Getting stuff done, going to the piccies, meeting Len and developing a mystery illness

After writing my post on Friday about the novel idea I've been working on, I sat down and completed over 5000 words. Five freakin thousand ! I've never ever written that much in a day before. Reading back over them this morning they're not at all bad either. I was working out just how long it would take me complete the thing if I managed that kind of word rate a day. Then last night I felt all peculiar, sicky and heady and altogether a bit odd. I went to bed at 7.30 and slept through till 6.30 this morning. As my mum would say "you must have needed it." Getting up expecting to feel all refreshed and raring to go after my marathon kip I felt just as bad if not worse than the night before :-( I started writing then had to go back to bed where I stayed until midday. So my word rate today is a stunning 57. I'm hoping to pull it round this afternoon but it's probably fair to say 5000 looks unlikely.
I had to go to the doctors this morning about something else altogether and I mentioned to him how I've been feeling and he reckons it could be the beginnings of gastric flu ?? FFS.... Just what you need the week before Christmas.
Had a pretty good weekend. Went to the City Screen in York to see that Cameron Diaz/Jude Law seasonal cheezefest, The Holiday. It was alright actually, if you suspended your cynicism for a while. That's actually not that difficult for me as I'm not real very cynical in the first place, so I really enjoyed it. Hollywood always make England look like a Shangri-La of ivy-covered cottages, snow at just the right time, and not a chav in sight. I think I'd like to move there. The people are all really amusing in an understated witty kind of way.
Being a reader of The Guardian at weekends and therefore reponsible for all the ills of the known universe (sorry guys, I just can't help it. I'm always making excuses for fecklesness whilst knitting my own yoghurt and removing the grit from the grooves in the sole of my sandals) I read something about blogging. Apparently the signature tone for bloggers is a life jaded cynicism. Seeing as the social profile of your average blogger is fairly solidly middle-class this seems a bit self-indulgent to me so I try and avoid it as much as possible. I do find myself having to apologise for being generally cheerful and upbeat about stuff. Is that a bad thing ? I've had periods in my life when bad shit has happened and it just seems a bit pathetic to point out the minor niggles constantly whilst ignoring the generally benevolent nature of most peoples lives most of the time. Grumpy old sad sacks do really get my goat though. Get a life, go for a walk, have a dance, eat a pie, just bloody cheer up ! Or at the very least stay out of my way.
The City Screen in York is a top cinema. It's in an old newspaper building down by the river. It's all very stylish, sleek and groovy. It's won design awards and they've got a really cool bar that overlooks the Ouse. We went for a couple of drinks in the bar prior to the film and I could have quite happily spent my entire evening in there and not bothered with the movie.
Yesterday we made a new friend. He's called Len and he's a mighty behemoth of a Serbian spruce. He stands at a towering 2 feet (that's right 2, just count 'em)in the corner of our front room in his best Christmas finery. He had an adopted brother, the pot-bound Norwegian, Chris. Sadly, after three years of service, Chris passed away earlier this year. It was a very sad moment for us all, but he's currently being broken down into compost at the council recycling centre so in a way he's being reincarnated. Len never met Chris but we've been telling him all about him and I like to think they'd have got along just fine.
Christmas shopping done, prezzies wrapped, Serbian Len looking resplendent now all I've got to do is shift this malady and I can enjoy me festives.