Feeling up-beat today, so firmed up plans to go to Cornwall and while I'm there, see two old schoolfriends. It should be an interesting visit as lots is going on for my brother R as well. All I needs is some good weather and Darcy & I will be in our natural element. I want to get out to the seaside at sunset, both because this would be nice, and also for writing purposes. As I stood in the kitchen cooking jacket potatoes, I started to get nervous, but I have some confidence that it will go well, so long as I can stop myself from saying anything dreadful. Unfortunately, I always have the potential for that, but so far so good. I spent a fair bit of this afternoon laughing on Facebook with S over the 'french fancies fetish' (her most excellent alliteration). Good vibes for good times.
I am reading a new book, Time For Bed by David Baddiel. An insomniac reading about insomnia. The writing is patchy, some great paragraphs infilled with stuff that's much less certain. It was his first novel though, so I am feeling forgiving of it. Amazon also sent me a Stewart Lee Stand-Up Comedian DVD. I loved the excerpts I saw on Youtube but couldn't settle to watch it today. I was settled enough by teatime to watch The Apprentice, which is becoming fantastic. Each year's reality TV shows come around, I get myself involved in them, then they are gone, and I forget them. A poor use of time, apart from the bonding time they give me with Nina, and so, a good use of all to those hours.
Darcy had another walk through the woods next to Hearsall Common. It was the way a broad-leaf wood is meant to be; canopy of freshly grown sunlit foliage, squirrels sitting on drifts of dry fallen leaves then running up tree trunks, the song of blackbirds and the sound of smaller creatures in the undergrowth juxtaposed with of the chimes of an ice-cream van. The background grumble of traffic didn't seem to matter. I took some pictures, but they don't do the scene justice, especially the bluebells which were numerous enough to spread their scent across the paths, making me think of Yardley soaps. I didn't see any fairies, or wood elves, or even hobbits, but I could have been in a Tolkein landscape.
On the way back from the woods, I stopped off to give Nina's friend A my copy of Someone Likes Yogurt (the DVD that has Richard Herring talk about the possibility of putting a live trout into the vagina of a 16 year old girl) for his birthday, but I will order myself a new one. A is 18 today, so I can now say I have known him 'man and boy'. I only want to say that because I find the phrase apposite and nostalgic all at once. The DVD was for the 'man' A, I also gave him a jumbo pack of Swizzlers sweets for the 'boy' who I hope will never entirely grow up.
Someone suggested I should put in links to other websites. I don't know how to do that properly, but if you can't Google for yourself:
http://www.richardherring.co.uk/ I think you can find Facebook and Youtube on your own, the clue is in the name.
