Dreams of spring

If I did my best to forget my numb legs and runny nose while walking to work this morning, and if I tried to ignore the woman who just walked past wearing a beanie and warm mittens, I could almost pretend that spring has come to town. The sky is clear blue, the sun is shining, although I can only see it mirrored in the fender of that pink bike across the street, and in the shadows cast by the cars parked on the other side of the street. The Slovenian flag that’s hanging outside my window is floating softly in the mild breeze, a far cry from the days when it was ferociously trying to escape the thrashing wind and rain.

I wish today weren’t Friday, because on Fridays the other secretary isn’t here and I can’t take my usual lunch walk down by the water and past all the other, fancier, embassies in the Diplomat City. Getting some fresh air, and more importantly, some sun, really does help me survive the weariness of most afternoons at this office. Yet, I guess a missed lunch walk is a decent price to pay for the week to be over.

Although I am excited about going to the Ambassador’s residence for drinks tonight, I’d much rather just go home and indulge in my Sex and the City addiction or even read the fabulous book that was given to me by Matilda on my birthday. A large glass of red, a good book and rattling rain on the conservatory roof, while cuddled up under a blanket, enfolded in a warm, big couch; that would be my ideal Friday night tonight. But I have no conservatory, I have no red wine, nor the money to buy any, and as a matter of fact I don’t even have a couch as I live in a tiny studio where such a piece of furniture would have a hard time finding a place to reside.

So when you think about it, going to a luxurious apartment to have drinks with an ambassador and various other diplomats might not be such a bad thing after all. Not when the alternative is getting home to my closet of an apartment, where the kitchen and the hallway have merged into one, sit on my bed which during the day serves as a sofa, and watch Sex and the City DVD’s on my computer, as I have yet to buy a scart cable to connect my DVD player to my TV. And at least tonight I’ll be getting drinks. I’m hoping for cocktails but will settle for wine. Red wine is always cool in my book.