Wonderful weekend (beware the brackets)

So, a belated look at my weekend (forgive the tardiness; I've been trying to catch up with my life in the meantime. I've since given up). Saturday saw me travelling into deepest Essex (well... further than I've been before, anyway) to see Kevin, a journey that would have gone more smoothly had I not been misdirected to the wrong tube station at one point and consequently ended up having to double back on myself. That aside, the rest of the day went really well. The weather helped in that aspect - it was amazing. No, really, it was absolutely stunning for mid-October - clear blue skies, warm breezes, bright sunshine, and fantastic autumnal colours on all the trees, with reds, oranges and yellows mixing in amongst the more everyday greens. I couldn't help sighing with pleasure at the beauty of it all whenever I looked around.

After lunch (note to self: toasted sandwich makers are gooood, particularly for use in conjunction with cheese-containing sandwiches) we went to the seafront of Southend-on-Sea (should that be Southend-on-Thames-Estuary?) and strolled up and down. We played "Adventure Golf", which is uncannily similar to crazy golf (but more adventurous, you understand), and I've now been to the end of the longest pier in the world, which is, um, something, I suppose :-) We took the little electric train out to the end and walked back, catching an almost-sunset on the way. It was an amazingly clear day - you could see for miles, and the sea sorry, Thames was so blue, and the sunlight dappled gold over the surface of the water... excuse me, I'm getting carried away again by the colours. This is what really beautiful autumn days will do to me (and it's been much the same today as well - it's almost good thing we don't have a window in our office, else I would have spent today staring out of it in rapture. Not wishing to go overboard here - well, I think I probably already have, but never mind - but I walked around outside today at lunchtime, and my heart was singing due to the sunshine, blue skies, and the shock of colours from the trees all around.

Okaaay, I think that really is going overboard (splash). Move on, Cathy.

Against expectations, we made it to the cinema in plenty of time for Finding Nemo, which was very enjoyable, and the first Disney film I've seen in the cinema in eight years or so. There's not much at all that I could criticise the film for - a slight lack of plot development, true, but you really can't hold that against it. I'd recommend it to a friend (you lot, consider yourselves duly recommended-to). One of the highlights was the CGI short animation shown just before the film, a short that Pixar made in 1989, and which was rather good. As the credits came up ("Filmed entirely on location") Kevin pointed at the screen and exclaimed, "Steve Jobs!" A blank face on my behalf revealed that this would have been far more impressive had I actually known who Steve Jobs was prior to this. Another little piece of ignorance has now been eradicated :-)

During the day I was exposed to Essex driving for the first time. At least, to Essex driving in Essex for the first time. It's so funny when you're sat behind a couple of adjacent cars (two lanes) at a set of traffic lights and you just know that as soon as the lights turn green they'll be off in a desperate, unthinking attempt to stay in front of the other one. Every time :-)

And now it's only Tuesday, and I don't get another weekend for almost four whole days...