the bright side of life

In the tearoom at work, someone has put up a list of suggestions for the national motto for Great Britain. The increasing number of scrawled lines include

"always look on the bright side of life"
"we apologise for the delay"
"i do not believe it"
"please complete this in triplicate, sign in all indicated places and initial all signatures"
"mustn't grumble"
"yeah?"

The list continues with lessening humour and wit. I however, was drawn to the motto of always looking on the bright side of life. For example, this morning while walking in the rain I unwittingly stepped in some doggie do, for when i got to work, there was a god-awful smell while sitting at my desk, and I wondered to myself having had a shower, and wearing a new shirt, whether I had sweated that much in on the train journey. Nevertheless, I found the offending shoe and cleaned it - simply by going outside and walking around in the puddles. Brilliant. No hike to the nearest park necessary.

I had a rather nice weekend actually, ending up in Covent Garden twice to gawk at the tourists. Covent Garden is actually quite a nice area to have a coffee, and there are markets (which I usually hate) and nice shops and a couple of nice cafes as well. Over the course of the weekend I have had 2 coffees (although, they don't do flat whites here. The sacrilege!), a chocolate eclair, and a piece of pie in a patisserie.

Just on patisseries. Albeit a Chinese one. A little Chinese cake shop has sprung up on the edges of Chinatown. It is the type of shop which brings you back to when you were 8 years old, begging your mum to buy more cakes, when she has already filled a little box with the cakes and pastries you wanted. The type of shop that inevitably brings a smile to any bitter and twisted old man. The type of shopfront where you stand with your nose pressed against the dirty window or linger in the doorway for a moment of warmth. The type of shop with custard tarts, swiss rolls, sesame balls and pineapple buns lining the windows, drawing you in with its temptations of deja vu.

These of course are a few of my favourite things.

It's going to be a busy next few weeks. I'm off to Leeds to watch the Scottish National Orchestra, then the following week my Dad arrives in town for work. And for sheer timing, my sister also arrives the same week for a conference. At the end of October, I am taking a long weekend off and will take my sister with me to Paris where we will meet Dad. Let me indulge myself for a moment as I contemplate a vision of me wandering around Montmartre in the cool autumn twilight, searching for the perfect coffee and French patisserie.

Now that is the bright side of life.