Revamp

It's one o'clock in the morning, I have to be up at nine, but I can't sleep. I was on the phone to purplerainbow until about eleven, and shipperkitten popped up about an hour ago, so I did have people to keep me company, but now I don't and I'm bored and wide-awake and don't want to read Guards! Guards! because it's so good I want to save some of it for tomorrow.

Tomorrow. When I have to take a shower then take a scythe.

THERE'S NO JUSTICE.

In other news, I have completely revamped my LJ userinfo. I'd been meaning to do it for a while, and this afternoon I actually went all out and made a banner. Which is, I should point out, something I do once in a full moon. And I should also point out that this banner doesn't have any images on it, but that's not the point. I made it and actually uploaded it.

And now I think I should go to bed and stare at the ceiling.

Bracelets, mostly.

All the beeping woke me up, this morning. Alarm clocks and phones all over the place. I stumbled downstairs, stumbled back upstairs, stumbled into the shower... you get the idea. I wasn't late, though. Pedar has taken the week off work for some reason, which I like, and he gave me a lift to the station. I was still half-asleep, idly swinging the scythe, but I did hear a little girl call out, "Is that a sword?" I was so tempted to say, no, actually it's a scythe, but at that point the train came and I had to wake up.

I expected to have a gentle train journey, reading Guards! Guards! and waiting for Becca and Enid (cucharita) to get on at Blundellsands. But no. The train stopped abruptly at Hall Road. "All change." We were turfed off, told something about track defects at Sandhills and made to wait for a bus. However, the people at Hall Road were confused. They thought the bus was coming to Bank Hall. Which it was. So we were all forced back on the same train and on it trundled. Becca and Enid were nowhere to be seen at Blundellsands. I resigned myself to my fate. Thankfully I didn't have to wait long for the bus, but once I was on it, it moved at a snail's pace. It took at least ten minutes from Moorfields and a little girl kept on asking, "Why is that lady carrying an axe?"
"It's not an axe," said her brother. "It's a... I don't know, but skeletons have them."
I was impressed. An excellent definition from a boy who didn't look more than six or so.

When I got into Liverpool, I went up to Waterstone's and Becca and Clare (osiris13) were waiting for me. I was very annoyed by then, walking with the scythe waving in front of me, but Clare looked pleased to see me, and it. We decamped to the café upstairs and talked. The usual gang were there, with the exception of hathy_col, who went back to college today and was missed. We sat up there for a while, because Em (shipperkitten)wanted us to finish off a box of chocolate truffles (a difficult job, but someone has to do it) and Becca wanted to take all the stickers off the scythe. She did this slowly and painstakingly, during which time Hannah (purplerainbow) did things to her phone that involved umbrellas. I didn't understand. Actually, I was half-afraid we'd be thrown out again, because there were six of us and so far only Em had ordered anything. But thankfully this did not take place, and we managed to leave like ordinary dignified people.

We went to the Disney Store (so certain people could drool over the Finding Nemo stuff, and certain other people could attempt to speak Whale) and then to Quiggins. Em bought a rather cute bag, which had a small cat peeking out of the pocket, and Clare bought things and Hannah though about buying things. While we were there, I head a sound like a crackle of paper, then someone striking a match, and I looked up and Hannah was already bouncing. The jukebox in Grin played good stuff today, it seems. Placebo's version of Daddy Cool stayed in my head for the rest of the day.

In Woodstock, I picked up those shiny red patent leather Dr Martens again, and looked at them, and turned them round and round in my hands, then looked at the price tag, then put them back. Becca thinks I should just buy them. I may at some point, when I have £54.99. I couldn't really buy anything today, as I had no money. I didn't even buy any train tickets, relying on them not checking. They didn't. However, I did cave in the Bead Shop, getting some beads - these ones are going to spell out "Veni vidi Vetinari", which is even more difficult to explain than the others have been. I tried explaining the joke in "Vetinari", but it takes so long that both Enid and Clare stared at me blankly when I'd finished explaining. "I never said it was a funny joke!" I yelled in the end, causing a few people to turn round.

While I was dropping beads in my little bowl, I was listening to what everyone else was buying. Hannah was buying beads that spelt out "Duck", which works on so many levels, Enid was buying "cucharita" and "penis" (she's going to thread the beads with the penis pasta she got from Italy) and Becca was buying "Protruding" (it's her favourite word) and "I'm a freak." I couldn't buy that last one as the lack of apostrophe would annoy me. My Assassins' Guild bracelet annoys me for that reason. Talking of my own bracelets, I didn't have mine - Assasins' Guild, loup-garou or dangerous mind - because Hannah walked off with them on Tuesday. Today, I was standing idling looking at beads and slowly became aware that Hannah was calmly undoing more of my bracelets from around my wrist and disappearing with them. I was startled. I got them back, though - they were the small red one from the Hanuman Mandir and the pretty pretty one made for me by language_idling.

We emerged triumphant in the end, weighed down with beads. I have some more thread to try to re-string my "Slashy happy people" one again, and some pretty glass beads for the new one.

Lunch was a complicated affair. Firstly, we lost Clare and Emily on the way up Bold Street. Fairly soon we were all yelling, "Clemily!" and "DEATH!" and "Hold up the scythe!" We found them eventually, and they went to Sayers while other people went to Subway and yet other people went to Home & Bargain, but we all found each other eventually, fed and watered. I had half of a gingerbread bat. Mmm. Nice.

After that things became colder (in a strictly meterological sense) and greyer. We went to Schuh, where Em actually bought shoes, and Hannah and Becca were somewhat annoyed that the chunky purple leather 'n' metal boots they always pick up and lust after had been sold. Clare took the opportunity to introduce me to the world's most hideous pair of shoes. Neon yellow stilettos. Ugh.

I think we went to WHSmith and to Next as well, because of various vouchers and all of that (and also, Enid and Hannah seem to want to apply for every job in Merseyside) and we went up to the train station and bid our goodbyes. I want to do something for Hallowe'en to keep me amused while the usual suspects are at SG6. I'd quite like a party, actually. Will have to talk to my parents about it. I mentioned it in passing to Hannah, who is offline at the moment so I'll have to ring her. Interestingly, she has a family friend staying with her at the moment who is from Indianapolis, and what's more, is from Carmel, the district in which Nupur and her family live. I should make inquiries.

Enid, Becca and I had to get the Ormskirk train from Central to Sandhills, get off, get the rail replacement bus to Bank Hall, and then get on the train from there to Southport. I have never seen so many people on a station platform. It was packed. We ran, and we got seats. We were lucky. The train was very very congested. But we were all tired, and at the stage where we were talking about things like beads and clouds, and at Blundellsands, I said goodbye to the other two and came home to Freshfield by myself. A good day, all told.

I still haven't finished Guards! Guards!. I should, methinks. I love the way it's a Watch book, but at the same time isn't, and Sam Vimes is really a very plausible alcoholic.

Hannah still has my bracelets, but I now have hers - the flattish purple one, and the other purple one that says, "Hannah." I find this surreal in the extreme.