Must. Stop. Buying. Books. This is getting ridiculous. Here, in no particular order, is what is presently on my book shelf, waiting to be read: 1959 – The Year Everything Changed (Fred Kaplan) The Land Where the Blues Began (Alan Lomax) Rhythm-a-ning; Jazz Tradition and Innovation (Gary Giddins) The Great Influenza (John Barry) Fiasco (Thomas Ricks) Cobra II (Michael Gordon) …
Sweet Chilli Sauce and Economic Theory
Still reading Matt Crawford’s book, and still thinking. One of the unexpected pleasures of this summer has been our garden. For the first time we tried to grow some stuff, and, rather to my surprise, it worked. We have more chillis than we can ever use. We harvest our little plant every couple of days and still they just keep …
Not a Suicide Note
Yes, I am indeed sticking my head in an oven. But don’t worry. The oven is electric. I know, because moments after this photograph was taken I was flung across the kitchen with 220 volts zinging through my fingers. I’m posting this picture partly because it will look as alien to people who know me as the photos of me sitting …
Worth the Wait
Yesterday was a big day. It was Catherine’s first ballet lesson. It’s been a long time coming, but was all the sweeter for it. My daughter is an astonishingly single-minded individual. She has been wanting to have ballet lessons for at least two years. We enquired about them when she first started asking, and were told that she would have …
Friday Night Lights Out
Another Friday night, another evening spent falling asleep on the sofa during the movie we were watching. Another Saturday morning spent wondering what the hell happened at the end. My celluloid narcolepsy used to occur only when I watched films which were in black and white or which had subtitles (so Wild Strawberries was a particular problem). But these days it happens …