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expired film
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I woke at eight, thanks to my new Wake-up Light, a Christmas present from my parents. They thought it wouldn't make much sense for me to travel down to the south of France, open my presents, then cart them back to London, so this week I got a lovely big box of books, a lightbox, a dressing gown and the Wake-up Light. It simulates sunrise, and I've set it to play Radio 4 at the same time, so I felt pretty good, and also extremely informed about Somalian pirates. I shambled around in my new dressing gown and made breakfast while tidying up the mess from last night - my flatmates had some friends round before they went to a party down the road. I didn't go because a) I am an old lady and b) I wanted to get up early to do a section of the Capital Ring, a walk around the outskirts of London, split fourteen sections. It's mostly made up of parks and residential suburbs, with occasional bizarre landmarks like the Woolwich Foot Tunnel and City Airport.
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My flatmate Sam had expressed an interest in coming along, so I took my time having my Weetabix and Earl Grey, knowing he would be hungover and maybe not up for springing out of bed. Eventually he made an appearance and, after making some wild boar salami and goats cheese sandwiches and filling a thermos with black coffee, we caught the bus from Brixton Hill to Streatham Common. It was fresh and cold today, but sunny, and we had brought scarves and gloves because we are geniuses who read the weather report. The Capital Ring route took us through Biggin Wood, Norwood Recreation Ground and Crystal Palace Park. Crystal Palace Park is AWESOME. It is full of Victorian stone statues of dinosaurs, grotesque and misshapen and endearingly imagined. Then through Cator Park and the large, and beautifully wooded Beckenham Park. I think in total we walked over 10 miles.
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We decided to make the Capital Ring a regular occurrence. Maybe I will make up my own route and spend years 'researching' it. I will call it the Rambler's Rhombus.
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I was aching a little, so I ran a bath and re-read parts of The Golden Notebook.