My summer seems somehow to have stretched out to encompass an endless stream of new experiences; so many more than I ever expected to fit into six weeks. There was my ten-day trip to Scandinavia right at the start, a region of Europe that was entirely new to me, as was the experience with Contiki tours, but that incredible vacation was only just the beginning of my summer experience.
Almost as soon as I got back to London, Sean and I arranged to see a burlesque/cabaret revue in South Bank called Between The Sheets. While cabaret was not a new experience for me, we found our way to a restaurant under the arches near Waterloo station called the Archduke for cocktails before the show. I'd never been before, though I'd passed it countless times. From the outside, the glass and brick front with the glaring neon signs doesn't look like much, but inside is beautifully arranged with a surprising amount of natural light and plenty of opportunities for live jazz. A pianist was performing the evening we were there and, being a quieter night, the bar staff were attentive. I will definitely be going back there again. I fairly devoured books this summer, reading roughly two a week. Neither of my top picks are recently published, but they were new to me and I only took a few days to read each of them: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (which is so much funnier and more complex than its film adaptation) and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben. The latter was a game changer for me. I have struggled so much to be more positive and to be happier but I kept slipping into old, negative patterns, a backslide that left me constantly feeling like a failure. It was so refreshing to read about someone else's experiences and to realise that adjusting your attitude is hard and that no one is meant to be perfect (or perfectly happy) all the time. I don't know exactly why this book was so eye-opening for me, since I did know those things before, but something just clicked when I read it and I thought, 'Yes. I can do this!' While I was already feeling more positive with the advent of the summer holidays, reading this book left me with such a renewed sense of joie de vivre, it was like a new lease on life. I tried to capitalise on that feeling when Sean and I took a trip to Leeds towards the end of August. I had never been, but the city was meant to be a hotspot for new music and food and drink, as well as having strong historical ties. I throughly enjoyed visiting both the city and its surrounds. Together with Sean's friends, Guy and Verity, we took a day trip to Harewood House to absorb some country air and peace, as well as have a snoop around both house and grounds. Fans of ITV's show Victoria may recognise some of the rooms from the scenes of 'Buckingham Palace' in the show.
My new experiences didn't end there, either: The four of us signed up for our first escape room at Tick Tock Unlock. We were locked into a Pharaoh's-tomb-themed room and had an hour to solve the puzzles and get ourselves out. For the first fifteen minutes we accomplished next to nothing, struggling to crack the first puzzle, but once we got over that initial embarrassing hump, we tackled the rest with fair aplomb. I was nervous about it before, worried that it would leave me feeling stupid and end with us all bickering with each other, frustrated by the puzzles. There was no bickering and the puzzles weren't frustratingly difficult (despite what our initial fifteen minutes of staring at walls and turning over boxes and bags might suggest). We all had a lot of fun and for much of the rest of the trip, our conversations kept coming back to how much we enjoyed it. One a slightly less exciting note, I also had my first proper pub quiz while in Leeds and, while we didn't come that close to winning, I don't think we did terribly poorly either.
The bank holiday weekend rounded off what had been a truly wonderful summer for me with a trip to Bletchley Park, somewhere I had been hounding Sean to take me since his sister and her husband had been in March. The day was gloriously sunny; it was perfect weather, since so much of the museum is outside. In between wandering around the bunkers and houses and garages, we also managed to squeeze in a pleasant picnic lunch by the pond, where we carefully positioned our chairs so that Sean could sit in the shade and I could bask in the sun.
I thought going back to work would be quite the reality check, but I actually felt fully recharged and ready to get on with it by the time the end of August rolled around. I have been back at work now for a little over a week and I am trying to hold onto the positivity and joie de vivre that I rediscovered this summer. Though school has arguably been one of the most anticipated new experiences of the past couple months, I won't get into that just now. Things have been going really well, but I've been all about work for a week and a half now and I need to switch off mentally for a little while! Hopefully the wedding I'm going to this Saturday will help me manage to do just that.
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