Wow! Can you believe it? January is nearly over! The month that the UK hates the most is
nearly behind us. If you survived the 14th
of January – apparently the most depressing day of the year, then you are doing
ok. January over here is a grey and dark time.
In NZ it’s a great time, full of sunshine and beach activities and
complaining that it is so hot that you cannot sleep. I have learned never, ever to complain about
the heat again.
This year for me started off
pretty well. I always feel that the New
Year brings a time of new beginnings and whilst this year I did not make any
resolutions, I did think about what I wanted for myself this year, health and
happiness. And men or rather just one
man. I made a joke toast with a close
friend that this year was the year of men for us – and so far it has been progressing
in the right direction. I also decided
to be as positive as possible and face it with a grin. Famous last words.
But already this year there
have been some challenges, disappointments and interesting occurrences. Close family friends have passed away, a
helicopter crashed at my workplace, pubs have closed, my friends have left or
are planning to leave, I have had the flu, I have done well at my new job and I
have nearly survived a month without alcohol.
It has snowed and I love the snow.
I have had a car for most of the month and have loved blatting about
running errands and discovering new places.
I am wondering how I will survive without it now.
Last weekend, was very
odd. I had made plans and filled my
weekend from Friday to Sunday, I hate to be bored. On every single one of those days, the plans
changed. I am used to going with the
flow, but that is a bit unsettling for me.
And I accidentally ate some cashew products, so spent my Saturday night
in bed feeling very sorry for myself, sucking on my inhaler. In some ways I found it funny, I had lunch
with some friends at a lovely Indian restaurant in Camden, whom I had not seen
for ages. I grilled the waiter on what I
could eat, as many of the sauces in Indian restaurants have cashews or cashew
oil in them. There was one curry that I
could eat, and if I didn’t like that, the chef was going to make me a special
one. I was happy with the green curry
and loved it. Delicious! As I was in Camden, I thought that it would
pop in and see my amazing friend Sarah – she is great fun and I am dreading a
London without her later on in the year.
She is also a very strict vegan.
When I got to Alchemy, a very quiet space within the craziness of
Camden’s stable market, I was very full after a yummy lunch. She took her break and sat down for a catch
up, and fed me one of her kale chips. I
was chewing away, had only swallowed the teeniest piece, when she started to
tell me how wonderful it was for me and listed the ingredients. The second one was cashew nuts. I stopped chewing and we both stared at each
other in horror. I promptly spat out the
rest of what was in my mouth and washed my mouth out with water. Every time I have a reaction to cashews, it
gets slightly worse than the last. I am
lucky that I have not ever had anaphylactic shock and hopefully never
will. By the time I got home my stomach
was rather unhappy and I felt just off colour and light headed so went straight
to bed and slept for about an hour and a half.
Poor Sarah feels terrible about this, but it is not her fault, neither
of us could have predicted that there would be cashew products in a kale chip. In the past I have accidentally eaten a whole
cashew nut that was on a pizza, which was being served in a darkened bar, I
earned myself some lovely swollen Angelina lips in that episode.
But in all of this month, I
have tried very hard to keep a positive attitude and a smiley face. I am up against it at the moment with my
immigration status and that is so exhausting.
But I am lucky, even if my visa is declined, it’s not the end of the
world, I will be going home to paradise.
So I guess that the point of this major rant about January is this – throughout
this minefield of a month, I have managed to stay reasonably happy. I am disappearing to Brighton this weekend,
as it is beginning to feel like a bit much.
Last year’s Nic might not have recognised that in time and a small
breakdown may have occurred, so progress has been made. I have had an interesting and character defining
month and long may it continue!
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