Bridget To The Rescue

Hi gals,

So my boyfriend was in New York over the weekend and into this week so I hadn’t seen him for about 4 days until Tuesday evening.
That week before he left, we’d been getting on each other’s nerves I must admit, or rather he was getting on my nerves and I was being snappy with him which in turn made him snappy at me (I do take majority of the responsibility for this and will also blame it on hormones, thank you Mother Nature!). The arguments were really stupid and we made up after 5 minutes. I got annoyed at him for using my special cosy blanket (well I don’t want it to smell like boys!) and I got annoyed at him for leaving his clothes on the floor etc, I can’t remember the rest. We live together and unfortunately sometimes when you’re in a mad mood it does just come out at the people you love and see every day. It would be the same if I lived with my sister, actually it would probably be worse (love you really sis!).

Anyway, he went to New York last Friday early morning and at first it was kind of nice, I had the bed to myself so I could sleep like a starfish (so comfy you should try it) and also could watch hours of what I want on Netflix without feeling guilty that I’ve just made a man watch 8 hours of girly chick flicks without a single sci-fi or action film. Saturday night I had plans with the girls to go out in Brixton which was great fun. Then on Sunday I was rather hungover (I say rather, more like horrifically) and would usually wake up late, come downstairs to him watching TV and I’d curl up in a ball next to him and probably fall asleep again (that’s me most Sundays). But this time, I still woke up hungover but when I went downstairs, there was no one there. There was no one to laugh at how hungover I was and no one to give me a cuddle.
I realised I’d forgotten how to be on my own! What did I used to do every weekend when I was single in London? How did I do it! I didn’t know what to do with myself. I couldn’t talk to him much as he didn’t have overseas network so it was only at certain times that he had WiFi that I could hear from him. It also didn’t help that my WiFi was down on Sunday so I couldn’t utilise Netflix or waste hours of watching stupid funny videos on social media (we all do that right?).

So I decided to get my arse in gear Sunday morning; I put my music on loud and half danced, half cleaned my way around the flat – the kind of full blown embarrassing dancing you can only do on your own, all I needed was a mop that I could pretend was a man and I’d be well on my way to being featured on some stupid Channel 5 show of the most embarrassing things we do alone in our own home. Anyway, I did the jobs I’ve been putting off for a while and had been really productive with my morning which just made me feel so great afterwards.
After lunch I then walked up to Hampstead and sat outside with a coffee at Gails Bakery (you need to check it out – best brownies, coffees and sausage rolls) and basically made friends with all the dogs. There was this huge dog to the right of me, a bigger than usual Golden Retriever that it’s owner asked me to watch over while she queued up for a coffee. Well this dog was hilarious, it literally looked like a lion (It was called Raphael) but was really scared of pigeons. He was also obsessed with food and so any time a pigeon landed near him or somebody got their plate of food and or dropped a crumb, Raphael would literally jump up and start moving around knocking chairs and tables over. Everybody was mostly finding it hilarious, especially any kids. Afterwards I thought, even though you’re technically on your own, if you just smile at other people and engage in conversation rather than always having in headphones and shutting out the world then you’ll realise that with all the billions of people in this world, all the people you walk past every day, sit next to on the tube, you’re never ever really on your own and there will always be people around you, whether you know their names or not.

So anyway, Sunday evening, I’ve got the PJ’s on, already had dinner (soup and bread roll not very exciting, it’s difficult buying food and cooking for one person) and thinking what do I do now without Netflix or WiFi? Then I remembered that I still own what they used to call, the DVD, remember those! Mine were all very dusty as they haven’t been used for several years I would guess. So I’m scrolling through, thinking I forgot I own so many DVD’s I could open a shop! When it dawned on me, BRIDGET!!!! Bridget Jones Diary – that is what I used to do when I was single on my own in bed hungover on a Sunday, I’d watch Bridget Jones Diary. I would be in my unattractive PJ’s like Bridget and would mime the drumming and sing along with a class of wine in hand on the sofa to the song ‘All By Myself’ by Jamie O’Neal. Oh Bridget, how you got me through my first years in London, single and living on my own.

So if you quite often have weekends on your own or the thought of having a weekend on your own scares you then just remember these 3 things to do:
1). Put on your favourite music and dance in your PJ’s, pants or even naked if you feel like it! (Cleaning is not necessary but if you need to clean you might as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone?).
2). Make yourself go on a walk in your local area without taking your headphones. Sit on a park bench and watch the world go by or sit outside in a cafe. The important bit is to make friends with all the dogs; the way to engage with a stranger is by engaging with their dog first.
3). Then finally COME THE FUCK ON BRIDGET! Don’t ever forget the power of Bridget Jones. Whenever you feel down just pop her on the TV and you are guaranteed to feel better. Get yourself really into it with embarrassing non-sexy PJ’s, a class of red wine and do the sing along and drumming at the beginning.

Lots of love this weekend and remember, you’re never truly on your own, you’ve got me!