I love radio co-op

It's so unexpectedly entertaining. I went into the Co-op on my way home last night to buy potatoes (it was cold and windy and I had a craving for sausage and mash with gravy). The tannoy system was playing Dreadlock Holiday by 10cc. Interesting, I thought. Then the song finished and I heard the unmistakable plinks of the beginning of Bjork's Venus as a Boy. A grin slowly crept across my face and I found myself staying in the shop and buying a few more things just to hear the whole song and find out what came next (something I couldn't identify). Perhaps that's why they do it. Anyway, whenever I go in a Co-op there's almost always something unexpectedly good playing on the instore radio. In the last few weeks I've heard

Bob Dylan - Like a Rollin' Stone
Amy Winehouse - Stronger than me
The Foundations - Build me up Buttercup
The Beatles - Drive my car
The Bangles - Walk like an Egyptian

And that's just the ones I can remember. It's the randomness of the selection that gets me. You never know what's coming next and they're (nearly) all quality tunes.

hungry hungry

My stomach is making the most extraordinary noises.

Thanks to all who are praying. I don't know any more than I've already said. The post mortem ruled out any suspicious circumstances, but wasn't conclusive about the cause of death. I don't know the funeral arrangements yet.

Church was good on Sunday. It was great to able to pray for each other and feel the support of the church community. And I went out for lunch with a bunch of girls, all about my own age and non-students. Finally I'm starting to find some people like me. Hooray!

prayer request

I heard last night that one of the guys in my cell group was found dead on Thursday morning. No idea why, there's going to be a post mortem today. I didn't know him all that well, but he seemed a lovely bloke. He was a very new Christian, full of enthusiasm, glowing with love for God and care for others. He leaves an ex-wife and a 7 year old daughter, who hadn't been told about his death yesterday, her mother is probably going to tell her today.

Please pray for his family, for the cell and for the church as a whole.

unhappy wednesday

I'm having another one of those "what am I doing here, I'm no good at this job, aarrgh!" sort of days.

Silly really.

I'm feeling disorganised and completely not on top of my work. Everything I have to do seems to be urgent and needs doing yesterday. And I'm forever putting things off until I feel confident enough to do them (i.e. anything that involves the phone.)

All this despite a successful event yesterday.

Last night I ended up knitting in front of the telly, watching Jackanory night on BBC4. Wonderfully comforting and nostalgic.

Today I met Debs and my mum in town for lunch, which was great, if too brief. They're both on half term this week. I wish I was. I'm feeling very time-poor. I'm supposed to be taking my favourite food and favourite pudding to a cell social on Thursday night. I made triple quantities of mole (that's chicken in a tomatoey chilli sauce with ground almonds and chocolate, not a small furry creature) last night and froze what I didn't eat, so that's sorted, but I haven't got the time to make brownies or chocolate cake or banana cake. I might have to buy some yummy ice-cream or something.

Choir tonight. Singing always cheers me up. Last week I was feeling tired and didn't want to go, but I went and by the end felt muchly cheered and destressed. So hopefully, it will have the same effect tonight.

happy tuesday

It is Tuesday. It is a Tuesday just like any other Tuesday. Actually not just like any other Tuesday because this one contained an event I organised which was well attended and very interesting but kept me awake last night and early this morning with every part of my body feeling tense and nervous. Tonight I plan to relax. I might have a bath. I will certainly knit. Maybe eat some chocolate. I'll have the house to myself since my housemate will be out with her fiance for some inexplicable reason, so it'll be lovely and quiet.

I hope you have a happy Tuesday too.

Shandian

I went to see A Cock and Bull Story the weekend before last, and liked it much more than I thought I would. Not that I expected to dislike it, but I did worry that Steve Coogan would be too annoying. He was a little in the early parts of the film and I still think he mostly plays multiple versions of the same character, but by the end his character seemed to have some depth.

It's not a straight adaptation of the book and it's not meant to be. It shares themes with Adaptation, in that both are about the process of making a film. There's enough humour for it not to seem clever-clever and overly knowing. The film acknowledges the feeling of frustration at missed-out elements of a favourite book by using character's complaints to include 'missing' scenes. (Thankfully it completely misses out the long travelogue sections I always get bogged down in.)

Rob Brydon steals every scene he's in. Keeley Hawes looks terribly grown up as Tristram's mother. Shirley Henderson is squeaky and interesting as usual. There are some great cameos, one of the best being Tony Wilson turning up to interview Steve Coogan. (Coogan played Wilson in 24 Hour Party People.)

I think this film manages to side step possible accusations of pretentiousness by being amusing, clever and touching. It also gets away with much of its unevenness and jumps between plot lines since Sterne does exactly the same thing. The digressions are the point of Tristram Shandy.

what am i up to?

I have been requested (read, ordered) to blog about what I've been doing, so I shall.
On Friday night, I joined some fellow Cambridge knitters in a pub to watch the Winter Olympics opening ceremonies and cast on for the Knitting Olympics.

On Saturday, I woke up earlyish (for a Saturday) and sat in bed knitting and listening to Home Truths. Then I went out and collected parcels from the Post Office and bought some fruit and veg from the Co-op. I came home and ate croissants and hot chocolate and then did some more knitting.

After a while, I decided I needed some fresh air, so I went for a wander. I walked through the cemetery, walked up the main road in the direction of Cottenham, wandered off through some twisty roads, found a bit of bridleway, walked along it, walked back, took some photos, found the village church, walked back through the old bit of the village, discovered a few shops I hasn't seen before (a shoe factory outlet, no use for large feet, unless you want trainers or maybe walking boots), found the local library (open on Saturday mornings, but not afternoons, so not that useful), sat and watched the ducks on the village green. Went home to find Z and D watching the rugby. Knitted some more. Cooked mole, knitted some more and watched TV. Went to bed.

Sunday, I went to church, went to a newcomers lunch in a really old and amazing house, went home and knitted, went to a students and 20s evening event at church, talked to some friendly people, ate doughnuts, went home, went to bed.

Debs, are you happy now? I don't often write diary entry type things like this cos I think they're quite boring to read unless you know the person.

I shall now find something more interesting (I hope) to write about.

run away and draw

Hours of fun: Sketch swap

via meish

phew

Someone else is videoing the event on Tuesday and the one two weeks after that, so I have about a month to aquire kit and get some practice in. That's such a relief.

I'll be very glad when this week's over.

pointless 1980s UK-centric trivia

Did you that Charles Collingwood (Brian in The Archers) voiced Wordy in Look and Read?

Given that to appreciate this you have to
a) be about the same age as me
b) be British
c) have watched Look and Read at school
and d) know enough about The Archers to know who Brian is,
this piece of trivia is probably only of interest to about one member of the audience of this blog, but never mind, it amused me.

meurgh

Why do apparently simple things take forever?

I've been trying all day to find a tripod to order for work. And I am still confused. There are tripods, there are tripod heads, there are little tiny tripods for still cameras, there are great big huge tripods, there are quick release tripods (equally useful for a wedding or a warzone apparently) there are triffids, there's an 80s BBC sci-fi drama, there are £20 tripods, there are £2000 tripods. I still don't know what I want. Well, I do, but I don't know where to buy it.

I want a tripod for a Sony DCR-VX2100. It needs to be tall enough to put the camera at about eye-height, it should have a quick release mechanism, a spirit level would be useful and it should pan and tilt smoothly. I'm not bothered about having controls on the handle. I'd like to spend around £200, but that's a bit flexible. Not £2000 flexible though. I've got to film an event on Tuesday and I'd like to have chance to play with the camera setup before that. Does anyone have any good ideas?

where are you from?

I've been playing with a fascinating surname profiler website, found via Anne. It gives you maps of the frequency of a surname in the UK in 1881 and 1998, using census data. My surname is mostly concentrated in Cornwall and the South West in 1881. In 1998, it's more widespread, but the highest density is still in Cornwall. It also gives you the Mosaic group with the highest index for your surname. Mine is 'Tourist Attendant', which makes sense for the South West.

Where does your name come from?

if you can't stand the wait, don't listen to the band

Yesterday I was feeling rubbish and Mondayish (yet again, got to do something about that) and since there are rather a lot of pink fluffy things around in February, it's not the most fun of times to be single. I found myself moaning to God about not having met anyone yet and trying to work out how best to trust God and what my attitude should be.

So I tried turning it around and thought about what I'd like my future husband* to be doing right now and this is what I came up with:

Waiting patiently and chastely for God to bring the woman he’s going to marry into his life.
Not chasing after every girl he meets, but hopefully and prayerfully keeping his eyes open.
Not putting his life on hold until he gets married, but getting on with whatever stuff God’s given him to do in the place in which he is now.
Trusting God for the future, whatever happens.

So, perhaps that's a good list for me to think about too.

*Clearly there are some implicit assumptions here, but we'll leave those for another day.

that friday feeling

End of the week, about to head home. It's a good feeling.

This weekend holds good stuff - a ceilidh, sunday lunch with my landlords, D and Z, knitting, reading, maybe the cinema, definitely sleep.

I've lost track of how many weeks I've been at this job. 4 I think. Today is a month since I started, so perhaps it's 5. It's going well. I'm busy, every day there's something new to work out how to to do, we're all still finding our feet a little, but we're making progress.

Off to cycle home.

scarf

Does this belong in knitting or flying? Anyway, Nathan found it. (Why doesn't that boy have a blog yet?)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Doctor Who scarf.

tuesday over

The event went really well. Loads of people turned up, we had to turn a few away. The speaker was great, the food was OK and there was just about enough of it, although more wouldn't have hurt.

And I've just finished my essay. Going home now, I'm very hungry.

maybe it's just mondays I don't like

I would happily run back to bed right now, but I'm at work and there are things to do.

Quick post and then I'll be good.

I did go and see Narnia on Saturday (on my own, which I rather like) and I liked it a lot. Yes, there were lots of little changes from the book, but that's what happens when you make a film. Books and films are different animals. The scene leading up to Aslan's death got as near to making me cry as anything ever does. (Unlike my mother who cries at ANYTHING vaguely sad, I never cry at films. Books very occasionally.) There's one line "But let him first be shaved!" that always makes me squirm with horror and sadness at the humiliation of it.

Tilda Swinton's Jadis is a huge improvement on the pantomime villain of the BBC version (although I really don't understand why she wears such oddly shaped dresses. In one she looks positively deformed.) There's something very chilling about her offhand nastiness and the way she changes abruptly from soft-voiced flattery to anger.

I have an essay to write, which is at least half done. More than that if you're counting words, but it needs some pummelling into shape.

Tomorrow is the first work event for which I'm partly responsible. I think I've checked everything which can be checked. The one thing I can't check is how many people are going to turn up. I'll let you know how it goes.

escape to Narnia

narnia, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I'm posting this photo because I'm fed up with Monday's slightly self-pitying post still being at the top when mostly I'm OK really. And as a reminder to myself that I STILL haven't been to see the Narnia film. I'm supposed to be going with Debbie at some point, but since she's gone home to be ill, that might not happen.

not a good day

Today has not been a good day and I can't really put my finger on a reason why. I have things to do, but I'm not really getting anywhere with them. My first actual event is in a week and a day. I don't seem to be doing anything towards making it happen. I probably should. I've sent out lots of posters, so presumably some people will see them and come. The room is booked, the food is probably booked. Perhaps I should look into this a bit more.

I think I'm missing a sense of purpose. I turn up at work not really have much sense of my goals for the day, the week, the next few weeks. This is partly because everything is so new. I need to do some planning.

This is turning into a really boring post isn't it. Sorry, just me working stuff out by writing it down. It sometimes helps.

Anything exciting happen this weekend? I went shopping, bought a suitcase, a grey jumper (I can't quite believe I managed to buy something that isn't pink red or purple. Still, it is for work.) some CDs (Franz Ferdinand, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, haven't listened to them yet). Saturday night was a Burns Night concert in Debbie's village, which was fun, very silly but well-sung.

Sunday was church, lunch at a work colleague's house and lots of knitting. I spent the coffee time after church talking to lots of students, which was lovely, but did make me feel old. (That's City Church btw. In the end I decided it felt like home and since I don't really want to go back to being an Anglican, there wasn't anywhere else I fancied going, so I'll stick with it) I don't yet seem to have met anyone of my age bracket yet, i.e. post-student, working, single. Early days. Church never seems long enough to get to know people. There's no general gathering of people to go off to lunch somewhere. I am not patient. I want everything to happen right now, but friendships take time and effort. Time to start inviting people over to lunch. It would be good to have a reason to cook properly. I don't often seem to have time, especially not in the week, and this weekend I got cooked for on Saturday and Sunday, so didn't really get chance to cook anything interesting.

Shall I bike home or get the bus? It was very cold on my way in, which is probably a good reason to bike. Cycling is cold, but standing at the bus stop is colder.

There you go, some of the contents of my brain at this moment. Is it too boring? Will anyone comment? Go on, say hello.

lost in the city

Apparently, a whale was seen swimming through London today. Poor thing, it must have been very lost.