I received my presents from her before we headed off to see the film - tickets to see JHAB at Half Moon on 21st February (with her obviously) and quite possibly the most fantastic present I’ve ever received in my life – the awesome Moo Dog.
As you can see Moo Dog is a cow. For the uninitiated, the Cow Parade is a huge public art exhibition, which began in 1999 and still continues to this day (recently showing in Istanbul, Copenhagen, Vigo, Milan and Marseille). In 2002 it came to London and at work we all became interested in the life size decorated cow statues that began appearing all over the capital. In fact we became so obsessed with seeing them that when Mrs H3 left us to go and play in pastures new we bought her a china version of the fabulous ‘Beefeater – It Ain’t Natural’ as a leaving present.
In 1999 George Rodrigue (who for anyone who knows me or has seen my New Orleans blog will know is one of my all time favourite artists) sponsored 3 cows for the Chicago parade (shown above). Mrs H3 was trying to get me a china version of one of these, but was unable to do so (due to their rarity I’m guessing) so instead bought a plain paint your own cow and made one for me.
I am completely astonished and touched both for the amazing skill that she’s shown in rendering my plain cow into something fantastically closely resembling one of George’s originals but also for the amount of time and care that she took in doing so. Thank you so much matey for a truly wonderful present.
Once the presents had been opened we headed, complete with large ice creams and fizzy drinks for our second viewing of Sweeney Todd, which I enjoyed even more than the first. Seeing it again gave the opportunity to pick up on the things I missed the first time round and to just let the lush cinematography and sublime Sondheim lyrics wash over me. Apparently the woman next to Mrs H3 had a rather extreme reaction to the film – being terrified for most of it and having hysteria for the rest. I am sure I’ll be seeing it at least once more and the DVD is already top of my want list for the year.
After the film I decided that it was time to finally sort out getting a new phone. I had realised that it was pointless being on a contract when I use so little of the allotted time and texts so was going to switch to pay as you go. However, I really need a new phone as mine is almost 3 years old and having been dropped a few times doesn’t function anywhere near as well as I’d like it to. As luck would have it Virgin (who I am with on contract) had reduced the phone that I really wanted from £90+ to £70 (the beautiful pink Nokia 7373 from the L’Amour Collection) and although I hate the idea of having to actually pay for a phone (yes I know I pay for it through the contract but at least I don’t have a big outlay upfront) even I could see that I needed to switch. Fortunately I got a nice sensible salesman who having agreed that I really did need to move from contract, explained that I could switch to pay as you go without any trouble, keeping my current number and still paying by direct debit, in future just being charged for what I use. He sorted it all out for me and then cheered me further by telling me that my customer loyalty points meant that I got £60 off the cost of a new phone. With another discount it meant that in the end I only had to pay £2.50 for my lovely new phone (which Mrs H3 generously added to my birthday presents) and got 200 free text messages a month for the next 4 months and a years free subscription to Glamour magazine as well. A complete bargain as I’m sure you’ll agree.
We then hooked up with Lynne and did a little window shopping until it was time to meet Andrea and Tina and enjoy a nice meal at that old favourite De Alto. Lynne bought me a bunch of beautiful purple tulips, a big bar of dark chocolate and a crystal butterfly necklace and earring set. Aiden bought me more chocolate (mini Green and Black bars) and Andrea bought me the deluxe version of the Sweeney Todd film soundtrack. From Tina I got a gift voucher and a beaded makeup bag. All in all an excellent stash of presents!
The presents have continued today with a visit from Jane and Leanne. They bought me the UK version of Snow Cake with all the extras (hurrah!), Nanny McPhee, Edward Scissorhands and Bridge to Terabithia. Loads to keep me occupied for a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment