Godiseverywhere

It is Tuesday morning, the first day back after a long bank holiday weekend. (For those in Australia a 'bank' holiday is a 'public' holiday except not just the banks get a holiday. Go figure.)

I am so tired it is untrue. I have an echo of a headache which promises to resound ever louder as the day goes on. My eyes are grainy and I seem to be unable to even shift the muscles in my face into a smile. My feet are aching, my legs are threatening to leave me for all the abuse I have inflicted. Standing on a concrete floor for 5 hours is not good for the body.

However, in spite of my list of ailments, I am strangely peaceful.

(Or peacefully strange as Ian says)

Why do I find myself in this state of painful bliss? I have just spent 3 days at the Greenbelt Festival. Once again I have come away feeling like this life of mine has a purpose, I have a part to play in the lives of those around me, the world I live in is a precious and beautiful thing, we are inexplicably connected to every other human being on this planet and God is infinitely bigger than I had previously assumed.

That is the rounded conclusion. A more detailed account will follow when my head ceases thumping and I have had time to process all I have heard, seen and said over the last 3 days.

I will say here however that we saw a string of bands last night (hence standing up for 5 hours straight) starting with the Willard Grant Conspiracy (think Nick Cave / Johnny Cash / deep southern bluegrass gospel) who were eerily sublime.

Aqualung, a band that is essentially one man, Matt Hales, who really should be henceforthwith known as 'Millhouse'. If you ever see Aqualung live, you will know why.

Next on stage were The Polyphonic Spree. All I'm saying here is ... groovy.

Last but certainly not least was my hero, Billy Bragg. It was a surprise to most that Billy was playing Greenbelt as we all know Greenbelt is a Christian festival and, well, Billy isn't. But as he said last night, he knew one day our paths would cross for Christians with a strong belief in social justice, a compassionate society and a conviction that poverty in this day and age is completely untenable were bound to bump into the left at some stage. Billy had clearly thought very long and hard about what he would say and sing but his final encore was nothing short of extraordinary - an accapella version of Jerusalem that the entire audience sang along to.

I felt a part of something larger that my insignificant consumer driven life and this time I want to do more than just feel good about myself for recognising this...

The dreaded hump day

Another nothing day really. Not very busy. Quite bored in fact. Testimony that the weather does in fact make me uninterestingly bored (boring?)

Anyway. We went to a little Korean cafe around the corner last night and to our delight discovered it was absolutely brilliant! And cheap!! £14 for the 2 of us and they stuffed us full to brimming. Yummy. I think I like Korean food.

Another Wednesday of no note.

More when life gets interesting again.

Listening to: the radio believe it or not.
Reading: The Fat Man in History, Peter Carey

Working for the weekend?

Another one has just spun past me so fast I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. Imagine the rude shock that was when I realised it was Monday... Crap.

I am almost 100% convinced that this overcast grey shit that hangs over this country for a large percentage of the time affects my moods directly. I hate overcast days. I just know the sun is up there beyond that muck that refuses to move. I love rain, I love storms, hell, I even love the snow but when the sky here closes over and just does nothing of significance I find myself getting darker by the hour. Two days of this so far and I'm ready to take on anyone over anything...

The weekend was OK. Nothing much happened. We spent Saturday in Manchester with Edith which was OK. The weather was at least sunny which was nice. We sat out for a while in Cathedral Gardens in the fresh air. I hate going into town on the weekends these days. I feel like I just buy things cause I can - I don't really desperately need anything you know. God forbid if Ian reads that! I just find that I don't like myself when on a gorgeous sunny day I find myself indoors under those hideous fluro lights staring at shelf after shelf of consumer goods that I don't really need. Although I could make a pretty good case as to why I do as I make my way to the cashier. This is an ongoing issue for me, nothing I really talk about to anyone but I'm working on my consumerism tendencies. Daily.

Yesterday, Sunday was fairly bland. Did some more baking, picked blackberries out of the garden for some muffins I made [how country garden is that?] and to be honest they were quite nice. I made another carrot cake which seemed to take ages to bake in the centre [kept wobbling!] but Lucy said the cupcake version was scrummy. I'm seeing another Kitchen Man after work today to try and get this sorted. Once it is and I've done the Food Hygiene and Handling course we will most likely be up and running. Got a great idea for a name for the business from my friend Anita's husband Gus - he says it should be 'Said the Aussie' which as you know is a play on my maiden name, Said. I think that's a great idea!

Anyway, best be off.

Listening to: Bruce Springsteen's Greatest Hits, Bruce Springsteen
Reading: Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen King

Another day another email...

I seem to have emailed a lot in the last couple of days. I sent a very long email to an old friend in Seattle, a similarly long email to a friend in Brisbane and another long one to my friend in London who I worked with in 2000. There is something ordering about emailing people like that. Its like you take a little part of your life, dress it up in words and pack it into a little window for someone who does not see you much to look through for a moment. For me then it seems to make a little more sense of the weeks that seem to fly by... Needless to say I love getting emails like this back from friends and family who are far away for the immediacy of email makes the distance seem a little shorter.

I've been madly baking the last couple of weeks and I've churned out some killer cakes. This is all in aid of my inspired business idea. I've been chatting to my friend Lucy about supplying her great cafe with cakes. Cakes the likes of which people in the country have not seen! Cakes like you get at Globe in St Kilda or Gluttony in Smith Street or Brunetti's in Carlton [there you go Fuzzy] or Monarch in Acland Street - cakes that are homemade, preservative free and just plain wicked! There is nowhere in this city where you can go for coffee and cake. Of course you have the coffee shop chains [lets not go there shall we] who serve overpriced, over sugared and over wrapped offerings which accompany your bucket of coffee flavoured hot milk shakes. These are places the desperate and the uneducated frequent. No, the places I mean have a looooong glass cabinet full of luscious homemade lemon tarts, pecan pies, muffins the size of your head type pickings that you are served on a plate and handed a spoon. You wash that down with a couple of perfectly made lattes or a short black.

This therefore is my dream. To feed the people of this city cakes, cakes and more cakes and hopefully make a pound or two in the process.

I will certainly keep you posted!


Listening to: Can't remember
Reading: Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen King

If the machine won't work, change the colour of it ...

Aahhh, that's better - my archives are showing.

This seems to be the only way to get my archives to show up on my blog - sorry if you don't like the new template but at least I know that my files are still sitting on some server somewhere in cyberspace.

Its late and I'm knackered but now I know my blog is working again I will pay it a little bit more attention.

C x

Listening to: Vulture Street, Powderfinger
Reading: Hearts in Atlantis, Stephen King