Jessa sent me a penny on Friday, August 13th. I somehow lost my notes and now that I’ve found them it’s almost Thanksgiving, an appropriate time to finish up this little exercise, since I think feeling lucky is akin to feeling gratitude.

And that’s what this penny project was for me, a reminder to feel gratitude. That penny was not the Ray Bradbury butterfly; it was nothing in and of itself. It was a bit of metal in my pocket; it was a string around my finger to remind me. In other words, the penny didn’t bring me luck, but it reminded me of luck. It reminded me of chance and of mystery in the world, and being open to appreciating it all. It reminded me to let good things happen, and how one good thing propagates another.

I feel lucky for a million things: amazing parents, family, and friends. Little things to enjoy, too: all the artists who make great music, and being able to afford an iPod so I can hold all that art in my hand at once; good coffee in the morning; tomatoes in my garden; new job I like; being at the gym and pushing my body; the cats that come to me when I go for a walk in the night air. And I feel hugely lucky for the freedom I feel.

Paige often tells me that everything happens for a reason. I like for her to tell me this. My interpretation is not that I can deny any responsibility or power over circumstances. Rather, I think that whatever happened didn’t have to happen; it wasn’t fated to be that way; it could have gone differently. But it did happen, and so I try to learn my lessons from it. I acknowledge, I analyze—think and feel. I ask myself: how will you make it go next time? Can you change? How much control do we have over ourselves and our lives?

I feel lucky to have found love not once, but twice. The first taught me the power of luck & of being open. I glimpsed the genius of love & knew that I wanted to make love central in my life. My first love taught me that love could die or you could add to luck those important elements of being grateful, being conscious of it, & working at it; taught me that maybe you could nurture love, everyday, & keep it alive. I learned these things and then opened my heart, and luckily, Drew opened his heart too. He is my great love, my daily, lucky, vital love. We keep it going. Our love is a collaborative project, a great work of art. It is the biggest and best thing in my life.

Week Wednesday 14 -21July 2004

wednesday afternoon

someone just gave me a lucky penny
it’s in a plastic box
I’ve emailed Jessa and Tom to tell them which makes me smile.
i like getting presents from strangers, or kind of strangers, it’s almost like they are doing something nice without expecting anything in return.

thursday
sitting in the churchyard

my sore knee

in the evening
really good luck with scanning my photos,
tried two, they were beautiful, the dark ones work.

friday

the doctor says my knee will heal up, the cartilage will take a few weeks hopefully. sends me for physiotherapist at the hospital and says not too much walking church courtyard in the middle of the shopping centre, bought some new glasses and was lucky with the optician who tested my eyes, he was very patient, so often they rush you through it and you are stuck with the results for years.
there was lavender hanging out of someone’s garden, i brushed against it as i walked past
emma cooked me diner mmmmmm.
bumped into Simon

saturday
the morning

on my own in the garden

the twenty spotted lady bird

this is the walk home (see accompanying photographs)

tuesday

hard drive magically started working.
got a job
cows in the field from the train
burped up my fish oil tablet, reminding me of the fact that I ate fish, made my mouth taste of it all day. reminded me as always of the fishing days. any animal smells for the rest of the day reminded me of it.
smiley honest conversation with Alice in Swindon. interesting to hear how she’s doing and where she is going, lucky when people take time with each other to have a chat.
lucky with going shopping found some swimming shorts, great co lour red, but I am a bit worried my bit and pieces will show up in them. will have to wait and see.
amazing sun shine for my non office day.
feeling a wee bit ill
looking forward to curry
also new wallet to hold my lucky penny

weds morning

waking up with a sore throat my day is not lucky
i try to remember last night, how lucky i was to go to bed in my own comfortable bed.
playing music last night with my friends last night, looking forward to later in the summer playing again
lucky to have things to look back on and forward to.
feeling demoralized and drained by work, lucky enough to have a home to get back to and lovely people to call on the phone.
worried about subba my grandad and his time in hospital.
thinking about the large effect our simple can decisions have on others.

First sighting of penny (actually 2 p. coin): Sunday 1 August 2004

I have come back to Cambridge late from a mad family time in London to find the lucky penny my friend Daniel Landau promised to send me from Bristol. I see from the envelope that it has already travelled quite far and I feel very lucky to be the present recipient.

First full day with penny: Monday 2 August 2004

With or without this penny I feel I have an enormous amount of luck that I could almost get superstitious about, but I know I can’t live as if I am waiting for things to balance out. My late great aunt and uncle, lucky enough to spend more than sixty happy years together (and then being lucky enough to die within days of each other), were famous for saying: “Enjoy your life – whether you like it or not!” It’s not luck we need but an awareness of what we have to do to make the best use of what we have.

We talk about family and friends and what we are going to do with them (on Friday, the weekend, the rest of our lives). We talk about cleaning the fridge, or more depressingly, fixing the shower, or with a rush of exhilaration, moving house. (It would save on a wedding venue…) We talk about work and all we have to do and all that we want to do, and the imaginary acknowledgements we will write for each other, and the unborn babies we need to find presents (presence) for, and what to do about the ivy growing around our windows like Sleeping Beauty’s ivory tower. Today, the lucky penny is held in the zipped pocket of my bag, with the other coins, symbols of what helps us to live like this, this wonderful life. (To bring the fairy-tale down to brass tacks.)

Second full day with penny: Tuesday 3 August 2004

I have just been telling my beloved David that this lucky penny may inspire me to try to lead a more exciting life on weekdays, as I don’t want this journal to be boring. He says that there is a discussion to be had about a boring day being lucky, I suppose along the lines of the curse: “May you live in interesting times!”

A lucky thing happened at the gallery where I work today, although not involving me, it could be linked to a lucky penny on the premises. A man and his uncle, living in different areas of London, both decided independently from each other to bring their respective families to Cambridge to see the gallery today, and found themselves (and each other) outside the front door at the same time. They were all a bit freaked out. I get the impression that none of us wants to think about coincidences like this too much.

Lucky stuff that happened to me today? I suppose it depends what spin you put on it… had an argument, but managed to retreat upstairs in time for us both to recover and look forward to seeing each other again (oh, the luck/luxury of being able to have enough (head-) space…)

Third full day with penny: Wednesday 4 August 2004

What can I say? I don’t know what you would count as lucky… I count my lucky stars (I nearly wrote ‘starts’ there!) today and everyday for my own real life love story, my family, my friends – every phone call has made me happy today which is not something we can say everyday – I even had my first ‘type talk’ phone-call at my University job.

Fourth full day with penny: Thursday 5 August 2004

Today I showed my colleague the Lucky Penny website to explain what I am doing and she asked: “Do you believe in luck?” I wasn’t sure what to say. The rational part of me would like to believe that things happen for reasons that we can explain, but I think we try to cover all bases in the spirit of openmindedness, and make wishes, if not prayers. Perhaps a lot of this is down (or up) to positive thinking.
Tonight, while David went inside to bring us more food, I leaned back and looked up at the beautiful turning sky over our garden: “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight…”. Those old childhood incantations that stay with us, like charms, or keep turning up at unexpected moments, like “bad” or “lucky” pennies. I know that we are taught to be wary about revealing our wishes, but I wished that things would feel more settled soon. We have been thinking about a lot of change lately – trying to arrange our wedding, working out what to do about our house, wondering about career prospects, etc. – but I suppose that it’s lucky we are able to think about change before having to just get on with it.

Fifth full day with penny: Friday 6 August 2004

Today David’s oldest friends and their children who are here from abroad came to Cambridge. We went punting on the river, the boys (big and small) taking turns to command the boat, making us laugh with each idiosyncratic technique. Later, we were lucky enough (or not unlucky) to have a relatively easy journey to London and we got to our friends’ house in time for the Friday night reunion with various friends from abroad. Much catching-up ensued (punctuated by political discussion), while the children (almost outnumbering us now) bounced on the giant trampoline into the middle of the starry night.

Sixth full day with penny: Saturday 7 August 2004

For once the adults woke up before the youngsters and we made our way to Regent’s Park for the ‘innocent’ festival. Luckily we found a patch in the shade and everyone did more eating and drinking and drawing and playing football, while a far-off DJ played world music and the shadows drew longer and longer. Eventually we crammed into the cars again back to our other friends’ house where we had a barbecue/barmitzvah celebration in the garden until the babies put themselves to sleep.

Seventh full day with penny: Sunday 8 August 2004

We all met at the London Eye and waited in a queue for an hour under the hot hot sun (despite having booked). The only lucky thing I can say about this is that managing to get all 19 of us into the same capsule seemed like a bonding exercise serving to unite us further as a ‘tribe’ in amongst the crowds. I think we all could do with that feeling part of something – that we won’t be left behind or out, that food and shelter and sun cream will always be shared. I felt lucky to be up there – seeing the city I grew up in from an angle that seems to help it make sense. It is funny how disorientated we can feel at home.

I separated from the group and went to my parents’ house, feeling lucky that for once there was noone else at home. I feel very lucky to have grown up in a warm and welcoming house full of brothers and significant others, but sometimes I feel luckier to have my parents’ full attention to be able to have a conversation! I feel luckiest of all that David comes to pick me up and we can drive off into the sunset together!

This is turning into rather a long diary entry, but it was rather an eventful day and I wish everyone could be lucky enough to have a day that would make them as happy as this one made me.

We went on to see our friends who are expecting their first baby any day now. We nearly put out five chairs and I joked: “She’s not here yet!” but it does feel as if she is really here with us, just curled up in her mother’s lap, and not yet in the open air.
: “Why do kangaroo mothers hate it when it rains?”
: “Because the kids have to play inside…”
We curved round North London back to the gathering of the tribes, just in time for pizza. We all crowded into a bedroom upstairs to watch the video of the hosts’ wedding nine years ago. The children wanted to know why they weren’t at the party - a difficult question! The grown-ups smiled at themselves on the tv smiling, dancing, giving speeches, having fun. Older and wiser, with more grey hairs and gravitas, they told the little girls to sit down here, don’t block the view, yes that is Mommy, yes he is smoking, yes I still have that shirt… I look forward to our wedding and to all the meetings of our friends and family, even if there will be less wildness on our parts, and a constantly changing guest list. There is something to be said for continuity, and making good times, and knowing when to leave, and being lucky in love. There is not a lot to be said in the face of goodbyes, apart from “See you soon” and the clasping of hands and noisy kisses and tears in the eyes. I don’t know about luck, I suspect it is all about love.
We get into cars and drive off into the night, and soon find ourselves in Cambridge where we supposedly make our lives, and new friends, and work, and our own luck. We make ourselves ready for bed, and the new day.

Perhaps we need projects like this to remind us of what we feel lucky for, but it has also reminded me of how lucky I feel when my days are so full that I don’t keep a diary. We do live in interesting times – may we enjoy it whether we like it or not!

Epilogue:

Our friend has asked that I tell you that their daughter was born today, Wednesday 11 August 2004 (luckily). She is reported to be beautiful and as yet unnamed, as we all once were.

Jessa Leff

/****************** Monday 5th July ****************/

Having spent the previous night at Steven & Gaelle’s, we had to return to Cardiff. As luck would have it, I imagined that our train was thirty minutes earlier than it actually was, so we had time for coffee before we left Manchester. The journey down to Cardiff was so uneventful and punctual that I suspect this was in fact the good luck kicking in.

/****************** Tues 6th July ****************/

The telephone rang early this morning and Jackie was asked if she would accept a commission from a curator at the museum. She was asked to produce some copies of paintings on silk. This work will be so welcome, well the money will be, I suspect the actual work will be less so.

There is a public launch event tomorrow evening for a new Web Site at work and I am writing the web application that will drive the site and usually this takes a couple of weeks. I received the material I need to start work on the application last Thursday afternoon. This left, after some days off, one day and one hour to complete the application. Normally this would have been impossible, but guess what? I managed to get it finished just in time this evening and so I will still have my day off tomorrow. I am definitely feeling very lucky now.

/****************** Wed 7th July ****************/

Started the day with a couple of appointments at the doctor’s this morning. Something had been worrying me for a few months and wasn’t going away on its own. I then felt very lucky to find out that it wasn’t anything serious at all.

Went to Kitchens in Cardiff to get some more espresso pods for the machine. Couldn’t find any on the shelves in the usual place so went to ask the shop assistant if they had been moved. The shop assistant explained that they had decided to stop stocking them but decided to check with a colleague. The colleague had just been packing the remaining pods into boxes to send off somewhere and was just about to seal the box when we arrived ‘in the nick of time’ to buy the pods.
Went to the cinema (because I was having a day-off) to see what was on and found out there was a screening of ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ on in the afternoon so went to see that.

After watching ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′, we watched ‘The Cooler’ (all about luck), and as it was getting late, and the weather much worse, we ran to Queen Street station to get the train home. There are not so many trains at that time of night so I think we were so lucky to see one pull in. We ran up the stairs to the platform and managed to jump on board just before the doors closed. We were lucky to get a train at all that night. The weather had got much worse and a crane had been blown over on the line a few hundred metres after the junction where our train turns off from that line.

/****************** Thursday 8th July ****************/

Went to Bristol today to go into the shed. Feeling very lucky at this point in the week and so I was delighted to find that my first train was early and my second train was a previous train that was late so I managed to get to work early whilst leaving at the same time. Feeling lucky (I didn’t ask myself if I felt that way) I decided that today was the day to send some emails I had been putting off for a while. There was no fallout, so I guess the lucky penny worked again.

/****************** Friday 9th July ****************/

Had some ’spare’ time today and decided to have another go at finding a bug in a search engine that I wrote about nine months ago. The bug has been eluding me for about six months. I had the lucky penny although that wasn’t the reason I decided to go looking for the bug. After staring at the screen for what seemed like hours , I finally noticed my stupid mistake from months earlier. I can’t decide if it was the lucky penny or just persistence. Not having anything else happen today that I could in any way describe as lucky I decided to mention it. Anyhow, I was pretty pleased to fix the problem.

/****************** Sat 10th July ****************/

Jackie has been waiting to get a space for her final show and at last she has one confirmed. The only problem being that the room is full of tables and chair that are arranged so they just touch the ceiling. These need to be moved to a new home today so down to UWIC for a fun day shifting furniture. Rather dismayed to find behind the stacked tables are some heavy, metal lockers and some bastards had left their stuff in some of the lockers. Having managed to walk a locker a few feet we were very lucky to find a tea trolley. Loading lockers onto the tea trolley felt really nice and they glided around the corridors like floating coffins.

Having moved the furniture, we went for a drink down at the bar we normally go to in the bay (haven’t got a clue what it is called) and decided to start sketching out an idea for a kitchen ‘thing’. Anyway, Jackie liked it and so luckily we avoided having an expensive, or cheap even, fitted kitchen. A very lucky escape there!

We had agreed to meet some friends this evening at Chapter and whilst trying to find somewhere to park, drove alongside Neil and Roger, in their car. I haven’t seen Neil or Roger for quite a long time so was very happy to bump into them tonight. Roger was composing the music for Earthfall’s latest show at Chapter the following week and had popped in to drop something off and stayed for a drink. I think it was so lucky to meet them this evening.

/****************** Sun 11th July ****************/

Spent the entire day in bed with a stack of DVDs and food and drink. How lucky am I?

and on Monday…
Packed up the coin to send onto next person and the Internet connection died until the afternoon of the following day. I am missing my coin already.

Luck, Luck, Luck

I received the lucky penny on Wednesday 16th June 2004. It was presented to me by the finder, Adele Prince, herself. I was working on the Lucky World website at the time. Before I received the coin that day, I had baked some muffins: red cherry and almond flavour. They turned out to be a bit too sweet and didn’t rise that well, but muffins are generally lucky; I enjoyed eating them all the same. Our friend, Nicholas Watton visited and I shared them with him; that was lucky for him.

I didn’t actually get my lucky coin out of its envelope until Thursday, so I think that is when my luck should begin. I placed the coin in my pocket: I think this must be the best way to keep a lucky coin to receive optimum luck exposure. On Thursday morning I was aware of the coin stowed in my pocket as I went about my usual daily routine. Inevitably, I began to contemplate how or if it would actually bring me any luck. I had my usual morning pee and I was pleased that none went onto the floor. Was this down to the lucky coin?

It is easy to be sceptical about luck. I am a big football fan and, in the evening, there was a big match between England and Switzerland in the Euro 2004 Championships. I was supporting England, who needed to win after unluckily losing to France in their opening game, in extra time (Zidane scored twice within a couple of minutes, after England led for most of the game). On this occasion England did actually beat the Swiss 3-0, and I should be really happy. I did have the penny nestling in my pocket throughout the game and they did win the match, but was it luck (and if it was luck, was it my luck or England‘s collective luck)? You could say that the Swiss were crap and remove any luck from the equation completely. I prefer to say that this result was not down to luck, but came about because of the team’s skill and determination (but I would say that, because I want to make my team seem brilliant) In fact, there was a bit of luck involved when the ball ricocheted into the Swiss net off the back of the Swiss goalkeeper’s head, after Rooney’s driving shot rebounded off the goal post.

Friday

Still working on the Lucky World website and I have not had a chance to stop for lunch. Adele makes me some beans on toast. Mmmmm…I am lucky…followed by a Twix and a cup of tea. Double lucky!

That evening, Fingathing-a music group from Manchester-were playing at the ICA in London. Adele and I know Fingathing from when we lived in Manchester. We first met them through Chris Drury, who we used to work with in Manchester, at the UCI Central Box Office (or orifice) and, subsequently, I have been involved in designing their website. We were fortunate enough to be put on the guest list, thanks to Chris, but the most fortunate thing was that Adele and I arrived early to have a drink before the show and we bumped into Sneaky, Dan and Chris, who were having some food before they went on. With us living in London, and them being on tour, we had not had a chance to sit down and talk with them for ages. So this was really lucky! The show was great: great atmosphere; everyone loved it! I loved Dan and Sneaky’s duelling on the sampler and bass; my ears were ringing after. Byron, Fingathing’s promoter, gave me a copy of their new album, ‘Fingathing and the Big Red Nebula Band’, which is fantastic!! Good night all round!

Saturday

Curry, wine and football; what could be better? Holland v Czech Republic; great match.

Sunday

Visited Walthamstow. I think Walthamstow is a lucky place: it is Adele and my new town-to-be. Recently we decided that we are going to move house because our current tenancy expires on the 18th July and we don’t want to renew it because it is too small and cold. Initially we wanted to find somewhere close to where we are currently living. However, Islington is very expensive for a bigger space, so we decided to broaden our search. We looked at quite a few places and we were interested in a place in Highbury, but were still looking. By chance, I saw and advert in the Evening Standard, for a two bedroom place for a good price in North London. Unusually for me, I impulsively got out my mobile phone on the bus and made arrangements to see the place the next day. When I got home to tell Adele about the appointment, I realised I had made a mistake. The flat was in Walthamstow, six miles from Islington, and I had got this confused with Stoke Newington, which is only about a mile from Islington. We thought we may as well see it anyway; it was a good job too because we loved it straight away and decided to take it. I think we were impressed with how welcoming the place seemed. The owner’s partner and his daughter showed us around and they were really friendly and warm; they even gave us a quick tour of the area.

Our visit on this day was to meet the owner and pay our deposit. Again, she was really friendly and warm, and she introduced us to her friends and family. She asked us why we were moving to Walthamstow, and laughed when I told her it was a lucky accident. After that, we went down to the Nag’s Head-soon to be our local pub-and we had a drink and listened to the live jazz music.

Monday

I forwarded references from my former work colleagues to our new landlady. The references were very positive. I worked on the Lucky World website for most of the day. In the evening, England played Croatia, and they won.

Tuesday

Worked at Upstage.

Wednesday

More Lucky World website designing. Adele won an art commission that she had applied for; this was great news. Is luck contagious?

Thursday

Wednesday was the final day of my lucky coin ownership, and today I had to forward it on to the next Lucky Coin owners. Jackie and Ben are Adele and my good friends, who live in South Wales. Between them, I couldn’t choose who to send it to: they live together, so I thought that they could share the penny, and therefore share the luck. This was, after all, not a lucky penny, but a lucky TWO penny, so there would be enough luck to go around. Jackie is currently writing a thesis for her MA studies, so I thought any luck may be useful right now.

Spent most of the day working on the Lucky World website, so it was after 7pm before I sent it. I just caught the postman as he was collecting the post. Lucky, huh? Well, NO actually! That evening, England played against Portugal and got knocked out. After leading for most of the match, they lost in a penalty shoot-out. Damn! I might have given the lucky penny away too early; if only I’d kept it for one more night. Has the luck now deserted me?

Conclusion

Over the past seven and a bit days, I wouldn’t say that this coin has changed my life, but it has changed the way I look at my life, and made me appreciate all the good things. And one benefit of minding the penny is that focussing on all these little good things has possibly made me a little happier.

So, what is luck? I think that luck is very personal. To me, I think luck is something pleasant which comes about in an unexpected manner. I like walking out of my house to go somewhere (usually in a hurry because I tend to leave things until the very last minute) and the bus that I need to catch arrives just as I get to the bus stop. This, to me, is lucky. I don’t think this coin has increased this ratio of pleasant surprises. However, there is one lucky talisman that I would be lost without, without it, my potential for lucky experiences would almost definitely be reduced. Most of my treasured experiences over the past seven and a bit days and over the past seven and a bit years have all been shared with my lucky gem, Adele. She is lucky for me and makes me feel lucky!

Monday June 7, 2004

On my way back from my ‘Spinning’ class at the gym, I fancied something fresh and juicy to add to my usual porridge (it does keep you going for the whole morning, but can be so dull) so popped in to the shop downstairs to buy some raspberries. I looked in my purse and realised I didn’t have enough money. Instead of putting the berries back, I thought I would ask the shopkeeper if I could give him the rest of the money later; he said that was fine. It’s quite unusual for a shopkeeper to let you do that these days, but he does know me and I think he likes me: he once commented that I have a complexion ‘like peaches and cream’ (that is a compliment, isn‘t it?). I blended the raspberries with some strawberries that I had already and poured the mixture over the porridge; it was delicious.

I was flicking through ‘Art Review’ in Borders and saw an article about Gilbert and George. It was lucky I saw this because it reminded me that I had dreamt about them last night: I dreamt I was interviewing them; I was then able to put this into my DreamDiary.

I just had a phone call from Tate Modern: I have an interview on Friday morning for a part-time job! That would be great because I could make some money, but still have plenty of time to make my own work. Better take my lucky penny with me.

Edward has really got into making muffins recently. He bought a recipe book and a tin and away he goes! The only problem is (erm, is it really a problem?!) that we’re eating loads and loads of muffins. He has just made some strawberry and white chocolate muffins. Now, I really am a lucky girl!

Tuesday June 8, 2004

Oh my goodness, how hot is it?! Edward and I set off on the bus towards Marble Arch, to catch a coach to Oxford. It was so hot on the bus that I had to sit really still and not touch anything, thankfully the coach part of the journey was air-conditioned so we could stop pretending to be statues. Oxford is absolutely gorgeous: when we got off the coach, we just kind of sighed and felt instantly relaxed-so different from stuffy, fast-paced London Town. We spent some time soaking up the fresh air and sunshine, then went to ‘Modern Art Oxford’ to see the Mike Nelson exhibition. Neither of us had been to MAO before, so we were able to appreciate the exhibition totally, not knowing how the space is normally laid out. Mike Nelson’s installation was amazing: we ventured into an old cinema corridor which eventually led us to a wooden shaft buried deep in some sand. It was all quite disorientating and I kept having moments of realisation as I linked the spaces together. It was very tempting to wade into the sand, but it was a good job I didn’t, as it wasn’t as deep as it appeared, but was actually a huge theatrical type construction. Amazing.

The main reason we had gone to Oxford was to go to the Garsington Opera. The company had been rehearsing at Jerwood Space when I worked there, and I had been able to get tickets to the dress rehearsal. Garsington is outside Oxford, but Lizzy and her Mum were going too, so we were able to catch a lift with them. The opera is performed on a stage in the grounds of a beautiful house, and the set is kind of built around the house, so it feels like a part of the performance; we were there to see Cosi Fan Tutti. Neither Edward or I had been to the opera before, so what a lovely first opera experience to have! During the interval, everyone piled out into the grounds and had a picnic: some people even had tables and chairs! I was amazed at how powerful the singers’ voices were: they make it all seem so effortless.

Wednesday June 9, 2004

After yesterday’s excitement and glamour, today seemed very dull and uneventful! I did, however, spend some time thinking about my friend Annette, who was getting married at 11am; we were unable to make it to the wedding, but I thought about her really hard.

I gave the flat a bit of a tidy; the crap really mounts up. I decided to take the over-flowing coin jar (not lucky coins, just coins that won’t fit in my purse or Edward’s pockets and are therefore put in a jar) to the special machine at Sainsburys: you put all your coins in a tray, tip them in and it counts them all up for you and gives a token which you can use to buy your shopping. The bag of coins was really heavy and weighed me down in the heat. When I got to Sainsburys, there were two men with boxes full of coins, I guessed they must be emptying the machine, so decided to come back later. When I came back, they were still there, so I asked what they were doing. I noticed they had McDonalds shirts on, and it turns out they were putting the change into the machine, not taking it out. This meant they would be another hour or so, and I had to carry the big bag of coins back home! Damn McDonalds, can’t they go to the bank with their change?!

Thursday June 10, 2004

I went for a really good, hard run this morning. Recently I have been suffering from hay fever on my runs, and frequently end up with flies lodged in my throat too: I’m happily cruising along, when I feel an immense tickling, I try and cough it up and end up spluttering all over the place and covered in spit and snot; this didn’t happen today.

Yesterday, Edward made an appointment to go and see some flats (the contract on our current flat runs out in the middle of July, so we’ve decided to find somewhere with more space). First of all we went to see a couple of flats near Finsbury Park. At the first one, the agent couldn’t unlock the door, so we spent ages hanging around while he tried the key at different angles, then called a colleague to come and open it for him! At the second flat, I was alarmed to see the building seemed to be held up by a piece of wood wedged between the window sills… The last flat of the day was in Walthamstow. We’d never been there before and, as we insist on taking the bus everywhere (cheaper, less cramped and you can see where you are going) it took us quite some time. We went through Tottenham on the way, and felt quite depressed, thinking ‘is this where we are going to live?!’. When we eventually found the flat, it was on a lovely little road, and we began to feel excited. The owner greeted us, and was very friendly and laid back; he let us wander around on our own. It’s lovely! There are two bedrooms, so we will be able to have a workroom, the bathroom made me whoop with joy, it’s so delicious (with a fireplace!) and there is even a little garden that is shared with the neighbour! I think the number, 66, seems like a lucky number: it looks like two ‘thumbs up’! Alan and Holly, his daughter, dropped us off in the village area of Walthamstow, so we could have a look around, and we wandered along the mile-long market, buying a whole box of giant mangoes for £1.50 along the way. We needed a break to gather our thoughts, so stopped off at the Menzies eel, pie and mash shop: it’s gorgeous, with tiles on the walls, a marble counter and little wooden booths to sit in (the ‘liquor‘ they put on your mash doesn‘t really taste of much though). Ah, the East End. We decided to take the flat, so Edward phoned back and told Alan; it seems there are other people being shown around as well as us, so it might not be ours-aaarrrgh!

I made a lovely thick mango lassi when we got home, to cool us down after a grimy day out and about, then we went to vote in the elections-you need a bit of luck to get your cross in the right column this time, it seems really complicated!

Friday June 11, 2004

A good test for my lucky coin: a job interview! I set off to Tate Britain on the Tube (it’s like a furnace down there: you might leave the house looking nice, fresh and presentable, but will be a shiny, floppy mess when you reach your destination). I got there a bit early, so read the paper for a bit, checking out the election results-looks like Tony Blair could do with some luck. My interviewers were very nice, friendly and not at all scary. I think it went well: I did ramble on a bit and had a few blank moments, but I know I could do the job no problem, so I hope they saw that too; I will find out next week.

In the evening, Edward and I went to the opening of a friend of a friend’s shop near Carnaby Street. It was in a cool little square called ‘Kingly Court’ and they had exhibitions on and Djs a-mixin’ and a-scratchin’. We had some beers and caught up with people, and Edouard very kindly gave us a t-shirt each.

UPDATE!!

I got the job at the Tate! I wonder if it was my lucky penny…

Saturday June 12, 2004

We had to get up very early and head off to Kingston: we were getting a lift with Stephen, Tom and Charlie to Wales, to celebrate my nephew, Nigel’s, 21st birthday. It takes us about an hour or so to get there, but we arrived in good time. I saw a Waitrose shopping trolley on the way to their house, so took a picture of it for my shopping trolley project; I don’t have any Waitrose ones yet. The car journey is epic: about five hours, but we listened to ‘Ladies of Letters’ with Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, which made the journey pass no problem. We all took Charlie for a walk in the sunshine when we got there, then set off to Llandudno to meet the others at Pizza Hut (well, Nigel loves pizza!). After eating way too much of everything, we went back to my Mum and Dad’s house for a little party-played Uno for ages, and embarrassed Nigel by dancing to cheesy music.

Sunday June 13, 2004

The return leg of the epic journey. After a lovely breakfast, we set off back down south. It was very hot, and I couldn’t help falling asleep with my head at a silly angle (and probably dribbling)-I can’t turn my head to the side now, my neck’s so stiff. On arrival in Kingston, Edward and I decided to carry on our journey back home, so another hour on the Tube. When we got to Highbury and Isington Tube station, I noticed some leaflets with information about the Olympic Torch Relay, which goes through London on June 26th. I walked over to pick one up, and noticed a crumpled £10 note on the ground; it looked like it had been through the wash, and was really crushed, with a washed bus ticket folded into it. I was very happy! I will have to work out something special to do with it, not just use it to buy vegetables or something.

The number 13 is considered unlucky by some people, well this evening it was unlucky for the England football team. We settled down to watch them playing against France in their first game of Euro 2004, me clutching my lucky coin as David Beckham placed a free kick in the back of the net, and screaming with joy at the fantastic playing of the first half…it seemed to be a certainty as, at the end of the game, England were still leading 1-0. How wrong could I be? As we went into extra time, Zinedine Zidane scored from a free kick then a penalty in the closing seconds; it’s so cruel.

There were long faces all around after what had started out as a joyous occasion, then I reminded Edward that his new computer is arriving tomorrow; things are looking up!