think her landlady is moving to sell the flat which will leave her in the schtick. I sat with her, brought her water, kept her company, and later on I brought her down a plate of food scavenged from what we had up here. Easy enough to make it go three ways, and she has had a hit. It is possible I’ll have to take her up A&E tomorrow morning, but for now she’s wanting to let it sit a night, and I’m happy to go with that as nobody wants to be in London A&E on a Friday night. Sometimes she catastrophises, so it is hard to tell if she is genuinely injured. I’m gonna let her lead in that regard.
My friend and I settled into a proper old fashioned catch up. One of the ones who has stood the test of time, she is, despite emigrating to Australia and moving back. She was at Uni with me and was the source of all the brilliant Aussie nurses who I shared this flat with for maybe ten years when they were on their walkabout… I’ve always got friends in Brisbane now.
A few days of concentrated dayjobbery. It’s been good to be back in the saddle with the invigilating, even if the last exam was plagued with technical hiccups. They often do it all on their laptop with a lockdown browser, but it is new enough that it is absolutely plagued with problems.
And the end of the week. My friend is off home in an Uber. I’m gonna wash off the week and hit the hay.
AlBarclay 