Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Yellowness
Monday, May 30, 2011
M-m-more M-m-marking
I wish I had some chocolate, might do a chocolate run.
Wilky, don't forget to report back on The Nightingales!
Two more pieces of work to do.
I imagine a huge bird with massive white wings taking off into outer space... me, at the end of term; brain free of edu-rules and bureaucracy, bags under eyes receding to normal proportion, hunched up stressed body unfurling as sitting-shape no longer constant, backs of hands free from emergency scribbles.
Bring it on!
Wilky, don't forget to report back on The Nightingales!
Two more pieces of work to do.
I imagine a huge bird with massive white wings taking off into outer space... me, at the end of term; brain free of edu-rules and bureaucracy, bags under eyes receding to normal proportion, hunched up stressed body unfurling as sitting-shape no longer constant, backs of hands free from emergency scribbles.
Bring it on!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Rainy Day Radio
Just found a great radio station for dismal grey days like today!
www.frenchradiolondon.com
www.frenchradiolondon.com
Today's Task
To throw all toiletries in the bathroom away if they smell disgusting, even if they were a quite obviously expensive present.
When The Purse Snapped Shut
I made a spontaneous trip to Brighton to see Offsprog One yesterday, setting off at 7.30 in the morning.
We sat and drank tea together, and I told her how amazing it is to sit thirty years later almost in the same spot as you have before, only this time opposite a grown up daughter. I could never have believed that this would have happened in my life and I do feel truly blessed!
We walked down to the sea, which was grey and thrashing about in fury; the wind destroyed our hairdos in seconds as we scrabbled across the greenish-yellow pebbles in unsuitable shoes.
Later, we browsed the shops. I spotted a row of lovely long pale-blue chambray dresses in an upmarket army surplus store and was about to try one on, mesmerised by the utility-button details, when the shop assistant commented: 'Perfect 1930s dresses, beautiful Nazi clothes'.
I almost threw up in disgust- what a horrible USP! The purse snapped shut and we headed off.
How on earth has it been acceptable to praise something as being 'Nazi'? When did this happen?
I drove down to Rustington to see Joby and Valex afterwards to drink tea in Xurbia, as Joby calls it. They are the only people in their Brookside not to have concreted over their front garden to make parking space for a Mega-vehicle. Joby has a motorised Trike, a splendid one, and has recently stood for election as a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, polling 83 votes. He continues to battle with the Police and rather horrible-sounding neighbours, who object when he looks at them funny!
It was lovely to see them, and I do rather admire their suburban neighbourhood; we had a discussion about the joys of Peckham and Tottenham, and they are definitely better off where they are.
I drove back through the backwoods of Surrey, land of Rich Nimbys with micro-manicured glass verges, and felt like a peasant in a clapped-out jalopy and huge shining motor-monsters shoved me out of the way to get to their more-important destinations.
Parts of England are indeed green, and indeed unpleasant.
We sat and drank tea together, and I told her how amazing it is to sit thirty years later almost in the same spot as you have before, only this time opposite a grown up daughter. I could never have believed that this would have happened in my life and I do feel truly blessed!
We walked down to the sea, which was grey and thrashing about in fury; the wind destroyed our hairdos in seconds as we scrabbled across the greenish-yellow pebbles in unsuitable shoes.
Later, we browsed the shops. I spotted a row of lovely long pale-blue chambray dresses in an upmarket army surplus store and was about to try one on, mesmerised by the utility-button details, when the shop assistant commented: 'Perfect 1930s dresses, beautiful Nazi clothes'.
I almost threw up in disgust- what a horrible USP! The purse snapped shut and we headed off.
How on earth has it been acceptable to praise something as being 'Nazi'? When did this happen?
I drove down to Rustington to see Joby and Valex afterwards to drink tea in Xurbia, as Joby calls it. They are the only people in their Brookside not to have concreted over their front garden to make parking space for a Mega-vehicle. Joby has a motorised Trike, a splendid one, and has recently stood for election as a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate, polling 83 votes. He continues to battle with the Police and rather horrible-sounding neighbours, who object when he looks at them funny!
It was lovely to see them, and I do rather admire their suburban neighbourhood; we had a discussion about the joys of Peckham and Tottenham, and they are definitely better off where they are.
I drove back through the backwoods of Surrey, land of Rich Nimbys with micro-manicured glass verges, and felt like a peasant in a clapped-out jalopy and huge shining motor-monsters shoved me out of the way to get to their more-important destinations.
Parts of England are indeed green, and indeed unpleasant.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Martin Stephenson's Songwriting Weekend
Only a few places left on this lovely weekend in Dumfriesshire on the banks of the River Nith.
It happens in the Friar's Carse Hotel, a little Scots-Baronial mansion with lovely grounds.
Tutors: Martin, Scott MacDonald and... me!
Sign up now, accommodation, food and workshops all included:
http://www.songwritingweekends.co.uk/
It happens in the Friar's Carse Hotel, a little Scots-Baronial mansion with lovely grounds.
Tutors: Martin, Scott MacDonald and... me!
Sign up now, accommodation, food and workshops all included:
http://www.songwritingweekends.co.uk/
Park Road Pilot
I will be playing a set of mostly new songs at the Park Road Pilot on Saturday 4th June.
I am delighted to be playing there again: this night started off in Harlesden a couple of years ago in promoter Rebecca's large and beautifully funky front room. I played at a night where Ethiopian food was served, and a row of children sat on the stairs.
The event has grown and moved to Dalston Boys Club a couple of years ago, and now has yet another home.
This will be a special night, of the sort one doesn't normally come across in London.
In Rebecca's words:
I am delighted to be playing there again: this night started off in Harlesden a couple of years ago in promoter Rebecca's large and beautifully funky front room. I played at a night where Ethiopian food was served, and a row of children sat on the stairs.
The event has grown and moved to Dalston Boys Club a couple of years ago, and now has yet another home.
This will be a special night, of the sort one doesn't normally come across in London.
In Rebecca's words:
As you enter the space, take your time to feast upon many a sculpture and installation – both material and living. Check out Romen Gouveia’s installation (and parallel universe) – where the worlds of perspex, paper, light, mirrors, architecture, nature, design, technology and photography live in harmony! Jeff O’Loughlin… Find artists Danielle Lee Williams & Alice Colley in ‘Rubbish Days’. Nagg and Nell from Beckett’s Endgame are to be found in tras bins. Join them in their tragic, farcical and comical attempts at contact and communication. Nag and Nell will be performing sometime ‘twixt 7.30 – 8.30pm, so be sure not to miss ‘em! Last but not least, seek out Jeff O’Loughlin’s sculpture and Naoko Tagai’s site-specific installation.
The performative evening will be introduced by Natali Castro Bass’s ‘Uvas para Baco’ – an absurd piece that pushes the boundaries of clowning and mime, creating a common space between performer and audience. We will then be treated to much in the way of ear, mind and soul tickling from various musicians – Singer songwriter Helen McCookerybook (who btw has the most extraordinary history – do check out her links!) will be playing us some of her new songs(www.reverbnation.com/helenmccookerybook/ www.mccookerybook.blogspot.com). Followed by Night & Fog - poised to launch their new album, The Stakes Have Never Been So Low. Combining the squalid grandeur of Why? and Arab Strap with the spectral songcraft of Lali Puna, this is electro-dreampop tinged with horror, like lullabies to a howling pederast in some blackened city(www.myspace.com/culturekampf). We then have guitarist/singer Stephano D'Silva (aka Full Hearts) and poet/percussionist Brother Niyi playing music from the heart and always from the start, with a mix of songs and poetry with deep hooks and beats.
Finally on the live music front, we have Widescreen – an epic Flamexicano, Latin, Eastern European and North African afrobeat fusion band! To keep your bodies grooving, DJ KAZUMBA will take you on a sonic journey across the continents with Tribal, African, Funk, Afrobeat, Roots, Balkan, Samba, Salsa rhythms and many more!
This month we will be raising funds for the Red Cross Tsunami appeal (www. www.redcross.org.uk/JapanTsunami). We’ll be charging the usual £5 at the door. As for food, we may have some Japanese finger food on offer for a reasonable suggested donation price! We love our contributors and want to keep them happy, therefore performances will follow a programme which will start at 8ish so feel free to get here any time from 7pm when doors open.
We will be at the Empowering Church – 1a Westgate st, E8 3RL. The nearest rail station is London Fields.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Cliff
Cliff, interviewed by David Hamilton on a 1976 Top of the Pops show (BBC4)
"How many hits have you had so far Cliff?"
"We've made 64 entries"
Ooo-err, missus!!!!
"How many hits have you had so far Cliff?"
"We've made 64 entries"
Ooo-err, missus!!!!
Mega-Slug
After a quiet afternoon sheltering from the hail and nursing a hole between my surviving molars large enough to garage my spare car in (I haven't got one), I went out for a stroll around the grounds.
A massive orange slug, juicy, fat, ridged and with a decorative green and white medallion was gorging itself on a snail that I had accidentally trodden on the day before.
'Mmmm', it slurped at its greedy feast.
Bin day tomorrow: flipped it into the bin bag with he empty bottles and dust from the Dyson.
It will have a whole rubbish tip to eat tomorrow.
Typo-smile
UUUVUUUUVU U
nnnnnnnnnnnnn
A massive orange slug, juicy, fat, ridged and with a decorative green and white medallion was gorging itself on a snail that I had accidentally trodden on the day before.
'Mmmm', it slurped at its greedy feast.
Bin day tomorrow: flipped it into the bin bag with he empty bottles and dust from the Dyson.
It will have a whole rubbish tip to eat tomorrow.
Typo-smile
UUUVUUUUVU U
nnnnnnnnnnnnn
Guilty Garden
Strange feeling... when I looked into the yard this morning, I had a strong impression that I'd caught the World doing something it shouldn't; it seemed to have paused stock-still, tense and unmoving as if in a game of musical statues, in the hope that I wouldn't notice what it had been up to.
I wonder what it had been doing?
Switching from colour into black and white and back again?
I wonder what it had been doing?
Switching from colour into black and white and back again?
Medical
Being both daughter and niece of medical people who worked in and believed in the NHS, here is a plea, if you have not done so already, to sign a petition to prevent it from being privatised.
The current Government plan is to privatise the lot within a generation; legislation is for a bit-by-bit break-up.
This started with Tony Blair and is being carried on by David Cameron, and the petition to save it crosses political boundaries
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
The current Government plan is to privatise the lot within a generation; legislation is for a bit-by-bit break-up.
This started with Tony Blair and is being carried on by David Cameron, and the petition to save it crosses political boundaries
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/Save-our-NHS
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Is It Just Me?
Is it just me, or does David Cameron like standing in gardens with another man in a suit, each behind a wooden stand with a speech on it, gripping with both hands?
Dearest One
I seem to be incredibly popular in Africa; I'm getting a massive amount of emails from there, calling me 'Dearest One'. I am lucky, because they have all found huge sums of money that belong to me, and I have sent all of them my bank details so that they can pay these vast sums into my account.
I will buy you a beer when they do so.
Somebody out there thinks I'm a bloke as well. Not sure where: somewhere where Helen is a man's name and not a woman's one. I have written to them all to thank them for their interest and goodwill, and requested that they send me breast enlargement emails instead of Viagra ones, which although I am not in need of them will at least be a more focused and appropriate form of spam.
Finally, I am having a lot of conversations with a very shy lady from Natwest, who phones me constantly at busy times. She is so nice, but either deaf or perhaps has the volume turned down on her handset. I usually chat for about half an hour (seems impolite not to), but I'm not sure whether our friendship will be a lasting one.
I will buy you a beer when they do so.
Somebody out there thinks I'm a bloke as well. Not sure where: somewhere where Helen is a man's name and not a woman's one. I have written to them all to thank them for their interest and goodwill, and requested that they send me breast enlargement emails instead of Viagra ones, which although I am not in need of them will at least be a more focused and appropriate form of spam.
Finally, I am having a lot of conversations with a very shy lady from Natwest, who phones me constantly at busy times. She is so nice, but either deaf or perhaps has the volume turned down on her handset. I usually chat for about half an hour (seems impolite not to), but I'm not sure whether our friendship will be a lasting one.
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