And we all know a song that's tearing me and you apart
Just finished the second week of the (six month) charity shop placement. Ehh, is how I feel about it. Short of finding a job, I can't get out of the gig. It could be worse - other people have been shunted into street-sweeping "placements" - it seems to be a matter of putting up with the least shit option. Sort things, steam things, price things: rinse, repeat. If I can reach some state of Zen boredom where I can focus on ideas whilst I'll be okay. Likewise if I can stay mostly in the backroom. I could bear it better if it was two or three days a week: four grinds me me down. I don't think I'll be finding many decent books here: I spent a lot of this morning labelling bad teen romances from 1990 and chortling at the covers. Yesterday I touched the Fifty Shades trilogy and I still feel vaguely soiled. Managed to pick up a charcoal peacoat for autumn and The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (which is great fun and has the most marvellous hats).
Where did summer go? The last few weeks seem to be just a memory of rain and the brightest thing I can bring to mind is the Holly Blue we saw feeding on ivy flowers last weekend: milk-blue with the tiniest black dots. An inch's wingspan doesnt' seem much to hang a whole season on.
I read Joel's The Anniversary of Never a few days ago. In and out of sleep; there was one particularly bad dream that could have passed for one of his stories. There are some classics here: moth-ghosts born from gluesniffing in a Black Country wood, Proserpine on the Tube, a brief fellowship forged from overhearing the cries of ghosts (which I wish I'd written; but we at least got Ashes out together. Still proud of that one). DF Lewis offers a good thoughtful review of the collection here. Other books on the pile: Nike Sulway's Rupetta, The Garden God by Forrest Reid, China M's The City & The City (which I've mellowed towards; I found it a bit pedestrian when it first came out).
I went round to stay at zoetropix's last night. We watched a few episodes of Steven Universe. I baked for the first time in *cough cough* years. I won't be following in Dad's footsteps - he was a professional baker for forty-odd years and now he seems content with crap white bread from the local One Stop, which always saddens me. But I think I make a decent brownie. The cookies were less successful; they didn't seem to get beyond dough consistency but tasted okay.
Hoping to write over the weekend; seeing John H for drinks tomorrow night; no other plans. A Furze novel might be shaping itself. Happy to play the shorter game for now if it gets me writing again.
Where did summer go? The last few weeks seem to be just a memory of rain and the brightest thing I can bring to mind is the Holly Blue we saw feeding on ivy flowers last weekend: milk-blue with the tiniest black dots. An inch's wingspan doesnt' seem much to hang a whole season on.
I read Joel's The Anniversary of Never a few days ago. In and out of sleep; there was one particularly bad dream that could have passed for one of his stories. There are some classics here: moth-ghosts born from gluesniffing in a Black Country wood, Proserpine on the Tube, a brief fellowship forged from overhearing the cries of ghosts (which I wish I'd written; but we at least got Ashes out together. Still proud of that one). DF Lewis offers a good thoughtful review of the collection here. Other books on the pile: Nike Sulway's Rupetta, The Garden God by Forrest Reid, China M's The City & The City (which I've mellowed towards; I found it a bit pedestrian when it first came out).
I went round to stay at zoetropix's last night. We watched a few episodes of Steven Universe. I baked for the first time in *cough cough* years. I won't be following in Dad's footsteps - he was a professional baker for forty-odd years and now he seems content with crap white bread from the local One Stop, which always saddens me. But I think I make a decent brownie. The cookies were less successful; they didn't seem to get beyond dough consistency but tasted okay.
Hoping to write over the weekend; seeing John H for drinks tomorrow night; no other plans. A Furze novel might be shaping itself. Happy to play the shorter game for now if it gets me writing again.