Another lazy weekend

Oh I've been meaning to write, but just haven’t been able to find the time, work is just relentless. I’m feeling quite overwhelmed if truth be told and find I spend increasing amounts of time day dreaming about winning the lottery and having the luxury of jacking it all in. I spent the entire day at home yesterday just chilling. It was a pretty nice day – 47F - and I should have forced myself outside for a while, but I think I just needed to relax for mental health reasons, so instead I caught up on all the programs stacking up on my DVR. So much for the resolution to watch less TV!! I was much less lethargic today; I worked out this morning and then walked downtown to stock up on Heinz baked beans and tomato soup from Myers of Keswick. That little shop maybe pricey, but beans on toast is still a damn sight cheaper than most meals I could choose to eat, I’ve heard there’s been a run on baked beans in the UK with everyone in saving mode. I can’t say I blame them, I’ve been doing my utmost to cut costs these past couple of months and I am certainly not one of those contributing to recession relief by spending my way out of the slump, but to be honest I’m always a bit of a cheapskate in the first couple of months of the year and I am tired from work, so I’ve been relaxing at home a lot. Last Saturday night was even more thrilling than this weekend; I filed my tax return ;-)

I definitely got my share of vitamin D today. Have I mentioned I found out that I am deficient? I had a full on health check up in early December, a perk the company used to offer certain levels of staff until this year, when they said the rising costs of healthcare meant they could no longer afford to offer it as a benefit. Fortunately I managed to sneak in one last check up and the results had arrived when I got back to New York after Christmas and all is good except for the vitamin D thing and my bad cholesterol (LDL?) is slightly elevated. I was gobsmacked about that one given I am pretty healthy in my eating habits and assumed it must be a hereditary trait, although my mother was all “don’t blame us, we’ve been checked and we don’t have high cholesterol,” when I told her, which quite frankly I find hard to believe since the pair of them have never met a tub of Haagen Dazs they didn’t like.

As for my vitamin D, well I am at 16IUs – that’s international units darlings – but they should be in the region of 32-100IUs and the recommended treatment was that I spend 15-20minutes outside twice a week. Erm…hello, I walk 3miles to work every morning, that’s 45minutes outside every day!! I tell you they’d be hard pushed to find another office drone that spends more time outside than me. I can only assume that since its winter there are insufficient expanses of flesh exposed to the elements to absorb the necessary nutrients, so fearing rickets I bought some supplements to try and boost my levels. I also read a BBC article the other day about vitamin D can also be a ‘mental health aid’ and that people with low levels ‘were more than twice as likely to have impaired understanding.’ “That explains a lot,” quipped my mother. Ahhh she’s just HILARIOUS isn’t she, a regular comedian!! Not!!

Oh I do sound like an old fart talking about my cholesterol and my vitamin D deficiencies don’t I. I recently noticed a new found habit of talking about my ailments when Melissa and I went over to Long Island City to meet Ash for drinks and we spent a good ten minutes talking about cholesterol. Apparently Ash’s husband has hereditary high cholesterol too. Next thing I know I'll be complaining about my bunions!! Perish the thought!! Ash and her husband have a lovely apartment; it’s a converted factory, so it’s all high ceilings and big windows. It kind of reminded me of another friend’s old rental apartment in the West Village, but bigger and a bit nicer since it has a better configuration with the two bedrooms being down a hallway instead of off the living room. They also have 2 bathrooms – an en suite and a guest bathroom, a massive walk in closet, a roof terrace with phenomenal views of Manhattan and the piece de resistance…..a utility room with a washer/dryer!!!

A washer/dryer!!

Sigh!!

What’s so impressive about that you may wonder, well most New York apartments don’t have washing machines inside the apartment, oh no, at best there’s usually a laundry room in the building - which is what Melissa has. She says Sunday nights in there can be bedlam - but a lot of people like me have to schlep all the way over to the laundrette of a weekend, so having a washing machine INSIDE the apartment is your average New Yorker’s idea of bliss. See, contradictory to what you might think about New Yorkers it doesn’t actually take much to make us happy, just a laundry room to call our own ;-)