feeling ooggee

I realise I have not been very consistent with recent posts. I am sure this is because of the rain. It has basically been raining in NY now for about 5 days, and is predicted to continue for another 5. There is a scene in the movie Misery where Kathy Bates as Annie get very depressed from the rain, and looks out the window giving a lovely speech about depression. I think I am the same. One of my good friends talks about her "black dog" days, and this is what this kind of rain can bring out in me. This is not the soft gentle rain that occurs the majority of the time in Ireland or England, this is belting, erratic, windy rain. The streets can't cope with it (they are a mass of potholes anyway), the drains overflow, and umbrellas are useless. There are also no awnings to huddle under, so - you get wet! Very dispiriting I find. The temperature is also much cooler, although at least it means the AC at work seems to have sorted itself out.

Aah - the A/C - bane of my life!! I keep a wrap at my desk at all times to ward off the cold, and was considering bringing in one of the pieces of my arctic apparel also to try to survive the freezing temperatures. Some days my fingers are too cold to type - not very efficient I wouldn't have thought! I was having a complain about it to our lovely receptionist, when the head of HR walked through and she JOINED IN THE WHINGE! Isn't she responsible for OH&S? Can't she do something? So the receptionist took pity on me, and we got the maintenance guy for the building up to check my area out. He came armed with a smug expression and his little temperature gun (all very hi-tech). However rather than checking the air in the vicinity around me (where I am under a frigid draft from the A/C vent above my head) he instead went around the corner out of the draft, and held the gun near the warm carpeting. What a surprise when the reading came out at a balmy 72 degrees. He still had to do some tweaking in the little box on the wall to try to get it up to the regulation 74 degrees (I love how I have to learn fahrenheit - that was not on the secondment description). So I watched how he tweaked in a very nonchalant way, and am about to get armed with a small hex screwdriver and a paperclip and do the operation myself every day!

So I am in a rain malaise at the moment as well as freezing cold. Just went out to get lunch and it was overcast and cool, with the rain just threatening constantly.

But on brighter news, I have booked a trip to Boston. I am staying at Gryphon house (thanks again to tripadvisor.com my favourite site in the world). The B&B has a website at www.innboston.com and my room of choice is the Riverview. The booking process so far has been lovely and painless. Now to book the train tickets. That is all happening once I get back from the arctic cruise however.

The cruise. After my easy success at Woodbury Common at the North Face outlet, (meeting Victor's sales targets for the month I would think with my purchases), all that really remains to be purchased is the knee high rubber (not PVC) boots. These are for wading in the freezing sea once we are thrown out of a zodiac on to an ice floe. One problem - no boots in sight. I tried Paragon sports where they do have Hunter boots, but just not in my size. To be clear, I have normal sized feet - I was thinking 40/41 boot size to allow for my super-super wigwam ultrafit socks with silver in them (I kid you not). I have tried department stores and other sports stores. I am getting a bit desperate now, and am even considering mid-calf height boots which are easier to find. After all, I am sorry but if the water level is higher than mid-calf then I am not getting out of the boat at all, I don't think that is safe. I am likely to trip and end up soaked in any case, and water that is over a foot deep is not a pretty thought. I would stay back and cosy up to the Russian crewmembers instead for a free blini and make use of my expensive telephoto lens.

SS (I can't call her RRPP anymore as she informs me that Love Island is over - with no small amount of relief from her as she can now get back to her usual sleeping time of 9pm) has just sent me a picture of the cabin on board the Molchanov that we will be occupying - sort of 70's sauna chic I think... although I had previously been pumping for the top bunk, it does look kind of as though I would be crawling into a burrow up there!

On other news, this weekend I am hosting a pyjama party - only kidding! Three of Sindy's dear friends (hereafter known as SDF) will be arriving on Friday night for a long weekend of shopping, eating and other things which girls get up to. Can't wait! Of course, they will also be arriving for a weekend of rain, but nothing I can do about that I am afraid ...