time out in the 'burbs...

i woke up on xmas morning when Moonbug burst into the room to tell us that the taxi was due in an hour. Cam, who's heavy breathing and muttering in the night had woken me up at least once was up in a flash. Alex and i were less quick. somehow i managed to snag the queen-size bed in the spare room while the 2 guys i shared it with took up station on couch-cushions on the floor, and so i slept in a bed i could stretch out in for the first time in nearly 3 months.

there were 8 people crashing at Moonbug's house in Brockley on xmas-eve, of which 7 were Australians (more or less randomly). we'd eaten tofurkey and roast vegies and enjoyed a few drinks over the evening, then found places to sleep in advance of a mass-migration to SiJ's place in Woolwich the next day.

SiJ lives in an ex-council estate flat in a somewhat rough looking area, and while it looks like you'd pretty much expect an estate to look after watching a couple of seasons of The Bill, she's made it incredibly pleasant inside and somehow managed to squeeze 13 people in there for the day. this was impressive enough, but she'd also gone and cooked enough to feed most of us (other folk did the bring-and-share thing), as well as 5 different desserts to top it off. the table was covered in party poppers and streamers and place settings and when the food came it was completely fucking insane.

i should probably explain at this point that i was one of... um... 2 non-vegans in the room? i think the numbers were around there. as such all the food was vegan. not that this is a bad thing, and the food was awesome. Cam made a nutloaf-and-stuffing pie which was absurdly good, there was cous-cous, steamed carrots with soy sauce, stewed tomato and onions and roast vegies. we ate like vegan kings while i drank the beers i'd left out on the balcony to stay cold (who needs a fridge when it's 2degrees outside?).

it was a cruisy day all told. we got there at about 12:30 and commenced the time-honoured tradition of "bumming around". i retreated off into the spare room (the Groovy Chick Room, named because it had been painted lavendar and covered on Groovy Chick decals) at 2ish with my book for some timeout and curled up in a bed so soft it seemed to have been made from marshmallow clouds, stuffed into the thighs of virgins, whereupon i promptly passed out while the rest of the party took photos of me (something i didn't find out about until later and which didn't really bother me overly - at least i didn't wake up with my hand in a bowl of tepid water). after we finished stuffing outself full i surveyed the scene in the kitchen and since i hadn't actually contributed diddly-squat to the event apart from my empty stomach, i decided to start washing the dishes. there were a lot of them. i think i'd been going for the best part of an hour with various people drying up as i went before i was kicked out and ordered to eat trifle, after which i came back and kept at it. try running xmas lunch/dinner for 13 people with 8 or so dishes, with entre plates, mains plates, snack bowls, cups, glasses, mugs, cutlery, pots, pans, frying pans, serving dishes, serving trays and... well, you get the idea. the worst thing is that in two rounds i still didn't get through everything, but wasn't allowed to continue.

the tables were packed up by the time i came back into the main room - the TV had been switched to BBC-Whatever and i caught the end of the Queen's Xmas Message before the Dr Who Xmas Special played. Moonbug was particularly excited by this, and went on to gloat to various people around the world by SMS that she'd got to see it "live", so to speak. once this was done i checked my email and read my book while everyone else played party games. i have only the most minor interest in such things - i prefer to watch, generally. i wound up chatting on facebook for an hour or so until i noticed a book on the floor (not a book's natural habitat) called "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey which advertised itself as an honest recounting of an ex-junkie's rehabilitation, so i picked that up and got through a hundred or so pages.

it was 4 in the morning before we got out of there, following a long and protracted discussion about who was crashing there, who was going back to Moonbug's place and how it was all to happen. by lucky circumstance there was a guy there with a car who was going more or less in the direction of my place, and so at a bit past 4:30 i hopped out on the side of Brixton Road near my house and wandered back to base and my cold, empty room.

louise was out - spending the 24th-26th with family, and i'd left a couple of hours after her so the room was as i'd left it. by 5AM i'd settled down and hit a deep, dreamless sleep.

1PM and i was awake and moving again... well, moving's such a relative term. i suppose i could have gone out and done something, instead i enjoyed having the room to myself for a while, alternating between watching episodes of Stargate Atlantis, playing games and reading my book. another great joy of being on my own is that i eat when i want, which is usually early. for this reason, i was on facebook again at 6ish to find a message from Laura. we've been chatting a fair bit of late. neither of us really knows a lot of people around and we've been playing mind-games via SMS and IM when we're bored. as such, many of our conversations are convoluted, but the gist of it went:

"What are you up to?"
nothing much. lying around, watching Stargate Atlantis. why do you ask?
"Wanna come over mine and watch a movie?"

i responded in a roundabout way that i would, got some directions, got dressed and an hour later i was knocking on her door out near Manor House. she's sharing with a couple in a modern, bright townhouse down the road from Greenlanes, 8 or 10 minutes walk from the tube. i was way fucking jealous - it's damn sight nicer than my place, and she has a queen-size bed in a room to herself - but then i didn't ask what she paid for the place either. with the housemates away for the time being, she has the run of the place and was baking Dutch cookies (which were delicious). come 3AM we were sitting on the couch having managed to not actually turn on the TV, but killed the hours chatting instead which i prefer and i was pondering how the hell i was going to get home, and which bus to catch.

"You can crash of you want."
you sure? that'd work really nicely - cheers. the couch feels pretty comfy.
"Well, you're not sleeping with me."
no worries there - couch is fine.

half an hour later i'd warmed up the blanket and i was lying there listening to the sound of... nothing. no flatmates having late night showers, no car noise, no sirens, no louise snoring, no Cam muttering... nothing. next thing i knew it was 1PM and Laura was standing in the doorway waking me up.

the rest of that day was completely and totally slothful and exceeded only in its laziness by how goddamned pleasant it was. we got through Run Fatboy Run and Mr & Mrs Smith before rotting our brains with House M.D. reruns on Sky, wishing death upon the advertising executives who decided to barrage us with the same ads for antacid, cold&flu remedies and mouth-ulcer ointment. oh, and whoever decided to make an ad consisting of 50 seconds of women screaming in agony to promote SIDS? fuck you, sir. fuck you right in the fucking mangina. i didn't need that and you may kindly burn in each circle of hades in turn.

in the end i set a timer to make sure that i got out the door by 11, in time to get the tube home, and at a little past midnight i wandered into the room with a burger and chips from Oval Kebab. i found out a little bit later that louise had messaged me while i was on the tube asking where i was. of course, if i'd really wanted her to know i would have told her or left a message, but no matter. i was back at base now and obviously in one piece so i left her to talk on Skype while i made my tea disappear.

"Where have you been?"
out.
"sorry I just was worried..."
i'm not sure why that would be.

i got on Skype so that i could return a call from Sandra that i'd had to cut short because my mobile's battery was near dead. it rang again at 4:50AM - Ondine calling to touch base and say hi. i was well and truly asleep, but it was good to touch base even if briefly.

today's been more of the same. lying around, playing around online, playing games, watching tv repeats, burning through my book with me and louise generally ignoring each other. tomorrow i'm back at work for the last 3 days of my contract, and i need to pay the rent. at this rate it looks like i'll be doing exactly that for NYE and i'm not so sure i care, but maybe something'll come up - who can say?