Thursday -steamy

First new thing was the sauna at the gym in a bid to get rid of what appears to be my second cold of the week. Then, after work, picked up a table I'd bought off eBay, which involved getting a tiny bit lost in a housing estate in Isleworth. Was worth it though - very nice seller and table.

Wednesday - "Up with the Paitridge"

My new thing was the swimming pool at the gym I visited yesterday. I got up at 6.30am for my swim, and was impressed with the pool, even though it's far short of 25m (makes me think I'm swimming further than I am when undoubtedly I'm swimming a tiny distance). It seems that if you're trying to drive towards London on the M40, there's no such thing as an early start, as I got absolutely devoured by traffic. The other new thing was going to the petrol station at the Target roundabout on my way to work.

Tuesday

Today's new thing was going to Dragon's gym in Northolt which I'm going to be trying out for the next few weeks. I stupidly registered as an off-peak member which means I'll be going swimming at 6.30am before work, so I thought it was prudent to get signed in tonight as I'm not the best morning person!

Monday - fire water

Drove up a new road towards Thames Water - in fact, this plant in Maple Cross is where they keep the water that was used to put out the fire at the Buncefield Oil Terminal.

Sunday - messing about on the river

A boat trip along the Thames - very witty commentary.

Saturday - nightmare journey

Had to bus it all the way from Rickmansworth to Harrow on the Hill before getting the tube the rest of the journey to Borough Market. An arduous journey, made longer by the fact I felt ill and had to get off the bus to be sick in someone's garden (I didn't actually have to be sick in a garden, but you know what I mean). My mum and I waited for my sister and her boyfriend to watch the England v Samoa match (rugby I believe) in All Bar One by London Bridge as another new thing where my mum will kill me for mentioning that she split her drink over me.

Friday - emotional

Feeling ill and punch drunk. None of us felt like going out, so chick flick time - Miss Potter and Music and Lyrics, neither as bad as I predicted.

Thursday - a wrong turn in Woking

Woking - ugh. Then a lovely walk along the Thames (some of it new to me), before a really nice meal at Studio 6, near the OXO Tower.

Wednesday - embarrassed to be writing this

Starbucks while waiting for ma mere at Heathrow airport (in my defence I had to wait because I misread my instructions and thought her departure time was the arrival time).

Tuesday

Drove up some random side street in Denham, near the Coach and Horses pub.

Monday

Bored of sitting on my sofa, since I forgot to get my cushions, we went for a drink at a place in Croxley Green called the Red House.

Sunday

Went to a cafe for breakfast. It was closed.

Saturday

Sherborne - went to a toy shop that wasn't there last time I was here, and also a new health food shop next to the Abbey.

Friday

Inside the van we hired to get my furniture.

Thursday

New parts of Watford again on my way back from Asda.

Wednesday

Put a foot in Zanzibar in Uxbridge en route to watch the England v Russia match which we won 3-0. I later found out that my sister was watching the Scotland v France game, (which Scotland won 1-0) live!

Tuesday

My housemate moved out today, so after shifting furniture around in a bid to make the house look less 1950s, I was exhausted, leaving buying Quark low fat cheese to be my new thing of the day....

Monday

Central Birmingham for a conference at the ICC. Oh Jaysus.

Sunday

New thing for today was picking my aunt up from her friend's house (ignoring the bloke that was telling her not to answer the door as there was a "Japanese woman" knocking on it, and later on dropping her at my cousin's house in Leicester. - interestingly the initial letters of the names of the streets off Pool Road spell out "Harrison", the builder who constructed them. Back in London, went into a pub called the Falcon in a nearby village - nice, but a bit snooty. The woman behind the bar was a bit rude to me, so I fined her the free CD that was in the pub's copy of the Sunday Times.

Saturday

Saturday's new thing was the World Series by Renault at Donington Park, as well as all of the new villages that we passed in our bid to avoid the queues. Enjoyed a day of racing, looking at the Renault line-up of cars dating back to the 60s and generally enjoying the atmosphere. Other new things included driving around the centre of Wellingborough and buying booze for the England v Israel match from Morrisons.

Friday

New thing today was New Image hairdressers in Rickmansworth for a much-needed haircut (and wash after last night's sweat/levellers fest). The hairdresser advised me against my desire to cut it really short, but I was far more interested in watching the other hairdresser, who for an hour, kept pouting and gazing into the mirror. What was even funnier was that she looked just like Kim from Kath and Kim!

Thursday

The Fat Face store that's recently opened in my hometown in place of the old healthfood store in Cheap street, and also seeing a band called "Hobo Jones and the Junkyard dogs". Three men dressed like pauper morrismen, one playing a guitar (miser Bill), one a washboard (Wino Tyrone) (which he swapped for a kids' guitar which he then bashed with a spoon to create a drums) and the lead singer who was playing a "double bass" of sorts, made with a stick and a rubber band. Absolutely hilarious - nearly died laughing when they played "Gordon is a Moron" in homage to our PM, and also "Ooooh Ah" by Gina Gee (Cider's what we're looking for!). The venue wasn't new as it was Westlands where I worked for one Christmas as a waitress, and the band that Hobo Jones were supporting were most certainly not new - I would say that I've seen the Levellers about 20 times, but still can't get enough of them. I pogoed around right at the front of the crowd so much to their greats such as One Way, Liberty and 100 years of Solitude, that I was still sweaty when I got home at 1am.

Wednesday

New thing for today was an office in Altrincham and parts of Guildford.

Tuesday

New thing for today was staying in a hotel in Altrincham. Forgettable.

Monday

Wasted trip to Oldham today (despite getting up at 6am), so new thing was walking around central Bolton while waiting for my 2pm appointment.

Sunday

Took a diversion up one of Uxbridge's homogenous side-streets while dropping Tom home. Not sure I should have been driving really.

Saturday

New thing for today was a barbecue in Simon's garden, Sainsbury's in Uxbridge (one of whose trolleys later proved to be Tom's method of getting home) for a top-up on the alcohol front, and more pubs in Uxbridge. One of the trees in Simon's garden doubled as one of my new things, as I decided it would be a good hiding place for our game of hide and seek - much better than Simon's friend's hiding place which was to hide behind a pane of glass, waving his arms at me!

Friday

New thing for today was drinking in various hostelries around the town of Uxbridge. My two colleagues Simon and Thomas decided that a pub crawl was in order to help our team mesh nicely together. Started at the Malt Shovel then went to a pub which I want to call the General Blimp, but I think might have been the General Elliott, and then two more pubs, ending up with a quiz at the Fig Tree before Simon shamefully baled out so he could go home and watch the tennis. As you will see, he will redeem himself for tomorrow's (yesterday's) new thing.