Agincourtgirl: Semi-Radical Possibilities

Hello, bonjour!

It is a rainy day as ever here in London; tonight M & I are going to the launch of three books, one of them being The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, a book I highly recommend, even if you're not a huge MJ fan, just for a quality of the writing, which is interesting and thought-provoking throughout. Reading it brought one song to mind, which no one mentioned in the book (that I know of; I haven't read the whole thing yet).



If I had been asked to write a piece for this book I would have concentrated on this song and MJ's life, New Pop and MJ being pretty much inseparable. I mean, when I get to this song at my music blog, could it be about anyone else?



Back to Oxfam tomorrow for more books shenanigans, including me picking up my saved copy of Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food, a nice Cirque du Soleil notebook and then going home, going to get groceries and making Eggs Carbonara. Poptimism on Friday, Lord/weather willing!

Hugs to all who need them!

A sunny day here and I am busy as ever: updating a cv here, getting an application there, remembering to leave my cellphone on so calls don't get diverted (don't laugh, I've only had it for less than a week). Went the ICA w/M on Sunday and wrote about it on Blue in the Air; I hope it gets a good response. (Of course I expect k-punk will read it, but whether he will comment there or on his blog, I don't know. I haven't been introduced to him yet, but I will see him next month for the MJ book launch, so maybe then?) A fine event and it makes me really want to see 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould yet again...

Saturday the rain was mean and yet I found Anna del Conte's memoir in Pimlico and want to cook from it, though making a carbonara w/an entire egg & not just the yolk makes me uneasy...

Well, I have joined the decade - which one was that? - in which everyone has a cell phone. I got one this morning, am still learning to use it but it's my telefonino and is easy enough to use. Not sure about the ringtone as no one has called me (yet) but if you want my number, please let me know and I'll send it to you (and you can give me yours)!

Oxfam tomorrow, Tinies drop-by on Friday, job applications on the go and more to come. Meanwhile I have reached the end of the 50s at http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com and the bright and cheery 60s are around the corner.

I wish I had a poem to post here but if you visit my friend benet you'll find a great one. As I commented, Canadians write the best war poems.

But really as a Mennonite, I wish war poems could just stop being written. Alas, alas...

Hello, bonjour! It is yet another grey and do--doo-de-doo-doo day here in London; woke up at 4:30, got up at 6, back to sleep at 8...just getting over my cold and anticipating another fine day at Oxfam tomorrow, hanging out at the Fulham Library where all the librarians downstairs are dressed up like it's 1909 as it is the centennial of the library's founding. Neat! There's even a woman playing old hymns & songs on a tiny keyboard downstairs...

However, this is my question. On Saturday MC & I went to our usual place for a nice full English breakfast and for the first time ever they charged for the marmalade - £1 to be precise. Is this normal? Has it ever happened to you in a restaurant? (For all I know it's common room service practice, but this isn't a hotel restaurant.) What was once all-inclusive...doesn't seem to be that inclusive anymore. (That the service was grudging at best made things much worse, and I was rubbed the wrong way by them serving us salted butter to go with the marmalade - sorry to be picky, but salted butter is *WRONG* for toast, if I wanted salty toast I would put salt *on the toast already* AHEM.) We won't be going there again, but to a sister restaurant in Earl's Court that will hopefully do a better job. SIGH. I wish Restaurant Makeover existed here...

Hello, bonjour from cloudy/rainy/reasonably warm London. Back at Oxfam tomorrow, will get refresher course (I must take notes) on how to work out the day's takings; esp. since the manager isn't there to do it as she is off doing a course in the late afternoon. Last week it was a nightmare of numbers - counting up I can do, but actual reconciling is impossible with a torrent of numbers as long as your forearm...

Otherwise I am continuing to look for work as what I thought I had last week was ended rather curtly and abruptly; scheduling conflicts was the main problem, more than anything else. As a teacher I need to have time to teach, the student needs time to learn, etc. The odd thing was that the request was for me to teach a father & daughter (who are at different levels of comprehension, skill, etc. and so couldn't be taught v. well together), the father being more skilled of the two. But as our negotiations, as such, continued, the person who really needed the help from me was dropped and it became all about him, when the service I'm with is more about helping those who actually need the help, as opposed to those who are able to function in English well enough to be employed. SIGH.

So I am working on a cv to do with language instruction, and moving on nannywise as well.

In other news, I have continued with my search for cookbooks as usual, but will concentrate on actually cooking from ones I own as opposed to getting even more. (Now that I have written that, I am sure I will find something this weekend. It's always the way.)

Hugs to all who need them!

Hello, bonjour!

Still getting back to London stylee stylee after being up in Scotland for the long weekend - I met my adorable and lovely and indestructible mother-in-law, saw a bit of Glasgow, ate extremely well both at home and in a couple of restaurants, saw lots of awesome scenery and also understood just how much Toronto and Glasgow are alike, which was a bit surreal. I can now understand how such a place could produce music, and in fact no matter where I went there was at least one band or artist from the town/city - I've loved Eugenius for yonks and there I was, in their hood! (Ditto the Franzies, Orange Juice, etc.) Didn't go through Dumfries per se (the highway goes through nothing but countryside all the way up, so I saw lots of farms, very little of towns) but felt that Calvin Harris/Bill Drummond vibe anyway. The same way, if you're at Dundas Square and try hard, you can feel The Band.

Going out to Poptimism tonight, trying to live down the adjective "mental" and otherwise ready for yet another weekend.

Things at Oxfam went well yesterday, did nothing but books most of the day, with a spell of about 20 minutes or so behind the till, listening to a comp of 2001 club bangers and so on. Discharged from the hospital formally on Wednesday - I had endometriosis, with the bits growing in my uterine wall, which of course would make the whole thing bigger over time...how much time, I don't know. In any case, I am getting better every day, still getting lots of rest and listening to lots of music, which I will post about next time.

Hugs to all who need them & have a fine weekend!

Hello, bonjour! I am still getting over a small cold and since I went all the way down to Tooting Bec in the heat to find no damn Jamie Oliver books (I saw one on Sunday there but the store was closed) I will be more moderate today and just go to Pimlico instead - thank goodness it's cooler today, it was toasty on the bus...(and yes I'm watching Jamie's show on the U.S.A. and I got homesick a little last week, not so much when he's in Wyoming)...

But still! Jay-Z/Rihanna/Kanye at #1, Speech Debelle a Mercury Prize Winner (I wanted the bookies to be wrong, and they were)...the moral line is holding and then some.

Trying out new recipe tonight, I keep trying new ones to see what goes with what. Was too tired the other night to peel yet another garlic clove, so I just toasted some pain de levain and put some olive oil & salt on it. Very good...

Just a short note to say I am indeed getting better, bruises almost gone, pain down there lessening. Cookbooks continue to pop up and as always in the most unexpected places; Cooking In A Bedsitter I found for a pound, for instance. And my library bought the Barefoot Contessa book I wanted on interlibrary loan, which is quite cool.

My twitter thingy is open to all now, you don't have to request! Thanks to all who are there & have added me!

Hugs to all who need them!

If any of you are on that new-fangled thing called Twitter then add me - same name as here, just shorter posts!

Also I have been writing up a storm at Music Sounds Better With Two, in case you're wondering if I have been writing...won't be at Poptimism alas as my post-op body demands sleep at 10 pretty loudly these days...

More laundry done, Oystercard updated for the big weekend and now I have to go home for lunch...

Hello, bonjour!

In brief: I am feeling better, have begun posting at Music Sounds Better With Two again, am eating and sleeping well and am just starting to begin to comprehend the total awesomesauceness of this year in music so far. Still have a long way to go there, but how nice for me to be incoherently enthusiastic/awed by Calvin's album...and then it hits #1! Heard the new David Sylvian last night and was VERY impressed. To say the least...

Walked for an hour yesterday and will likely do the same today; it's good for me and the weather's fine so why not? Though M & I won't be going to the carnival as the last thing I need is to be pushed & shoved around...

Hello, bonjour!

Well, the operation was a week ago and here I am, back at the computer...a bit tired as you'd expect (it is a clear warm day here, will go up to 28 tomorrow) but my staples are coming out at long last this afternoon and then I will rest and go out tomorrow for a little while. My time in hospital was the same as ever, ie a fine operation itself, one ward-mate who bugged, very good food and strange feverish dreams, one flighty night nurse and one painful oh-just-before-you-go-we-have-to-do-this-thing (having my drain taken out...you don't want to know). M was (and is!) magnificent throughout and since I have been a slow rest-needing slug (understandably) has looked after me both in and out of hospital heroically, even taking time off to look after me this week! So all together I am about the luckiest person to have a hysterectomy ever (the doc told me the womb in question was so big it had to be cut in two to go to the lab; about the same size as a 5-months-pregnant womb, so I am feeling lighter as well).

Now that I have enough energy to cook I made a bacon & mushroom cream sauce last night for pasta, and am making Bob Blumer's eggs carbonara for dinner tonight. (Did I say I found Off The Eaten Path in Muswell Hill? And made my usual high-pitched noise while doing so? I did....) M & I are also listening to a lot of music, heard Calvin Harris' Ready For The Weekend and wow...just...wow...

In the meantime, I hope you are doing well and getting sleep in this hot & humid month!

Good Things:

DJ'd at Poptimism with MC and had a very good time (I think others did too);

Found yet another cookbook I wasn't even looking for on Saturday somewhere in London I'd never been;

and on Sunday MC & I had a godly enchiladas verde at Mexicali in Fulham. They were sooo good they made even the Diet Coke we were having with it taste great!

Am still waiting for Tinies to get back to me in some way about possible appointment. In the meantime I have another blood test tomorrow and in a week's time will be under the knife. So I have a lot of loose ends to tie up and not much time to do that in...

Thanks to everyone who answered my cookbook question - and special birthday greetings to Benet, who is made of win!

A quick question for anyone who wants to answer it - what is your favorite cookbook, and why?

(If you don't have a fave, it could just be one you find yourself using more than any other) (in case you are wondering why I am asking about this, I've decided to write a cookbook myself and am curious about what makes a good one)

Otherwise I am busy, at Oxfam as usual tomorrow where I will no doubt be on the till in the morning and laboring over books happily in the afternoon. The duck wrap I got from Boots last week as part of their meal deal was quite good, so I think I will get it again, if I can find it (last week there was only one left). DJing this Friday at Poptimism, all I can say is expect the unexpected...

Hello, bonjour!

I just thought I'd post to say that I am reasonably well (operation still scheduled for mid-August), now in the process of applying to a nanny agency (they want a ton of documentation, alas) and will happily be at the till tomorrow at the Chelsea Oxfam if anyone wants to drop on in...otherwise, I'm out on Friday as usual with M for fish and chips and Oxford Circus HMV, then maybe up to Camden on Sunday. And I finally did my hair today, so the two passport photos (should I go to Snappy Snaps? not sure) I have to get for my application will look okay.

Today is Irene Jacob's birthday - to see why my main icon is her, well:




This must be my favorite non-dialogue bit of a movie ever, and sometimes I find it so moving I cry without even knowing why.

(I do have a meme to work on - I hope to post that on Friday!)

Update on the big H: it's happening on August 11th, and may happen even earlier if someone else cancels her operation. Am very glad to have a date at long last, and I hope someone does cancel soonish so I can get it done that much quicker. I went to the hospital itself to get the appointment today and was touched that a nurse remembered me and was happy (as happy as nurses get) to hear I was coming back to have things sorted out, so to speak, for once and for all. Yes!

Very hot here, and I still have to go to clinic this afternoon to see a doc about my cramps, which come & go annoyingly and enjoy bothering me after midnight especially. God help me if I have to take any more drugs, is what I'm saying.

Had lots of fun at Poptimism on Friday and hope to go back there to do a set - in a month's time, maybe? It won't be like anything they've heard before...:-)...

The last time I was in emergency, in pain, waiting to be admitted to the hospital, this song kept running through my head - explicably or inexplicably, I don't know why.




And what do you know, it reminds me (visually, a little) of my favorite song right now:




I can't even begin to describe how much MJ changed music & culture, how I grew up with his music osmotically and then hearing him directly on the radio, or any of that. I heard the news this morning and felt that sucking void feeling, which I haven't felt since dear ol' Kurt died 15 years ago now.

In other news, I went to the hospital today and am now 'en train' to the big H, which I should have in a matter of weeks. Sorry to anyone waiting to hear from me, I have been busy but I will catch up with y'all soon!!

I am now actively looking for any copy-editing or proofreading jobs in London, esp. in the educational sector. If anyone has any leads or ideas in this area (dubdobdee himself says I have a 'good eye' so I am well-qualified I believe!) then please let me know about them. I could search gumtree but am not sure that is the best place to look. Thanks!!!

Hello, bonjour!

Updates, as such: still on antibiotics but since I can't swallow pills they are going sloowwwly BUT I get to have Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream with them, which is nice (for your info, that is because they are bitter oh yes)...I dropped by the pharmacy and got more pills, dropped by the hospital and lucked out & my doc was there and NOT busy and she says I should have my hysterectomy sooner rather than later just because I'm damn tired (yes) of bleeding all the time; when the big H is going to happen I don't know, but I am on the list & will have a meeting to talk about it soonish...spent the lunch hour w/M which was very nice and got peanut butter w/o sugar from Holland & Barrett's as well as brazil nuts...still tired from not enough sleep but I'm going to rest this afternoon so I can make tomato sauce w/sausages, double cream and caramelized onions tonight w/penne...and M said something very nice about me here. My own writing at MSBWT will resume soon, as energy and time allow. This weekend we are going to Wimbledon on Saturday and Golders Green on Sunday, in pursuit of bargains, fish & chips and bagels. I want to find the best bagels in London, and it's easiest for me to start there and work eastwards...

Hello, bonjour!

A sunny and warm day here in London, so I have to post this:



It's Brendan Canning, who with any luck I will get to play on Resonance soon (cross fingers), in an homage to Saturday Night Fever set in Kensington Market in Toronto. Is it great? Of course it is!

Applied for two jobs yesterday, am taking it easy today esp. since I was up early with cramps & just didn't sleep past three this morning, or so. Will look for a memory stick this weekend, but otherwise I don't need much, besides more sleep, of course...