Monday 28 June 2010

Life is...


DSC_6864 Life is
Originally uploaded by Lillput
More new things, more memories. Some ups, some downs...

So, just a typical couple of weeks for this gal, then.

TD and I improving our meeting techniques. More people open to listen to us.

Another gig. This time "Mostly Comedy" at the George in Hitchin. A little rough in places but featuring Spandex Ballet and James Acaster amongst others. Venue was far from plush but the company was good and the atmosphere was friendly and warm.

A visit to the Henry Moore exhibition at Tate Britain; a lack lustre football performance against Algeria watched in a crowded pub with a friend and some good beer.

Another city visit to Liverpool and some time to sit and ponder things in the Metropolitan Cathedral. A display in the foyer listed the names of ordinands from the English College in Rome (Idiot Boy studied there) and it brought a little lump to my throat.

I also had to do a fair bit of thinking about what I want from life - not something I've really ever done. I didn't actually come to any real conclusions but I guess sometimes it's something we all have to consider.

Then the neighbours and some old friends came round to share a bottle of Penfolds Grange that was bought as a gift a couple of years ago - and we toasted to the absent friend and shared silly stories. Another tough thing to do but the wine and company were both perfect for the occasion and on the whole memories were positive ones.

More excrutiating football at the pub...this time initially on my own and then joined by DrC and CW. The football was bad, the exchange of messages with S was smile-inducing and the company was excellent.

Then today a chance amble down the garden revealed the extent of the fruit of the cherry trees' labours.
The trees were a joint project and have been largely ignored along with the rest of the jungle garden as my inclination to work there on my own evaporated along with other aspects of my life.
The last few years have seen a small quantity of fruit form and ripen, only to be snaffled by the abundant blackbirds.
The other day, whilst sitting on the back step and chatting to TD I noticed a blackbird taking a lot of interest in the tree - he mocked me for being so easily distracted but it was that thought today that sent me down there.
The older of the two trees was groaning with just about ripe fruit...a couple more days and the rest will be perfect but I picked a few to be going on with.
The boy would have been delighted with the fruity haul - I bought him a cherry stoner a long time ago when he acquired a taste for the fuit - and I stoned a bowlful for my dessert this evening.

Good times, poignant memories...



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Tuesday 8 June 2010

Musical Youth?


So...Sunday sees me having to be in London for an early-starting conference the next day.

S lives tolerably close to the Big Smoke so he consented to keep me entertained.

We had a good wander up the canal, then into Regent's Park. Thence to Camden and the markets, therein.

Most of them were selling t-shirts whose slogans would get old pretty quick but there was plenty there to induce smiles.

Naturally, we then found ourselves in a pub with decent beer (Deuchars IPA on draught, for anyone who's interested) and we sat and nattered in the sun, as is our wont.

Then more walking around the market to slightly more varied and interesting stalls (old pianos, old vinyl, a school desk full of cheap and cheerful film cameras) and then we decieded to get something to eat.

The old Horse Hospital part of the market has a stunning array of food stalls. Every style of cooking, from every continent and all housed in a series of what amounts to wooden sheds.

In the centre of the area are sturdy tables and benches for communal eating.

If you examine what was there it has the same components as the typical food plaza in a mall and yet I would rather have my left arm pulled off than eat in a mall.

One foil container of chickpea curry and rice, and another of chicken curry and rice cost us less than a tenner and left us feeling full. So we sat amongst the varied array of people and had what was the just about the nicest eating-out experience I've had in a while (OK, Zazu comes about equal).

How can malls get this thing so wrong? Or is it about the clientele? Or was it just my frame of mind? Who knows...all I can say is next time you're deciding where to eat in London, seriously consider visiting Camden.

After eating, and wandering a bit more we decided on an impromptu gig visit at the adjoining Proud venue. We were both miffed to find that, not only was there no real beer on offer, but the wine was marked up to rates that approached daylight robbery. Still the gig was, in fact, free so maybe we should have taken that on the chin.

What a fantastically quirky venue!

Horse stables have been turned into small lounge areas all in different styles and the main "hall" is a decent size with a small stage.

From our chosen stable we could hear the various acts doing their thing. Mostly they were fine, but not mind-blowing but then we went in to hear the "main" act...Tim Ten Yen.

A revelation.

This is not music I would normally be willing to listen to and yet his natural charm and fine-line treading between taking it seriously and being a total parody of...something...was utterly captivating.

I put it down to the liquor and the convivial company and almost wrote it off.

Then S sent me a link to his MySpace page and by early this afternoon I'd bought the album from iTunes.

Another revelation, then...taking a flyer on music you've never heard of can sometimes pay off.

OK - there are hardened gig-goers reading this and saying "well, like, duh..." but the last gig I went to was Nitin Sawhney and I was willing to put up with having to stand because I knew his music. Before that it was David Byrne and there were comfy seats, too.

I fully expect the next gig I go to will be rubbish, but I know that there are gems out there to be had so the only question is "where next?"


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Saturday 5 June 2010

I couldn't possibly do that!


Most of my family comment that I've changed.

It's not surprising, really, we all change over time and then we get shaped by events that happen to us.

So they're probably right, I probably have changed.


I still feel the same (about 17 and geekily awkward and not fully at ease with myself) but I know the evidence is there...on the outside to anyone who has known me for more than a couple of years.

However, bits of the "old" me are now popping up again. The one who likes to fiddle with bits of code to get things to work; the one who will sit and play piano, guitar or cello for a while just because I feel like it. To be honest, I'd almost forgotten that those parts of me ever existed. There are other things too. It's come as a bit of a surprise.

Also a surprise was my apparent willingness, and ability to pull off something TD has been worried about: my credibility as someone in the landscape/architecture industry.

A visit to stay with S turned from all social to a mix of social and business when we attended a public meeting on a proposed development in the town.

Not only was I happy to put myself in someone's face to talk about the development in quite forthright terms (that's new me, that is) but after about five minutes of talking the chap I was speaking to said "you're in the business, aren't you?". This was repeated with the other two people I launched myself at. Phew.

Since then I've attended a networking breakfast and I'm about to go to a sustainability conference which means travelling up to London and staying there overnight. Old me would have been terrified at the prospect and, given the choice, would have just avoided it but I'm not even really thinking about it.

I guess the oddest thing is that I'm not really doing this consciously. It's instinctive.

I've still no idea where I'm going and I'm generally not looking more than a couple of weeks ahead but I'm feeling more in control and more able to deal with the slings and arrows of....well, whatever, really.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is "good" or "right" I'm saying this is how it is for me at the moment. Maybe it's a facet of my age and situation. Maybe enough things have happened to me and those I love...good things as well as bad...that truly make me believe that you might as well get on with the now because you really don't know what's around the corner.

Then again...maybe it's just a phase I'm going though.



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