If paradise is a state of mind, I must be in heaven. Yet my feet have barely touched the ground since my last trip to Andalucia, and here I am packing again for my next trip to one of my all-time favourite destinations...
End of last week, past midday, I was walking in the hood (as in my neighbourhood, I love that expression) to meet Bradley for a Thai lunch at Suksan. The sun partially showed its face through the clouds, and I wore my 'Sophia Loren Prada simple yet figure-hugging navy dress and generally felt on top of the world, with my even more significant asset of a happy smile. My fellow pavement strollers, mostly in dark heavy coats, deep in their being, passed me by with barely a glance nor even a dry smile back. Since no one could dampen my warm state of mind, I continued to smile along my way to the eatery. A few swapped stares momentarily but shied away. Is smiling and walking at the same time so rare?
Would this kind of attitude be considered a public display of attention? Am I seeking attention? No. All I want is to see people smile, as happy as I feel, even if for a brief period. Life is a combination of details; to see the bigger picture, we must tune in to the tiny particles forming each cell. From thousands of those cells floating in different directions, a whole human being is created, and goodness, so much complexity goes into each of us.
I'm not here to give you a science lesson as school was not one of my favourite pastimes! As I wrote in one of my blogs before, the only question I could come up with at a science lesson in boarding school from Mr Smith in his lecture on planets was:
"Mr Smith... Is my body heavenly?!"
So, let's leave science to the scientists. There flies my mind... Again
Friday evening's invite to the Shepherds Bush members' club by Donna had to be declined as the Boot Camp seemed to have taken its toll on me. In any case, Donna was joining another friend, and my not turning up would not have made too much of an impact. Despite her teasing texts about the possibility of some hot dudes arriving at the event, I texted her back to say: 'I'm lying on the sofa honey, all pooped out from the boot camp, followed by the hot date, to add boxing with my trainer this morning, to my schedule. How old was I? 25? Haha. No dude would do that! Not tonight.'
Saturday was lunch with my Girl, a walk in the park and catching up on news of our busy lives. Dinner was with Conor, his latest date, and a charming childhood friend, Aaron, at Tendido Cero's great tapas. It was such a pleasure getting acquainted with Aaron, who recently moved to London and hearing him speak so fondly of his girlfriend, whom I will no doubt get to meet one day. We then proceeded to L'Etranger's new basement club, which was not busy but fun.
Although I had every intention of getting to Fabric to hear Marco Carola play, my attempts to change when I got home at 2:00am could have been better, so I stayed home.
I thought, 'The woman is human, after all'. The chilly winter night did not help, so I slept.
I missed seeing some friends the night before, but sleeping also has benefits. On Sunday, I received a text from Soraya and Mazin, who were visiting for a lunch get-together. At Kateh's Persian restaurant, we were joined by Aisha and her superb girls for a delightful meal 'en famille'. It joys me to feel their love and friendship, my extended family.
Sunday dinner was with my Boy. I may keep repeating myself, but my kids give me the biggest reason to be happy to be alive. At the dinner at Itsu, my Boy asked to leave before I settled our bill after finishing our sushi. He said he would explain later; I looked around the seated clientele at the conveyor belt to find a shred of evidence as to why he left so abruptly but saw no reason for his strange dismissal. So, when I finally paid and went to meet him by the car, he pointed at the red marks on his light grey jumper and said:
"See, Mum, the little boy sitting next to me was happily squeezing on the pomegranate pieces and throwing the juice my way without noticing."
"Well, you should have mentioned it to him," I said with a confident motherly attitude.
"No," My Boy explained, "That's why I left quickly, so he won't get embarrassed and that his mother doesn't tell him off for something he didn't mean to do. That would spoil their dinner!"
I stood aside, watching my Boy with pride and amazement and told him:
"What a gentle soul you are. That was beautiful, what you did."
These acts of kindness and humanity are priceless. Try to be kind to someone every day, and you will be rewarded with a love that eventually makes you who you are. You are special.
As I was dropping my Boy off, my mobile rang. Who was it? It was the deliciously bright Lawrence. I could not resist answering even though I was driving:
"Hello Gorgeous," I said.
"Haldita, que bonita," Was my friend's delightful greeting. "Come and join us in the Polo bar at Westbury."
It was hard to resist an offer, so an early night in escaped. A party continued arriving at different times at Hessa's until late into the night when a neighbour rang the bell to complain about the noise. Oh! Oh!
One of the party guests picked up the entryphone, told the man he had the wrong apartment and hung up. As humourous as I found the situation, I took the matter at hand (being used to a similar case recently at mine) and apologized to the neighbour as gracefully as possible. However, the party ended. Seeing Aida there and catching up with her was great, plus an introduction to lovely Sirena on the night brought a fabulous end to my week.
And I thought it was going to be a calm weekend!
After my facial, I visited the Book Fair in Earls Court on Monday afternoon. I did not know what I was looking for, but I walked around the publishers' exhibits with many serious faces and talked to a receptionist at one of the more extensive stands carrying a big name. I asked her how to publish a book, and she explained how I would need an agent to represent me.
'An agent?' I first thought to myself, 'As in Hollywood agent?' But then it made sense.
A couple of hours later, I left the exhibition hall no wiser than I had walked in, and the entrance fee was not cheap at £45. But hey, you win some, and you... You probably need to beat others! Haha. In the yearly cash flow, put it down as experience.
And as for Tuesday, being today, one lunch was cancelled, and after a text for another proposal to Ernest, he agreed for us to meet at E&O. I had to put on my Parisian heels of khaki swede open boots, as the sun shone after the rain, before I left my flat, with a swede skirt and a fitted top. Dressing up makes me feel like a woman, and that's always been my 'thing'.
After a beautiful lunch of half the menu in great company, Ernest and I met Kelly at her refreshments chalet in Roundwood Park. As I exited his car, I noticed my attire of high heels, a mini-ish skirt and the general 'lady who lunches' look, walking into a park. Turned towards Ernest and remarked:
"And this is how Haldita goes to the park. Classic!" We laughed.
There was a statue of a slender woman throwing her arms up in gratitude. As we walked towards the sculpture on the grass, my heels got stuck in the mud, and Ernest had to hold my arm so I didn't fall off my face. Not a good look.
We met in the enchanting cafe with Kelly and Sabrina for the yummiest homemade chocolate cake. I told them about my experiences at the spa, which was a boot camp, and we giggled the afternoon away.
Shortly after I got home tonight, Shane rang the bell to see me before I flew away as he was about to leave London to live abroad for the next three months. Our spiritual conversations are always enlightening. I was telling him:
"As humans, we seem to need proof and to see things to believe them, and it's only through talking with like-minded people that we realize we're not alone in craving joy by letting ourselves go in the flow of the universe and following the signs to finding our true paths."
On that note, I came across this writing and had to make note of it. It read:
'Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray'.
End of last week, past midday, I was walking in the hood (as in my neighbourhood, I love that expression) to meet Bradley for a Thai lunch at Suksan. The sun partially showed its face through the clouds, and I wore my 'Sophia Loren Prada simple yet figure-hugging navy dress and generally felt on top of the world, with my even more significant asset of a happy smile. My fellow pavement strollers, mostly in dark heavy coats, deep in their being, passed me by with barely a glance nor even a dry smile back. Since no one could dampen my warm state of mind, I continued to smile along my way to the eatery. A few swapped stares momentarily but shied away. Is smiling and walking at the same time so rare?
Would this kind of attitude be considered a public display of attention? Am I seeking attention? No. All I want is to see people smile, as happy as I feel, even if for a brief period. Life is a combination of details; to see the bigger picture, we must tune in to the tiny particles forming each cell. From thousands of those cells floating in different directions, a whole human being is created, and goodness, so much complexity goes into each of us.
I'm not here to give you a science lesson as school was not one of my favourite pastimes! As I wrote in one of my blogs before, the only question I could come up with at a science lesson in boarding school from Mr Smith in his lecture on planets was:
"Mr Smith... Is my body heavenly?!"
So, let's leave science to the scientists. There flies my mind... Again
Friday evening's invite to the Shepherds Bush members' club by Donna had to be declined as the Boot Camp seemed to have taken its toll on me. In any case, Donna was joining another friend, and my not turning up would not have made too much of an impact. Despite her teasing texts about the possibility of some hot dudes arriving at the event, I texted her back to say: 'I'm lying on the sofa honey, all pooped out from the boot camp, followed by the hot date, to add boxing with my trainer this morning, to my schedule. How old was I? 25? Haha. No dude would do that! Not tonight.'
Saturday was lunch with my Girl, a walk in the park and catching up on news of our busy lives. Dinner was with Conor, his latest date, and a charming childhood friend, Aaron, at Tendido Cero's great tapas. It was such a pleasure getting acquainted with Aaron, who recently moved to London and hearing him speak so fondly of his girlfriend, whom I will no doubt get to meet one day. We then proceeded to L'Etranger's new basement club, which was not busy but fun.
Although I had every intention of getting to Fabric to hear Marco Carola play, my attempts to change when I got home at 2:00am could have been better, so I stayed home.
I thought, 'The woman is human, after all'. The chilly winter night did not help, so I slept.
I missed seeing some friends the night before, but sleeping also has benefits. On Sunday, I received a text from Soraya and Mazin, who were visiting for a lunch get-together. At Kateh's Persian restaurant, we were joined by Aisha and her superb girls for a delightful meal 'en famille'. It joys me to feel their love and friendship, my extended family.
Sunday dinner was with my Boy. I may keep repeating myself, but my kids give me the biggest reason to be happy to be alive. At the dinner at Itsu, my Boy asked to leave before I settled our bill after finishing our sushi. He said he would explain later; I looked around the seated clientele at the conveyor belt to find a shred of evidence as to why he left so abruptly but saw no reason for his strange dismissal. So, when I finally paid and went to meet him by the car, he pointed at the red marks on his light grey jumper and said:
"See, Mum, the little boy sitting next to me was happily squeezing on the pomegranate pieces and throwing the juice my way without noticing."
"Well, you should have mentioned it to him," I said with a confident motherly attitude.
"No," My Boy explained, "That's why I left quickly, so he won't get embarrassed and that his mother doesn't tell him off for something he didn't mean to do. That would spoil their dinner!"
I stood aside, watching my Boy with pride and amazement and told him:
"What a gentle soul you are. That was beautiful, what you did."
These acts of kindness and humanity are priceless. Try to be kind to someone every day, and you will be rewarded with a love that eventually makes you who you are. You are special.
As I was dropping my Boy off, my mobile rang. Who was it? It was the deliciously bright Lawrence. I could not resist answering even though I was driving:
"Hello Gorgeous," I said.
"Haldita, que bonita," Was my friend's delightful greeting. "Come and join us in the Polo bar at Westbury."
It was hard to resist an offer, so an early night in escaped. A party continued arriving at different times at Hessa's until late into the night when a neighbour rang the bell to complain about the noise. Oh! Oh!
One of the party guests picked up the entryphone, told the man he had the wrong apartment and hung up. As humourous as I found the situation, I took the matter at hand (being used to a similar case recently at mine) and apologized to the neighbour as gracefully as possible. However, the party ended. Seeing Aida there and catching up with her was great, plus an introduction to lovely Sirena on the night brought a fabulous end to my week.
And I thought it was going to be a calm weekend!
After my facial, I visited the Book Fair in Earls Court on Monday afternoon. I did not know what I was looking for, but I walked around the publishers' exhibits with many serious faces and talked to a receptionist at one of the more extensive stands carrying a big name. I asked her how to publish a book, and she explained how I would need an agent to represent me.
'An agent?' I first thought to myself, 'As in Hollywood agent?' But then it made sense.
A couple of hours later, I left the exhibition hall no wiser than I had walked in, and the entrance fee was not cheap at £45. But hey, you win some, and you... You probably need to beat others! Haha. In the yearly cash flow, put it down as experience.
And as for Tuesday, being today, one lunch was cancelled, and after a text for another proposal to Ernest, he agreed for us to meet at E&O. I had to put on my Parisian heels of khaki swede open boots, as the sun shone after the rain, before I left my flat, with a swede skirt and a fitted top. Dressing up makes me feel like a woman, and that's always been my 'thing'.
After a beautiful lunch of half the menu in great company, Ernest and I met Kelly at her refreshments chalet in Roundwood Park. As I exited his car, I noticed my attire of high heels, a mini-ish skirt and the general 'lady who lunches' look, walking into a park. Turned towards Ernest and remarked:
"And this is how Haldita goes to the park. Classic!" We laughed.
There was a statue of a slender woman throwing her arms up in gratitude. As we walked towards the sculpture on the grass, my heels got stuck in the mud, and Ernest had to hold my arm so I didn't fall off my face. Not a good look.
We met in the enchanting cafe with Kelly and Sabrina for the yummiest homemade chocolate cake. I told them about my experiences at the spa, which was a boot camp, and we giggled the afternoon away.
Shortly after I got home tonight, Shane rang the bell to see me before I flew away as he was about to leave London to live abroad for the next three months. Our spiritual conversations are always enlightening. I was telling him:
"As humans, we seem to need proof and to see things to believe them, and it's only through talking with like-minded people that we realize we're not alone in craving joy by letting ourselves go in the flow of the universe and following the signs to finding our true paths."
On that note, I came across this writing and had to make note of it. It read:
'Happiness is a sunbeam which may pass through a thousand bosoms without losing a particle of its original ray'.
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