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Favourite Music Artist – F

Franz Ferdinand.

As soon as I heard them, I loved them. It’s a kind of retro sound, but I love it. Their kind of “art school” rock, which I like, harks back to New Wave stuff.

I played their 1st album at least 50 times, and the second probably just as much. My single favourite song, if I had to pin it down is this…

Not an official video clip, but it appears Franz didn’t do one for this song…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/c_hE_lviwGY]

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Furkan Hell!!!

I saw this guy’s name on the BBC London news and just HAD to flip back on the PVR and capture an image of his name!

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Leighton Buzzard by Bus.

We decided to go to Leighton Buzzard by bus yesterday. I love my Morrisons supermarkets and so really, despite there being slightly closer locals for Morrisons SM’s, going to Leighton Buzzard was the most direct route via public transport. We can get the bus from just down the road and it takes us almost directly to the supermarket. 

Em was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether we should go. We tried to check what the fare would be, but the bus company’s web site is SO vague. Em was worried it was going to cost us £7.00 return, each! But I was hoping that the bus company was not going to be quite THAT money-grabbing. I tried to ring them, got the old “Press 1 for this, and 2 for that” business. There was a section for fares, but of course, that option rang once then had a message that said “Unfortunately all our operators (right, one person manning the phone – if there were any AT ALL manning this part of the line) are currently taking calls, please call back later, or check the web site.” Erm, that’s why I was RINGING ‘cos the information I wanted wasn’t on your crappy web site!! Geez!!!

Anyway, we decided to take the bull by the horns and just go down to the stop and see how much it would be. When the bus arrived I fell over the step (good start!). After my adept recovery (not adept enough to give the driver a wry smile!) I asked the driver how much a return ticket to Leighton Buzzard would be. He said “£4.50”, well although it was still fairly expensive, it wasn’t £7 a piece, so we got on. It’s probably a competitively priced fare considering LB is about 15 miles away, and our nearest market town Hitchin is only about 6-7 and it costs £3.15 return to get there!

It’s a fairly long journey. The trip takes about an hour, but it’s a pleasant enough trip and it does go through the countryside – which is nice, especially in the type of weather we had yesterday (IE: lovely and sunny). The rape seed fields are at their most colourful at the moment (I wish it was called canola, like it is in Oz, it just doesn’t sound right enjoying looking at “fields of rape”). 

By chance, it was market day at LB. We got a little bargain there. One kilogram of nyger seed for £1.60. The goldfinch food is well stocked. And there was a shop there selling “larger” ladies clothes. I got myself a nice top for £9.00! We went on to Morrisons, had a bite to eat in the cafe` and then went around the aisles getting bits and bobs. 

I took a little video on my mobile on the bus back, trying to capture the countryside, but it was a bit lame. I’ll add it to the post anyway. Mind the sound.

My neck and shoulders got sunburnt (we had a while to wait for the return bus and I got burnt waiting) and they’ve been itchy since then, and a bit tender, ouch. 

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The Princess and The Pea!

We bought some new pillows as the ones we were using were not exactly plump anymore. Plus after having them for several years, it was probably best to change them. 

I took the new pillows out of their packaging to plump up and aerate. Some little four-legged creature was intrigued with what I was doing, but stayed laying at the other end of the bed. Even once all the pillows had had their protecters and pillow cases put on!!!

Chrissy being like many other cats, cannot resist fresh bed linen and fresh clothes. I thought the pillows were no doubt to get a “christening” but perhaps I was wrong. Chris was showing little interest.

But alas, all was to be revealed about 2 hours later when I went back into the bedroom to find…

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Favourite Music Artist – D

I’m going to cheat and have two here. Firstly, The Divine Comedy. I love Neil Hannon’s voice. My fave song is National Express, which expresses both the joy and despair of coach journeys around the UK. It’s quintessentially British (even though Neil is Irish, go figure).

[youtube=http://youtu.be/TiBI3A2WcrE]

My other is an Oz group. They were called Def FX. I wasn’t into them MASSIVELY, but I did have a 2 CD albums and a single. They were kind of different at the time, so I just wanted to acknowledge them.

Found a video of my fave Def FX song on YouTube, thought I’d link to it.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/vRQJ51bhjzY]

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No bats, no hog :-(

I looked around last night for the bats, but they were a no show and this morning (for the second morning running) there was no hog in the box. The food had been left also yesterday, but it was eaten last night. I’m sure while the weather is being good, he’s just exploring.

The birds are chirping away again today. This time, the ever present chirrup of the sparrows, with the odd dispersal of some other bird I can’t identify. 

I do love my wildlife.
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Favourite Music Artist – C

Despite the general consensus of the “music listening” public, my choice for C is…ta da!!!!

Coldplay.

I bought Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head and really liked them both. The jury’s out on the new one. Lavender Hill (the new single) already sounds familiar. They were meant to be doing “radical” new work with Brian Eno, but I can’t really hear evidence of that from the new single. But that doesn’t mean I’m disappointed. Even if this album is not on par with the others, I still think they deserve my choice for C (and well, unless I went through all the C names I could think of, they are the best I can come up with at the moment).

UPDATED MAY 25th 2008: Also I must give mention to The Carpenters (I know, but Karen’s voice *IS* amazing) and extremely influential Australian group Cold Chisel (despite the potential for Em seeing this and me giving her grounds for divorce).

Here’s a shining bit of Karen for you to enjoy.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SJmmaIGiGBg]

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Apologies

I was not myself yesterday, as my late night post revealed. I’m normally an eternal optimist. If not optimist, an optimistic realist anyway. I try not to let the “shittier” aspects of life get me down, but sometimes…

It’s not anything at all involving Em, and we are tight as. Sometimes you just need another person to talk to though. I was really needing that yesterday. Just feeling a little lonely, but not in the “I’m in the world all alone” kind of way. I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to explain without it sounding embarrassing. 

So anyway, bygones and all that. I hate being down. I went through a really long spell of it in 2006 and I don’t want to end up back there. There are many things in my life that I can actually be thankful for. The last thing I should be doing is indulging in self-pity.

And anyway, I have a special visitor here now (Kitty, the neighbours cat), so that’s helping me cheer up even more

🙂

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I’ve felt really bad today

I’m lamenting my inbox being empty. I’m embarrassed by myself. I cried myself to sleep this afternoon. Em was wondering what was wrong with me, but I couldn’t explain out of embarrassment. I feel like a 12 year old. I feel stupid. I feel depressed. I want to lash out but I’ll just look like a freak and a bunny boiler. Life sucks. . .people suck.