If you have read my blog on my new year's resolutions you will be aware that I have a horse. You will also be aware that the resolution that refers to my horse dictates my need to see her and ride her more, as it is something I have not been doing enough of in the last year or two. So, I've been trying to do these resolutions and see her more but recent events mean that I no longer can and part of this post is to lay this out. The larger part of it though is to talk about her.
When I was young I loved animals. We had pets, our black and white cat called posie, then our very own starting with our fish (cheesy and eggy) and then our guinea pigs (babybel and cilla) and then more and more guinea pigs. Being me though, I always wanted more, and I always wanted a dog. I remember writing about dogs and drawing dogs and playing with 'puppy in my pocket' constantly. It was all I wanted. It has become a little bit of a weird legend, which my Dad highlighted in his speech at my wedding, that instead of upgrading from cat to dog, I upgraded from cat to pony. I suppose it has always irritated me that there is some view of people who have horses as being the elite; that I was constantly parading around arenas in tweed speaking the queen's english. It was far more like getting covered in muck, riding around anywhere like a nutter for hours and then getting recovered in muck. I did love it though.
I started horse riding when I was around eight years old at Charmichael Visitor Centre. There was a woman called Theresa, who had long, messy ringletty strawberry blonde hair and can only be described as buxom. Two hundred years ago she would have been a side in a Jane Austen but in the last 1990s she was round, course and chain smoked. Strangely she was friends with a girl my age who was "bad" and they seemed to make eachother's lives more dirty as it seemed to me at the time. The eight year old girl was Christina. She called her T-Guy. I only realised recently it was because her last name was indeed Guy. Anyway we rode the horses there for a few years, my brother, me and sometimes our neighbour Sarah. I only have good memories. My favourite horse was called Jazz; and 13hh dapple grey. Jamie rode Kizmet, a hairy old man of a dun 14.2hh horse who was so the plodder. My Mum rode Vienna who seemed idyllic and Theresa the extatic Gi-Gi, who pranced and rose as she jittered along. Later on Theresa stopped working there and the yard stopped doing horse riding. My Mum and Dad tried to purchase Jazz from the owners who refused and presented me with a grooming set for my birthday and the affirmative decision to purchase a horse, just not Jazz. Inbetween times I remember the love of yard chores as Jamie and I were permitted to visit the horses alone. Without Theresa guiding us we mixed up feeds, deciding what we thought each horse should get, brought them in from the feild and groomed them, and mucked out as if we owned the yard. It was the end of an era there and though I visited Jazz probably three more times once I had gotten my own horse, and vowed into his mane to come back for him eventually, I have no idea what became of him.
And so I got Mary-anne. I had been having riding lessons at Haynses since Theresa left Charmichael and the nearer riding school in Lanark was a shambles, sitting Jamie on a 17hh shire and my on a pony that would only turn left. In hindsight we bought Mary-anne not because she was the right horse but because she was a horse. She was stabled at Haynses and she was then ours, and the struggle commenced. While I never regret any of it, and am indebted to my parents for allowing me to have a horse, Mary-anne was a handful. She was head strong. She wasn't the best schooled. She was liable at any moment to change and do something ballistic just for the hell of it. She was moody. She was trying. She refused to hack out alone. She wriggled and bounced when you tried to wash her. She was female. I was watching the news recently and the police horse people were talking of there only being like 1% of police horses who are mares. The difference was all too apparent when I rode a girl called Kim's horse, Dylan, one day. I took him in the arena and glided round in glee, popping over fences without exploding into a gallop afterwards, and hacking out down the road to cool off, feet out of the stirrups, cool as a cucumber. I suppose if I could choose now I would have chosen that we were given a horse like that to buy from the start. But once Mary was ours she was the family, and you can't pick your family.
I did have a lot of fun with Mary-anne, and I think as a character builder, she is an everest. But it just feels now that all of that is over. I had dreamed since I was old enough to care of what my future was after I left home, of a modest country house. There was a well kept garden and a drive and behind a perfect wooden stable with tackroom, feed storage and boxes that open to the stable and to the feild behind. I had a feild and a smaller paddock for exercize. I would have Mary and I would have one more horse, my dream horse, much like Dylan I suppose. This dream had never altered. It has always been my long term plan. It hasn't ever been seemingly feasible or fitted with everything else but I have just taken it as a given that it would be accomplished. I guess that this has all changed too now.
Last Sunday I went up to Mary-anne to ride. The week prior I had wahsed her tail and clipped her legs and ridden. She was an angel. Ok, she was out of practice and fitness but she did her best, I had fun, and it was a good visit. I came up on Sunday to do the same and felt myself ready to enjoy riding again, enjoy and look forward to going to the yard, being outside and outside of the city and relaxing the way I used to. I figured five years in Glasgow hadn't changed me in the slightest. I rode Mary and she was fine. Granted it was a little more windy and the horses in the feild were running a little, but Mary seemed not to care. She cantered around at a steady pace, no need for pulling her up. I decided to give her one last whirl round on the right rein and call it a day. Mary cantered calmly up the longer side of the rectangular school. As I rounded the top corner of the arena to the A marker though it was as if someone had planted a firework under her tail. I am used to Mary. I am used to her quirks. I am used to her suddenly bucking or bronco-ing. I stick to her like glue. You can read a horse as you ride, you know my the slightest twinge of a muscle that they are going to change. Every other time, I have felt it. 90% of those times I stuck on. In the instances that I fell I knew it was coming, and I could plan a gentle semi-dismount accordingly. That day there was none of that. I don't know if it was my own complacency, or being out of practice, or Mary not even knowing it herself, but she moved. All I remember was a bronco type movement, where she seemed to launch herself up with her back arched. That is like a still shot in my head and then I remember seeing rubber. Chopped rubber, grey fuzzy stuff, and sand at point blank range as I fell to the arena floor over her left shoulder. Then there was an almight thud on my hard riding hat.
I know I didn't pass out. Infact, I leapt up immediately, and went for Mary. A horse running loose can step on it's reins and break a leg easily. Of course I went for Mary, it was ingrained to do so. But as I did I could tell in the back of my head that I wasn't right. My shoulder was killing, and my head felt like a balloon. Still, I was the logical idiot who took the pony to the stables and untacked her. I was the methodical moron who put her rug on and her in the feild, before tidying up all my stuff. I then started to drive. I said to myself, "I don't feel so good, but if I get the car home I can deal with it then". I did. My vision left a lot to be desired. At first it was fine, then there was a big blurred fuzzy spot which followed me. Like when you look at the sun then a spot appears when you blink. This gradually eased. At one point I felt excessivley sick, then it passed. I drove to my Mum's and parked and went in. I sat down and my vision was now just a blur. I called Stuart then I called 999.
It turns out I was fine though. Concussion. I was sick and very tired. The ambulance journey was worse than the fall itself. There was a long wait at the hospital. It was all a bit surreal. It wasn't very nice.
The point is though that when I was getting up from the ground I remember a clarity that shouldn't really have existed after a horse's iron-clad hoof collides with one's skull, in my mind. I remember thinking, 'Okay, it's okay, it's all over. That's it. It's done.' As I walked towards Mary-anne, who was standing with a foot over her reins, I knew that was the last time I would ride her. As I made her lift her foot and fished her reins out the image of the modest country house with the stables and paddock carbonated, fizzling away into nothing. I didn't feel sad, I felt like it was meant.
I still love the idea of horse riding and having my own yard but I know it will never happen now. I suppose for how many people does it happen. Can you become a different person without realising it? Now I am sitting in my city flat and every day it seems more and more like home. It smells like home. I don't mind the lack of space. The paved back court will do without a garden. I grow things in pots, tidy and clean. I like the smell of linens and central heating drying them. Every day this flat seems less like a compromise and more like my destiny. I go to my Mum's house and I feel lost in the vast empty darkness of night as I walk to the car. The stars are beautiful, but they are like strangers. As I drive home, the closer I get the safer I feel. I fly along the M8 knowing just when to change lane and just what speed to go at and it fits. I suppose you can get used to anything and I have gotten used to this. A quasi-city life style.
I always thought I would get back into the horse thing, and I would be there again. I no longer think that is true. It couldn't feel more like the end of a chapter in a book. The saddest thing is the way Mary-anne called to me last Sunday. Oh, long missed friend, still recognised after all these years. Yet we are no longer the same.
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
control freakery
I am a control freak. And I don't mean this in a 'I prefer to be the driver than the passenger' kind of way. It's not like those tests you can take and they tell you what kind of personality group you tend towards. I tend towards nothing. I AM the personality group. I'm the red, hot centre of control freakery and I can't help it. That is why when I have not been keeping my resolutions or totally 100% up to date on university work I get agitated and disjointed. I feel like the world is askew and everything is tinted a slightly different colour. A nervous and vaguely wrong colour. Like anxiety, where something is not right but you can't say what and you get more nervous because the logic needed does not exist. Once I am a little less than in control of something than I would like to be I get even more antsy next time. It's an upward trend to becoming someone who can't do things in different ways to normal. I am such a creature of habit and routinised being it is unreal. This has gotten worse over the past few years. I need to stop it though. I am trying to. Just now I have lost a bit of control and I'm sucking it up. I haven't kept resolutions to the letter but I am going to update on the ways that I have progressed.
I ran last week. I will again this week.
I went to Mary-anne today and gave her a wee beauty treatment and a ride.
Stuart and I cooked our January 3 course meal. So things have been a bit hectic around here this weekend and it wasn't exactly a big reach in terms of ability on my part, but we did it. And it tasted good. Now I am going to go to bed having not done some of the things I would have liked to have done today - and I'm going to be okay with it.
Starter, by Me - Italian Tuna, Bean and Sundblush tomato Salad
Main, by Stuart - Pan Fried Pork Loin in Smoky Tomato Sauce
Desert, by Me, Yes, that's right it's just tea/coffee with ritter chocolate and a Fox's Caramel Chocolate Biscuit, but it was great.
I ran last week. I will again this week.
I went to Mary-anne today and gave her a wee beauty treatment and a ride.
Stuart and I cooked our January 3 course meal. So things have been a bit hectic around here this weekend and it wasn't exactly a big reach in terms of ability on my part, but we did it. And it tasted good. Now I am going to go to bed having not done some of the things I would have liked to have done today - and I'm going to be okay with it.
Starter, by Me - Italian Tuna, Bean and Sundblush tomato Salad
Main, by Stuart - Pan Fried Pork Loin in Smoky Tomato Sauce
Desert, by Me, Yes, that's right it's just tea/coffee with ritter chocolate and a Fox's Caramel Chocolate Biscuit, but it was great.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
you're the birthday, you're the birthday, you're the birthday... boy or girl
Bobbenblog is ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD (in 2 days) !! I would have waited until my first official post but I may forget and a pre-emptive post is way better than a belated one (same rule as birthday cards and buying a new diary - note to self: need to buy a new diary). Yes, so it turns out it has been 363 days since I created this blog. The background to starting it has luckily already been covered in my new year's resolutions post so I'll neglect that and focus on this being my first post of 2011! Happy New Year to the one or two people who read this blog (maybe an exaggerated estimate there).
This isn't a cohesive post and is really the kind of content I reserve for Bobbenblog lite but I felt the need to ring in the blogging birthday here. So firstly, I managed to kind of swipe right over Christmas and straight into the new year before the bells had even rang or the fireworks had kablamoed. I choose to now illustrate Christmas in photographs. My brother and I scrobbled Mum's camera when people were opening presents and got some delightful candid (aka stealthy) shots. So these illustrate the larks of Christmas day and will also introduce you to some of my family.
This is my brother, Jamie. He took a lot of pictures of me looking like a cow on christmas day but it was all okay due to the wonderful camper van slippers he got me.
This is me and my dear Mum posing for a photograph. Oh and my Dad not posing for a photograph.
This is Jamie and my Gran, who I call Jeer (since young). I don't know what was so funny but as you know candid photographers such as myself can't let such trivial matters take away their focus. Eye on the prize baby.
This is my dear Dad. He looks happy in this picture which I like but also a bit like Tony Soprano which is worrying.
Mum was very misguided to think she could lean her way out of a photograph taken by me.
This is my aunt Fran having present evny.
This is my grandad having crisp envy.
J and G Dudes
The group photo
Mum = brilliant.
I also would like to quickly update on my new years resolutions. So I have been trying to ride Mary-anne more... actually at all. Every time I try to go the weather seems to attack with freezng conditions, pouring rain, or snow. Thanks weather. I also have endevoured to run once a week. I have not. To be fair the gym at university only reopened from christmas on Wednesday and I've been housesitting, attending birthday bashes and working on my masters so y'know. I will go this week. On the plus side though I have continued baking bread not buying bread and today made a fine pair of spelt loaves.
Tomorrow I am invigilating exams all day for work which will be pretty fun. Not being on the 'please let this be over' end of an exam will make me fell pretty smug.
Anyway that's all, I'll make the next one back to old form, this patchy rambling style makes me feel uncomfortable.
Friday, 31 December 2010
New Year's Resolutions 2011
2010 is fading fast, 2011 is a mere 8.5 hours away so let's cut the crap and get these resolutions down!
1. Ride Mary-anne more.
Like I said in my previous post, this is a resolution which I failed to keep and is being carried over to 2011. I have a horse called Mary-anne. She is now 17 and for those who know to care a 14.1hh light bay cob mare of Irish descent. Since I moved to university 5 years ago I didn't want to be someone who's social life over took her hobby. I didn't want my old childminder Ina's prognosis of "boys taking over from the pony" and continual questions of "so are you actually still riding it or have you given it up yet?" to prove correct. I can't say that since I went to university I had as much dedication but I still went up on a semi-regular basis. In fourth year though (last year) I saw myself letting my work (no, not 'boys') take over the time allocated and I was seeing Mary less and less. I aimed to resolve that but I failed. I am hoping this year will be different, one less undergrad degree and one less wedding will hopefully allow this to happen. To be more systematic than last time I am aiming on average to visit her once a week to ride and if not groom and care for her.
2. Save up for a deposit.
To be more clear, I mean a hypothetical deposit for a house. It would be such a waste to sell our current home before the area improves enough to make much of the investment so we are looking to rent and buy a new place. A few years ago this would be easy enough but now a minimum 10% deposit is often required so all savings that can be made are pretty much hitting the ISA for this end.
3. Save up a Cats' 'instead of insurance' fund.
I hate insurance companies with every fibre of my being. All they do is make you pay them a fortune only to find a loophole when lo and behold you actually need to claim, so that they don't have to pay out. Im not naive about it, I know that's how they make profit, but I really don't want to then be the chump paying for it. So for pet insurance we are going to put the monthly payments we would have been paying into a savings account in place of insurance in case the cat's need the vet etc.
4. Keep Running Regularly.
Having completed the 10k run resolution in 2010 I aim not to go for another distance challenge but just keep it up. There was a point where it got a little insane training and I don't think going for a half marathon would be healthy. The problem is when there is no race day deadline finding the motivation to put in the work at the gym falls away. This year I want to stop being a yo-yo runner and run once a week as a routine.
5. Don't Succumb to Politeness if Ever Faced with the Former Bridesmaid Again.
5 weeks before my wedding my bridesmaid took a flakey and deserted her post. Whatever the reasons were she was unwilling to see an alternative point of view. This was a problem but not a deal breaker in terms of speaking to her again for me. That is until she basically managed to spin it so she took a lot of money that was not hers when she left the scene. Suffice to say I have no interest in this person being in my life. However, there are a lot of things I would like to say to her and none of them too pretty. Despite people's stereotypes of me I do spend a lot of time not having the courage to say what I really think when someone attacks me personally. I have no problem arguing when it's a matter of opinion and issue, but not when it comes to people I love, and let alone myself. I am fed up of being polite and reserved. Ok it is helpful if you have to see these people and there is no good in opening a can of worms but in this case, I wont let myself be polite. If I ever see her again I will have no hesitation in telling her exactly what she needs to be told.
6. Get a masters, get funding for 3 years and start my phd.
Self explanatory really. I am doing a masters I aim to complete. I intend to do a phd and I need to get 3 years funding for it. Then I need to start doing the phd.
7. Learn Something New: Latin.
On Tumblr I put up a post asking people to submit ideas for a kind of different resolution. A few people replied and one was from Jenny. She suggested I learn something new, offering candle making and meditations as one's she was going to have a stab at. Normally I would have said yes to something like candle making as I love doing creative making type things but I have already done this having had a candle making kit for christmas one year. In terms of meditation I have tried hypnotherapy and found it to be useful in a crisis but not something I could fit into everyday life. I know that's my being flawed because I just can't sit still for a minute, I have to be doing something. But I decided Jenny was right I have to try something new and that is to learn a new language. Seeing as I am already at University it would be ideal and make the resolution more likely to be kept should it relate to my studies. In order to tackle the 16th century fully for my phd, and not have to resort to the 17th century like certain academics want me to (thats right big mac!) I really need to learn old Scots latin to do so. Therefore I am going to try and get on a course and then aim to have a grounding in Latin by 2012.
8. Don't Rely on the TV to Get to Sleep.
I have gotten into a bad habit of not being able to get to sleep without the television on in the background at night. It happened gradually starting with music when in 6th year at school and became dvds on laptops at halls at uni and now is dvds on the television. My theory is that all those voices that keep you up reminding you of things you need to do or things you did that day when it's time for bed are so loud that I use the tv noises to drown them out and fall asleep. I know this is not good for my rest and that if I want to get to sleep outside of my own house this doesn't bode well. Therefore I am going to make a concerted effort not to have the tv on when going to sleep.
9. Bake Something, Once a Month, in the Shape of Gingerbread Men, and Share it with my Brother, Jamie.
Indeed this one was suggested by Jamie himself. I turned it around and made it into a resolution where we meet up once a month with Stuart too and have the baked goods and spend some time together. Since Jamie moved to the West End and I stopped working at Boots I don't see him as much as I'd like and hopefully the lure of gingerbread men made of anything but gingerbread (maybe scone dough, pizza, tiffin or cake) will help sort that out. Thanks Jim!
10. Never Buy Bread From a Shop*.
Recently I leared how to bake my own bread thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's simple instructions and creation of a "bitch and bake" group on television. Since I first tried it I haven't bought a single loaf from a shop, let alone rolls or even a baguette. The home made bread is different and so much better. You can add anything you want to it, you can make loaves, rolls, ciabatta, bread sticks, garlic bread, seeded batches, fancy shaped bread, pizza bases and much more and all from a 50p bag of flour and some dried yeast. It seems like a long time to make it totalling about 4 hours in all but once the hard part of 10 minutes kneading is over its just moving it twice. If you do it in the evening you are in the house anyway and it makes little difference. So I have decided to keep this going. I will make some more to put in the freezer for just in case as well so we wont be tempted to buy any shop bread. * As a side if a specific type of bread is required i.e. gluten free or someone's favourite I have not made then shop buying will be allowed.
11. Grow My Vegetables More Efficiently.
Since I moved into this flat I have made the tarmac-ed back court into a pot plant filled area where I have managed to grow many vegetables. Never though have these vegetables rivalled my vegetable buying at the supermarket and they have more been a few meals worth if that. This year when I start out seeds from February onwards I am going to focus on the ones that I know will yeild enough to make a difference. No more "ooh PHYSALIS, that sounds fun to grow" or attempting to grow 6 different kinds and colours of tomatoes just because I could. I will pick out the exact veg to grow and grow them in large amounts. Not only that but I will make a big effort to plant continously in order that veg is ready in stages and not as a all at once glut. I hope to account for most of our own veg in the summer and some in the spring, autumn and winter. For the veg that I will end up buying in supermarkets I will buy seasonally and from the closest source possible and try to use the greengrocer on high street or at the fort even.
12. Once a Month, with Stuart, Cook a Home-Made, Joint Three-Course Meal.
This year Stuart started cooking from recipes and has been very successful. On a few occassions we made the effort to each cook a course and have a 2 or even 3 course meal served at the table at home. Stuart suggested to me I make it a resolution to do this and make sure we do it every month. It will make sure we spend some time together doing things other than watching dvds or working as well as advance Stuart's cooking skills and try to make me like cooking as much as I like baking.
So there you have it, my 12 point plan to a perfect 2011. I will try my best to keep checking back and updating about progress and of course I will put in the end of 2011 run down on the overall results. I may even sneak in a half time score in June. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for reading my blog in 2010, I hope you had a spicy, festive christmas and wish you all the best for 2010.
Happy Hogmanay,
Helen x x x x
p.s. It took me so long to write this that it is now only 7.5 hours until 2011!!
1. Ride Mary-anne more.
Like I said in my previous post, this is a resolution which I failed to keep and is being carried over to 2011. I have a horse called Mary-anne. She is now 17 and for those who know to care a 14.1hh light bay cob mare of Irish descent. Since I moved to university 5 years ago I didn't want to be someone who's social life over took her hobby. I didn't want my old childminder Ina's prognosis of "boys taking over from the pony" and continual questions of "so are you actually still riding it or have you given it up yet?" to prove correct. I can't say that since I went to university I had as much dedication but I still went up on a semi-regular basis. In fourth year though (last year) I saw myself letting my work (no, not 'boys') take over the time allocated and I was seeing Mary less and less. I aimed to resolve that but I failed. I am hoping this year will be different, one less undergrad degree and one less wedding will hopefully allow this to happen. To be more systematic than last time I am aiming on average to visit her once a week to ride and if not groom and care for her.
2. Save up for a deposit.
To be more clear, I mean a hypothetical deposit for a house. It would be such a waste to sell our current home before the area improves enough to make much of the investment so we are looking to rent and buy a new place. A few years ago this would be easy enough but now a minimum 10% deposit is often required so all savings that can be made are pretty much hitting the ISA for this end.
3. Save up a Cats' 'instead of insurance' fund.
I hate insurance companies with every fibre of my being. All they do is make you pay them a fortune only to find a loophole when lo and behold you actually need to claim, so that they don't have to pay out. Im not naive about it, I know that's how they make profit, but I really don't want to then be the chump paying for it. So for pet insurance we are going to put the monthly payments we would have been paying into a savings account in place of insurance in case the cat's need the vet etc.
4. Keep Running Regularly.
Having completed the 10k run resolution in 2010 I aim not to go for another distance challenge but just keep it up. There was a point where it got a little insane training and I don't think going for a half marathon would be healthy. The problem is when there is no race day deadline finding the motivation to put in the work at the gym falls away. This year I want to stop being a yo-yo runner and run once a week as a routine.
5. Don't Succumb to Politeness if Ever Faced with the Former Bridesmaid Again.
5 weeks before my wedding my bridesmaid took a flakey and deserted her post. Whatever the reasons were she was unwilling to see an alternative point of view. This was a problem but not a deal breaker in terms of speaking to her again for me. That is until she basically managed to spin it so she took a lot of money that was not hers when she left the scene. Suffice to say I have no interest in this person being in my life. However, there are a lot of things I would like to say to her and none of them too pretty. Despite people's stereotypes of me I do spend a lot of time not having the courage to say what I really think when someone attacks me personally. I have no problem arguing when it's a matter of opinion and issue, but not when it comes to people I love, and let alone myself. I am fed up of being polite and reserved. Ok it is helpful if you have to see these people and there is no good in opening a can of worms but in this case, I wont let myself be polite. If I ever see her again I will have no hesitation in telling her exactly what she needs to be told.
6. Get a masters, get funding for 3 years and start my phd.
Self explanatory really. I am doing a masters I aim to complete. I intend to do a phd and I need to get 3 years funding for it. Then I need to start doing the phd.
7. Learn Something New: Latin.
On Tumblr I put up a post asking people to submit ideas for a kind of different resolution. A few people replied and one was from Jenny. She suggested I learn something new, offering candle making and meditations as one's she was going to have a stab at. Normally I would have said yes to something like candle making as I love doing creative making type things but I have already done this having had a candle making kit for christmas one year. In terms of meditation I have tried hypnotherapy and found it to be useful in a crisis but not something I could fit into everyday life. I know that's my being flawed because I just can't sit still for a minute, I have to be doing something. But I decided Jenny was right I have to try something new and that is to learn a new language. Seeing as I am already at University it would be ideal and make the resolution more likely to be kept should it relate to my studies. In order to tackle the 16th century fully for my phd, and not have to resort to the 17th century like certain academics want me to (thats right big mac!) I really need to learn old Scots latin to do so. Therefore I am going to try and get on a course and then aim to have a grounding in Latin by 2012.
8. Don't Rely on the TV to Get to Sleep.
I have gotten into a bad habit of not being able to get to sleep without the television on in the background at night. It happened gradually starting with music when in 6th year at school and became dvds on laptops at halls at uni and now is dvds on the television. My theory is that all those voices that keep you up reminding you of things you need to do or things you did that day when it's time for bed are so loud that I use the tv noises to drown them out and fall asleep. I know this is not good for my rest and that if I want to get to sleep outside of my own house this doesn't bode well. Therefore I am going to make a concerted effort not to have the tv on when going to sleep.
9. Bake Something, Once a Month, in the Shape of Gingerbread Men, and Share it with my Brother, Jamie.
Indeed this one was suggested by Jamie himself. I turned it around and made it into a resolution where we meet up once a month with Stuart too and have the baked goods and spend some time together. Since Jamie moved to the West End and I stopped working at Boots I don't see him as much as I'd like and hopefully the lure of gingerbread men made of anything but gingerbread (maybe scone dough, pizza, tiffin or cake) will help sort that out. Thanks Jim!
10. Never Buy Bread From a Shop*.
Recently I leared how to bake my own bread thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's simple instructions and creation of a "bitch and bake" group on television. Since I first tried it I haven't bought a single loaf from a shop, let alone rolls or even a baguette. The home made bread is different and so much better. You can add anything you want to it, you can make loaves, rolls, ciabatta, bread sticks, garlic bread, seeded batches, fancy shaped bread, pizza bases and much more and all from a 50p bag of flour and some dried yeast. It seems like a long time to make it totalling about 4 hours in all but once the hard part of 10 minutes kneading is over its just moving it twice. If you do it in the evening you are in the house anyway and it makes little difference. So I have decided to keep this going. I will make some more to put in the freezer for just in case as well so we wont be tempted to buy any shop bread. * As a side if a specific type of bread is required i.e. gluten free or someone's favourite I have not made then shop buying will be allowed.
11. Grow My Vegetables More Efficiently.
Since I moved into this flat I have made the tarmac-ed back court into a pot plant filled area where I have managed to grow many vegetables. Never though have these vegetables rivalled my vegetable buying at the supermarket and they have more been a few meals worth if that. This year when I start out seeds from February onwards I am going to focus on the ones that I know will yeild enough to make a difference. No more "ooh PHYSALIS, that sounds fun to grow" or attempting to grow 6 different kinds and colours of tomatoes just because I could. I will pick out the exact veg to grow and grow them in large amounts. Not only that but I will make a big effort to plant continously in order that veg is ready in stages and not as a all at once glut. I hope to account for most of our own veg in the summer and some in the spring, autumn and winter. For the veg that I will end up buying in supermarkets I will buy seasonally and from the closest source possible and try to use the greengrocer on high street or at the fort even.
12. Once a Month, with Stuart, Cook a Home-Made, Joint Three-Course Meal.
This year Stuart started cooking from recipes and has been very successful. On a few occassions we made the effort to each cook a course and have a 2 or even 3 course meal served at the table at home. Stuart suggested to me I make it a resolution to do this and make sure we do it every month. It will make sure we spend some time together doing things other than watching dvds or working as well as advance Stuart's cooking skills and try to make me like cooking as much as I like baking.
So there you have it, my 12 point plan to a perfect 2011. I will try my best to keep checking back and updating about progress and of course I will put in the end of 2011 run down on the overall results. I may even sneak in a half time score in June. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for reading my blog in 2010, I hope you had a spicy, festive christmas and wish you all the best for 2010.
Happy Hogmanay,
Helen x x x x
p.s. It took me so long to write this that it is now only 7.5 hours until 2011!!
Monday, 27 December 2010
Resolved
It's that time of year, the end of the year. A few people have blogged about resolutions that I have read now and it's about time I did the same. I also need to recap on this year as a whole as a lot has happened and aulthough things appear pretty much the same, a lot has changed for me in a non-tangible sense.
I started this blog on a whim. An old friend from school had started one based on her resolutions to track her progress and successes in trying to keep them. It wasn't really the resolution idea that I emulated - indeed, I never even bothered to post my resolutions on this blog when I started it and instead threw them into the black hole of facebook, never to be found again - it was more the honest out-pouring of her thoughts that I admired. I think I have always been an evocative person and putting my feelings into words and prose hasn't been an issue, but it was the outlet to an extent, and the actual process of doing it, which I had lost in the year or two prior. I had lost a lot more in 2007-9 that just that and being on the edge of the new leaf, a metaphorical blank piece of paper seemed very appealling. I added a quick scheme - later to be changed to match my tumblr or "lite" version of this blog - and was away. When I was young I would write. I would write stories, notes and random thoughts. I never had the decidation to the scheme that the journal keeper or diarist had, but I still keep some old notebooks with quite lyrical text scrawled in. I lost this when I went to university. Seeing all these blogs with their curious themes and imaginative protrayals of their keepers inspired me, not to mention the fact someone I used to see at school most days was laying down more of her life on a daily basis that I was in a year. I admired the openness with which she typed and the fact she was able to put her honest self out there and not care what people thought of her. I suppose it is a far cry from days past. This was what I tried to repeat, only with my own personality as the guide. I think one of the key themes which has characterised this year for me has been the fine tuning of my personality, well, what I mean is my acceptance and willingness to promote it.
So, getting down to the resolutions themselves! I'm going to use some styling here for e f f e c t. I am also not going to go into terrible detail for some as I feel my older post in the sunshine and in the shade has already done this to some extent. I also would like to note this as what I think of as my most accomplished blog this year, the one which matches what I outlined as setting out to do most successfully.
1. Play with Molly and Maisie more so Molly isn't too fat
Stuart and I got Molly and Maisie almost two years ago and we were attentive cat-parents. Part of this was reading the side of the bag of - the most vet recommended, and expensive I might add - cat food and doling out rations in way prescribed based on our cats weights. Suffice to say we were a bit shocked when the vet blatently told us that Molly was overweight. But we did what the - very expensive and YOU recommened - cat food bag instructions said! No, no, no. You see, our cats are indoor cats, to avoid car squishings of little meatbags, and they don't expend much energy, especially seeing as they sleep basically ALL the time, and that's too much food. So we were to experiment with "indoor cat" (i.e. reduced calorie) cat food, smaller amounts more often and exercize. Yes, that's right for all you who want to lose weight, human or animal alike, you eat LESS and exercize MORE and you WILL lose weight. I can testify to it. So can little Molly. It worked and Stuart and I were delighted when we went to the vet to find that Molly was the perfect weight and very healthy. We were even more delighted by the fact that the vet liked their collars and was glad to have "some cuddly ones" for a change. So in terms of this resolution I can declare it to be well and truley kept.
2. Ride Mary-anne more.
This resolution represents basically the opposite of the previous one and a failure. My horse, Mary-anne, is happy as larry at grass but I always feel I should be up there much more. And I should. With university, wedding, running, cats, irractic car ownership and my general laziness I have not been riding Mary more. In fact, if anything I have ridden her less. Never one to like to fail, I will carry this resolution to 2011 and work harder on it next year.
3. Run a 10k.
In 2009 at the start of August my Mum invited me to take part in a charity 6k road race with the school she is a teacher at. She intended to walk it. We decided we would at least run it and soon started actually training and did run the 6k in full. Stuart did it too and we finished in 38 minutes. After this I thought, well if I can do that I can do a 10k too - only 4k more! So I aimed for the May 10k but that fell through. As I had made this resolution and May went by I felt bad. I was doing a lot of finals, sitting, studying, putting on a study belly, and with a wedding approaching, and not running. As soon as exams were over I signed us up to the Great Scottish Run 10k in september, the weekend after the wedding. Stuart and I combined training with wedding preparations and spent the summer this way. In september we completed the 10k in 1 hour and 8 minutes which I deem a very acceptable time, especially since I had the cold and suffered a nose bleed mid race! So I managed to keep this resolution. My aunt who also runs said to me, you know what they say, if you can do a 10k you can do a half marathon. I have decided not to add this to my resolutions for 2011 though, as I want my shins intact for the rest of my life.
4. Get Married.
This one was easy! Well, I was engaged when I made this resolution and we had set the date. I added it as a joke but the joke was on me with the ridiculous amount of minutiae that had to be organised for the event. Even still, I suppose I can mark this as a kept resolution too.
5. Graduate.
When I made this resolution I actually meant deep down to add "with first class honours" to the end of it but not only would that have been a jinx, it also seemed so big headed, especially when everyone around me would come into uni and go "a 60!?!... BRILLIANT" when I had just received the same mark and nearly died in disappointment. It all turned out ok though and I got the following marks for my classes: 84,78,75,70,68,65 which equates to a first :). Now I am doing my masters happily and it has kept me off the dire job market which it just fine by me. So, it is kept.
All in all I think that 4 of 5 kept is pretty good and like I said the one not accomplished will be carried over with me. I could easily put down my new resolutions here but for now I will hold off. It's only the 27th and I would like to make that post on the 1st of January, first post of the new blogging year. I get the feeling that my friend with the resolutions will also have had quite a lot of success in her keeping of them too and wish her the best. After I type this I will prod her to blog her results too!
As a round up of the year I really have to emphasise that 2010 has been the best year of my life. So many exciting and good things have happened and I don't know that I could have imagined anything else better at the start of the year. I've become more myself in my own body/mind this year that I have ever before and feel so comfortable. This has a lot to do with certain social aspects of my life and the realisation of certain truths that I have decuded from the array of events thrown at me this year.
I have finally understood what I view as the myth of friendship. I know who the meaningless people are, and I can accept that everyone is out for themselves. Several people have revealed their true colours to me this year and I am glad because not only are they no longer clouding my life, they are no longer clouding my judgement either. They have taught me more about human sociability and it has allowed me to keep the few true friends I have on my terms. I know not to need everything from a friendship, and I can value when a friend actually makes an effort to show their real intent. Lesley, Kirsty, Fiona and Jenny have in different ways been good friends to me on different levels and I appreciate that. I am happy to have my best friends - Stuart, Molly and Maisie. I am also eternally happy not to give a shit that my best friends are my husband and my cats - one is family and the others are linked to me like family in a social heirarchy which can't be abolished. I love them dearly. Molly is accompanying me currently to me left, purring like a machine and looking into my eyes with a look of need for love she so often has.
Along with this appreciation of the truth comes a new outlook. The idea of karma has connotations of either hippies, or my name is earl. Both good in different ways- but both fail to describe what I want so I will neglect that term. I believe in people getting out what they put in. If you put in nothing, you will get back nothing. If you do bad things, bad things will catch up with you. This is not a literal exchange nor immediate as often protrayed. It seems to be almost a balance that touches the general outline of life. It's not quite realise-able unless you really look for it. Good people have gotten good things this year and the bad people have gotten what's fair in return. Kidneys, boys, financial quagmires, psychological impediments to normal life. Is it wrong to feel like everything is right in my world because of this? I don't know, but what I do know is that I tried hard to do the right thing, and be a good person in 2010, and it worked out. I'm not going to question that in 2011.
I started this blog on a whim. An old friend from school had started one based on her resolutions to track her progress and successes in trying to keep them. It wasn't really the resolution idea that I emulated - indeed, I never even bothered to post my resolutions on this blog when I started it and instead threw them into the black hole of facebook, never to be found again - it was more the honest out-pouring of her thoughts that I admired. I think I have always been an evocative person and putting my feelings into words and prose hasn't been an issue, but it was the outlet to an extent, and the actual process of doing it, which I had lost in the year or two prior. I had lost a lot more in 2007-9 that just that and being on the edge of the new leaf, a metaphorical blank piece of paper seemed very appealling. I added a quick scheme - later to be changed to match my tumblr or "lite" version of this blog - and was away. When I was young I would write. I would write stories, notes and random thoughts. I never had the decidation to the scheme that the journal keeper or diarist had, but I still keep some old notebooks with quite lyrical text scrawled in. I lost this when I went to university. Seeing all these blogs with their curious themes and imaginative protrayals of their keepers inspired me, not to mention the fact someone I used to see at school most days was laying down more of her life on a daily basis that I was in a year. I admired the openness with which she typed and the fact she was able to put her honest self out there and not care what people thought of her. I suppose it is a far cry from days past. This was what I tried to repeat, only with my own personality as the guide. I think one of the key themes which has characterised this year for me has been the fine tuning of my personality, well, what I mean is my acceptance and willingness to promote it.
So, getting down to the resolutions themselves! I'm going to use some styling here for e f f e c t. I am also not going to go into terrible detail for some as I feel my older post in the sunshine and in the shade has already done this to some extent. I also would like to note this as what I think of as my most accomplished blog this year, the one which matches what I outlined as setting out to do most successfully.
1. Play with Molly and Maisie more so Molly isn't too fat
Stuart and I got Molly and Maisie almost two years ago and we were attentive cat-parents. Part of this was reading the side of the bag of - the most vet recommended, and expensive I might add - cat food and doling out rations in way prescribed based on our cats weights. Suffice to say we were a bit shocked when the vet blatently told us that Molly was overweight. But we did what the - very expensive and YOU recommened - cat food bag instructions said! No, no, no. You see, our cats are indoor cats, to avoid car squishings of little meatbags, and they don't expend much energy, especially seeing as they sleep basically ALL the time, and that's too much food. So we were to experiment with "indoor cat" (i.e. reduced calorie) cat food, smaller amounts more often and exercize. Yes, that's right for all you who want to lose weight, human or animal alike, you eat LESS and exercize MORE and you WILL lose weight. I can testify to it. So can little Molly. It worked and Stuart and I were delighted when we went to the vet to find that Molly was the perfect weight and very healthy. We were even more delighted by the fact that the vet liked their collars and was glad to have "some cuddly ones" for a change. So in terms of this resolution I can declare it to be well and truley kept.
2. Ride Mary-anne more.
This resolution represents basically the opposite of the previous one and a failure. My horse, Mary-anne, is happy as larry at grass but I always feel I should be up there much more. And I should. With university, wedding, running, cats, irractic car ownership and my general laziness I have not been riding Mary more. In fact, if anything I have ridden her less. Never one to like to fail, I will carry this resolution to 2011 and work harder on it next year.
3. Run a 10k.
In 2009 at the start of August my Mum invited me to take part in a charity 6k road race with the school she is a teacher at. She intended to walk it. We decided we would at least run it and soon started actually training and did run the 6k in full. Stuart did it too and we finished in 38 minutes. After this I thought, well if I can do that I can do a 10k too - only 4k more! So I aimed for the May 10k but that fell through. As I had made this resolution and May went by I felt bad. I was doing a lot of finals, sitting, studying, putting on a study belly, and with a wedding approaching, and not running. As soon as exams were over I signed us up to the Great Scottish Run 10k in september, the weekend after the wedding. Stuart and I combined training with wedding preparations and spent the summer this way. In september we completed the 10k in 1 hour and 8 minutes which I deem a very acceptable time, especially since I had the cold and suffered a nose bleed mid race! So I managed to keep this resolution. My aunt who also runs said to me, you know what they say, if you can do a 10k you can do a half marathon. I have decided not to add this to my resolutions for 2011 though, as I want my shins intact for the rest of my life.
4. Get Married.
This one was easy! Well, I was engaged when I made this resolution and we had set the date. I added it as a joke but the joke was on me with the ridiculous amount of minutiae that had to be organised for the event. Even still, I suppose I can mark this as a kept resolution too.
5. Graduate.
When I made this resolution I actually meant deep down to add "with first class honours" to the end of it but not only would that have been a jinx, it also seemed so big headed, especially when everyone around me would come into uni and go "a 60!?!... BRILLIANT" when I had just received the same mark and nearly died in disappointment. It all turned out ok though and I got the following marks for my classes: 84,78,75,70,68,65 which equates to a first :). Now I am doing my masters happily and it has kept me off the dire job market which it just fine by me. So, it is kept.
All in all I think that 4 of 5 kept is pretty good and like I said the one not accomplished will be carried over with me. I could easily put down my new resolutions here but for now I will hold off. It's only the 27th and I would like to make that post on the 1st of January, first post of the new blogging year. I get the feeling that my friend with the resolutions will also have had quite a lot of success in her keeping of them too and wish her the best. After I type this I will prod her to blog her results too!
As a round up of the year I really have to emphasise that 2010 has been the best year of my life. So many exciting and good things have happened and I don't know that I could have imagined anything else better at the start of the year. I've become more myself in my own body/mind this year that I have ever before and feel so comfortable. This has a lot to do with certain social aspects of my life and the realisation of certain truths that I have decuded from the array of events thrown at me this year.
I have finally understood what I view as the myth of friendship. I know who the meaningless people are, and I can accept that everyone is out for themselves. Several people have revealed their true colours to me this year and I am glad because not only are they no longer clouding my life, they are no longer clouding my judgement either. They have taught me more about human sociability and it has allowed me to keep the few true friends I have on my terms. I know not to need everything from a friendship, and I can value when a friend actually makes an effort to show their real intent. Lesley, Kirsty, Fiona and Jenny have in different ways been good friends to me on different levels and I appreciate that. I am happy to have my best friends - Stuart, Molly and Maisie. I am also eternally happy not to give a shit that my best friends are my husband and my cats - one is family and the others are linked to me like family in a social heirarchy which can't be abolished. I love them dearly. Molly is accompanying me currently to me left, purring like a machine and looking into my eyes with a look of need for love she so often has.
Along with this appreciation of the truth comes a new outlook. The idea of karma has connotations of either hippies, or my name is earl. Both good in different ways- but both fail to describe what I want so I will neglect that term. I believe in people getting out what they put in. If you put in nothing, you will get back nothing. If you do bad things, bad things will catch up with you. This is not a literal exchange nor immediate as often protrayed. It seems to be almost a balance that touches the general outline of life. It's not quite realise-able unless you really look for it. Good people have gotten good things this year and the bad people have gotten what's fair in return. Kidneys, boys, financial quagmires, psychological impediments to normal life. Is it wrong to feel like everything is right in my world because of this? I don't know, but what I do know is that I tried hard to do the right thing, and be a good person in 2010, and it worked out. I'm not going to question that in 2011.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
bowlie and beyond
Oh dear blog it's been a while and there haven't been many words flowing, this shall be remedied. There are a few things that need laid out just now.
I have just returned with my husband from a holiday to Butlins. Not just to Butlins though, to Bowlie 2 - a music festival curated by Belle and Sebastian. I really can't be bothered typing in the history of this event for two reasons, one being I have just added hundreds of covenanters to my database this afternoon and my fingers don't want to type anymore, the other being I didn't know about the first Bowlie and it did not subtract from my enjoyment of the event. I really dislike those people who think they are better than you because they were at the first one, or they knew the band before the band or they saw the famous concert. Whatever. So basically Bowlie 2 is/was a music festival at Butlin's Minehead where you get a chalet and can do all the Butlin's stuff as well as see three days of gigs, it's pretty good to be sure.
We decided to drive there which was I suppose our only logical option seeing as the train station is still ages from the venue and 9 hours on a bus? No thanks. So we we had to decide between taking Hamish - Stuart's car - who is new, safe and not so fuel efficient and the Bug - my car - who is old, rattly but very fuel efficient. We took Bug. Stuart wasn't insured but that was sorted and we managed the trip from Glasgow to Minehead on only one tank of fuel per journey which is pretty amazing. The trip consisted of driving a little too fast on those straight bits of road which in our defence offer you no option but to do it, you feel you have to keep up. It also consisted of ridiculous car games such as eye spy where the thing spied kept on dissapearing out of view too quickly due to speed and became basically something beginning with: R - Road; T- Tree; B - Bridge; or C - Car. We had slightly more success with naming through the alphabet with a specific catagory (e.g. Cars, A- Astra, B - Bugatti, C - Clio etc) but we quite speedily started choosing categories such as "stationery" and ended up putting Abacuses and Underwear on our metaphorical desks to fill in gaps. By the time we resorted to the number plate game it was hour 5 of the journey back up and we were just shouting words as they came into our heads - JOP "JIM ORANGE PIANO" GDR "GOD DILLPICKLE RAG" - or even worse we were simply dipping into the profanity bag and pulling out these beauties - SAP "STUPID ARSE PISH" BJB "BIG JOBBY BAWS" and so on. We did make quite good time though. Traffic impeded us on the way down but on the way back we made 7 hours INCLUDING breaks, at the end of which I think I may have started seeing things but that's neither here nor there as the Bug bombed along the straights of Abington and Lesmahagow.
The festival itself was brilliant. It was so grown up. I can illustrate just how pleasant it was with these comparisons between it and my other main festival experience of T in the Park 2005: Tents become Chalets. The ground becomes a bed. A plastic cupboard of diahorrea becomes a neat bathroom. A bottle of water and a tictac becomes a shower and toothbrush. Cheap boxed wine and £5 falafels become Coca Cola and soup. Grass and mud becomes fancy carpets. Getting pissed and falling over in a puddle becomes swimming in a wave pool with space bowl flumes. 500 feet from the stage becomes 5 feet from the stageCrushed bones and elbows in your ear become clean people maintaining your personal space. And most importantly, distorted and vague sounding bands become perfectly sound checked and levelled hand picked bands.
I'm not going to go into immense detail of the performances, only to note the following bands as either brilliant, or a good surprise: Belle and Sebastian (especially Judy and the Dream of Horses and Sleep the Clock Around), The Go! Team (especially Ice Storm), Sons and Daughters (especially Rama Lama and Taste the Last Girl) and Dirty Projectors. See my tumblr for photographs and videos. The other amazing thing at this festival was the laid back nature of the bands and the security. I don't mean laid back like lots of crap happened, I mean the bands staying in the chalets too and wandering about all the same as us. Us being allowed to wander through the venues as bands sound checked and rehearsed was another plus.
Aside from the music, there were other things to do including swimming, walking on the beach, and specially selected television programmes by ATP or Belle and Sebastian in your chalet. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend for me. Writing postcards on the floor in the Pavillion while Belle and Sebastian rehearse in front of us on stage. Swimming in the pool, jumping 7 foot waves, crazy flumes. Going under the water with Stuart and singing a sing and guessing what it was. Eating supernoodles with bread sticks. Taking oranges with me everywhere. Alex Kapranos's obvious envy of my fuzzy hat. "winning" 10p (and losing like £2 of 2ps) on a penny falls machine called Hot Dog. Losing at air hockey. To be honest the only dissapointments of the weekend were when the candyfloss machine took my £1 and never gave me the floss and when the machine that takes 1p and stamps the words "I love dinosaurs" on it was jammed and I couldn't use it.
ANYWAY
I feel I need to tag this on here too so I don't forget. Last year I made New Year's Resolutions. I do every year, some times with more vigour than other years, but after a completely dismal 2009 I hoped that acheiving these would stop a bad streak and turn over a new leaf of luck. I did this in response (aka copying) my friend Jenny who has done the same on her blog Another Year's Words. Seeing as 2010's demise is nearly upon us I intend shortly, probably in my next blog, to give a round up and review of the year structured around my resolutions and the new outlook I have on life, which I never seemed to seek, rather it sought me. For now, here are the resolutions as well as I remember them, and we will see how well I have done.
Play with Molly and Maisie more so Molly isn't too fat
Ride Mary-anne more.
Run a 10k.
Get Married.
Graduate.
For the end, soon.
I have just returned with my husband from a holiday to Butlins. Not just to Butlins though, to Bowlie 2 - a music festival curated by Belle and Sebastian. I really can't be bothered typing in the history of this event for two reasons, one being I have just added hundreds of covenanters to my database this afternoon and my fingers don't want to type anymore, the other being I didn't know about the first Bowlie and it did not subtract from my enjoyment of the event. I really dislike those people who think they are better than you because they were at the first one, or they knew the band before the band or they saw the famous concert. Whatever. So basically Bowlie 2 is/was a music festival at Butlin's Minehead where you get a chalet and can do all the Butlin's stuff as well as see three days of gigs, it's pretty good to be sure.
We decided to drive there which was I suppose our only logical option seeing as the train station is still ages from the venue and 9 hours on a bus? No thanks. So we we had to decide between taking Hamish - Stuart's car - who is new, safe and not so fuel efficient and the Bug - my car - who is old, rattly but very fuel efficient. We took Bug. Stuart wasn't insured but that was sorted and we managed the trip from Glasgow to Minehead on only one tank of fuel per journey which is pretty amazing. The trip consisted of driving a little too fast on those straight bits of road which in our defence offer you no option but to do it, you feel you have to keep up. It also consisted of ridiculous car games such as eye spy where the thing spied kept on dissapearing out of view too quickly due to speed and became basically something beginning with: R - Road; T- Tree; B - Bridge; or C - Car. We had slightly more success with naming through the alphabet with a specific catagory (e.g. Cars, A- Astra, B - Bugatti, C - Clio etc) but we quite speedily started choosing categories such as "stationery" and ended up putting Abacuses and Underwear on our metaphorical desks to fill in gaps. By the time we resorted to the number plate game it was hour 5 of the journey back up and we were just shouting words as they came into our heads - JOP "JIM ORANGE PIANO" GDR "GOD DILLPICKLE RAG" - or even worse we were simply dipping into the profanity bag and pulling out these beauties - SAP "STUPID ARSE PISH" BJB "BIG JOBBY BAWS" and so on. We did make quite good time though. Traffic impeded us on the way down but on the way back we made 7 hours INCLUDING breaks, at the end of which I think I may have started seeing things but that's neither here nor there as the Bug bombed along the straights of Abington and Lesmahagow.
The festival itself was brilliant. It was so grown up. I can illustrate just how pleasant it was with these comparisons between it and my other main festival experience of T in the Park 2005: Tents become Chalets. The ground becomes a bed. A plastic cupboard of diahorrea becomes a neat bathroom. A bottle of water and a tictac becomes a shower and toothbrush. Cheap boxed wine and £5 falafels become Coca Cola and soup. Grass and mud becomes fancy carpets. Getting pissed and falling over in a puddle becomes swimming in a wave pool with space bowl flumes. 500 feet from the stage becomes 5 feet from the stageCrushed bones and elbows in your ear become clean people maintaining your personal space. And most importantly, distorted and vague sounding bands become perfectly sound checked and levelled hand picked bands.
I'm not going to go into immense detail of the performances, only to note the following bands as either brilliant, or a good surprise: Belle and Sebastian (especially Judy and the Dream of Horses and Sleep the Clock Around), The Go! Team (especially Ice Storm), Sons and Daughters (especially Rama Lama and Taste the Last Girl) and Dirty Projectors. See my tumblr for photographs and videos. The other amazing thing at this festival was the laid back nature of the bands and the security. I don't mean laid back like lots of crap happened, I mean the bands staying in the chalets too and wandering about all the same as us. Us being allowed to wander through the venues as bands sound checked and rehearsed was another plus.
Aside from the music, there were other things to do including swimming, walking on the beach, and specially selected television programmes by ATP or Belle and Sebastian in your chalet. Here are some of the highlights of the weekend for me. Writing postcards on the floor in the Pavillion while Belle and Sebastian rehearse in front of us on stage. Swimming in the pool, jumping 7 foot waves, crazy flumes. Going under the water with Stuart and singing a sing and guessing what it was. Eating supernoodles with bread sticks. Taking oranges with me everywhere. Alex Kapranos's obvious envy of my fuzzy hat. "winning" 10p (and losing like £2 of 2ps) on a penny falls machine called Hot Dog. Losing at air hockey. To be honest the only dissapointments of the weekend were when the candyfloss machine took my £1 and never gave me the floss and when the machine that takes 1p and stamps the words "I love dinosaurs" on it was jammed and I couldn't use it.
ANYWAY
I feel I need to tag this on here too so I don't forget. Last year I made New Year's Resolutions. I do every year, some times with more vigour than other years, but after a completely dismal 2009 I hoped that acheiving these would stop a bad streak and turn over a new leaf of luck. I did this in response (aka copying) my friend Jenny who has done the same on her blog Another Year's Words. Seeing as 2010's demise is nearly upon us I intend shortly, probably in my next blog, to give a round up and review of the year structured around my resolutions and the new outlook I have on life, which I never seemed to seek, rather it sought me. For now, here are the resolutions as well as I remember them, and we will see how well I have done.
Play with Molly and Maisie more so Molly isn't too fat
Ride Mary-anne more.
Run a 10k.
Get Married.
Graduate.
For the end, soon.
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