TGIM

Monday Monday, so good to me,

Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be

- The Mamas and the Papas

Thank god it's Monday.

No, seriously. Thank god it's Monday. This weekend just about killed me.

I spent Friday in Paris...this is not as glamorous as it sounds. I got up at 5.30 am, rode the Eurostar, was in all day meetings, missed my Eurostar back so had to take a later one, and got back to my flat in London at 10.30 pm that evening.

There were several things that made this trip interesting:

1. The taxi driver who picked me up to take me back to Gard du Nord at 6.30 pm telling me in French/English (mostly French) that traffic was so bad along the route at that time of night that I should take the Metro instead. So I did. No biggie. But riding the Metro with the unwashed Parisian masses when you know you had the option of your own private black Mercedes with leather interior after an already long day? Well, let's just say it falls far short of the proverbial icing on the cake.
2. Upon arriving at Gard du Nord, being told by a Eurostar ticket guy with FAR TOO MUCH ATTITUDE (in a haaayy sista kinda way) that regardless of the fact that we had called to change my ticket he had no record of that. That I should have changed my reservation on the phone and they (the phone people) should not have told me to change my ticket at the station. Ok, great. They shouldn't have but they did. So Mr. Eurostar, how are we going to fix this now? The funny thing is, he never actually told me I couldn't get on the train and, after 10 minutes of one of the most annoying conversations I have had in a long while, he still gave me a ticket in the end. I am not sure why we had to go through that stupid discussion to get it...but we did. Maybe he just needed a hug.
3. Upon boarding the Eurostar, being confronted by a young couple sitting in my seat. Could I please change seats with his girlfriend? They were separated. Would that be ok? Sure, no problem I say and make my way back to the carriage she was meant to be in. Problem #1: The new seat is a 4 seater around a table, my seat is riding backward and 3 of the seats are filled with strangers - so there is no space to move or stretch out my legs. Problem #2: Over 3/4 of the carriage is already filled with a large group of Japanese tourists loudly discussing in Japanes how much they liked the Eiffel Tower. Problem #3: The rest of the immediate 10 seats around me are soon filled with a tourist group of special needs people. All loudly discussing how much they liked the Eiffel Tower. I had half a mind to ask if I was being Punked.

Instead, I momentarily debated making the girlfriend switch back with me and sitting next to the boyfriend who hated me for the whole trip to London...Realizing this wasn't really an option I got up and staked out a pair of seats that no one had yet claimed in another carriage. After 10 nail biting minutes spent panicking every time someone new entered the carriage I actually won and got my own 2 seat spot to myself. Thank god.

Needless to say, this is not the ideal way to do Paris. Saturday I slept until noon. I can't remember the last time I slept until noon.

Yesterday, I did the Nike Run London 10k. It's acutally a pretty fun event, they divide the whole of the runners into North London vs. South London (based on where you live with the Thames as the dividing line. We ran for North obviously). It was a gorgeous day for running: slightly cool, sunny popping out every once in a while, nice breeze. Without any type of training, Suzanne and I managed to shave over 5 minutes off of our time from the June 10k. South London won in the end but we all had a good time.

However, this morning my legs were so sore I could barely motivate to get out of bed.

So yes, thank god it's Monday. I can sit here at my desk, during normal office hours, and not physically exert myself.

Long live the cube.