A week in review

Forgive this week’s lack of entries; I’ve been a busy girl. There has been schmoozing with PR, epic tube journeys across London rushing from one recruitment interview to the next, two preview film screenings and a Nick Cave concert… and I just sold my very first item on eBay! Living Out Life has left precious little time to blog.

On the job front things are progressing slowly. Today I’m covering reception at a publishing house near Sloane Square and looking forward to sashaying down the King’s Road in my lunch hour – might even pop into some designer stores and pretend I have money. And I’ve been offered an interview for real job next week, although having also been offered a temp/ongoing role to start Monday I’m tossing up whether £9 per hour in the hand is worth more than holding out for a possible £25K + benefits! Hmmm…

Wednesday’s coffee meeting with two PRs went rather well. On only my second ‘official’ day as a freelancer I was offered an array of press trips – Wales, France, Portugal and even an eleven night cruise in Tahiti! Best of all I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to go… Yes, there are definitely benefits to forging ahead on your own.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds playing at the old Hammersmith Apollo was certainly a highlight for the week. The post-punk supergroup belted out songs old and new, while promoting their most recent album release, Dig Lazarus Dig! Attending with my cousin, we cheered on our Aussie compatriots with a bit of woo-hoo here and whistles there; my eardrums were ringing well into the wee hours. The only disappointment was Cave’s fluffing the lyrics in Into My Arms – Oh, and the absence of Kylie and her Wild Roses.

Both film screenings were independent productions and evoked as expected quizzical stares and comments from the members of the audience. Tuesday evening’s L‘Heure d’été (Summer Hours) starring Juliette Binoche was charming, honest and supremely French. The women were beautiful but natural, not a speck of make-up just good cleansed skin and a customary cigarette in hand; the men, not too stocky nor too trend-driven. Classic cinema… although sadly, without much beat.

Last night’s Belgian offering, Ben X was nothing if not utterly disturbing. Focussing on the angst of an autistic teenager who lives most of his life out in the fantasy of his favourite computer game Archlord, the film explores bullying at its most evil extreme. While the end attempted to bring closure and a comeuppance for his adversaries boyfriend and I had to force ourselves to swallow our dinner of noodles in Chinatown, the film having done its best to ruin the appetites of viewers.

And then there was my success in online sales. After more than five years as a purchaser I finally sold my first item: given that it was a beauty cream I was given by a fellow mag slag I’ll leave said-product unnamed, suffice to say with a retail value of £125, bidding closed at just over £80. Score! Now I just have to figure out how this whole PayPal thing works and I’ll be able to send my dear winner their prize.

So there we have it, my week in review. May I just say a big thank you to the Care Bears in the sky who have blessed us Londoners will sunny skies this past week – if it can hold out for the weekend, we’d all be much obliged.