Tuesday, January 29, 2008

"...pull me out of the aircrash"

17.12 On Time
Good News Week?

Lucky - Radiohead
Knowing When To Run - The Delgados
Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles
Good Riddance - Green Day
Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley
Flowers And Football Tops - Glasvegas
We Haven't Turned Around - Gomez

Labels:


Monday, January 28, 2008

17.12 On Time
This morning I woke up hung-over in a bunk bed.

Last time I woke up in a bunk bed feeling this bad I was on a ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge. The time before that, the pre-Glasnost Trans-Siberian Express.
Last time I woke up in a bunk bed with a hangover? It could only be Manchester Road.
It is ridiculous - how many times will I need to be told not to mix my drinks and how many more lessons will it take until I learn that this rule must be applied without exception when red wine is involved.

The trouble is that Jo & M are so congenial, and such easy people to have a drink with, that it's incredibly difficult to stop having a drink with them.

(See! It wasn’t my fault after all! It is their fault for being too amiable)

I spent the day closely focused on breathing and not moving my head.


Boxer - The National

Labels: ,


Monday, January 21, 2008

Here Comes The Flood

17.12 On Time
The Station Announcer is working overtime.
Platform alterations, delays, cancellations, replacement bus services.

It all passes us by: smug and snug on the only train in the North of England to be running on time.

Here Comes The Flood - The Divine Comedy
Brother's On A Hotel Bed - Death Cab For Cutie
It's A Hit - Rilo Kiley
Me In Honey - REM
Red - Elbow
Desire As - Prefab Sprout
Into Temptation - Crowded House
Tiny Vessels - Death Cab For Cutie

Labels:


"...freezing Monday morning, she is waiting for her train to come"

8.10 Thirty Minutes Late
“Flooding at Rishton.” Says TicketSellingGuy. He then reels off a list of road and street names, each followed by the one word: “Flooded”.

It will never stop raining.

It’s been a dismal sort of weekend - I learned that my ‘lucky’ t-shirt isn’t lucky and that I needn’t bother booking the Monday after the Superbowl off after all.

And it never stopped raining.


Such Great Heights - Ben Folds
A Girl In Port - Okkervil River
Commuter Love - Divine Comedy
Greetings In Braille - The Elected
Under The Blacklight - Rilo Kiley
Fred Jones Pt 2 - Ben Folds

Labels: , ,


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

"...what the hell am I doing here?"

17.12 Twenty Six Minutes Late
It had been suggested that, in view of our low morale and general unease, it might be a good idea if HeadHoncho were to attend our team meeting to answer a few questions.

As he took his seat that he would, even for a moment, consider using my filing cabinet as a foot stool, let alone actually do it, didn't bode well. Ask anyone else in that room if touching my stuff or encroaching on my personal space was a good idea and I think you'd get the "Are you insane?" slow head shake and pitying stare.

( I know how that sounds, but it's How I Am, right?)

To be fair, he stopped when I asked him to please not do it; then he edged right away from me, so that was a result. And as good as it got.

That he started his spiel with: "This is not a veiled threat..." was ominous, that he used the phrase 'climate change' as often as if he had a bet on it was bizarre, that he spoke for what seemed like hours at a stretch without ever saying anything or finishing a sentence was awesome.

But not in a good way.

Did he answer the questions? Of course not. I can't decide if he really does have such low regard for us that he thought we wouldn't realise or if he's merely deluded.

Either Way - Wilco
Our Life Is Not A Movie, Or Maybe - Okkervil River
Resurrection Fern - Iron & Wine
Parker's Mood - Joe Henry
Blooming Heather - Kate Rusby
Parliament Hill Fields - Stephen Duffy
Creep - Radiohead

Labels:


Monday, January 14, 2008

"...all the more a pair of underwater pearls, than the oak tree and its resurrection fern"

7.31 On Time
The birds are very loud this morning. It seems ever so slightly less dark.

I've been awake since four and up since five. As a result, had ample time to get sidetracked and left the house at the last minute. One of the things keeping me awake was the two lines of a song firmly lodged in my brain and repeating on a loop. Never getting any further forward, never going back. Why is it always only two lines of a song that can't be shifted? Even when you know the whole song, pretty much.

GeekBoy arrives at the station only slightly ahead of me. I think of the dumb comment I almost made on seeing him pushing a buggy in Morrisons yesterday: "Oh, is that your baby then?"

Parker's Mood - Joe Henry
Resurrection Fern - Iron & Wine
Parliament Hill Fields - Stephen Duffy
Blooming Heather - Kate Rusby
Daddy's Gone - Glasvegas
Walcott - Vampire Weekend
Alcohol - Gogol Bordello

Labels: ,


Thursday, January 10, 2008

"Just unzip your inhibitions... what have you got to lose?"

15.12 On Time
Either because I've been very good lately, or because I expressed an interest, I was allowed to go to
Salford for a training day. It was much less traumatic than the last one. The Trainer was a bit mumbly but seemed to know his stuff and, after all, we are now in a "HIP live situation", so I could almost excuse him using the phrase "fit for purpose" twice. The only group he targeted for abuse were Mortgage Lenders ("Bastards") and I'm not really going to get worked up about that one.

OldFishWife was quite right: the room was freezing, and when the canteen next door started to fill up the noise of clattering cutlery and chattering fire service officers was sufficiently distracting to allow me to drift off into ... well, it had nothing to do with estate agents. Or firemen for that matter.

Anyway: Mumbly Trainer concluded the session by quietly exhorting us to "Go out there and kick ass" so, on balance, not a complete waste of time. And I got to come home in daylight.

Disco Volante - Cinerama

Labels:


Tuesday, January 08, 2008

"...there may be less between us than we thought"

17.12 On Time
Rockall, Fastnet and Finisterre; LWU 594D; Rob Tasker.

How come I can (and recently have) remembered the names of the canal boats we navigated between Dewsbury and Selby on a school trip in 1974, the registration number of our first family car and the lead singer of The Nice Men, but can't recall an apparently detailed discussion I had about an ongoing case only three weeks ago?

Possibly because the words 'leaking' and 'conservatory' were involved? Possibly because it was the week before Christmas and drink had been taken?

Maybe I should be shovelling some of the rubbish out of my memory and making space for some of the stuff I might actually need.

Can't for the life of me remember which one of those Fifth Form boys it was that fell off Fastnet and into the canal, so that's a start.

Hurting Each Other - The Carpenters
The Optimist - Turin Brakes
A Forest - The Cure
Chelsea Morning - Joni Mitchell
Stockholm Syndrome - Muse
It's A Miracle - Trashcan Sinatras
You're The Best Thing - The Style Council
The Darkness Of Her Eyes - The Lilac Time

Labels: ,


8.10 On Time
While I've always thought the sign above the microwave was an attempt at humour, the sign that appeared above the sink yesterday was beautifully passive/aggressive.

I appreciate the sentiment and use of 'festering', but it doesn't seem to be working.

Not A Job - Elbow
Out The Window With The Window - Tunng
Glison Street - Richmond Fontaine
Apocolypse Please - Muse
Hedonist - House Of Love
Fair - Ben Folds Five
Rabbit Fur Coat - Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins

Labels:


Sunday, January 06, 2008

There's a confession I need to make, before this year gets much older.

I don't hate Christmas.
I don't hate turkey, or mince pies or pudding or trees.
I don't hate "It's A Wonderful Life" or "Silent Night" or "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses and I don't think football needs a mid-season break.

I don't like taking the decorations down. If putting them up is accompanied by a fair amount of cursing (it is) then taking them down is accomplished in a mournful silence.

Getting everything back into the box (the box that was my mum's wedding dress box, before it became the decorations box) has become easier year by year. I inherited three boxes of ancient, extremely fragile and probably highly dangerous glass baubles, we're now down to one. Last year I finally managed to bring myself to throw out the indestructible multi-coloured plastic balls that were all the rage in ... oh 1971? and replaced them with something less...vibrant...from IKEA. There are the three angels, acquired over the years and arranged in hierarchy at the top of the tree, the wooden soldiers, skaters and Santa, the plastic snowflakes, the knitted stockings, the glass heart on a red ribbon - they all have stories which some years I can remember and some years ... well, I know they all have a story.


For the past few years I've thought maybe this will be the last time I'll bother, it's not as if the Boys are actually Boys anymore, who would care?

Christmas cake, I can take or leave.

Labels: ,


Thursday, January 03, 2008

"If your right hand is causing you pain, cut it off..."

17.12 On Time
Bugger!!!


I wish I'd realised it was this when I had that!

I could've got a whole other day off work out of it.

You Make Me Feel Brand New - The Stylistics

Break Your Promise - The Delfonics
Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations
Couldn't Get It Right - The Climax Blues Band

Right Back Where I Started From - Maxine Nightingale
Flux - Bloc Party
23 - Blonde Redhead
Lowdown - Boz Scaggs

Labels: ,


Wednesday, January 02, 2008

"All the pain of yesterday has gone away..." part II

17.12 On Time
It's freezing and I have forgotten my gloves.

One day back at work and my spirit is crushed. All the good intentions in the world and I can't even stay in a positive frame of mind for one day.

Why? What happened?

No reason. Nothing in particular.

Other than the sheer futility of doing whatever it is that I do. Or am supposed to do. For much of the time my mind is occupied elsewhere; not profitably and not in the noble pursuit of acquiring knowledge for it's own sake, but in fragments of daydream and half-baked hare-brained schemes that crumble at the first whisper of reality.

I could give it up and find something else, but that would be madness considering my lack of talents and general unemployability. I could find something else and then give it up, which would make more sense but is equally unlikely. Or I could carry on taking the money and whinging about how bad things have got. It doesn’t matter if I’m not achieving my potential and doing great things - as long as I can learn to be content with bumping along the bottom.

Much more importantly, I notice that there seems to be a disproportionate amount of glockenspiel on my playlist.

When The Morning Comes – Lloyd & Michael
Dreamworld – Rilo Kiley
The Opposite Of Hallelujah – Jens Lekman
Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) – The Delfonics
Give Me Just A Little More Time – Chairmen of the Board
Sad Sweet Dreamer – Sweet Sensation
Betcha By Golly Wow – The Stylistics

Labels:


"All the pain of yesterday has gone away..."

7.31 On Time
Less than two weeks and I've forgotten how dark it is at this time in the morning. I've also forgotten my gloves, but it's unseasonally mild so that's O.K.


A few doors down a balloon drifts out of an open gate and bumps beside me for half a dozen houses. Huddled behind the low wall at the chip shop are three or four more, with another couple lurking outside the Italian restaurant. All orange.

At the station MilitaryMan greets GeekBoy and SkinnyLegalWoman with a handshake and a ‘Happy New Year’. GeekBoy would rather there were no touching. The fare has broken through the six pound ceiling and SkinnyLegalWoman has a mini-rant so the rest of us don’t have to.

Just past SleepyStation the uncurtained window of a second floor flat frames a man in a deckchair-stripe dressing gown, surrounded by packing crates.

When The Morning Comes – Lloyd & Michael
Dreamworld – Rilo Kiley
The Opposite Of Hallelujah – Jens Lekman
Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time) – The Delfonics
Give Me Just A Little More Time – Chairmen of the Board
Sad Sweet Dreamer – Sweet Sensation
Betcha By Golly Wow – The Stylistics

Labels:


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?