"No Poetry in the Kitchen"
February 9th 2007
The sun is setting. Go down, sun, go and get it over with.
I had a short story appear in print today, and it was an interesting experience to read it back with a sense of detachment. I can smile at the overeager use of adjectives and similes, and still enjoy it at the same time. It will at least help me figure out how to improve as a writer. If I tone down some of the verbosity, then maybe I’ll be able to make something good of it.
The boiler, which was certified as ’immediately dangerous’ and disconnected on Thursday, has been fixed today while I was out at work. That means warm showers and central heating are back on the menu. “You don’t know what you got till its gone”. True, but this house can hardly be called paradise, so you can pave it over if you really want to (provided I’m remunerated). Burnley was quite complementary of my room when he came round last night. It would be nice to fix it up with a potted plant on the desk, and I should like to buy some incense from Shared Earth too; that would finish things off nicely.
Burnley and I went to see Catriona McKay and the Nils Okland trio at the RNCM last night, and it was an enjoyable performance. I quite enjoyed observing the sorts of people who turned up in the audience, and it looked as though most of it was made up of either RNCM students or dowdy middle-age couples who liked to tap their thighs along to the rhythms. Should I really be associating myself with the latter? Burnley felt a little uncomfortable in the setting, (though admittedly, he’s going through a tough time, emotions-wise, and had to leave half way through), but we both enjoyed the music itself. McKay and her accompanying fiddle-player, John Taylor were very melodic and had a lot of amusing anecdotes to frame the songs, but they sounded merely pretty in the shadow of Nils Okland and his trio. Hardanger fiddle, harmonium and myriad percussion instruments combined to create an impressionistic storm that was by turns menacing and beautiful. I could well believe the programme when it boasted that Okland has a cult following in the UK.
Talking of music, my money-saving resolve is beginning to crumble in the face of my Amazon Wish List; ‘Apeology’ by Lee Scratch Perry; ‘Thai Pop Spectacular’; ‘Velvet Donkey‘ by Ivor Cutler, ‘Bay Area Funk Vols. 1 & 2’, me oh my! I can barely keep the shirt on my back.
The sun is setting. Go down, sun, go and get it over with.
I had a short story appear in print today, and it was an interesting experience to read it back with a sense of detachment. I can smile at the overeager use of adjectives and similes, and still enjoy it at the same time. It will at least help me figure out how to improve as a writer. If I tone down some of the verbosity, then maybe I’ll be able to make something good of it.
The boiler, which was certified as ’immediately dangerous’ and disconnected on Thursday, has been fixed today while I was out at work. That means warm showers and central heating are back on the menu. “You don’t know what you got till its gone”. True, but this house can hardly be called paradise, so you can pave it over if you really want to (provided I’m remunerated). Burnley was quite complementary of my room when he came round last night. It would be nice to fix it up with a potted plant on the desk, and I should like to buy some incense from Shared Earth too; that would finish things off nicely.
Burnley and I went to see Catriona McKay and the Nils Okland trio at the RNCM last night, and it was an enjoyable performance. I quite enjoyed observing the sorts of people who turned up in the audience, and it looked as though most of it was made up of either RNCM students or dowdy middle-age couples who liked to tap their thighs along to the rhythms. Should I really be associating myself with the latter? Burnley felt a little uncomfortable in the setting, (though admittedly, he’s going through a tough time, emotions-wise, and had to leave half way through), but we both enjoyed the music itself. McKay and her accompanying fiddle-player, John Taylor were very melodic and had a lot of amusing anecdotes to frame the songs, but they sounded merely pretty in the shadow of Nils Okland and his trio. Hardanger fiddle, harmonium and myriad percussion instruments combined to create an impressionistic storm that was by turns menacing and beautiful. I could well believe the programme when it boasted that Okland has a cult following in the UK.
Talking of music, my money-saving resolve is beginning to crumble in the face of my Amazon Wish List; ‘Apeology’ by Lee Scratch Perry; ‘Thai Pop Spectacular’; ‘Velvet Donkey‘ by Ivor Cutler, ‘Bay Area Funk Vols. 1 & 2’, me oh my! I can barely keep the shirt on my back.