yes, i know - but i've been busy!!!

So it's been a while.....

Am still super busy at work, so I won't bore you with that - still randomly enjoying it which is good.

Weather update: it is very very very cold. Anything I've said earlier about being cold, please disregard as I obviously didn't know what I was talking about. Today the high was -11 and that's the warmest it's going to get for the foreseeable. In the next few days, Calgary will be seeing lows of up to -29 and HIGHS of -24 ish. I just don't have the words.

So - the best thing that I've done in the past few weeks is make a quick weekend trip back to London for "the wedding of Fran and Kris". Fantastic, fabulous and formidable (the french version, not the english there....). It was a joyous day to be part of (and well worth sitting necy to The Most Annoying Man In The World Ever on the flight over) and I'm so pleased I had a good seat for the event!! I may have cried a bit - oh, alright then, a LOT. I actually sobbed my little heart out. I think it was obvious how much it meant to those two and everyone was quite touched. The reception in the Guildhall Crypt was amazing, such a cool venue and I don't think I'll ever forget the sight of all the guests out waving sparklers around outside at almost midnight. Thanks to Mary, the ubiquitous Irish landlady, the festivities continued well into the wee hours.

It was great to get back to London after all this time and see all my friends. It really made me realise how much I've missed you all and London. It also made me realise, or reminded me I suppose, that I am an 'out of sight, out of mind' type rather than an 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'. I wonder if that's a coping mechanism?? Before getting back to London, I could definitely have stayed in Calgary for years and years, but I'm not so sure now...the shoe shopping alone is reason enough to move back! Speaking of, I have a return date. I shall be arriving in London on Sunday 17th December for good. The Canadian adventure draws to a close. Which makes me a bit sad. The time has gone by far too quickly and I could do with another six or twelve months....but time waits for no man and all that...

Right - before I 'treat' you all to another Mooney stream of consciousness, I think I'll head to bed, I'm still not quite over the jetlag!

Ooooh - before I go, forgot to mention: the night I arrived back into Calgary after the London weekend, I managed to stay up until 8pm before I hit the sack. I was wonderfully ensconced in sleepyland when I was rudely awakened by the fire alarm. I tried my best to ignore it, until I heard faint sirens in the distance getting louder and louder. A fire truck and a police car pulled up outside my window flashing blue and red lights into my room. I peeked out my door, starting to worry that it was more than a false alarm only to see about six firemen running past. I promptly shut the door and went back to bed - I was soooo tired and figured they'd wake me if there really was a fire!! I couldn't get back to sleep (alarms, flashing lights, general pandemonium outside) and tried to think about what I'd save from my flat if there was indeed a fire. My handbags I think came top of the list....and then I fretted about whether or not I should go and put some clothes on just in case I did get bundled out in a hurry. After 40 minutes of crazy inducing noise, the false alarm was outed for what it was and quietness descended...until an hour later when the bally thing went off again, thankfully only for five minutes or so this time.

How bad is that though - handbags?!?

30

So.....there we are....and here I am...

30. Wow. That's old. I remember thinking about this age as a youngster and being convinced that at this ripe old age I'd have it all figured out, probably married with a few kids of my own. Turns out that's not really happening. What I do have is a lot of good memories and plenty more good friends. And the knowledge that the concept of age is a shifting thing. At 16, 30 felt ancient, light years away....but now? I know plenty of 40 year olds who still haven't matured (read: grown old). I can't pretend that I'm not slightly devastated at being THIS OLD, but I'll deal with it - there are plenty of other things in life to worry about.

I've done some pretty cool/ amusing things thinking about it, including living and studying in France, living and working in the US for a summer, jumping off a mountain (with a parachute), being stretchered off a mountain (yeah - not one of my highlights!!), moving from London to Dublin, moving back again to London, buying a house, paying bills, pretty much being independent from the age of 18, living in Canada, seeing Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge, travelling in Thailand, making new "best" friends in the ladies, hanging out with male models, being a godmother, kitting the parents out with a new front room, getting a job, getting a better job, travelling to South Africa for a weekend (and staying in a fanTAStic hotel), being the 'May Queen', going undergroung in a gold mine, playing on a massive mining truck in Fort McMurray (google it), graduating Uni (certificate in 8/11/2000 - cool!!) and having the ceremony in Irish and Latin so I understood NOTHING, recording an album, meeting Rolf Harris (paj - that one's for you!!), winning a PJ and Duncan competition on my 18th birthday (Fran - remember that?!?!), having my parents call the police thinking I was a "missing person", owning stuff already that appears in magazines' "hot lists" (I recognise that this might not impress anyone but me!) and knowing you lot through it all.

I think the best thing that I've done is make some fantastic friends. Friends who won't let me wallow as much as I'd like, granted, but bloody good people all the same.

cold

has a whole new meaning to me now. This week, when i heard on the news that the high was -4, i was pleased that it was warming up. Heading out in the morning with the knowlegdge that's it's -14 is scary stuff.

I need to get me some gloves