Wednesday

Yesterday's new thing was setting foot in the door of a shoe repair shop in Chalfont St Peter. My colleague had kindly given me a lift into the town, so I posted a letter, and then caught sight of her in the shoe shop, and used the opportunity to dive in behind her and do something new. The man in the shop was so surprised by my enthusiastic entrance that he didn't charge my colleague for her shoe repair. Perhaps the two incidents weren't related, but I was quite bumptious in my sudden appearance.

Tuesday

New thing yesterday was going into a shop intriguingly called "Pens, pencils and military items" in Harefield. I didn't buy anything, but could spend hours in shops like this....

Monday

New thing yesterday was heading into SOmerfield in Shaftesbury after showing my boyf GOld Hill. Thanks to the old Hovis ad from the 80s, with the northern lad pushing his bike up the hill, my boyf had always thought it was in Yorkshire. I can assure you it's in Dorset.

Sunday

After larking around Lulworth Cove today, my new thing was a pub in Dorchester called "Tom Brown's" where they brew their own beer. Unfortunately, I was driving, so I didn't enjoy quite as much beer as my boyf and dad, but I enjoyed playing darts and going to the Chinese restaurant next door which I'd never been to before.

Saturday

Yesterday's new thing was heading into a petrol station in Bristol courtesy of the sat nav, as I was on my way to Dorset. Never been to this petrol station before, but will go again, as the diesel was 85p a litre. Can't believe the day would come when I'm praising 85p a litre as cheap!

Friday

New thing yesterday was McDonalds in Shepherd's Bush. Not by choice.

Thursday

My tyre popped a couple of days ago, so my new thing yesterday was the Kwik Fit in Uxbridge. Everything else was the same old treadmill, from work, to driving to Reading in heavy traffic, to getting home late and switching on the TV only to have my housemate come in and pretend to delete something from Sky so she could make a point about taking up too much space.

Wednesday

Positively dripping with new things today. Popped into a couple of shops in Ross on Wye, a beautiful town in Herefordshire, as I needed a break after arising at 6am and driving for three hours for a meeting over there. Then I headed for Hereford, before returning to the office via a fuel station I hadn't been to before, and a pub called the Fox near where I used to live. Didn't get served, so just used the loo. Then headed to an Indian Restaurant in Southall that I'd never been to for a meal....expect a return to my usual boring form tomorrow......

Tuesday

I had to borrow my boss' car to get home last night, so I was a little reluctant to stray from my route home in pursuit of my new thing. But no matter, because I remembered that one of my meetings at work earlier in the afternoon had taken place in a wing of head office that I'd never ventured into before, so new thing sorted.

MOnday

Hungover and tired, we left Northampton after our friends Kate and SImon provided us with a smashing and filling breakfast. My boyfriend is used to my strange "do something new everyday" shenanigans now, so he wasn't surprised to see me head off the A45 and into the grounds of a stately home. Far too tired to find out what it was called, so we backed out and continued with our journey.

Sunday

Woke up early yesterday and headed to Shepherds Bush on the bus for a French lesson. Never really explored this area before, but had ample time to do so on the way back as there was a crash involving a police car and a BMW near Ealing which caused miles and miles of tailbacks. Other new things included a very nice bar in Northampton that I'd never been to before called the Mail Coach, and the Mobility shop in Leicester (good name for a pub, but it was a mobility shop).

Saturday

Yesterday's new thing was Asda in Bolton on the way back to work this morning.

Friday

I had to drive up to Bolton today, which wasn't new, but after braving the most severe winds that we've seen in the UK for about 17 years, we went to a hotel in Bolton, as well as an Italian restaurant that I'd never been in before. Due to high winds, it was like the apocalypse out on the roads, with 600 road closures in place, lorries lying in the road, branches everywhere, and moody black skies. It took us 8 and a half hours to get from London to Bolton - a journey that's taken me 3 and a half hours in the past.

Thursday

I wanted to stop off at a pub that I pass on the way home as my new thing, but I didn't have any cash on me at all, and I was trying not to spend any money, so it was another lame-o new thing that I did yesterday, driving around parts of Hanwell that I hadn't seen before.

Wednesday

I was thinking to myself how difficult it is to do new things every day when it's winter. And you may have noticed that my random acts of kindness have already fallen by the wayside, and that's because I decided that the best acts of kindness are spontaneous and heartfelt, and definitely not simply because I totally forgot about them....ahem.
So when I was driving home from work last night, thinking about something new to do, I realised that my new things aren't very good in the winter, because once I've finished work and it's dark, it's difficult to venture out for a walk alone when you're a female who lives in London. So yesterday's simply entailed driving down some random narrow side street in Greenford. I had the right of way, but backed miles up to let a guy in a van through. He didn't thank me, so I beeped the horn at him, so weakly that I sounded a bit like Postman Pat.

Tuesday

Yesterday was busy at work, so nothing new doing there. After work, I realised that lard and mayonnaise was about all I had in the fridge, so I resolved to try a new food I'd never tried before when I went shopping, and ended up buying a beetroot and quinoa salad. Very healthy.

Monday

Yesterday's new thing was going for a cycle ride from boyf's village to Reculver, a beautiful, but windy trip along the sea wall. After riding against the wind, past lots of birdwatchers (apparently birds stop off here on migrating between the Artic and Africa), and even participants in a cross country race, we arrived at what's left of the old SAxon Church, just the twin towers of St Mary's. We then headed straight past it, and into the nearby King Ethelbert Inn. We stopped once before so I could officially put my toes in the cold seawater and proclaim it a proper trip to the seaside. Much later in the day, I did more new things as I ended up in Kilburn by accident when trying to take a short cut to a friend's house for dinner.

Sunday

Saturday's new thing was trudging around the estate agents in Canterbury (never been in any of these before!) looking for a house to buy. Didn't get as far as looking at any of these houses - baby steps, babysteps.

Saturday

Ah, Friday at last. LAst night's thing was driving down to the boyf's hometown and circling one of the roads that I'd never been down before. Everything else was same old, same old.

Friday

I was meant to be going over to Brick Lane for a meal tonight, but t'was cancelled - fortunately for me, as I was exhausted (never occurred to me to cancel a night of beer and curry myself!!!), so my new thing was an emergency-on-the-way-home type affair. There's an enormous pub that I pass on my drive home - usually someone tries to kill me by jumping into my lane at the lights as it's quicker than queueing in the correct lane, but that's another story, and if I ever fail to update my blog, this is probably where I met my end).
But anyway, back to the Bridge Hotel. I decided to go in here, which meant that by the time I'd thought about it, I had to go around the roundabout again. And then again, as there was no entrance into the pub car park where I expected it. Cursing my stubborness at having to do something new every day, I then had to drive 1 mile up the road so i could turn left and turn back round. When I completed all of this, I arrived at what looked like an impenetrable prison gate, so I had to turn around again, noticing as I went past the gate yet again, that the sign said: "car park for patrons' use only". So, they managed to keep me out, and my new thing was driving around all of the houses behind and to the side of the pub. Pah.

Also, my random act of kindness, since tidying my colleague's desk was pathetic yesterday, was picking up bits of litter, most of them dropped by the postman, around my house and putting it in the bin.

Thursday

My new thing last night was yet again a contrived one. En route to the A40, I turned off on a side road heading for Ruislip and Breakspear Crematorium. Then I turned again and ended up on the original road I was on. Since this is getting a bit dreary, I've decided to follow a bit of advice from a book I was given for Christmas, called "Change the World in 365 days". For 10th January, it says you should do a random act of kindness every day. Now, I was thinking about this on my way to work, and if you think about it, it's actually quite hard to do random acts of kindness, particularly, as I saywhen you're driving to work and a fat woman pulls out without looking in front of you at Swakeley's roundabout.
So, the random thing I did was to tidy my colleagues' desk while he was out. That's a bit too random, so hopefully tomorrow's will be better.

Wednesday

I was really racking my brains to think of something new to do while I was driving home, as, to be honest, I didn't feel very well, and didn't want to get out of my warm car and walk anywhere! As a last resort, I accomplished my new thing by turning right at the sign for Hanwell town centre, and then left into a surburban road, which then turned out to be a one-way street. Can't wait to be better so that I can do something more interesting than that!

Tuesday

Turned left instead of right when coming off my junction of the A40. So my new thing was getting stuck in traffic near greenford tube station, then turning a corner, and discovering an enormous shopping centre near my house, called West Way. Can't believe I never knew it was there!

MOnday

Yesterday's new thing was walking along the Grand Union Canal again, starting off where we finished the day before. I started the walk in something of a blind rage, as my housemate had insisted that turning the TV when you're not watching it is bad for the set. When I calmed down, I was struck by how much rubbish there was in the canal, thereby sending me into a spiral of depression! We had to turn off the canal path, again ending up pretty close to my house, and going into a pub that I have passed hundreds of times. I always thought it looked rough, but once inside, it was so nice, we didn't leave for some time!

Sunday

Yesterday's new thing was trying to save money over the weekend. My boyf and I headed out into the downpour and walked along a good section of the Grand Union Canal. We didn't quite walk as far as we thought we had though as we arrived at a pub and I asked where we were. It turned out that if we took a left at the top of the road, it would take us to my house, so we hadn't walked as far as I thought......

Saturday

For yesterday's new thing, I went into Barnsbury in London on the way to my sister's house. Had to tell my boyf that I like to do something new every day, because he thought I'd gone mad and deaf when I didn't turn left into my sister's road.

Friday

Yesterday's new thing was one of those occasions when I veer off to the left or the right when driving home from work. Yesterday I turned left and ended up going past some enormous houses, then onto a country lane, then back on to a road with enormous houses (and a woman backing out of her driveway in a posh car without checking behind her), before I turned left onto my regular route. B-o-ring.

Thursday

The new thing I wrote of yesterday was depressingly homogenous and corporate, so today I write of yesterday's new thing which is a whole lot more cheerful. At lunchtime today I drove to the Anzac war graves at St Mary's Church in HArefield. I've been working just down the road for nearly a year, and only just found out about them. Many of the young Australian and New Zealanders who died then were very young, so it was a quiet and heartfelt moment. That beats Tesco in Hayes.

Wednesday

Yesterday was the first day back for a lot of people, me included, so as I predicted, there was an accident on the A40, blocking my way home, so I had to take the M25 to the M4 where I realised I hadn't done anything new and went to the Hayes branch of Tesco. Nearly got killed on my way in by a lady driving without headlights. MInd you, she was on the phone and driving so fast and erratically that she didn't need to be seen by anyone else.

Tuesday

New thing yesterday for New Year's Day was going to a bar in Soho; I was so tired that i didn't get the name, but it was very nice. It had the vibe of a Parisian cafe though the decor was completely different.

New Year's Day

I left Honkers very early on Sunday morning, arriving back in the UK at lunch time, thanks to being 8 hours behind. So my new thing on the flight was watching lots of films - the Illusionist (very good), Little Miss Sunshine (very good), Curious George (good, perhaps not aimed at my age group), The Break Up (OK), and the very beginning of My Super Ex Girlfriend (not rating given). My lovely boyf was waiting for me at arrivals, with a bunch of flowers, while I nearly missed him as my mind was racing over why the customs officers always stop me when I come through. We fell asleep and woke up at 2 minutes to 12 - too late to do anything to celebrate the dawning of 2007. Happy New YEar to anyone who's reading this.

Sunday

Saturday's new thing was waking up with a stonking hangover. Not really, I'm afraid I've done that thousands of times - I never learn my lesson. No, the new thing was that my mum had booked a table at the Majestic hotel for a buffet with my uncle and a couple of my mum's friends. The food was great, the company not so much. Another new thing was going to a video store to get some movies and being bellowed at by one of the staff because I was so brazen as to ask her if it would work on my PC.

Saturday

My last full day in Honkers - man it's gone by quickly. We went to the Wong Dai Sin temple, which is one of my favourite places in Hong Kong for watching people worship. There's a thick cloud of joss stick smoke, as well as the smell of people's offerings of roast piglets and ducks. The temple grounds are currently being extended to accomodate the huge numbers of people who come here - especially at New Year. My new thing today was going to the shopping centre next to the temple - where I bought Pocky.

Friday

Yesterday's new thing was going to a place called "Kosmos" to meet an old friend. I say old, but she's only 32, but an old friend in the sense that I have known her since she was 9 and couldn't speak a word of English. We had a very quick catch up in a healthy restaurant. Since I was going out that evening, but was feeling a bit tired, I had a "Vitality" smoothie, made with carrots, apples, ginger etc. My friend had a lavender latte, which she took one sip of, and promptly spat out again. The other new thing I did today was queuing up among lots of Hong Kong's elderly people to get a new ID card. The government is asking its residents to update their ID cards so that they have chip and pin, which seemed grossly unfair when there were lots of old people struggling to stand in line, and needing to go to the toilet a lot.

Thursday

Yesterday's new thing was going to my mum's local hairdressers, and having my hair washed. It's seemingly cheaper than doing it myself, and a lot more fun when you can't speak the same language as the person doing it for you and have to mime. Then visited parts of Hong Kong that I had been to before, but they don't count as new things, even if vast swathes of the area are being redeveloped. I love Hong Kong - though the people are alarmingly rude, there's such a vibrancy and urgency to the place. It looks, smells and feels exciting, and as if you're part of something that's actually happening. It's nice not to have to fear that you might get verbal abuse, or stabbed if you look at someone, which is often how I feel in the UK.

Wednesday

My new thing today was seeing my mum's new flat in Hong Kong on the 14th floor overlooking the Princess Margaret Hospital. I get such a buzz out of looking into people's flats, and from hers, you could see exactly what some people were watching on TV. I tried to check my email to let people know that I had arrived, but it wasn't working. I later found out that this was due to an earthquake in Taiwan which had destroyed the broadband cables which connect Hong Kong to other countries. Very strange to feel so close to all the people in my mum's estate who I could see, but then so isolated from everyone else.

Boxing Day

My new thing today was flying Qantas! I've never flown with them before, but I will again, as they were superb! I chose to fly on Christmas Day as I thought it would be less crowded and cheaper! Wrong! If anything it was busier - especially once I arrived at the correct terminal. (My ticket didn't specify which one, so I guessed, rather than call Thomas Cook on an 0871 number). So incorporated in the new thing was the fact that I watched hundreds of films -also new. Fast Food Nation stood out in particular - I couldn't eat my meal (not that it had anything to do with the film!).

Christmas Day

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, my boyfriend and I went to Sainsburys again to get some last minute bits and bobs. I got elbowed in the face twice by people who were not averse to using violence in order to get some last minute bargains in the reduced aisles. I would wager that the two people in question were not Christians, and did not intend to celebrate Christmas, but I hope it was worth it. So after that, I did my new thing which was going to Wilkinson's in Ealing. I'm really living the high life.

Sunday

Yesterday's new thing was buying a new type of beer, called "Elderflower beer" from Sainsburys. If it tasted of Elderflowers, I missed it.