16.07.12 - Exploding Eggs

I super smashed the editors meeting with two story ideas that went down well; one on Silicon Valley investment in Ghana (basically interviewing Bradley’s friend Victoria) and one about what happens to people when they can’t afford to pay for a funeral (copied from an article in the Telegraph). I find it quite hard to work in the office though, it’s too noisy to concentrate properly, and if I had to do this five days a week I would probably die, without wanting to sound melodramatic. Because I don’t have anything concrete or specific that I have to achieve everyday it’s quite easy to space things out and not get things done, bad habits return! In my defense a lot of time is spent waiting for people to reply to emails. I’d much rather be out interviewing people but then I need to find a story that is local but has national relevance and an ethnic hook and hasn’t been covered already by every newspaper. Basically I just want to be told exactly what to do, at least occasionally, I think.

I have managed to find a route home with slightly less steep hills though. And the local grocery store has not replenished its supply of chocolate pretzels, this is both a good and a bad thing. I also signed up with the local fitness centre, which is literally across the road, and went for a swim. The website says that the pool is 50m, which it is but the lanes are across the pool width ways, so there are lots of shorter lanes which means that you usually have a lane to yourself.

I repeated the egg experiment, thinking that microwaving it for only 30 seconds would work. The first egg blew up after 29 seconds and the second after 25 so I gave up. I will have to wait to have a boiled egg until my return, something to look forward to.

Tonight I watched a film called Third Star, initially because it has Benedict Cumberbatch in it, but he was in fact the least believable character in it. It was another absolute tear jerker about four friends who go on a pilgrimage to a far off Welsh bay, one of them has terminal cancer and he wants to go on a final trip there. Very funny and powerful at the same time, the end is amazing/traumatic but I won’t spoil it just in case you watch it. I wouldn’t recommend it as a light watch but it is a very good film. I should probably stop watching these awfully emotional films just before bed. I had a dream about hoovering up eucalyptus leaves which was at least just weird rather than traumatic. 

Random asides...the Americans have water everywhere, restaurant and cafes always have tap water on the side, or they always bring you a glass of water before anything else. And there are loads of water fountains around the city. It is great for me as I drink so much water. Maybe I will petition Boris to do the same.

Secondly, the other day a Hawaiian woman at the bus stop said that I has ‘something of the Jeanette McDonald about me’. She was a 1930s movie star. See photo...I’ll accept that even though it might be a tiny something.