What is this thing you Earthlings call "Livejournal"?
F*cking hell, how can it be two months since I've last posted on here? TWO MONTHS. Very, very poor.
I have been busy. Still working in the Media Office for the HoC. Still sworn to secrecy on issues that you would almost certainly find stultifyingly tedious. I have not spoken to any celebrity journalists, although I did meet Floella Benjamin the other day, and - at this point I was going to name a particular Labour MP and describe them in very flattering terms, but I've got caught out by people having their name on Google alert before, so I shall leave it at that. Can't be arsed locking all my posts again.
Since January 15th, I have attended the joint 40th of my friends Ruth and Pete in Bristol, which was a blast. I have been to a lovely Burns' Night supper hosted by the lovely sleeperesque, where we drank lots of whisky sours, ate delicious haggis, neeps and tatties and listened to a terrific recording of drummygirl's grandad reciting Burns' "Ode to a Haggis". I went along with various other LJers and their ilk to see yiskah, who I hadn't seen for about three years at least, and it was awesome. I am eagerly anticipating Vampire Weekend's national anthem for Southern Sudan. Or Awesomeland, as they should have called it.
I spent a wonderful Valentine's day with Becky at Kew Gardens. We sheltered from cold winds inside a stifling Victorian greenhouse, saw the world's oldest pot plant, learned that tea comes from the camelia plant and saw many, many orchids.
Amy came to London and we went to the Science Museum, in part to celebrate her brand new surname, although a lot of the Moon merchandise in the gift shop wasn't up to par. We saw a large art installation with DO NOT TOUCH written on it, which gave you an electric shock if you touched it. We watched with amusement as many idiots went and touched it, and then got an electric shock. I suspect all of humanity can be divided into these two categories.
My Mum has moved house! It all happened v. quickly. A place came up for rent in a small village on the outskirts of Romiley, which is about 15 mins away from Stockport by bus. I went up for a day and helped to move a lot of heavy stuff out of her old flat, but I wasn't up for the actual move itself. My sister was there, and very much took charge of things, although the people Mum had hired to organise the move didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Still, it's all done now. I've seen the flat, and it's great, and she's living in her own place but as part of a retirement community, and I'm very happy that she will have plenty of company there.
On the 24th Feb, Bob very kindly invited me along on a test run of his new London walk, which he the Museum of London have commissioned him to do. There are details at their website if you would like to come along - all the dates are in April.(All dates in April now sold out - see 18th March posting above).
I highly recommend it. It's as engaging, funny and exciting as Bob's previous walks, but with a tighter focus this time. There is a real sensation of placing a specific part of London (in this case, Finsbury) under the microscope, and getting to grips with its internal structure. The punctuation of the walk with writings and observations from author Arthur Machen gives the whole thing a different flavour to previous Kingham outings - a little less celebratory and exuberant, a little more melancholy and eerie. It will be interesting to do the walk again in slightly warmer weather.
(There are more pictures here)
I wrote some notes on the way up to Stockport to help with my Mum's move, and I may post something based on them tomorrow - they will kind of jar with the general catchy-uppy nature of this post, I think. I've also been doing lots of re-listening to Big Audio Dynamite, and I'd like to write some more about that, too.
Last thing I will mention for now though - went to see the Decemberists with Becky in Bexhill on Saturday night just gone. I've only been dimly aware of their stuff before, and wouldn't really count myself a fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The support band, Blind Pilot, were quite lovely, and I speak as a man frequently disappointed by support bands. The Decemberists themselves put on a fantastic performance, in an amazing venue - the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill. I don't want to sound like a muso bore, but the acoustics were absolutely terrific, and this was really important for the sort of show The Decemberists put on, which can veer from impossibly gentle to ferociously loud in the course of one song.
The Decemberists playing at De La Warr Pavillion - 12th March 2011. (Photo by James Mitchell, some rights reserved)
The lead singer, Colin Meloy, had a real stage presence and beautifully dry sense of humour. Hearing him croon the first verse of "Something About You" by Level 42 as a throwaway before launching into an encore was a personal highlight, as was watching him calmy drink a cup of water from a watercooler inexplicably in front of the stage, in the middle of a song, while the audience looked on, admiring and baffled in equal measure. Terrific stuff. I'd recommend you go yourself, but their UK tour ended last night. Another reason why I should post more frequently.
As I have recorded elsewhere, Becky and I took the indiest train ever back to Brighton. Conversations were taking place about a) My Bloody Valentine, b) the Rough Trade shop and c) the price of porridge at Holland and Barratt. The couple opposite us (she - all black hair and red lipstick faintly retro indie glamour; he - a slightly beefier Matt Smith lookalike in a brown leather jacket) were doing the NME crossword.
You can certainly expect another update in under 2 months.
I have been busy. Still working in the Media Office for the HoC. Still sworn to secrecy on issues that you would almost certainly find stultifyingly tedious. I have not spoken to any celebrity journalists, although I did meet Floella Benjamin the other day, and - at this point I was going to name a particular Labour MP and describe them in very flattering terms, but I've got caught out by people having their name on Google alert before, so I shall leave it at that. Can't be arsed locking all my posts again.
Since January 15th, I have attended the joint 40th of my friends Ruth and Pete in Bristol, which was a blast. I have been to a lovely Burns' Night supper hosted by the lovely sleeperesque, where we drank lots of whisky sours, ate delicious haggis, neeps and tatties and listened to a terrific recording of drummygirl's grandad reciting Burns' "Ode to a Haggis". I went along with various other LJers and their ilk to see yiskah, who I hadn't seen for about three years at least, and it was awesome. I am eagerly anticipating Vampire Weekend's national anthem for Southern Sudan. Or Awesomeland, as they should have called it.
I spent a wonderful Valentine's day with Becky at Kew Gardens. We sheltered from cold winds inside a stifling Victorian greenhouse, saw the world's oldest pot plant, learned that tea comes from the camelia plant and saw many, many orchids.
Amy came to London and we went to the Science Museum, in part to celebrate her brand new surname, although a lot of the Moon merchandise in the gift shop wasn't up to par. We saw a large art installation with DO NOT TOUCH written on it, which gave you an electric shock if you touched it. We watched with amusement as many idiots went and touched it, and then got an electric shock. I suspect all of humanity can be divided into these two categories.
My Mum has moved house! It all happened v. quickly. A place came up for rent in a small village on the outskirts of Romiley, which is about 15 mins away from Stockport by bus. I went up for a day and helped to move a lot of heavy stuff out of her old flat, but I wasn't up for the actual move itself. My sister was there, and very much took charge of things, although the people Mum had hired to organise the move didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. Still, it's all done now. I've seen the flat, and it's great, and she's living in her own place but as part of a retirement community, and I'm very happy that she will have plenty of company there.
On the 24th Feb, Bob very kindly invited me along on a test run of his new London walk, which he the Museum of London have commissioned him to do. There are details at their website if you would like to come along - all the dates are in April.(All dates in April now sold out - see 18th March posting above).
I highly recommend it. It's as engaging, funny and exciting as Bob's previous walks, but with a tighter focus this time. There is a real sensation of placing a specific part of London (in this case, Finsbury) under the microscope, and getting to grips with its internal structure. The punctuation of the walk with writings and observations from author Arthur Machen gives the whole thing a different flavour to previous Kingham outings - a little less celebratory and exuberant, a little more melancholy and eerie. It will be interesting to do the walk again in slightly warmer weather.
(There are more pictures here)
I wrote some notes on the way up to Stockport to help with my Mum's move, and I may post something based on them tomorrow - they will kind of jar with the general catchy-uppy nature of this post, I think. I've also been doing lots of re-listening to Big Audio Dynamite, and I'd like to write some more about that, too.
Last thing I will mention for now though - went to see the Decemberists with Becky in Bexhill on Saturday night just gone. I've only been dimly aware of their stuff before, and wouldn't really count myself a fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The support band, Blind Pilot, were quite lovely, and I speak as a man frequently disappointed by support bands. The Decemberists themselves put on a fantastic performance, in an amazing venue - the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill. I don't want to sound like a muso bore, but the acoustics were absolutely terrific, and this was really important for the sort of show The Decemberists put on, which can veer from impossibly gentle to ferociously loud in the course of one song.
The Decemberists playing at De La Warr Pavillion - 12th March 2011. (Photo by James Mitchell, some rights reserved)
The lead singer, Colin Meloy, had a real stage presence and beautifully dry sense of humour. Hearing him croon the first verse of "Something About You" by Level 42 as a throwaway before launching into an encore was a personal highlight, as was watching him calmy drink a cup of water from a watercooler inexplicably in front of the stage, in the middle of a song, while the audience looked on, admiring and baffled in equal measure. Terrific stuff. I'd recommend you go yourself, but their UK tour ended last night. Another reason why I should post more frequently.
As I have recorded elsewhere, Becky and I took the indiest train ever back to Brighton. Conversations were taking place about a) My Bloody Valentine, b) the Rough Trade shop and c) the price of porridge at Holland and Barratt. The couple opposite us (she - all black hair and red lipstick faintly retro indie glamour; he - a slightly beefier Matt Smith lookalike in a brown leather jacket) were doing the NME crossword.
You can certainly expect another update in under 2 months.