The Jean Genie lives on his back. The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks. He's outrageous, he screams and he bawls. Jean Genie let yourself go! (Jean Genie - David Bowie)

Music, when you hear it can do one of two things.  Make you smile; or make you cry.  This song kind of does both.  I was 12 when this song come out (you do the math) and my brother would have been 9.  Now at that age those three years are a gulf, especially between siblings.  I was at secondary school, all grown up ...... well in my head which ironically the opposite to now.  David, my brother was still at primary school.  The line 'Jean Genie loves chimney stacks' is the line that makes me smile.  My brother would always sing 'Jean Genie loves chicken snacks'. No matter how much I told him he was wrong, he would not listen.  Even when I hear this song now, it takes me back to those heady days of the NME lyrics page.  I wonder if, when he hears this song, he still sings chicken snacks?  As always, enjoy!

Saturday:  I woke at 6.10 to go to the toilet and thought, bugger I have to be up for work in 30 minutes then remember, much to my absolute joy, it was Saturday. But could I sleep! In the end I put some rubbish on the TV and drifted off, only to wake at 10.00 to a barrage of text messages from Andy stating that he was going out and would be back later and don't worry.  I missed all of that.

Lazy start to the day, which was a huge mistake as I had a headache for best part of the day.  Plan A had fallen through, and Plan B so it was Plan goodness knows what.  Washed dressed and out of the door and I caught a bus outside of my flat that took me to St Paul's Cathedral.  I went to the Museum of London to see an exhibition on tattoos.  I had seen it advertised and put it on my list. However, whilst it was interesting it appears that they had virtually used all the displays and information in the advertising I had seen, so when I actually got to the museum there was very little else to see.  However, I had a look around and really liked the place.  Apart from the children. Saturday and Sunday in London is children day.  Well, children and mainly Dads day.  It is obviously contact day and where better to take your child but to a museum where they can ran riot and you can tick a box to say you are a good father.  I did wonder what the mothers were doing whilst the, and I am assuming here, estranged fathers were looking after the kids.  I wondered if the mothers were having their hair down, or at the spa or just hooking up with a random bloke from Tinder. Any way, there was one particular quote I saw today that I really liked: 'In London you live; in the country you breathe' Eliza Lynn Writer 1893. Yep, I agree with that all these years later.

By now the headache was getting worse.   So I decided to leave the museum.  I did have to smile as no one searched my bag on the way in but on the way out the queue for bag searching was horrendous, which in turn, was making the children more boisterous.  I called in Pret a Manger to get a green tea and two paracetamol then caught a bus to Tottenham Court Road.  I have been in my own little world today and a woman got on the bus and asked if the rucksack on the bus was any ones?  A few of us answered so she went to the driver who basically said well what do you want me to do about it.  I went upstairs and ask people up there if it belonged to any of them. No response. By the driver there was a poster that said if you see any thing suspicious tell the driver.  So I did. He said well what do you want me to do about it it.  I said, as I picked it up that I wanted to throw it off the bus.  He said I could not do that. I said what if it was a bomb! He said there was nothing he could do. By now, the whole bus were chipping in. I just throw the 'bomb' back on the luggage rack and told him I will get off at the next stop thanks.  After taking details of who to complain to and the registration of the bus.  It is absolutely pathetic.  London is on high alert. There are armed police officers on the streets, police everywhere you look and the driver was so complacent and that is being polite.

Walked to the Odeon at Shaftesbury Avenue and saw the film Spotlight.  It is about the outing of catholic priests in Boston.  It was really good and my kind of film.  I guess it was a documentary film but it had Michael Keaton in it who for me will always be Beatlejuice, so that was kind of weird.  But a good film and I would recommend it. Called in Wasabi and got myself some Japanese food for dinner and on the bus and back home, just as it started to rain.  I decided to go straight to my room.  Andy is out on his third date, I swear I will have to buy a hat soon, so I wanted to get comfortable.  It is funny how I still gravitate to my little room.

I decided to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. The lovely Emma and Hannah from my Sunday group have lent me a box set of Audrey Hepburn films. Thank you girls. Oh I love this film.  Moon River makes me cry and tonight was no exception. I just love that song and the words.  A true classic. I guess this quote sums me up at the moment. I always know when I am stressed because I make hot water tea.  Basically, this is tea without the tea bag in it because I forget to put it in! Well here is the quote:

“You call yourself a free spirit, a "wild thing," and you're terrified somebody's gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you're already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it's not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It's wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.” 
― Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany's

 I then decided to ring TFL (Transport for London) and had to wait absolutely ages for someone to answer the bloody phone!  When they did it was a joke.  Even the guy on the end of the phone agreed with me.  Apparently, if you find an unattended bag on a tube or train.  You leave it there.  On a bus you tell the driver and at the end, yes the end of the route he will remove it! On a tube, you either pick it up and take it to member of the platform staff or you leave it there for the cleaner to find at the end of the route! Can you believe this.  London is on high alert and you just leave an unattended package.  It is unbelievable isn't it.  I can contact and organisation called travel watch but really!

Sunday:  When you wake up with the same headache you went to bed with you just know that is not a good sign!  A beautiful morning in London, but cold. On my little bus up to Hoxton and a brisk walk through Shoreditch Park.  I was early so did a short detour to walk along the Regent's Canal then up to the Trew Era Cafe for a warm welcome from Rose who was all ready and eager with my pot of tea.  I so love this group. After meditation, Hannah, Emma, Paul, Andre and a new guy, Daniel sat and had a good chat.  I was entertaining them, as I do, with tales from a Berlin Sauna ...... that could be a great name for a play.  I feel so relaxed and loved by this little group. It made me realise, there and then, how crap my working environment is, I just cannot be me there.  Whereas on a Sunday, being me is just fine.  

Duly fed and watered, thank you guys, I left to get the bus back home. I really did not want to be heading home as it was still a beautiful day, but I had necessary paperwork (again) to complete.  However, I did a slight detour as today, at our local Mosque it was an open day.  I was greeted by a lovely guy who welcomed me into the Mosque and politely asked me to remove my shoes.  I asked him if I need to put my headscarf on and he said no it was fine. I went up the stairs and there was a lovely display about Islam.  I was greeted again, but this time by three women who offered me a hot drink and really wanted to feed me the most delicious looking cup cakes.  I joked with them about how I had put on 2lbs just looking at them.  I walked around, drinking tea, looking at the display, in my socks.  It really was quite peaceful.  I was then asked if I would like to see the men at prayer. So I went downstairs and put my headscarf on.  I want to say that I just looked like Audrey Hepburn in yesterday's film; I didn't. I was more like Hilda Ogden from Corrie.

I sat there watching the men pray thinking ................. where are the women. So I asked and then was asked would I like to go and see the women at prayer.  So it was shoes back on as I was lead outside of the Mosque to the back, down some stairs to the women.  It was really strange as the guy who had taken me there, would not come in their part of the Mosque.  In I went and there were about twenty women in there.  The prayers were over and the women were reading the Qur'an. I sat chatting to a couple of them, asking questions and then was offered a date. Not the male type but the fruit. I then walked over to sit with some other women and we were chatting away.  I was asking questions and they, in return were asking me questions. There was a women nearby who they said was the Teacher and she was listening to the girls recite the Qur'an and correcting them when necessary and giving them lessons to complete at home.  Then it happened.  The story of my life. The Teacher said to the woman I was talking to something in Arabic.  The room went quiet and the poor woman I had been chatting to did not know what to do. It was so obvious to me.  I just said: 'She wants me to go doesn't she as we are making too much noise?' I do not know who was more amazed that I had understood, the woman I had been talking to or the Teacher.  I thanked them for their time and went to leave.  As I was walking out of the door I said to the first woman I had spoken to that nothing had changed, as I had always got told off for talking to much in class, even as a child.

I really enjoyed the whole experience.  My hosts were very hospitable. When I had asked the guy should I put my headscarf on he said if I wanted to but I did not have to. I asked him (even though I knew the answer) if the other women wore a headscarf and he said yes, so I explained to him that I wanted to be respectful and be no different to the other women.  However, I was the only guest in the Mosque doing so.  It was a great experience to learn about others and their beliefs and to be welcomed and accepted. If you ever get the opportunity to go and have a look, I would really recommend it.

Back to the flat and what do I find outside but a TV, as you do.  This happens a lot in London. People will leave things out for others to have.  I did have to giggle to myself as it was a Bang and Olufsen TV.  Now I do not know a great deal about televisions, but I know that Bang and Olufsen are a very expensive make.  I liked the idea that we had had this dumped outside of our flat, rather than just a model by Sony or Beko.  It is funny how that middle class streak in me, a times, raises it's head.  I have just shown a picture to Andy of a Bang and Olufsen TV priced at £6500 and he is freaking out now saying I should have dragged up the stairs and we could have sold it, working or not, on eBay. So funny. So rather than do the dreaded paperwork, I made some spicy parsnip soup for our lunches next week and then I had to do the paperwork. That done, it was soon time for dinner and kick back time.

So not a bad weekend.  OK it didn't pan out as I thought it would, but it has been good nonetheless.  So tomorrow is Monday (again) sigh ............ I will worry about that tomorrow.

As always, with my love x