this post took me about a bloody year to do. i need a nap.
life is joyous in its infinite randomness.
a thought:
i think it's important to learn to build a little home base within your own soul, so that wherever you go you're not consumed by the lack or loss or distance of home. if home always has to be a place then you can only have one, and you have to always feel it as being a certain geographical distance from you as you make your way around. if a home is a place your heart recognises, though - as sappy as it sounds - you can have many, and carry them with you. places you can walk away from, but love can travel with you, tucked away behind your ribcage. i have so many homes now, and instead of mourning for their distance i like to think of them like this - travelling with me, nestled against my bones and listening to my heartbeat.
...so moving into less hallmark-ish territory, what follows is mostly just music and lots of photos. you can look at all of them or none of them - i don't mind in the slightest. this is more for myself and my family than anything - an interactive photo album. but hey, it's probably as close as you'll get to a proper account of what i've been up to for the last few weeks!
to gee me up for leaving little brickhill and poodling off vers france, i went through the music on my computer and picked out some songs that are either about travel, or feel somewhat travelly to me. if that makes any sense. click on the links to download, and join me in my travelly mood.
dogs die in hot cars - godhopping
So we go to,
All the traffic and children,
Who live far away,
On the back of a big bus all the way to Bombay
ok, so quite honestly i have no idea what this song is about, besides that involves going to bombay. but technically, this makes it about travel!!
the indigo girls - get out the map (live)
Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space?
I must say around some corner, I can sense a resting place.
With every lesson learned, a line upon your beautiful face.
We'll amuse ourselves one day with these memories we'll trace.
this is what's known as an 'oh-well-fuck-it-all-let's-go' travel song. i bet you didn't know that.
evermore - it's too late
Ride on, ride till early morning sun,
Ride on, like the morning of the day,
It's too late, to let all your feelings show,
Go on, til the night is swept away...
something about the rhythm - this song feels like moving.
ben folds - landed
I twisted it wrong just to make it right,
I had to leave myself behind,
And I've been flying high all night.
So come pick me up - I've landed.
the piano in this is just sublime - driving and powerful.
the waifs - highway one
And we’re gonna be,
Eating fish from a coal fire,
And we’re gonna be,
Sleepin outside,
Till the fires coal,
Or till it gets too cold.
this song is so familiar. it's about the highway i grew up alongside. to me it says camping. twilight driving with the low scrub silhouetted along the roadside. red dirt and bare, dusty feet. ...this song is aussie folky traveller love.
suzanne vega - gypsy
With a long and slender body,
And the sweetest softest hands,
And we'll blow away forever soon,
And go on to different lands,
And please do not ever look for me,
But with me you will stay,
And you will hear yourself in song,
Blowing by one day.
i know i've uploaded this song once already, but how can i not include it in a travelly mix? to me, this is about those strange and wonderful people you meet on your travels who touch you deeply and briefly then drift away with the breeze. and, in a way, it's also about that gypsy spirit that tugs you away from comfort as soon as you've so much as tasted it. something i don't feel so much like doing, anymore.
elliot smith - let's get lost
I don't know where I'll go now
And I don't really care who follows me there
But ill burn every bridge that I cross
To find some beautiful place to get lost
To find some beautiful place to get lost
the worst kind of travel - the kind that runs for running's sake. in my experience it's never a good idea. it's a cliche, but memories and fears can follow you anywhere you run. besides, elliott smith ended up killing himself.
sufjan stevens - chicago
I drove to New York
in the van, with my friend
we slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind
to get the full effect of this little piece of joy and wonderousness, you must listen to it whilst on board a moving vehicle of some kind. it amplifies the feeling of motion unitl you swear you can feel the earth careening through space beneath you. maybe that's a little over the top, but it's hard to describe just how amazing this song is.
the centre of neuilly-en-thelle, the village i'm staying in until next wednesday.
me with soleil, my cousin's half-french, half-aussie son. my hair is all spasticated in this pic because soleil had just been climbing on my head.
we went to paris last sunday and when we finally made it back to the car, we found the street entirely blocked by this parade of hardcore catholics all doing some march up the streets of montmartre towards the sacre coeur. we had to wait about twenty minutes for them to all file past. apparently it had something to do with pentecost...and if someone could enlighten me as to what the bloody hell that is i'd be muchly appreciative :)
the gorgeous basilisque. i love this building so freaking much. the little bent-backwards person in jeans down the bottom is me trying to keep a hold of soleil, who was once again using me as a human climbing frame.
la maison rose. ha, ha.
a random shot of some pretty street in montmartre. mmm, paris.
speculoos flavoured ice cream! i took this for my dear friend sammy, as she became unnaturally obsessed with speculoos biccies after a year spent in belgium. poor dear.
the kitchen at my old work, as modelled by paul da chef. a very cool dude, who put up with me even though i always ate all the little bits of feta cheese out of his meditteranean mix so the customers never got any feta in their antipasti. ah well.
jade the kitchenhand models some very sexy prawn cocktails that we put on for a wedding the other week. there were fucking thousands of them. (prawn cocktails, not weddings. there were only two weddings that day, and believe me, that was enough. i worked fourteen hours in all.)
this is when i went out with holly the super-indie-kid waitress to some indie night in milton keynes. looking a bit oily but ah well. i dressed to fit in (shirt dress, fishnets, ballet shoes) and it was almost scary how successful i was. twas a good night. danced like a spastic and drank cheap, cheap wine til i nearly spewed.
yep, same night. holly took this. i like holly. she let me have a sleep over at her house once, which was retro and cool. also, when i said that our night out should be like a date, she brought me flowers. orange roses :} so i took her out for dinner and we got pissed and told each other emo secrets.
this is how long my hair got between proper hair cuts, even with a small anti-mullet back trim to keep it, well, not mullety. my hair grows fast.
this is the conservatory at work, all set up pretty for the aforementioned wedding.
and again with the pretty.
WHY HELLO THERE, SUMMER. WHAT TOOK YOU SO BLOODY LONG?!
the garden outside the conservatory.
aaand again. lovely place to eat when it's warm.
the lovely paddington (turgid carrot not shown). he is the size of a horse, as i do believe i've mentioned before. but it has to be said, dammit. horse!!
james models the awesome pool table. hours of fun, that thing. gave me something to watch when there wasn't much going on :)
my dear boss louise in front of MY bar. mine, y'hear?
my absolute favourite regular, roger. this guy was honestly the only thing that kept me sane some days. he has a twisted, brilliant, merciless sense of humour which unfortunately goes down like a lead balloon with a lot of the villagers. but i love him to bits.
my awesome tasmanian co-star co-worker ash. his accent is so australian that it makes me cringe. funny tasmanians.
at the gaybar with jade the kitchenhand. her bra just wouldn't stay in. but then again, i have that effect on women :P
mark and dave, a couple of cool drunkards i used to serve sometimes, and get pissed with some other times.
this is louise with my darling sunday crew. these old guys come in every sunday, and they were the absolute highlight of what was otherwise a pretty shitty day, generally. they always had a smile and a bit of banal old-man-chatter for me, which i loved. jim (the second dude in on the right) was actually born in the pub, back in 1917, and has been coming in ever since. now that's what i call a regular!!
my alcohoroscope, sent to me by my dear dad (a fellow gemini)
Drinking style:
Gemini’s can drink without changing their behavior much -- they're
so naturally chatty and short-attention-spanned that it's just hard to
tell sometimes. They can amaze you by conversing with finesse
and allusions, then doing something to belie an extremely
advanced state of intoxication, like puking in your shoe. Gemini’s
possess the magic ability to flirt successfully (and uninfuriatingly,
which is very tricky) with several people at once. They like to order
different cocktails every round -- repetition is boring -- and may
create a theme (like yellow drinks: beer, sauvignon blanc and
limoncello) for their own amusement.
the other signs can be found here.
so that concludes our little journey into le monde du rose. i'm off to montpelier tomorrow to drink large quantities of lovely wine, so don't expect to see me sober around much for the next few days.
gros bisous a tout le monde xx
a thought:
i think it's important to learn to build a little home base within your own soul, so that wherever you go you're not consumed by the lack or loss or distance of home. if home always has to be a place then you can only have one, and you have to always feel it as being a certain geographical distance from you as you make your way around. if a home is a place your heart recognises, though - as sappy as it sounds - you can have many, and carry them with you. places you can walk away from, but love can travel with you, tucked away behind your ribcage. i have so many homes now, and instead of mourning for their distance i like to think of them like this - travelling with me, nestled against my bones and listening to my heartbeat.
...so moving into less hallmark-ish territory, what follows is mostly just music and lots of photos. you can look at all of them or none of them - i don't mind in the slightest. this is more for myself and my family than anything - an interactive photo album. but hey, it's probably as close as you'll get to a proper account of what i've been up to for the last few weeks!
to gee me up for leaving little brickhill and poodling off vers france, i went through the music on my computer and picked out some songs that are either about travel, or feel somewhat travelly to me. if that makes any sense. click on the links to download, and join me in my travelly mood.
dogs die in hot cars - godhopping
So we go to,
All the traffic and children,
Who live far away,
On the back of a big bus all the way to Bombay
ok, so quite honestly i have no idea what this song is about, besides that involves going to bombay. but technically, this makes it about travel!!
the indigo girls - get out the map (live)
Why do we hurtle ourselves through every inch of time and space?
I must say around some corner, I can sense a resting place.
With every lesson learned, a line upon your beautiful face.
We'll amuse ourselves one day with these memories we'll trace.
this is what's known as an 'oh-well-fuck-it-all-let's-go' travel song. i bet you didn't know that.
evermore - it's too late
Ride on, ride till early morning sun,
Ride on, like the morning of the day,
It's too late, to let all your feelings show,
Go on, til the night is swept away...
something about the rhythm - this song feels like moving.
ben folds - landed
I twisted it wrong just to make it right,
I had to leave myself behind,
And I've been flying high all night.
So come pick me up - I've landed.
the piano in this is just sublime - driving and powerful.
the waifs - highway one
And we’re gonna be,
Eating fish from a coal fire,
And we’re gonna be,
Sleepin outside,
Till the fires coal,
Or till it gets too cold.
this song is so familiar. it's about the highway i grew up alongside. to me it says camping. twilight driving with the low scrub silhouetted along the roadside. red dirt and bare, dusty feet. ...this song is aussie folky traveller love.
suzanne vega - gypsy
With a long and slender body,
And the sweetest softest hands,
And we'll blow away forever soon,
And go on to different lands,
And please do not ever look for me,
But with me you will stay,
And you will hear yourself in song,
Blowing by one day.
i know i've uploaded this song once already, but how can i not include it in a travelly mix? to me, this is about those strange and wonderful people you meet on your travels who touch you deeply and briefly then drift away with the breeze. and, in a way, it's also about that gypsy spirit that tugs you away from comfort as soon as you've so much as tasted it. something i don't feel so much like doing, anymore.
elliot smith - let's get lost
I don't know where I'll go now
And I don't really care who follows me there
But ill burn every bridge that I cross
To find some beautiful place to get lost
To find some beautiful place to get lost
the worst kind of travel - the kind that runs for running's sake. in my experience it's never a good idea. it's a cliche, but memories and fears can follow you anywhere you run. besides, elliott smith ended up killing himself.
sufjan stevens - chicago
I drove to New York
in the van, with my friend
we slept in parking lots
I don't mind, I don't mind
I was in love with the place
in my mind, in my mind
I made a lot of mistakes
in my mind, in my mind
to get the full effect of this little piece of joy and wonderousness, you must listen to it whilst on board a moving vehicle of some kind. it amplifies the feeling of motion unitl you swear you can feel the earth careening through space beneath you. maybe that's a little over the top, but it's hard to describe just how amazing this song is.
the centre of neuilly-en-thelle, the village i'm staying in until next wednesday.
me with soleil, my cousin's half-french, half-aussie son. my hair is all spasticated in this pic because soleil had just been climbing on my head.
we went to paris last sunday and when we finally made it back to the car, we found the street entirely blocked by this parade of hardcore catholics all doing some march up the streets of montmartre towards the sacre coeur. we had to wait about twenty minutes for them to all file past. apparently it had something to do with pentecost...and if someone could enlighten me as to what the bloody hell that is i'd be muchly appreciative :)
the gorgeous basilisque. i love this building so freaking much. the little bent-backwards person in jeans down the bottom is me trying to keep a hold of soleil, who was once again using me as a human climbing frame.
la maison rose. ha, ha.
a random shot of some pretty street in montmartre. mmm, paris.
speculoos flavoured ice cream! i took this for my dear friend sammy, as she became unnaturally obsessed with speculoos biccies after a year spent in belgium. poor dear.
the kitchen at my old work, as modelled by paul da chef. a very cool dude, who put up with me even though i always ate all the little bits of feta cheese out of his meditteranean mix so the customers never got any feta in their antipasti. ah well.
jade the kitchenhand models some very sexy prawn cocktails that we put on for a wedding the other week. there were fucking thousands of them. (prawn cocktails, not weddings. there were only two weddings that day, and believe me, that was enough. i worked fourteen hours in all.)
this is when i went out with holly the super-indie-kid waitress to some indie night in milton keynes. looking a bit oily but ah well. i dressed to fit in (shirt dress, fishnets, ballet shoes) and it was almost scary how successful i was. twas a good night. danced like a spastic and drank cheap, cheap wine til i nearly spewed.
yep, same night. holly took this. i like holly. she let me have a sleep over at her house once, which was retro and cool. also, when i said that our night out should be like a date, she brought me flowers. orange roses :} so i took her out for dinner and we got pissed and told each other emo secrets.
this is how long my hair got between proper hair cuts, even with a small anti-mullet back trim to keep it, well, not mullety. my hair grows fast.
this is the conservatory at work, all set up pretty for the aforementioned wedding.
and again with the pretty.
WHY HELLO THERE, SUMMER. WHAT TOOK YOU SO BLOODY LONG?!
the garden outside the conservatory.
aaand again. lovely place to eat when it's warm.
the lovely paddington (turgid carrot not shown). he is the size of a horse, as i do believe i've mentioned before. but it has to be said, dammit. horse!!
james models the awesome pool table. hours of fun, that thing. gave me something to watch when there wasn't much going on :)
my dear boss louise in front of MY bar. mine, y'hear?
my absolute favourite regular, roger. this guy was honestly the only thing that kept me sane some days. he has a twisted, brilliant, merciless sense of humour which unfortunately goes down like a lead balloon with a lot of the villagers. but i love him to bits.
my awesome tasmanian co-star co-worker ash. his accent is so australian that it makes me cringe. funny tasmanians.
at the gaybar with jade the kitchenhand. her bra just wouldn't stay in. but then again, i have that effect on women :P
mark and dave, a couple of cool drunkards i used to serve sometimes, and get pissed with some other times.
this is louise with my darling sunday crew. these old guys come in every sunday, and they were the absolute highlight of what was otherwise a pretty shitty day, generally. they always had a smile and a bit of banal old-man-chatter for me, which i loved. jim (the second dude in on the right) was actually born in the pub, back in 1917, and has been coming in ever since. now that's what i call a regular!!
my alcohoroscope, sent to me by my dear dad (a fellow gemini)
Drinking style:
Gemini’s can drink without changing their behavior much -- they're
so naturally chatty and short-attention-spanned that it's just hard to
tell sometimes. They can amaze you by conversing with finesse
and allusions, then doing something to belie an extremely
advanced state of intoxication, like puking in your shoe. Gemini’s
possess the magic ability to flirt successfully (and uninfuriatingly,
which is very tricky) with several people at once. They like to order
different cocktails every round -- repetition is boring -- and may
create a theme (like yellow drinks: beer, sauvignon blanc and
limoncello) for their own amusement.
the other signs can be found here.
so that concludes our little journey into le monde du rose. i'm off to montpelier tomorrow to drink large quantities of lovely wine, so don't expect to see me sober around much for the next few days.
gros bisous a tout le monde xx