Roman Holiday

I managed to steal a couple of days away from the office and headed to Rome to meet up with Ray and Peter for a long weekend. We were treated to some balmy temperatures (for late November) and wonderful Roman sunshine. Unfortunately we were a week too late to attend TomKat’s wedding but we did eat and drink and eat and drink in style! I’m still recovering (feeling the weight) from all those extra calories, drinking and late nights.

One could speculate that the weekend’s excesses played a direct role in *feeling under the weather* this week. I made an early exit from the Goldman Sachs xmas party last night, decided not to set an alarm today and finally woke up at 8:30am! I called the office and croaked to my colleague that I would not be going in today. I can’t believe that this is the second time I’ve been sick in just 3 months of being in London! The city does not like me? The cold, wet weather does not agree with me? Thankfully I had the last two episodes of Prison Break Season 2 to keep me occupied while holing myself up in my little basement flat!

By late afternoon I developed cabin fever and found myself offering to take my landlady’s dog, Ruski, for a walk around Hyde Park. The pooch is a newcomer to Maddie’s house - she picked up the one year old husky from the pound just two weeks ago – and it was the first time that I had walked him. The dog was completely disinterested in me (and humans more generally) but turned into a raging, uncontrollable hound at the sight of any sort of wildlife… other dogs, squirrels, birds, ducks and especially swans. Oh why did Jordan decide to walk Ruski the Husky around the Serpentine (lake in Hyde Park)? At the first sight of the white waterlogged birds, Ruski yanked on the leash with all of his 90lbs and dragged me along at sprint speed, headed straight into the water. Before I could get him back under control, I was ankle deep in the murky Serpentine waters and the lake had become a cacophony of duck and swan songs! Then it started to pour with rain…