MissLeonie.com

A bit of tumultuous weather this afternoon. The day was sweltering, and by 3:30pm the clouds rolled in and thunder began murmering faintly in the distance. I love a good thunderstorm, so as the clouds crept up and the first drops of rain hit the windows in the roof of my office, I opened the windows to let the fresh air in. As I’m writing this, from the couch at home, dressed in sweats while my soaked skirt is drying over the back of a chair, thunder’s becoming louder and louder. I love it. What’s not to love about a good summer thunderstorm? All that energy! The fresh air, finally!

It was kind of funny watching all the golfers disappear off the greens with the speed of light. It was the smart thing to do though - I doubt there’s many things that work better to guide and attract electricity than golf clubs!

I wasn’t too comfortable with cycling back through open fields, but then I figured the odds of being struck by lightning were pretty slim, and the thunder sounded reasonably far away. I made it home just fine, albeit it slightly soaked. My skirt was almost see-through (see banner), but my top half stayed pretty dry thanks to a generously donated coat. My shoes are fine too - I took them off. Must have looked like a real hobo, skirt clinging to my legs, barefoot, the hoodie of my borrowed coat tied around my face. It was kind of nice though. And it saves me watering the garden with a watering can again!

This stuff is heavenly. It really is. It smells delectable without being so overpowering that perfume is no longer an option. It makes skin soft as a baby’s behind. Except…

I started a new habit a few days ago. I now shower mornings instead of nights. With the “heatwave” (and I use the term mockingly, because Australian backpackers laugh in the face of these European heatwaves) we’re currently experiencing, my hair is plenty dry by the time I get to work, even though I still refuse to use a hairdryer. I used to shower at night so that my hair would dry overnight, but I kind of like jumping in the shower in the morning if I don’t have to worry about that.

Then I decided to use this lovely body butter (I know the tub says it’s for babies, but can you tell I don’t give a damn?)  Again, lovely, except I found myself resembling human fly-paper as a consequence. For the rest of the day, I was picking small insects, dust and whatever other grubby stuff decided to settle on my shins. Cause I also decided to wear a skirt to work today.

So much change, my body butter just can’t handle it. But it’s still lovely.

(image artfully nicked off the Australian Bodyshop website)

Summer has well and truly arrived. On my way to work I see farmers make hay while the sun shines; cattle grazing lazily in the shade of thirsty oak trees. It’s all very picturesque and I suddenly understand what brings hoards of people to my area for holidays.

But. It’s HOT. I keep all the shutters closed to keep out the sunlight. I forgot one of my bedroom windows today, and when I went upstairs to change into shorts earlier, the carpet actually felt hot. So as soon as I finish my freezer pizza (and let me tell you, it was a joy to take it out of the freezer sloooowly) I’m going to eat some icecream, put my feet up and watch Atonement. I figure it’s fitting since the story begins on the hottest day of summer.

Photo is our back fence covered in roses that are slowly dying (remind me to water the garden after the sun goes down) and a bright blue sky. The back garden is about as far as I’m willing to go to take a photo for this post in this kind of heat!

Friday was one of those days where you wake up and just know today’s not going to be your day.

I cycled to work as per usual and lost a contact halfway. Now, I’m half blind without them, so I had to turn around and cycle home for a new one, and then all the way to work again. What should have been an 8 or 9km commute turned into 15km.

When I got to work, late, but still earlier than my manager, I realised I’d forgotten my lunch. So effectively, I’d been home twice and still hadn’t realised I’d left my sandwiches on the kitchen counter. D’oh.

Then on my way home at the end of the day, my bike tyre punctured with 6km to go. Crap. Thankfully it did that quite close to a restaurant, the only building along the way that isn’t a farm. I walked up and asked if I could have a look at their phonebook so I could call my neighbours. You see, my parents are on holiday in France somewhere, a little too far away to come to pick me up. The restaurant people were lovely and even offered to drop me off themselves if for some reason my neighbours couldn’t pick me up. Luckily, the Best Babysit Kid in the World’s dad didn’t mind driving up to help me out. Phew.

I tried to fix the puncture myself but I couldn’t get the inner tube out, it seemed stuck to the outer tyre. So on Saturday, I cycled down to town to our local bike shop. I was on my mum’s bike, leading my own bike along by the handlebars. I could feel it doing this rhythmical rise and fall thing, which made me fear that perhaps the actual wheel had been damaged too. Turns out I was right - I got the tyre fixed, but they had to replace the inner tube instead of fixing it, cause it was all twisted and turned and stuck. Bike still did the rise and fall thing, though, because the rear wheel of my two-weeks-old bike is now egg-shaped. Bleh. Thankfully it’s a factory fault caused by the wonky installation of the inner tube - the puncture wasn’t actually on the side of the wheel that touches the ground, but rather on the inside.

I’m calling the service number tomorrow. I tried yesterday but I got a German answering machine informing me of their opening hours. In German. Crap.

Oh well, two more bikes in the garage. I’ll be right for a few weeks yet!

Just a casual observation:

If you watch a few episodes of Gilmore girls and follow it with a shot of Ice Age The First, you’ll find that essentially, Diego the sabertooth tiger and Luke who pours coffee at the diner are the same character.

Worlds colliding.

…Of Diseases and Ailments of Leonie.

So, turns out the reason I’ve been SO TIRED and feeling a touch depressed and behaving irritably and possibly a little more crabby than what I’m normally like wasn’t actually at all my fault, or anything to do with me as a person. It’s extreme vitamin B12 deficiency, which brings about irritability, tiredness, trouble sleeping, depression, concentration issues and a whole lot of other things - all symptoms. B12 is important for the brain and nervous system, among other things.

It takes something crazy like three years to actually deplete the B12 in your body from healthy levels to the point of danger zone. Healthy levels are between a wide bracket (my doctor’s emphasis) of 150 and 500 something per something. I scored 79. That’s half of what is the very lowest acceptable value in a lenient bracket. Go figure. Guess I haven’t turned into a bitch or stopped being who I was, I just got sick. This puts so much in perspective for me.

I’m now eating loads and loads of bread, meat, fish, dairy and grains to hopefully boost things back into the normal range, as well as taking supplements. More blood tests in six weeks. This had better help or I get what my doctor/friend called “nasty tests that really aren’t fun”. And I thought having six tubes of blood drawn was bad…

Hey, at least I’m creative in my choice of ailments. Vitamin B12 deficiency without anaemia is very uncommon, apparently. And I’m the valedictorian!

I was going to treat you to a picture of a Shetland pony mum with her extremly cute grey foal, just days old. Sadly, my cameraphone decided to bugger up to such an extent that you would not recognise the grey blob in the grass to be a pony. As I was downloading photos off my camera, I came across this one.

Be fair now, it’s almost as good as a baby miniature pony. Puppies!

I took this photo at a pet shop in Melbourne. So cute. Feel a bit sad about the whole pet shop aspect, though. We don’t get cats or dogs at pet stores in the Netherlands, so it always breaks my heart a little. There have been one or two puppies in Australia that I’ve been severely tempted to bring home with me. Of course, that’s when the brain kicked in and I realised that home effectively meant “hardcover suitcase” most of the time. That’s worse than a pet shop - can’t charm the socks off people when you’re stuck in a suitcase.

Look at that little tail!

I’ve been tired all week, but it’s currently a little before 7pm and I feel pretty good. I’m sitting on the couch in my living room in a house that needs some cleaning before my parents return from their holiday, but I’m not too stressed about it. I picked up a parcel at the post office after work, one I sent myself from Australia that I somehow have to pay customs roughly €23 for, and the post office another €12.50 administration costs. I’d get into the details, but they are all in the page-and-a-half long letter of complaint I furiously typed last night. Yet right now, I don’t really care about it.

When I got home the postman dropped off another parcel with a few things I ordered online. I think he was a little bit scared to go up to my door again. Let’s just say that I wasn’t best pleased that I couldn’t have my Aussie parcel the day before (didn’t have €35 cash on me, funny that!). I’ve sent so many parcels home from Australia over the years, and this is the first time I’ve had to deal with any of this. It seems unjust that I have to pay money to send my own stuff home. Now, I wasn’t taking it out on the postman, because I realise it’s not his fault, but I was baffled and confused and asked him a lot of questions. So when he pulled up at my house again today, I think he quietly thanked his lucky stars that I don’t have a rottweiler.

I’m going to pick up my sister from the bus stop now, and then indulge in some Friday night snackfood to kickstart my weekend. I might even watch my new Gilmore girls season 2 DVD while doing it.

Aaaahhh. Time to relax.

Hello!

I’ve been meaning to write a somewhat coherent update, but my brain just isn’t up to it after work. It’s not even that my new job is that straining, it is absolutely lovely, but three months of living it up at hostels, sleeping whenever, has left me a little unpracticed as far as a work routine is concerned.

I love my job, though. It’s a perfectionist nitpicker’s dream! Who said I couldn’t do economics, I’m a financial administration something or other! With no training whatsoever! Fantastic. I mean, I consider myself pretty lucky - I’d say you’d normally need some sort of financial economicsy whatsit degree for this stuff. I blagged my way in and so far I haven’t fallen flat on my face. I don’t put any pressure on myself because this job is just a stepping stone to bigger things - one that I will enjoy to the fullest while it lasts. Don’t get me wrong, I take pride in doing a job well, it’s not like I’m slacking off, but I’m not running in hopes of promotion either.

People are so friendly, interested in introducing me to all these influential people that might be able to help me get into publishing. My office is incredible, the golf course grounds are stunning, and there’s such luxuries as ordering whatever drinks I want from the restaurant on the ground floor for free. Cue me sipping an ice cold ice tea outside in front of the club house, “just going for a bit of air” with full approval from my manager, overlooking nothing but peaceful grassy hills - and a spotted cat, not quite sure where he came from. Anyway, rambling. Tiiiiired. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. For now. Bye!

Unsurprisingly, most of my luggage and most of the stuff I’ve sent home along the way has fitted neatly into one category: books. Here’s a couple I read along the way. I’ve linked them all to Amazon.com cause they’re most likely to let you read a few pages.

• The Lace Reader - Brunonia Barry. It’s got some nice descriptive writing and an intriguing main character. The topics of lace and witchcraft, set in Salem, make for a mysterious novel. The ending’s a little abrupt, but I liked it enough to want to take it home with me. Recommended!
• Things I Want My Daughters to Know - Elizabeth Noble. This novel is about a mother of four daughters who’s been diagnosed with an incurable cancer. Knowing she won’t be there to support her daughters much longer, she writes them all a letter and leaves them her diary. It’s full of heartwarming motherly sayings without being clichéd, mostly because the writer of the diary has a bit of fire up her arse, as Damien Rice would say. I liked it. It’s still a bit chicklit-y, but it works within the genre extremely well. Recommended!
• Eat, Live, Pray - Elizabeth Gilbert One of those books that’ll make you cry, and laugh, and cry a little, and laugh your arse off, and then cry with laughter. It’s spiritual and serious, but lighthearted and humourous. It’s perfect. Elizabeth writes of her travels after a particularly dark time in her personal life. She learns enjoyment in Italy, discipline in India, and how to flow with the crazy old river we call life in Indonesia. I seriously recommend you read this book, both for learning purposes and because you will enjoy as entertainment in its own right, too. Recommended!
• The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler I found this on the floor in the middle of a 28-bed dorm (where, thankfully, I wasn’t sleeping). I’m a bit of an Austenite, so I decided to pick it up. It’s a flimsy story, based on an interesting and novel (no pun intended) form of storytelling. I didn’t care much about the characters, but it’s a nice little read for when you don’t have much else to do. Plus, it’s full of Miss Austen’s wisdom, which never hurts.

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