Who's laughing at who?

Given that my last two posts have failed to upload after a long time writing them, I've sort of given up temporarily on blogging. Work is so hectic, and running 5 times a week with increasingly higher mileage is so time-consuming, I haven't had time to waste on failed blog posts. Needless to say, I've been training, I've had ups (fast times, waved at by a cat, called 'sexy'), I've had downs (chased by 2 dogs and a rat since last post) and lots of bizarre food cravings. You know, the usual.

But IT problems are solved, and I've decided to use my training runs as modes of transport to help the time management over the next few weeks, to ensure I make it out of this manic July unscathed. Next week's long run will be my journey home from a 4 hour meeting in Vauxhall (which should ensure all pent up meeting stress has disappeared before I get home) and today's 7 miler was my run home from a tax seminar in Twickenham.

There is nothing better than a run where you have lots of fun stuff going on in your head. Last night, I went to the cinema and watched Bridesmaids - it made me laugh so much I cried for most of it and as a result, I looked awful this morning. My eyes were extremely puffy, from weeping with laughter and from not being able to sleep because I was still laughing at the memory of scenes from the movie. As a runner, I was particularly taken with scene where the bride-to-be ends up going to the toilet in the street - it somehow made me think of Paula Radcliffe all those years ago in the London Marathon!

I was still feeling vaguely hysterical and extremely giggly when I got to the tax office this morning. It didn't help that the tax office itself was vaguely comical. Friendly staff, but the whole set up vaguely shambolic and then this woman appeared to take us to the workshop that reminded me of a female besuited version of Sloth from the Goonies. Although unlike Sloth she did have hair. Which she hadn't washed since the Goonies was released in cinemas, it seemed.

As my fellow business expenses students turned up, it all got even more ridiculous. One solicitor woman turned up with her mum (!) and another guy introduced himself as someone who was thinking of going into 'import/export' which just reminded me of all those episodes of Seinfeld when George Costanza pretends he is 'in import/export' to impress people. I spent most of the first 30 minutes trying not to laughly randomly at things that weren't really funny but, in my heightened state of post-movie hysteria, were putting me in a dangerously giggly state. I was particularly tickled by the brash Cockney in a flash suit, with a flash watch, who seemed determined not to pay any tax ever in his entire life and spent the whole time asking questions that would ensure he got away with zero profit. Although the guy that wanted to claim for a trolley he'd owned for years was quite a favourite too.

By the time I ran home, I was still laughing at it all. Not just replaying the scenes from the film, but musing on how there's nowt so queer as folk. Mind you, I'm sure my fellow students and staff from the tax office are still laughing at me getting changed into my running gear in the loos after the seminar ended...so hilarity is all in the eye of the beholder.