THE TALES OF LIVING

London

I've gotten to London about a week ago and I live on this beautiful idyllic street, lined with trees that are in bloom and well groomed small gardens. It's very lovely.
This is the view from my bedroom.

It's really lovely.

Personal Space

I've been running around town like a powered up Packman, since I have a million things I need to buy&fix before Florence and London. This running around town have made me realize something I've thought of before, the act of queuing.

Queues are often organized things were people stand in a line and wait to get to the ATM or the cashier. Nothing odd with that. However, there are a specific type of people that while they stand in line they stand abnormally close to the person in front of them. What are their deal?

Do they think that they will get to the ATM/cashier faster if they stand 2 inches behind the person in front of them? Is it a tactic strategy to psyche out the person in front of them and get that person to leave the queue?
The only thing this results in (if this sort of person stands behind me in a queue) is to get me aggravated. Clearly you will not get to the front of the queue any quicker if you stand ridiculously close to the person in front of you, so why do these people do this? Do these people not know the boundaries of personal space?

After being in about 7 different queues yesterday and finding myself in front of people who do not get personal space in every single queue I finally had enough and this happened:

I stand in line and the man behind me in the queue is so close behind me that I can feel his breathe down my neck (not nice). I move my feet around, as to say I have been queuing for a long time and my feet are tired. So I take half a step back and step on his feet and leg.
The man: What are you doing?
Me: I just took a small step back, my feet are tired and I felt the need to move them a bit.
The Man: What? Why did you move back? (a bit hysteric at this point and definitely feeling the pain from me trampling him down)
Me: I just took half a step back, I DID NOT REALIZE THAT YOU WERE STANDING SO DAMN CLOSE TO ME.

People in queues, realize personal space or you will be trampled down.

The IT guys

As I might have mentioned before, I currently work at an advertising firm and one of my biggest tasks is that I am managing a website, that is going to be built (hopefully sometime in the foreseeable future).

So in the last 4 months I have been in numerous meetings with IT guys, trying to find someone who can work the programme I am working with and who can create a website that meets my, the company I am working at and the client´s demands. I am now in meetings with the third IT guy who is trying to work this out and hopefully it will work out this time.

What I have realized is that I have met three IT guys independent of each other, from three different IT firms. These three IT guys definitely have influenced my opinion of IT guys in general. When someone speaks about a IT guy I will think of a mix of the three IT guys that I have met in numerous meetings.

When someone says IT guy I will think of:

A man in the ages between 22 and 28, he has a good sense of style. He can often be seen in skinny jeans (skinny but not too skinny) he wears smart jackets, well ironed shirts with a casual cardigan over. He always wear fashionable shoes, preferably in leather and he smells discretely of cologne. He has a well-kept hairstyle and if he has facial hair this is extremely well-kept too. He will chit-chat about the cool clubs and the new hot band/artists when we drink coffee and he will always request dark strong black coffee. He is also polite, sociable and has a good sense of humour.

Do I have a distorted vision of what IT guys really are like?

Schedule from hell

I have about a week left in Sweden in total. 3 days in this week (before Florence) and 4 days in next week (after Florence). I have a long long list of thins to do.

I need to go to the cobbler with two pair of heels
(make them fit for London pavements)

I need to go to the pharmacy
(stack up supplies that may not be available in London)

I need to go to the hairdresser
(I trust few people with my hair)

I need to send in some tax forms
(I would not want that as a dark cloud over me in London)

I need to get Skype figured out
(keep in touch with worried parents and The Boy)

I need to stack up on make up and beauty supplies
(why spend time looking for that in London?)

I need to figure out my friend´s British cellphone
(can be of use in London)

I need to wash a million piles of laundry
(why bring dirty clothes, when one can bring clean?)

And about a million more things, which I will remember when I wake up sweaty in horror from some nightmare where to do lists chase me up and down the avenue. HA

Easter

I'm going up to the countryside house for Easter, I'm also going up there to work. Yes, I've done it again trying to have two jobs. But this time it's not a fulltime and a partime at the same time. It's working at another job when I'm free from the first. So a bit more sensible than before...
However, I will have no Internet for a few days (how will I survive this?)

But with my camera in a tight grip, I feel like I'm at least going to manage. So I'm about to get on train and see the landscape swirl past the window.

I'm really looking forward to painting eggs and celebrating Easter.

Hairy Calves

Since it's springtime, people let their clothes drop...

This is rather interesting, because the sudden 'heath wave' and sunshine make people proceed with rash decisions or does it?

Of course I am referring to people who wear shorts or short trousers showing off their hairy calves. I saw the first pair of hairy calves yesterday on my way home on the tram. The hairy calves belonged to a girl wearing shorts and football shoes. My theory when it comes to hairy calves consist of three key points.

Point 1:
Hairy calves at people (mainly girls) is something that mostly occurs at spring time when the sun has conquered the hair removal regime of many people. It's just too warm and sunny to wear long trousers but still one has not found the time to remove the hair.

Point 2:
Some girls find having hairy calves is a statement "I am not removing hair to fit into a stereotype of what I should look like!" However I have found that (no offense) the girls who think like this is often the more 'ugly' girls, the ones who don't wear pretty summer dresses or wear makeup. I would like to see a glamorous girl á la The Hills walking around in a stylish outfit and hairy claves.

Point 3:
Regarding boys I think the hairy claves subject is a bit reversed, since generally it is expected that they are going to have hairy legs. However I found that some over-trendy and over-stylish boys shave their calves. This as well as girls with hairy calves, can be a statment. The boy who shaves his calves for a statement probably is trying to say "I don't view being hairy as manly and hairy calves would really mess up my super stylish outfit!"

Time to Travel

I have to say that I am getting excited! I have some travels in my foreseeable future.

In 11 days, I am going to Florence with my mother. This will be a short 4 days trip, just to eat some good Italian food, shop some shoes and get some sun. I look forward to this trip because it will be great being back in Italy and I look forward to a bit warmer weather and looking at architecture.

In 19 days, I am going to London all by myself. This trip will be for a month and I look forward to being on my own. I'm quite the independent person and I look forward to getting of the plane and breathing in the Heathrow air and hopping on the tube. My heart is aching for some London, 19 days could not need to pass any quicker. I have so much planned for London and this will certainly be reflected in the blog.

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