Pollyanna

Turns out I have less than no css skills (well, I did know that already. More to the point, it turns out that I cannot in fact teach myself code in one afternoon), so I must give all credit for the fixed template to my friend Angela. There’s some changes left to be made, but at least it looks vaguely put together again. So I can get back to what I do best: writing.

Well, technically what I do best is waste time. And hang out with people in bars. And read too much. And…well, anyway, I can get back to one of the things I do less incompetently than web page design: writing.

And I wanted very much to write to you all today. Sometimes, I know, I can be a little, well, negative. A little sarcastic and judgmental. But today the milk of human kindness flows through my veins and I am full of joie de vivre. I am having a spectacular day.

Take this morning, for example. The sun was shining gently through the windows, urging me to spring up and begin my day. Which I duly did. Such a nice way to start the day.

Much better than having the alarm clock go off at a startlingly loud volume, having mysteriously retuned itself in the night to a popular music station complete with Intensely Irritating DJs. And realising it was zero degrees outside and the fire was long out. And that the cat was meowing outside the door so that hitting snooze would have been futile. That would have sucked. Luckily that didn’t happen. I don’t know why I mentioned it, really.

And then the drive to work was peaceful and serene, all the cars observing the road rules and definitely not swerving in and out of lanes at 120kph, blaring their horns and acting like five year olds with anger issues.

They’ve finally turned on the heating at work, too, so that instead of sitting here in our coats and gloves (no, really), we’re all enjoying working in sub-tropical temperatures. It’s like being on holiday! Somewhere really hot! But without any of that annoying sand, water or remotely heat-appropriate clothing, and with a total absence of those awful cocktails! Can life get any better?

All of this, though, would count as just a standard good day. What really inspired me to call today a spectacular day (a word I do not use lightly) is the wonderful lunchbreak I just had. I love working in the city. It’s so colourful and cosmopolitan, with things happening all the time. This is great, because when I’m walking along I have a tendency to try and enjoy my own company, sink into my own private thoughts, that sort of thing. I know! Unsociable and unfriendly, right? Thankfully, this crazy city is here to stop me indulging this dangerous, misanthropic tendency.

In the space of 45 minutes, I got two separate exhortations to “smile!”. I love being reminded to smile. Obviously, it’s my duty to present a cheery and smiling face to total strangers all the time and I’m grateful to those civic-minded citizens who willingly do their bit to help me be the very best Barbie - I mean, smiling girl – I can be. Thanks, Greasy Dude and Maniacal Business Man!

Also, apparently it’s good for the circulation to be a little bit cold sometimes, so I’m ecstatic that the drycleaners hadn’t received my coat back yet despite swearing that it would be ready today. Mmmm. Nothing like a brisk walk in insufficient clothing to get the blood flowing. Also, if I’d been wearing the coat, how would I have got my regular dose of validation from letting men stare openly at my breasts? All in all, things couldn’t have worked out better.

At least the woman at the dry cleaners let me know about the non-delivery of the coat quickly, rather than ignoring me for twelve minutes whilst she examined every single photo in an customer’s wedding album and discussed what type of cake they had and who made the dress. Because that would have been ridiculous, what with it being a customer service job and all. Especially since there were three of us waiting, all clearly on our lunch breaks. Can you imagine?

Walking back to the office, I got a rare excuse to demonstrate my agility and lightning-quick reflexes when a car decided to whip round a left-hand corner whilst I was entering the pedestrian crossing, forcing me to leap backwards out of the way. I was just bemoaning the fact that office culture doesn’t allow me to fit in enough exercise, so this was great.

Now I’m off to make coffee. I hope the kitchen’s jam-packed full of people who want to comment at length on the weather, the football and what that other guy’s got in his sandwich. I can’t think of anything more fun.