TK Maxx

I'm going to Israel tomorrow and have literally just run around TK Maxx on Charing Cross Road, in a pool of sweaty fear, panic-buying anything I felt might be comfortable in boiling hot temperatures whilst at the same time looking at least a little bit smart. We're going to be having a series of meetings and it struck me this morning that my wardrobe is either really smart, but made of thick Edwardian fabric, or really scruffy like a bohemian homeless person. I believe there's a balance to be struck!

Today's been a bit of a nightmare as I rushed about trying to deliver the Nene composition. I am only going to Israel for four days, but I felt a sudden, almost uncontainable, sense that I needed to get the piece to Peter at the music school before going away. Obviously, in retrospect, I've decided that this is because the plane is going to crash, but I've expressed that now in writing, so it won't happen, and I'll simply come across as nutty rather than psychic. It's a better deal for me. Anyway, I managed to deliver the score at about 4pm, just as I legged it out of the house to run another quiz.

This one was in Central London in the offices of a rather trendy company where everyone looks cool and well-fed. They were right up my street in terms of demographic. I could let my hair down a bit and crack a few jokes. I'm afraid I'm one of the world's rather natural swearers and always feel a little bit stifled and uncomfortable if I have to steer away from the odd rude word. I think maybe I pitched the quiz a little hard for the participants. You want most of the teams to be getting about 70% of the questions right, but mine were polling in the 60s. They all went for broke on the last round where you lose a point for getting a question wrong. The highest score was 1! Everyone else scored minus points! But it was a lot of fun. Max, who was assisting me, heard someone describing the quiz as "awesome", and as I waited for a lift, I could hear a group of women around the corner saying that it was "so much better than they thought it would be." I was rather pleased they were saying nice things, because I knew they were going to suddenly see me, and it could have been very awkward had they been saying awful things!

So from the quiz I rushed to TK Maxx, knowing it would be the only shop likely to be open on at 9pm on a week day evening. And here I am, coming home on the tube, at 10pm, without having eaten or packed, or even discovered the Hebrew word for vegetarian!