I wanna take you to a nail bar, nail bar, nail bar!
Three posts in a week, unusual eh. It's going to be go quiet for a while here, so I figured I might as well post, even if I have little of import to say. No doubt I'll go through my usual technology cold turkey next week, initially at least, before eventually becoming calm and rediscovering the joys of reading regional newspapers.
On Wednesday I had a pleasant evening out with
DL, M and A. We had a couple of drinks and some tapas in Camden, home of the fabled
leisure pirate. Early in the evening I experienced the worst pub toilets this side of
Bradleys Spanish Bar. Those of you who know Bradleys will know what I mean by that. You know the kind of place, where you start fearing for your health
after washing your hands. Not good.
In my attempt to re-brand this blog as a forum for ideas, or as a sort of post-ironic
Apprentice, I thought I would post three recent business brainwaves that I've had.
1)
Mrs Hall and recently I arrived at a solution to the average Soho ponce having nowhere to go to treat himself in times of economic downturn: a Nale Bar. That's N-
Ale. This is somewhere to go to get a manicure and drink miniature glasses of bitter. It'll keep them off the streets.
2) All nightwear for women falls into three categories: a) the dowdy, b) the shiny and c) the cutesy. I'm 35 years old, FFS, I don't want to wear something to bed that has a Disney character on the front. Neither do I want to look like a bored housewife who has fallen out of a mid-70s "Confessions of..." film. Nor do I wish to look like I last went to bed in 1903. A recent straw poll with colleagues and friends has made me realise that I am not the only woman who is maddened by this situation. If I could design, produce and market a decent range of nightclothes, I think I could clean up.
3) Ditto the above, re. wedding cards. The choices are alternatively sickening, mawkish, shitey and boring. Nothing says 'I wish you an unhappy marriage and an acrimonious divorce' better than most of these efforts. It's possible that this poor choice of occasion-marking stationery is actually
causing people to break up. There's definitely room for something practical and cool, I'd say.
Right, that's it for now, how a beeeyootiful week.
Labels: bradleys spanish bar, n-ale bar, nightwear
Can't stop the wave of sorrow
Some genuinely sad stuff is happening at the moment to some friends, and I wanted to extend my best wishes to them. Last night I heard some terrible news about one particular pal, which left me reeling. Hope you are back on your feet soon, buddy.
...and I note that at least two friends state in their Facebook status today that they are feeling sad.
Last night, I watched the first two parts of a 2002
Breeders documentary, and that made me feel briefly melancholy. I know Kim has been through rehab and is better now, but she seems on the edge of madness in the twenty or so minutes I've watched of this film so far. Earlier this evening I was listening to the Breeders' most recent effort and
Night of Joy came on - very Spector-y it is too. Her voice, I could listen to it for hours...that's why I spent years trying to be her. I never even came close! But to be fair, who could?
Some interesting reactions to the Silverman gig in
the press and
elsewhere. Whatever, I am pleased not to have gone, because I think I would have been mortified.
Labels: breeders, sadness, sarah silverman
The youth are starting to change, are you?
It's far too early to be blogging, really (whatever the time/date stamp below says, it's 08.15am).
One week to go until I'm on leave, and I'm looking forward to it. I am trying to clear the decks before I go, but you know how it is, something always gets forgotten. In contrast to my previous life, I don't intend to stress about it. Things will get done this week, but I don't intend to bust my ass trying. Whisper it -
it's just a job. There are plenty of things that are more important.
A year ago at my previous job, I was falling apart in slow motion. I had lots of money, but it gave me no pleasure. The contrast to how I feel today is incredible. I wouldn't dare call it happiness, but perhaps it is close to that.
How funny. Am I "growing up", at last?
I'm sorry everyone
I didn't mean for the first sentence of the last post to read like a FUCKING HELLO KITTY POSTER!
*ahem*
I feel better now I've gotten that off my chest.
Labels: i am a dick
See me in me heels an ting
The best kind of weekends are ones that are filled with friends.
On Saturday we went to
Mr Hackney Globetrotter's 40th birthday party. Our mates
C & A were there with their baby Theo, who was gorgeous. We left at quarter to midnight, owing to being knackered, and the place was just getting going. There were three bands playing and we managed to catch one,
Top Cats, who are a ska outfit. They were great. I have loved ska since I was a young un so it put a big smile on my face. HG himself was having a great time and the place was packed full of interesting people (he knows everyone and he seems to be genuinely loved by the various cross-sections of the London clubbing fraternity).
JJ spent a lot of time having his hand shaken by people he used to go dancing with at the Belvedere in the 80s (this was before there was a clubbing culture in London
per se). I sometimes forget that JJ spent his formative years going out on a weeknight and observing things like the rare groove scene and acid house happening before his eyes.
Sunday was very pleasant.
Mr and Mrs Hall came over for a spot of lunch and a walk in the autumn (summer?) sunshine. We wowed them with the wondrous knitted wine bottle cover and I made the largest apple and blackcurrant crumble ever. It was delish.
I found this today and it made me laugh - a cartoon featuring Sarah Silverman's "gaybours"
Steve and Brian.
Labels: crumble, gaybours, hackney globetrotter, top cats
I'm making a note here, Huge Success!
Nothing much of note has happened this week and I’m increasingly alarmed at the pace of which life slips by. As
DL has rightly pointed out today, it’s like someone has lent on the fast forward button. 2008, I blinked and missed it.
Aside from that, we have been trying to rectify our excitement-free summer by going on the road towards the end of the year. So far our planned travels will cover Newcastle, Derby and Manchester/Wakefield. It’s hardly a 90-date stadium tour with a pile of merchandise in the foyer, but it’ll do for us for now. Oh and there’s Devon, of course, as always.
I got a youtube channel at long last. It's worryingly addictive. On the plus (?) side,
my appearance on The Word has been posted. Hahahahahahahah, oh dear. That was 15 years ago, jeez! I look (relatively) fresh-faced...
I've been singing the
Portal song once more. I feel fantastic and I'm still alive.
Labels: portal, the united kingdom, the word
My lyrics are bottomless
Having just ascertained that my workmate
Miss King likes
Flight of the Conchords (something that I've only recently come to like myself after some sustained resistance on my part), I just came back from getting a coffee and as I picked up a chocolate cookie, started singing,
"It's biscuit, it's biscuit time..."Bit sad, eh.
Labels: flight of the conchords
And the song's called, internet curtains!
[Thanks to
toocool for the Denim CD]
What a week.
I had two business meetings, one of which was a nadir. The less said, the better.
I then had to catch up with the work that didn't happen while I was out of the office...boooooo.
On Tuesday night I saw the Duke Spirit once more. They were pretty good, but I need to have a drink or two to take the edge off a band. I was more critical than I would normally be. I must say that I still prefer their last album to the new one. On the plus side,
Merv and I had a good old laugh when, irony of ironies, a girl near us started complaining bitterly in a loud voice about how loud the guys near us were being. [Put it this way, I couldn't hear the original noise-making guys over her racket.]
The Dukes were supported by Howling Bells, who were pretty poor. They featured a female singer who appeared to be wearing a guitar as a prop, in these post-riot grrrl times you'd hope not to have to see that.
This weekend has been taken up with trawling youtube for
fun stuff and cooking. I also had a glorious night's sleep on Friday, which I have to say made me feel very much better than I have done for ages...
Labels: denim, duke spirit, sleep
Scared of phones...
This made me laugh a lot.
Labels: the pod
