In Out Of Work

 1)Red wine drifting into the mind. Sluggish start. Fried breakfast helped. Trip to Lucia's to see twin babies. Joyful. Reluctant run in evening bluster. Felt great after. Started reading The Myth Of Normal and Lessons.  Was very happy to read The Sea of Tranquility  over Christmas time. Had a great smoked haddock dinner. Was lovely to call Paulė this new years eve. 2) First Monday. Planned a review for Giedrė's class. Applied for a job or two. Felt good to be set up, but slowly. Then the best part came. An enchanting sunshine allowed for two hours outside. First on a wild hike with Mum up the hill and around the falls, spring, sheep, turbines. Then a 7km run along the canal, taking in animals and lots of oxygen. Evening; saw a great 1997 film called Taste of Cherry.  Mellow mood. 3) Few classes back. Nothing major. Started to crack the nut of Lessons  by Ian McEwan. So British. So brilliant. Crazy shit in the news from Prince Harry. Who the fuck does he think h...

 A more subdued feel to the start of the week - simply work and rest up and process what came the week before.....let it sink in..... Monday to Wednesday largely uneventful - the build up definitely was heading towards Thursday. I made a nice mix for Paule with winter warmers in it. Winter songs...

Important week for reflection , this one. Started out quite sleep-deprived on Sunday after lots of hot wine in Manchester and a game of football at the xmas market in Halifax. Freudian slip. Freudian sleep. Seeung the babies at Lucia's was fun - and just getting back for the world cup to start was a lot of fun., especially after salmon and cream cheese flavoured bagels. Ecuador and Qatar - nice game.  The week circled and swirled around football for sure - but it's really hard to keep up with and watch all the games - simply not gonna happen if you're working - just grab what you can, when you can. Felt more urges to do things outside the house in the evenings on Monday and Tuesday - but luckily got invited to the Gary Stewart's Graceland gig in Hebden with Tim and Jess, and it was great fun -  beers, brilliant crisps spilled on the floor and lots of dancing and percussion - reminded me of Fleetwood Mac and Vampire Weekend as well as obviously Paul Simon. Thursday in it...

BRIDGE WEEKEND The long bank or bridge holiday weekend creates a warm, fluffy feeling where you can heat canned beans and dip in pieces of baguette with microwaved butter, alongside a 4pm coffee which is rebellious on a day off, as we don't know if it will shatter our sleep to smithereens or not. As some totter off to Bordeaux to drink Burgundy and others shuffle across town to drink craft beer. oneness at home with a cushioned back and a good old quiz show does wonders in the grand scheme of escapism. Biscuits, cookies or whatever you call them are bought. Consumed. Eaten. One deliberately keeps their boredom at bay by cleaning the house, though a visitor would deem it clean already, and taking a stroll up the hill, as if a modicum of what you would have done a decade back is now just that - a fragment of who you used to be, you stroll up the hill but you're already over it in your early thirties. The shops in the small towns are closed but the large duplex stores are ...