Soggy

It's 11pm and I'm frying some potatoes for tea. Anyone confused by the fact that we tend to get up at 9am most mornings will suddenly realise that our hours are completely cock-a-hoop! We finish work at 10pm these days. It's a bit insane.

It's not all work. We had a pleasant little sojourn in the rain with our lovely new Italian friend whom we met at the Prix Italia. She was working as a translator on the awards and we were placed in her care for the day. She looked after us fabulously well, so we thought we should repay the favour when we heard she was passing through London.

It turns out she's the biggest Queen fan in Italy, so was off to a massive fan convention at Pontins in Southport. It sounds like they're going to have an amazing time. What a wonderful experience to share your love of a band with a whole group of people who feel the same way. I've hitherto thought the idea of these gatherings was at best eccentric and geeky and at worst, a touch tragic, but actually, the more I think about it, the more I think it would be a lot of fun. There are quizzes, games and dancing with like-minded people... I mean, what's not to like?

Anyway, we thought we'd take her for a lovely stroll on Hampstead Heath, stand on Parliament Hill and look down at the city lights twinkling in the Autumn air. Sadly it rained like I've not known it rain before, so we got in the car and decided to drive her around the perimeter of the Heath instead, instantly getting caught up in a sensationally awful traffic jam. We limped our way through Gospel Oak and South End Green, but the poor girl couldn't see anything out of the misted-over windows and whenever she unwound them, she got freezing cold and horribly wet. All in all it was a fairly miserable experience! I swear London is broken!

We tried to get out of the car twice in the hope that our friend might be able to get a little sense of how lovely the Heath is. The first time, we were driven back by sheeting rain, the second time my foot and ankle instantly vanished into a muddy puddle. This part of North London is so incredibly beautiful but really all our friend saw tonight was condensation and red tail lights! Boo!

The rest of the day has found me under headphones, developing my tinnitus and attempting to prep music documents for our workshop week which starts on Monday. I got awfully behind, and then made up a lot of time. The one thing Nathan and I are brilliant at is meeting deadlines!