After the good news of my first assignment on Friday put me in a bouyant mood, I had a couple of lovely bookings at Earl’s Court that same afternoon. One was a chap from India who comes to the UK every year to watch Wimbledon – I had seen him this time last year. He has tickets for a few matches and squeezes me into his two week visit to the UK. The other was a young chef who could only visit for half an hour. Which, in hindsight I’m kind of glad about, as he was a bit of a goer. I fear that if he had gone for the whole hour I’d have had to take a nap afterwards. I had had another booking the day before, so it was a good couple of days work-wise. Things are working out well at my new abode and my landlady is a lovely intelligent woman with whom I could debate about current affairs and not just talk about work. Long may it continue.

Anyhoo, after my half hour chap, I hopped on the number 74 bus which took me to South Kensington to the Hummingbird Bakery. They had a bit of a Wimbledon theme going on, with cupcakes decorated to look like grass, tennis balls and the ubiquitous strawberries and cream. I’m not really a tennis fan but I did think they looked fun. I stuck to what I knew and bought half a dozen assorted cupcakes to distribute when I got home, including one for my next door neighbour. I did what I said I was going to do, I stuck a candle in one of them, wished myself a happy birthday and made a couple of silent wishes and blew out the candle. Childish maybe but I didn’t care; it was a good day and I was looking forward to Saturday. The cupcakes didn’t last long and they were gone by last night.

Yesterday morning was my tutorial at my local college, again enjoying heated debates, this time on the good or evil of huge supermarkets and if they’re a detriment or a boon to the high street. It’s a social science thing. If I explain any more I fear your eyes will glaze over. But I enjoyed it. My day was made even better when a couple of my fellow students tried to guess my age, and they had me pegged at 37. And apparently that was a conservative guess. I will love them for life.
After that I hopped a train to Shepherd’s Bush for a nice long wander around Westfield Shopping Centre. Much to my delight, when I alighted from the overground station there was a small Italian market selling various goods and wares from jewellry to smelly italian cheese to olive oil. I bought some Italian multi-seed wholemeal bread, which I enjoyed for breakfast this morning with some strong cheddar. Great stuff.

Westfield was of course heaving as it normally is on a Saturday, but it still beats going to Oxford St., with nobody to pick your bag or your pockets. I did a lot of window shopping and treated myself to a new pair of Birkenstocks (my choice of footwear in warmer climes) from Schuh. Again this is where being a student pays off, as I received 10% off the purchase price of £45. Very handy. I also stopped for lunch at YoSushi where, thanks to Warrior Amy informing me of this last week, I got a third off my food bill. I do get 25% as a student but when it’s your birthday it’s that little bit more. If you’re into Japanese food it really is worth signing up to their website to keep in touch with their special offers. Whilst I had a lovely meal, I didn’t enjoy the experience as much as I normally do. It was very busy, even at 4pm, so I couldn’t read my Kindle in peace and the stools weren’t that comfortable so I always felt like I was perched on the edge. I still prefer the one at Victoria Stn although I’ve yet to try the ones in Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow whilst on tour. The one at County Hall is quite nice too.

By around 5.30pm I began to get fed-up of the crowds (people were still pouring in) so I made my way back home. I got in maybe around 6.45pm. It was a long but lovely day, topped off last night by watching a bit of Glastonbury and MTV with the Black Eyed Peas top 20, which I enjoyed immensely. I also caught up with the latest episodes of Family Guy, watched a couple of old episodes of American Dad!, interspersed by watching Coldplay at Glastonbury, and finally fell asleep at about 1.30 this morning. What a great day. To be repeated same time next year.

The results have just been posted on the OU website. I’ve received a 65% on my 1st assigment, which falls into the “clear pass” category. There are two categories above, a “good pass” and an “excellent pass”. Below a clear pass is a “bare pass” and two levels of fail ranging from 14-49%. “No result” is from 0-14%.
Although I’m happy with that, I’m sure I can do better. The next goal is to go for a “good pass”. Wish me luck on my 2nd assignment.

I have a couple of bookings at Earl’s Cout today. I reckon I’ll stop by the Hummingbird Bakery on my way home to celebrate my passing and my birthday in one go. Yippee!

A couple of lovely appointments was had this week, including a late night visit to one of my clients from the early days. I’ve been seeing this chap since my first year in 2002. He’s from Barcelona and comes over on business every few months. But on the last occassion he wanted to see me it was on a Tuesday evening, which as you know by now I no longer do. So it must’ve been at least a year since I last saw this client, and it was lovely seeing him again after such a long absence.

Because of his schedule, he sometimes requires a late night visit, on this occasion 10.30pm. Now you know me, I don’t like working past 9pm at the best of times, so it’s a little alien to me leaving the house at near enough that time to go into Central London. But this client is one of the loveliest chaps I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in this business and as I say, we go way back, so I see it as a special favour to him. And I know he rarely sees anybody else when he’s here. There were one or two ocassions when our diaries clashed and he’s had to call upon the favours of another escort similar in physique and colour to me, but apart from that, I’m his one and only.

Now, when I see this particular gentleman, there are a few things he requires. He loves to see me in pvc gear, so this past Wednesday I packed my new skirt (sorry caveman, didn’t manage to get a picture of the skirt) and pvc top with pvc gloves and a few other things into an overnight bag and off I set. You’d think after all these years I’d be used to carrying such paraphenalia around. But I must admit I still felt a little uneasy. Has your mother ever told you to make sure you have clean underwear on, in case you were ever in an accident and you needed to be rushed to hospital? Well, I think to myself, forget my knickers (not literally I hasten to add), what if I was in an accident and they looked through my holdall for contact details? Imagine what they’d find; condoms, lube, stilletos, pvc gear to name but a few items.
I’m used to taking my lingerie with me to my work flat, but that’s lingerie, it’s easier to explain away than pvc, don’t you think? So yes, after all these years, I’m still a little uneasy when travelling with certain items in my bag. I would imagine that it must be the stuff of nightmares of quite a few escorts.

I also got the chance to catch up with the warrior that is Adorable Amy, a good friend in the business. She had a busy few days in London but was able to manage to squeeze me in for lunch yesterday afternoon. We met outside our favourite eatery, YoSushi, and we had a good old chinwag for a few hours. It was actually dinner time by the time I got home and my progeny had wondered if I had been abducted (God forbid they try switching the oven on by themselves). We pigged out on items from the conveyor belt, ordered a couple of dishes like their misho soup, hairy prawns and chicken katsui with curry sauce from the menu, finished off with a cup of green tea and we finally extricated ourselves from their stools at around 4pm. We were still nattering outside the restaurant an hour later, would you believe? But remember I only get to see her every couple of months or so when she comes to London and on the next ocassion when she visits in August I’ll be in Edinburgh and Manchester. She is great company and we have other things in common besides work. So I’ll miss our next lunch date, in both senses of the word.

Amy had admittedly gone a little crazy at Konditor & Cook (which I do feel a little responsible for as I introduced her to the bakery), but she saved me a brownie, which I received and consumed with much thanks. She did say she knew she was in trouble when the shop assistant says, “hold on, you’ll need a bigger bag….”
I had the brownie with a mug of hot chocolate later on when settled under the duvet for the evening. Oooh baby, it was scrumptious. As it’s my birthday next weekend I considered it a birthday treat. I also plan to treat myself to a couple of cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery, stick a candle in it and wish myself a happy birthday. I’m at the age now where nobody bothers celebrating such frivolities with either their mother or their partner, so I celebrate by myself. Which is why I’m disappearing for the day next Saturday. It’ll be a day when everybody will have to fend for themselves. Well, the take-out menu’s on the fridge door.

Happy Father’s Day.

I’ve just come home from seeing the warrior that is Adorable Amy. She was down for a few days this week on her regular visit to London. She and I have a few things in common, she’s really intelligent (oy!), she’s gorgeous (leave it!), she doesn’t suffer fools gladly and we both love the Hummingbird Bakery – it’s where we met for a coffee and a cupcake. No, I’m not in love with Amy, although I reckon she’s one of the best you’ll find in this business (incidently, she’s off to New York soon; if you’re stateside gents, you’re in for a treat and a half). No, I’ve fallen in love with something she whipped out of her handbag whilst we were enjoying our cupcakes. Her Amazon Kindle. She gave me a demonstration of it and it looks absolutely gawwjuss! Especially in the leather wallet. I’m definitely going to get one. I can hear Twiggy weeping now.

Whilst going over our plans for our overnight booking for Glasgow a few days ago, he wrote and said that whilst he agrees with me on almost everything, he vehemently opposes getting a Kindle. “One of life’s little pleasures is wandering around a second hand bookshop and a shop with shelves full of kindles wouldn’t have the same effect I’m afraid.” He’s a bit old-fashioned and I have to say I do kind of agree with him. I do love the smell and feel of books, especially when they’re brand new. I reckon I’ll still get the odd book or two until Kindle have every book written on their list, but I’m definitely getting one. What can I say? More or less everybody’s gone gaga over the I-everything, or the Blackberry. I haven’t fallen for any of those gadgets (although I may have to bend and get an I-Phone when I next upgrade if Nokia doesn’t come out with anything decent soon). I don’t have the Wii and I I have no interest in the X-box. My thing is the Kindle. I’ll just have to close my eyes and sniff the wallet and pretend it’s a leather-bound book.

I’ve been having a bit of a tinker over the past few days re: the links you’ll find at the side of the blog, partially inspired by a fellow escort blogger, an inspiring woman. I thought, what a great idea, to list sites I’ve used in the past that I’ve had good service from. Like her I will only use sites that I’ve actually used and have found satisfactory and could honestly recommend. Same ethos I used for the links on SAAFE.

I actually had Pandora’s Choice in “My Favourite Shops”, but I removed it after the recent debacle and have instead inserted Stockings Direct, following on from their swift service and their quick delivery.

For books and CDs, may I recommend Play.com. Again their service is swift and postage is free, unlike Amazon where you’re charged up to a certain amount. I also get my Family Guy calender from them every year and it costs a fiver. I’ve seen the same in the shops for around £8.

I’ve recently ordered a couple of books from a site new to me, The Book Depository. Their deliveries are also free but the slight difference is is that they also use Paypal for another form of payment. I ordered the books on Saturday and they arrived the next Friday. A bit slower than Play.com, but hey, I can’t complain, it’s free delivery.

For going to Manchester I’ve used Rail Easy, way cheaper than Trainline.com.  A ticket to Manchester used to cost me around £70 on there. That was for their sooper dooper advanced non-refundable ticket – basically the cheapest. Rail Easy sells the same ticket for around £22. I’ve been using them for a couple of years now.

If you have a sweet tooth like me (and some of you know that I do), then there’s the Bakewell Tart Shop where I ordered myself a tart for my birthday and put a birthday message to myself. Yes, I know. Sad.

The Hummingbird Bakery I swiped off of above-mentioned blogger’s site, damn her. Before I went to meet SJ for lunch back on my birthday I made a stop in one of their branches in South Kensington. Gawjuss, just gawww-jus. I know I’m in trouble as the shop is only two stops away from Victoria on the District and Circle lines on the Underground. I’m just more suprised I haven’t been back there since. If any gents should find themselves getting off at the wrong stop on their way to see me and they mistakenly find themselves at South Kensington, it’s…um….on the Old Brompton Road, opposite side of the tube station to the museums….cough!

For hotels, I’ve been using Trip Advisor for years, personally and professionally. If you want to book a room and you want to know a bit about the hotel before-hand, this is the place gents. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t book a room until I’ve read the reviews on there first. Us ladies need to find out if the hotel we’re working from is discreet for our clients, doesn’t use those infernal keycards that you can’t get in without, or if there’s a burly security guard with a clip board barking at you if you’re a late night client trying to get in to see his favourite lady. Not good for work.

Laterooms is also handy for us working girls too. You don’t always have to pay in advance, they’re invariably cheaper than the hotel’s own website and you can cancel the day before your arrival date (subject to the hotel’s policy). And the staff are nice too. I got caught out when I tried to cancel the hotel room that I booked for my birthday. I thought that I could cancel on the day, it turned out I had to cancel the night before. Gulp! Which meant I was still liable for the first night’s stay. So I called Laterooms and begged and pleaded, they in turn called the hotel I had booked and between them they let me off. I’m wondering if it helped that I was a previous guest in one of their hotels in Edinburgh and was on their mailing list. Anyways, with that I’m now liking Laterooms a lot more.

Whew! This was a long one wasn’t it? I actually started to write this entry last week but I ran out of steam. So I’ve put the final touches on it today. I do hope whoever reads this finds the info useful.

Tell you what. If anybody finds any sites that they may think I might find useful, do tell. It’s good to arm yourself with knowledge.