i think summer’s here.

the sunshine is bright and piercing, i have to squint my eyes when i walk around outside. i’ve bought a hat. yes, a hat!

i know summer’s here when i see the flowers out and the bees a-buzzing.

it felt like bunking off school. like when we used to sneak out the back gate of the mount sinai campus and walk hurriedly across the hdb estate and over the bridge, heaving a sigh of relief only when we reached the bus-stop or holland village.

but yes, just like bunking off school. except it was work, and i had permission to leave the building since no work was going to be done while the lights were flickering on and off and the data connections were on the blink.

so i went shopping – a new pair of shoes, some new shirts and a pair of wide-legged trousers for SS08. all done in under an hour. impressive, non?

and then there was the picking-up of lunch from carluccio;s and delivering them to a man who was laid up in bed with ‘general grottyness’. eating lunch and reading the newspapers in bed, chatting and doing things on the internet (him) and reading a book rather unsuccessfully (me). very decadent indeed. and also so much fun.

it was a stolen afternoon. so many free hours plucked out of the air so suddenly, and so coincidental a matching of free time.

interesting developments are afoot.

we have PLANS, my friend and i.

parisian plans, berliner plans, moving in together plans.

but the best plans we’ve made so far are the ones involving red wine and good food. oh, and endless cups of machiato made by real italian men.

There’s been some foreign adventures.

Easter weekend in Paris on my own was liberating, although after a day or two, I started to feel as if my throat was getting rusty and I couldn’t enunciate properly anymore. It didn’t help, of course, that I didn’t speak any French and was therefore relegated to observation-only, rather than being involved in any exciting conversation.

My hotel was on the rue lepic, on Montmartre just up the road from Pigalle and on the same stretch as the café de deux moulins (i.e. where Amélie worked in that eponymous film). Montmartre was beautiful, and I loved how a 5 minute walk transported me into a completely different world where the swarming hordes of tourists vanished and I could peek into windows watching artisans doing antique furniture restoration and painters and sculptors in their workshops.

Of course I did all the touristy things as well - Tour Eiffel, Louvre, Jardin des Tuilieries etc. But half-way up the Champs-Elysees I got bored and turned my back on the Arc de Triomphe. I could see it from where I was, but I lost all interest in seeing it up close, so I went to have a café crème instead. Jim Morrison’s grave at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise was similarly disappointing - I was more excited that I’d chanced upon Balzac than the cheesy circus that was Jim Morrison’s.

And obviously, all the best patisseries and cafés were to be found on the back streets, hidden away from the main boulevards and tourist attractions, through doors that stick and with menus written on the chalkboard behind the counter. And the tiny bars filled with parisians, huddled around tiny tables drinking wine and beer and sharing hunks of bread and pate, cold meats and cheese served on wooden platters resembling a chopping board.

Next time I go (yes, I’m already planning a next time), I’m going to try the credit-card-operated bicycle rental scheme, and also do some clothes shopping. Thinking back now, I was ill-prepared to confront the boutiques of le Marais, but now that I’ve got some experience of the area and of the stores, I know exactly which brands I like and where they are. So now the plan is to start budgeting for those 100% cashmere jumpers by Zadig et Voltaire and the linen-and-silk dresses by Ba&Sh.

hmm… well payday came and went.

i’ve blown a large chunk of it booking a holiday for easter weekend in paris, so it’s all about careful spending from now on, until next payday. i wonder how people with mortgages go on holidays. maybe they don’t. maybe people on my paypacket don’t have mortgages AND go on holiday at the same time.

in other news, it’s been a strange couple of weeks. both emotionally and vocationally. but one’s looking up, and the other’s starting to get back to an even keel, so it’s all good.

right now i’m off to go celebrate a leap year bebe’s birthday. woot!

it’s payday tomorrow.

i’ll discuss my experience of getting my first full salary as a trainee solicitor soon.

but, for the moment, here’s what i’m going to do with it:
+ book a tres expensive easter weekend in paris
+ buy a couple of books and dvds i’ve been eyeing
+ get a ready-for-spring classic trenchcoat
+ etc

i can’t wait!