Surviving the Big Smoke

The Lives of Others is such a good film about the stasi in GDR during the 80s. Ulrich Mühe is so convincing as the meticulous secret policeman spying on a playwrite and his wife. Apparently Mühe was once the subject of similar sureveillance himself as an actor living in East Germany. Another fantstastic performance is from Sebastian Koch who plays the playwriter under surveillance. He played the Nazi official in Black Book (another great film). The Lives of Others shows how oppressive regimes try and fail to stifle human expression and emotion, as do other recent films - Black Book and Pan's Labyrinth. They serve as a reminder that superpowers such as USA, UK and Iran continue to exert their regimes on the world with no regard for the real feelings of its citizens.

Blush's (Bush and Blair) idea of terrorism seems to be mutating fast to include most of the rest of the world. First it was Afghanistan, then Iraq, then Iran, now Somalia and probably Pakistan, Sudan, Indonesia to follow- as I learnt from the BBC this week.
They are obsessed with that word and can't wait to deploy troops to deal with it.
Why can't they accept there are internal problems in these countries and the answer is not to bomb the B-jesus out of them?
They could both do with learning a little bit more about other cultures and religions and spend their money on more constructive things both in their own countries and abroad.
The main problem here is the constraint that their own religious beliefs have put on sensible thoughts and willingness to learn. And we voted these neurotics into power? Now that's terrifying.

Today I had to train a room of 20 insurance brokers how to use an internet search engine. That was scary!
My trick was to order a yummy lunch from here so they went away with pleasurable memories.
I wonder if it worked.
I only got 1 quarter of a sandwich - but it was delish.

At Luton Airport last week, before going through the hand luggage check, I verified my bag was the right size and took out all cosmetics (since when has a terrorist overcome a cabin crew with a powder compact?). No one said anything about feminine hygiene products. I had just bought a new box of tampons in the airport shop for the flight (costing £3.50). This showed up on the x-ray. The officer was suspicious:
"What are these?"
I explained.
"You are not allowed medicine apart from .."(points to laminated list).
"It's not medicine".
"What is it for then?"
I began to explain but was stopped ..
"Why did you buy them before the hand luggage check? You can get them the other side."
How the ... was I supposed to know there is shop the other side or that I couldn't take them through?
"Well I'm going to have to take them away. You can get them back if you apply in writing"
So 2 minutes later I was buying another box in the shop "the other side" (this time £1.80 - bargain).
Has Luton airport become a gun state full of anti-tampon staff on a power trip?
P.S. I later found a lip balm (on the banned list) in the bottom of the bag that I forgot to take out. Bless.

So what's new?
I have consolidated my citybitchdom by getting a job in the Sales department. This will mean a whole new power-driven wardrobe of course, although I aim to be a bit more bohemian than the average Sales Executive (suggestions welcome).
I will be starting in 5 weeks time so I still have my Customer services hat on at the moment (which is not half as stylish as the Sales one will be). I have been asked not to tell my colleagues until they find a replacement - so keep it under your hat for the moment (trilby or panama).

This weekend, as an attempt to start thinking in a more businessy way, I went to see the film "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the room" which I actually found very interesting. I had never really known what the whole story was about, so this was a really easy and entertaining way to find out in just 2 hours. Ken Lay, the CEO hid his corrupt business practice under a veil of religious "morality" - sounds like someone else we know? - in fact he was a personal friend of the Bush family. Definitely recommend it - especially in the light of Lay's and Skilling's (another former CEO) sentencing last week. So at least know I won't look totally ignorant if a client references it in a meeting.
Any further tips on how to bluff your way in the business world much appreciated.

4 Places I have lived
Salvador, Brazil
Santiago, Chile
Barcelona
Selly oak, Birmingham

4 Jobs I have had
Picture Framer
Florist's assistant
Spanish teacher
Wardrobe assistant

4 Favourite Films
Bladerunner
Do the Right Thing
What's up Doc?
Hannah and her Sisters

4 Favourite CDs
Chavez Ravine - Ry Cooder
A Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Blue - Joni Mitchell

4 Places I have been
Moscow
Sierra Nevada, Andalusia
Trébas-les-bains, near Albi in Garonne
Porthcurno, Cornwall

4 Things I love to do
Singing
Playing piano
Running
Going to the theatre

4 Favourite Items of Clothing
Red dress from Hobbs
Purple cords from M&S
Pink jumper from Jigsaw
Pink summer skirt from Hobbs

4 Favourite bike rides
Hever Castle, Kent
Crystal Palace
Marylebone High Street
Shaw's Corner, Ayot St. Lawrence

4 Favourite Books
Bilgewater - Jane Gardam
Atonement - Ian McEwan
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning - Laurie Lee
A Room with a View - E M Forster

4 of My Favourite Boyfriends
Iqbal from primary school
Andy the fiddle player
Will the amateur dramatic
Tim the cycling builder

I went here today with my sister Jane, Mike and my parents. It's where all the middle-class people go on Sundays to show off their dogs, babies, or hangovers. Mum bought me a necklace from Xenia and Zan's stall. Then I found some earrings to go with it (how exciting!) in a shop called Mad Fashion Bitch (must be a distant relative). We had bagels and hot chocolate from Jones' Dairy. It was divine.