Sunday 31 January 2010

Blog messup.

Its a mess. I'm working on fixing it. But its taking a long time. Haloscan is closing. Echo isn't easy. Can't change the commenting system without changing the template to a new layouts version. Don't like all the change but hopefully it will work itself out in the end...


Revert

Going back to the way it was...

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Tickets

Two ticket inspectors sit on the train, waiting for the doors to close, when we will all be captive and they can start checking the tickets. A rastaman, wearing a red gold and green crocheted hat leans into the carriage and shouts Peckham Rye? to nobody in particular. Several passengers murmur yes. He gets on.

One ticket inspector says to the other, friend of yours?
Other ticket inspectors goes, huh?
Switching to a Jamaican accent, "Peckham Rye" he a friend of yours?
I don't keep friends just acquaintances, he retorts.

Friday 15 January 2010

Friday night, date night

Islington, Friday night. Bails and I were having a quiet one. Coffee in Tinderbox and Yo! Shushi for a meal. Sitting at the conveyor belt (which was strangely empty - watched those plates of food available go round and round, unwilling to take any of it off). We sat opposite tables occupied by date night couples.

A couple who sat next to one another rather than opposite, she was nearest the belt, at its corner, having a conversation with a woman from a different couple. Her partner chowed down, no words, just chewing.

A long haired couple. His mousy, hers brunette. Hers longer, his greasier. Beige couple, matching beige sweaters.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Second Snow

Woke up in the morning, opened the curtains, sighed - here we go again. More snow. Was glad it was going away. It snowed all day, faster in the morning then slower. Wetter snow than before.

Snow falls gently around me. There is something lovely about the light reflected back from snow beneath your feet. Squeak of fresh snow underfoot, muffling the sounds of everything, chill. Magical really. Translucent ice prints revealed as the snow melts away.

Monday 11 January 2010

Bad Tottenham Fashions

Nylon leggings, printed with 'denim' pattern complete with pocket and fly images. Trying to replicate the already-fairly gross but popular skin tight stretch jeans but without the thickness (and therefore warmth) of fabric.

Sunday 10 January 2010

Mini Thaw

As the compacted ice melts back it reveals the footsteps that crushed it down. I retrace my own steps from my house to the bus stop. I had walked on the edge of the pavement where the snow was less slippery than the already compacted ice. The trail of several days' walks, mingled with other distinctive treadmarks.
Snow

I'm getting used to the snow now - its bright. I just wish the foxes and cats could walk in their footprints a bit more - they have totally messed up the virgin snow. Its all walked over and spoilt.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Absent Minded

Hazy memory came back to me while lying in the bath. Maybe I was 5, maybe 7. Could have been Scotland but more likely to be Devon or Cornwall. The family - Mum (long brown wool coat), Dad (fisherman's smock and the blanket wrapped round over one shoulder and under one arm), Amy being carried, and me - walking down a path from the cliff to the beach. My head got hot so I took off my white wooly hat and launched it over onto the beach, from where I would collect it when we got down there. Unfortunately, the unforeseen happened, the hat got caught in the thorny bushes its way down. Fear. Mum, or perhaps Dad, asked me what did you do that for? I said I thought it would get down to the beach. Nobody said anything else about it. Relief.


Earlier this week I decided to heat up the last spoonful of plum pudding left over from Christmas day. It came in a microwaveable plastic bowl with a lid. So I stuck it all back in the microwave and pinged it for 6 minutes. In the living room, chopping up the tree, I heard it end. The dining room and kitchen were full of white thick smoke. Running in, opened the back door, smoke wafted out, acrid stink, opened microwave and inside the pudding had embers burning inside, the plastic bowl melted completely around it. Chucked it out into the garden. End of christmas is a lingering smell of burned plastic.

Friday 1 January 2010

On the chime of midnight the whole neighbourhood erupted into a sympony of fireworks. And it started to snow. Happy new decade!