Friday Round-Up
(Though no glyphosate here, I hope)
I'm aware that I'm heading the way of being one of those infuriating non-blogging bloggers, so since I can afford to stay up late tonight I shall do so in the service of providing some kind of update.
When last we met I'd been watching some Friday-night TV to congratulate myself for finishing a difficult job application. Tonight, however, I missed TV cos I was out, so I shall have to catch the Mock The Week repeat, and perhaps give up The IT Crowd as a lost cause. (Jon did, of course, tell us that we can watch the next episode online, but I just tried and it didn't work. Perhaps I should try with a non-Mozilla browser, but I can't be bothered right now.
Saturday afternoon found me, somewhat predictably, in Bath for no good reason except that I thought it would be nice to get away from the house and the train is so cheap that it hardly makes sense not to go. Though it would be nice not to have to spend 20 minutes walking and 15 on a train to get into a city centre - back in Cambridge I was there all the time. In the city centre, that is. Not Bath city centre. Incidentally you may not agree that either of those places really counts as a city, but I like them in spite (or perhaps because) of that.
Saturday evening, an all-too-rare trip to the Wiltshire Music Centre – arguably a good enough reason in itself to live in Bradford-on-Avon – to hear John Tams, BBC Folk Singer of the year. He’s involved in the new Radio Ballads, starting on Monday, amongst other things.
Sunday, Bath again, this time for the [rather flimsy] purpose of meeting for coffee and career discussion. Not great, what with being rainy and horrible, and I had to drive because there were Actually No Trains. The car had been in to the garage on Saturday, where they’d persuaded the radio to work again – and there was much rejoicing, especially as it was the first time the buttons on the steering-wheel had worked since the original, now-reinstated stereo was removed by my brother. So hurrah for that, although I think on balance I agree that the column-stalk kind of stereo controls are a better idea than the steering-wheel mounted ones, except perhaps in the case of the Citroën C4 whose steering-wheel is of course a special case. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the garage having agreed that the indicator switch needed replacing, the car had clearly decided that it didn’t need to behave, and we were back to the left-signalling antics, causing something of a detour en route. Sigh.
Monday lunchtime found me in the car, exploring bits of the county I hadn’t seen before in a mere 21 years of living here; in fact I hadn’t even realised we had such exciting geology around here. It’s a more beautiful place than I’d realised.
Tuesday brought an unpleasant memento mori, when a local man died in a road accident just two hours after I’d passed the same spot (which, indeed, I’ve passed four times since as well). An un-local lorry driver was also involved; a spokesperson for his firm said “we’ve sent someone to pick him up; the police said it wasn’t his fault. As soon as he gets back we’ll give him a big hug”. Or something similar; the newspaper’s mysteriously disappeared so I can’t check.
On Wednesday, I took the increasingly-familiar train to London for recruitment tests. These were rather fun, being part-way between a quiz and an exam, and meant that I got another free trip to London. I decided to walk from Paddington to Bloomsbury rather than take the tube, which took 45 minutes each way and, combined with 20 minutes each way to the station at home, made for rather painful feet thanks to my wearing ‘proper’ shoes for a change. But I did get to see Oxford Street and Edgware Road. In addition I spent a half-hour or so at the British Museum, saw UCL again for the first time since my interview there, and met an old college friend for tea and Career Chat. And I used the train journey home to spend some quality time reading Mort. Then I cooked some risotto for good measure.
Thursday night, Sainsbury’s; nothing much to report. Except for a Honda Jazz that I at first thought had been tastelessly lowered but turned out to be full to the roof with Stuff (though leaving a space for the driver). Moving house or something, I suppose. Who needs a van? Oh yes, bank robbers. I’d stopped in on the way back from a rehearsal, where I was once again the only tenor. Which would be fine if there weren’t two tenor parts…
Friday, more music on the agenda – I called the WMC and bought a ticket for Shiva Nova, having decided that I ought to go to more concerts (though given that I’m reluctant to spend £7 on a cinema ticket, I mustn’t make a habit of spending £16 on musical entertainment). I got around to playing the violin for the first time in a while, though to no great effect. I mused that the warm-up act on The News Quiz must be very good indeed; why else would the studio audience laugh?
So, back in the car again – doubling today’s mileage to 60, which is quite shocking but can’t really be helped. Compare with this time last term when I was driving as little as 15 miles per week. I think the car’s enjoying the extra exercise – really does need washing, though! Plus I’ve been able to reacquaint myself with evening Radio 3, which is superb of course. A Vivaldi ‘cello concerto, the opening of Shostakovich 15, then on the homeward journey, Urban Classic, the BBC’s grime-classical fusion project. This featured a guy called a ‘beat-boxer’, which was very impressive. But I wondered – in my naïveté, perhaps? – whether the lives of any more than a tiny proportion of Britons are really as bad as the, erm, ‘MC’ seemed to be suggesting. If such music’s all about the gritty harsh realities of urban life, it’s hardly surprising that it appeared in Cambridge only in the pages of Varsity (which never seemed to bear any resemblance to real Cambridge life, at least not for a Christ’s Natsci). But I digress into ignorant rambling…
Though I’d rung the box office almost more out of a sudden urge to prove my ability successfully to ring the box office than actually to go to the concert (hmm… just kidding, I think), Shiva Nova were very impressive, and I even bought a CD, using the classic ‘if I was Normal I’d be spending this money on drink’ justification. Hehe.
And now it’s very late and I’d like to get to reading some more Terry Pratchett. Signing off…
---
Addendum:
I've been looking at the Facebook Pulse - showing Cambridge and Facebook-as-a-whole (i.e. mostly Americans). I thought I'd seen Gray's Anatomy riding high in the TV charts and was surprised at Spalding Gray's popular appeal across the pond - but closer inspection and the IMDB reveal that it is in fact Grey's Anatomy, which is some kind of recent TV show.
Meanwhile I'm very proud to count myself part of the Cambridge Facebook
I'm aware that I'm heading the way of being one of those infuriating non-blogging bloggers, so since I can afford to stay up late tonight I shall do so in the service of providing some kind of update.
When last we met I'd been watching some Friday-night TV to congratulate myself for finishing a difficult job application. Tonight, however, I missed TV cos I was out, so I shall have to catch the Mock The Week repeat, and perhaps give up The IT Crowd as a lost cause. (Jon did, of course, tell us that we can watch the next episode online, but I just tried and it didn't work. Perhaps I should try with a non-Mozilla browser, but I can't be bothered right now.
Saturday afternoon found me, somewhat predictably, in Bath for no good reason except that I thought it would be nice to get away from the house and the train is so cheap that it hardly makes sense not to go. Though it would be nice not to have to spend 20 minutes walking and 15 on a train to get into a city centre - back in Cambridge I was there all the time. In the city centre, that is. Not Bath city centre. Incidentally you may not agree that either of those places really counts as a city, but I like them in spite (or perhaps because) of that.
Saturday evening, an all-too-rare trip to the Wiltshire Music Centre – arguably a good enough reason in itself to live in Bradford-on-Avon – to hear John Tams, BBC Folk Singer of the year. He’s involved in the new Radio Ballads, starting on Monday, amongst other things.
Sunday, Bath again, this time for the [rather flimsy] purpose of meeting for coffee and career discussion. Not great, what with being rainy and horrible, and I had to drive because there were Actually No Trains. The car had been in to the garage on Saturday, where they’d persuaded the radio to work again – and there was much rejoicing, especially as it was the first time the buttons on the steering-wheel had worked since the original, now-reinstated stereo was removed by my brother. So hurrah for that, although I think on balance I agree that the column-stalk kind of stereo controls are a better idea than the steering-wheel mounted ones, except perhaps in the case of the Citroën C4 whose steering-wheel is of course a special case. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the garage having agreed that the indicator switch needed replacing, the car had clearly decided that it didn’t need to behave, and we were back to the left-signalling antics, causing something of a detour en route. Sigh.
Monday lunchtime found me in the car, exploring bits of the county I hadn’t seen before in a mere 21 years of living here; in fact I hadn’t even realised we had such exciting geology around here. It’s a more beautiful place than I’d realised.
Tuesday brought an unpleasant memento mori, when a local man died in a road accident just two hours after I’d passed the same spot (which, indeed, I’ve passed four times since as well). An un-local lorry driver was also involved; a spokesperson for his firm said “we’ve sent someone to pick him up; the police said it wasn’t his fault. As soon as he gets back we’ll give him a big hug”. Or something similar; the newspaper’s mysteriously disappeared so I can’t check.
On Wednesday, I took the increasingly-familiar train to London for recruitment tests. These were rather fun, being part-way between a quiz and an exam, and meant that I got another free trip to London. I decided to walk from Paddington to Bloomsbury rather than take the tube, which took 45 minutes each way and, combined with 20 minutes each way to the station at home, made for rather painful feet thanks to my wearing ‘proper’ shoes for a change. But I did get to see Oxford Street and Edgware Road. In addition I spent a half-hour or so at the British Museum, saw UCL again for the first time since my interview there, and met an old college friend for tea and Career Chat. And I used the train journey home to spend some quality time reading Mort. Then I cooked some risotto for good measure.
Thursday night, Sainsbury’s; nothing much to report. Except for a Honda Jazz that I at first thought had been tastelessly lowered but turned out to be full to the roof with Stuff (though leaving a space for the driver). Moving house or something, I suppose. Who needs a van? Oh yes, bank robbers. I’d stopped in on the way back from a rehearsal, where I was once again the only tenor. Which would be fine if there weren’t two tenor parts…
Friday, more music on the agenda – I called the WMC and bought a ticket for Shiva Nova, having decided that I ought to go to more concerts (though given that I’m reluctant to spend £7 on a cinema ticket, I mustn’t make a habit of spending £16 on musical entertainment). I got around to playing the violin for the first time in a while, though to no great effect. I mused that the warm-up act on The News Quiz must be very good indeed; why else would the studio audience laugh?
So, back in the car again – doubling today’s mileage to 60, which is quite shocking but can’t really be helped. Compare with this time last term when I was driving as little as 15 miles per week. I think the car’s enjoying the extra exercise – really does need washing, though! Plus I’ve been able to reacquaint myself with evening Radio 3, which is superb of course. A Vivaldi ‘cello concerto, the opening of Shostakovich 15, then on the homeward journey, Urban Classic, the BBC’s grime-classical fusion project. This featured a guy called a ‘beat-boxer’, which was very impressive. But I wondered – in my naïveté, perhaps? – whether the lives of any more than a tiny proportion of Britons are really as bad as the, erm, ‘MC’ seemed to be suggesting. If such music’s all about the gritty harsh realities of urban life, it’s hardly surprising that it appeared in Cambridge only in the pages of Varsity (which never seemed to bear any resemblance to real Cambridge life, at least not for a Christ’s Natsci). But I digress into ignorant rambling…
Though I’d rung the box office almost more out of a sudden urge to prove my ability successfully to ring the box office than actually to go to the concert (hmm… just kidding, I think), Shiva Nova were very impressive, and I even bought a CD, using the classic ‘if I was Normal I’d be spending this money on drink’ justification. Hehe.
And now it’s very late and I’d like to get to reading some more Terry Pratchett. Signing off…
---
Addendum:
I've been looking at the Facebook Pulse - showing Cambridge and Facebook-as-a-whole (i.e. mostly Americans). I thought I'd seen Gray's Anatomy riding high in the TV charts and was surprised at Spalding Gray's popular appeal across the pond - but closer inspection and the IMDB reveal that it is in fact Grey's Anatomy, which is some kind of recent TV show.
Meanwhile I'm very proud to count myself part of the Cambridge Facebook
Top 5 Books:when I see that the Top 5 Books in the Facebook as a whole are
1. Harry Potter
2. 1984
3. Pride and Prejudice
4. Lord of the Rings
5. To Kill a Mockingbird
1. The Da Vinci CodeNo, honestly, look for yourself!
2. Harry Potter
3. The Bible
4. Catcher in the Rye
5. Angels and Demons
posted by Z31 at 2:56 pm
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