Here's a good London riddle: how soon would I have to stop posting on my blog if I couldn't post on days when it... RAINED? Honestly. It's enough to make me belligerently stop turning the water off while I brush my teeth. How can we possibly run out? It's just awful, I have to say.
One of my writing class colleagues told me yesterday that she has "Seasonal Affective Disorder," for real, not just feeling annoyed that it's raining AGAIN, but true blues from not seeing the sun. How could you live here with such a condition? I even enjoy gray days, I never say, "I've got to get away," or plan holidays on beaches in February. I don't mind the winter. But constantly being wet is getting me down. You can choose from the following wardrobe options: wet tights, or wet trousers. And hair? There's no point in ever blowing it dry. Mine is sticking up permanently now like I had an artichoke on my head. It's really demoralizing.
So last night in the, you guessed it, RAIN, I picked up Avery at Anna's house, turning down Becky's dinner invitation reluctantly because it would have been nice to stay, but I just did not have the wherewithal to be friendly. Like an illness with no real symptoms. On the way home I thought, you know what, for once I'm going to buy some ready-made food that Waitrose is always touting as "just as good as homemade," since there was enough leftover creamed chicken for Avery but not for me. Well, never again. Honestly, once you've unwrapped the food from all the plastic and cardboard that can't go in the oven, and placed it all in dishes or on cookie sheets or whatever, to my mind I'd rather simply have chopped some garlic and cooked my own dinner. I won't tell you what I bought because you might love it, but suffice to say next time I'm in that lazy mood, I'd rather stick a chicken in the oven and leave it for awhile and have something really good. I'll go this far: I bought prawns. And for the money and the trouble, I'd just as soon:
Quick Prawns with Garlic and Chilli
(serves one lazy person)
6 giant tiger prawns, raw but shells removed
3 cloves garlic, minced
little shake of powdered ginger
1 tbsp peanut oil
splash sesame oil
sprinkle hot chilli flakes
3 spring onions, sliced
soy sauce to taste
Heat the oils in a wok or skillet and add everything else. Stir till prawns are pink. ENJOY.
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Someday when I have a proper freezer I am even going to have little ice cube trays filled with mixed chopped garlic and ginger. Then I will officially have NO excuse for prepared food.
Anyway, Avery took her cozy bath, we ate our dinner and watched Becky's gift of "Miss Potter," which I adore, and that was that. As luck would have it, the temple of Avery's eyeglasses snapped, totally unaccountably, so the poor thing has to do her Harry Potter imitation with scotch tape today.
This morning dawned (if you can use such a word for the alarm going off, since there was no actual dawn involved) soggy, but we persevered with a nice crepe filled with Nutella, a couple of slices of fabulous bacon, a juicy Comice pear, and then we were off. And we arrived at South Hampstead VERY early. Embarrassingly so, as my almost pre-teenager's "Oh, Mommy!" pointed out to me. Nevertheless, I left her at the door with some Godolphin look-alike grownup girls, and slogged home. It's sort of a relief: by this afternoon she'll have done all she can to get into five of her six schools. Two more interviews next week and one more exam and she's THROUGH. "Then it will be out of your hands," I said reassuringly. Or so I thought. "But I'm the sort of person who LIKES having things in my hands, Mommy," she pointed out. Ah well.
John will be home on Sunday, which will be glorious. No doubt with his arrival the rain will dry up and the sun will shine. Or maybe it will just seem that way. TGIF, everyone.
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