I think I might have done something like this a couple of years ago, but let’s do it again anyway. Taking the family as a given, tell us a dozen things that you are passionate about and why. Might be good to find you’re not the only one on here who enjoys stamp collecting, the films of Michael Winner or whatever. Lets try not to be mean to each other though (although I’m sure the usual snarky posters won’t be able to resist!).
So come on, what makes you tick?
mikethep says
In no order, and right now:
1. Nordic noir – very rarely disappoints
2. Orchestral music of George Gershwin
3. Living in Brisbane: people, wildlife (with a few exceptions), food, space, weather
4. Old paperbacks, especially Penguins and Pans
5. My Technics electric piano
6. My Kobo reader
7. The Sonos
8. The Spotify Peaceful Choral Music by Living Composers playlist
9. Cooking, especially Indian and Thai
10. Mid-century architecture and furniture – Brisbane’s full of it, although the Yahoos are busy knocking it down. Heartily despised it when I was young, of course.
Lunaman says
Thats what I like about this place – ‘Peaceful Choral Music’ on Spotify, I would most certainly never been pointed in that direction from anywhere else. Thanks mikethehep.
Bamber says
Roddy Frame, the films of Bill Forsyth, West Ham through thick and thin, the Flashman novels, playing 5 a side football, birds especially birds of prey especially kestrels, guitars, playing a good round of golf in good company, getting drunk with friends, good stand up comedy, Viz magazine, Jonathan Richman, travelling somewhere new especially somewhere where I have a friend who can show me around the non-touristy bits, old 2000AD comics with the classic artists at their peaks, good pizza and burritos, quizzes, sunny weather, all kinds of music…
…stream of consciousness stuff with a few beers on board. Will revisit tomorrow!
moseleymoles says
2000AD is such an Afterword-friendly magazine in that ‘It’s not as good as it used to be’ is the default opinion!
dadwardo says
Other than Roddy Frame (who I feel I owe you to re-investigate) – a superb list, with you 100%
Bamber says
Thanks @Dadwardo. This is site for kindred spirits. Start the Roddy Frame discovery with Surf or his recent Seven Dials album. There’s a great longYouTube record of the Seven Dials tour that showcases lots of his Aztec Camera stuff too.
Paul Wad says
Guess I’d best go first. In no order…
Hip hop – as mentioned several times elsewhere, when not reading obituaries of people I like, I’ve spent 2016 immersed in hip hop music, mainly from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. It’s probably my mid-life crisis, but it’s been fab.
Barnsley FC – 2016’s been a pretty good year for the Reds too. Two wins at Wembley, made all the better because my kids are now season ticket holders too (my 6 year old son’s first season, so he has no idea what it’s really like!). Been watching them for 40 years and only really remember a handful of good seasons, but whilst I absolutely hate football nowadays and don’t watch any games Barnsley aren’t playing in, I’ll never shake my love of the Reds.
James Bond – books, films, love it all.
Batman – comics, films, love it all.
Stephen Duffy – adored by a few, that bloke wot sang Kiss Me to others, but he’s absolutely fab and it’s such a shame that his music is not more widely known.
The Beatles – obsessed as a young teenager, less obsessed nowadays, but their music is ingrained in me. Would definitely be my specialist subject on Mastermind.
Horror films – zombie films in particular, but from the Universal films of the 30s and the Hammer and Amicus films of the 60s, through the classics of the 70s and 80s to modern day greats like 30 Days of Night and Sinister, I just lap them up. My daughter is developing the same tastes, which is great, but she’s only 10, so having to take it very slowly! I certainly won’t be showing her the video nasties that I was watching when I was 11 or 12 just yet!
Bob Dylan – just great.
Real ale – my customary unreasonable, snotty attitude at something I like suddenly becoming trendy (see Jeff Buckley) is far outweighed by the joy of finally being able to get a decent pint in most pubs. The downside being that a downward turn in my health and an upward turn in the medication I have to take severely limits my alcohol intake (i.e. my doctors say it should be down to zero!), but this means I enjoy my rare pint all the more.
The films of Woody Allen – uncomfortable about the origins of his relationship with his wife, but nobody has made more of my favourite films.
Italy – everywhere I’ve been in Italy has been fantastic and I’m off to my favourite bit (Lake Garda) in a fortnight. Can’t wait. I could more than happily live in Malcesine. If nothing else, it’s the chance to argue with the kids in a picturesque setting.
Maltesers – or chocolate in general. And cakes, especially M&S cherry madeira cake. And Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Why oh why are things that are so good to eat so ruddy bad for you?
I look forward to hearing what everybody else is mad about. And whether anybody else is a fan of Duffy!
Paul Wad says
Ah, not first then, because it takes me so long to type and I go on a bit!
mikethep says
Didn’t realise we were supposed to write an essay!
Put me down as another Duffy fan, although mostly Lilac Time tbh. I forget about him for long periods, but you’ve spurred me into a Duffy day.
bricameron says
I was very fond of ‘Astronauts’ back in the day.
retropath2 says
Like the public, I took more to Adele.
bricameron says
http://www.albumtube.io/the_lilac_time/Astronauts/0bcd7fc8-24ce-4521-b028-e8eb0b30b828/
Paul Wad says
As us Duffy fans are having to wait increasingly longer for any new music these days, check out Chris Difford’s solo work. Really similar to Duffy in sound and style of lyrics. In fact, I listen to Difford solo far more than I listen to Squeeze nowadays.
SteveT says
Another Duffy fan – a God like genius.
And another fan of Italy, great country, great food, perfect way of life.
Gary says
Ever visited to Puglia, Paul?
Paul Wad says
Nope, haven’t been that far down on that coast, but after a quick look on a couple of websites you can mark it down as a future destination. Where’s the best area to aim for?
Gary says
For the best beaches: south of Lecce. For the best small towns: between Ostuni and Bari. Best city: Lecce.
Fin59 says
Martina Franca is a little gem.
(Not that it’s a variety of lettuce. Although it could be in a Meaning of Liff way)
Gary says
Yes, Mr 59! My favourite town in the area.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I like being a Cossack!
It’s the Cossack’s life for me!
A wench in my lap
Vodka on tap
And a King Crimson LP
mikethep says
I like Cossacks in the Trossachs best.
badartdog says
I prefer the life of the Mountie
Watching moose rut in the valley
With mah boots in the stirrup
Drinking maple syrup
And listening to Spandau Ballet
Eh
Gary says
1. Swimming – best thing in the world. Especially in the Med in the summer.
2. Puglia – wonderful, charming and often infuriating place to live.
3. Pink Floyd – so many great songs, but the double whammy of DSotM and WYWH raises them above any other band.
4. Reggae – not all of it, but near enough.
5. Spliff – I no longer smoke anywhere near as much as I used to, but I still like the occasional green day. The fact that it’s illegal (at least where I live) is both absurd and obscene.
6. Islam and the Catholic Church – evil institutions both.
7. Monarchy – embarrassing, absurd and obscene.
8. Ian McEwan – Has written more novels I’ve enjoyed than any other writer.
9. Woody Allen – Never outstanding, but rarely crap. And one a year. And he writes them all. And it’s not true that the old ones are the best.
10. Brideshead Revisted – my favourite novel (alongside To Kill A Mockingbird), my favourite TV programme. (Crap film though).
11. Absolute Beginners – the novel I re-read most. Every summer. Puts me in a good mood. (Crap film though).
12. Judith Chalmers – not really.
Gary says
I put negative things, things I’m passionately against, foolishly ignoring the thread title. So I’m going to change numbers 6 and 7 to:
6. David Sylvian – the most consistantly intriguing artist of my generation)
7. Summer beach life – I’d live it all year round if I could. (“Don’t you get bored of it?” asks my brother, who works in an office for 47 weeks a year.)
Locust says
1. Writing. Ever since I learned how to read and write at age four I’ve been doing both. My mum got a bit worried when I proudly presented her with my first (very) short story about a naked lady being found murdered in the forest…why did a four year old girl know about such horrors? Well, she read about them, happily! I read everything that was in the house as a child, sneaking them into my room when I suspected that they weren’t deemed suitable for little girls. I read for hours and hours, I wish I had the time to read that much today. Which brings us to number
2. Reading, and buying books. I can’t get enough and I don’t find it even a bit problematic that I’ve got so many books and keep having to buy more bookshelves – my dream is to live inside my own private library, and I’m only half-way there I reckon.
3. Horror, as the naked corpse in the woods pointed towards early on! I love horror films, but most of them annoy me by not being able to scare me, so I prefer horror in books (of course). When your imagination can place a story in a familiar environment in your head as you read about it (even if the description is nothing like the room/house/landscape where you see it), that’s when you can get creeped out, start hearing strange noises etc.
I still write my own horror stories as well, hopefully a tad better than that first one page story.
4. Buying new music, lots of it. Like with the books, I don’t feel I can have enough, ever. All genres. I don’t like buying albums that I know what they sound like, I want to be surprised.
You’d think that as with reading leading to writing I’d want to make music myself, but growing up in a family of musicians put me off playing instruments – that awful practicing of the same piece over and over…aaargh! I’ve dabbled, but I much prefer listening to others who are good at it.
5. Walking. I love taking long (preferably five or six hour) walks around the city, with a sister or a friend, but I’ll happily walk on my own as well. Watching people and buildings and clouds and birds and signs and store windows and trees and everything else. Bringing me to
6. Stockholm. My home town and the place I never tire of. And luckily I suffer from absolutely no sense of direction, so I can still get lost, which is fun because you’ll find places you didn’t know about. And everywhere you go it’s beautiful, even the ugly places are, in my eyes.
I’ve even got a Stockholm theme in the decoration of my living room…but I try to keep it tasteful and subtle (I can do tasteful, but I’m not sure about subtle!)
7. Photography. Others, and mine – and now I have a good camera, finally, which helps. And I put it to good use during those long walks around Stockholm…I especially love photographing buildings and other objects around town that are under renovation or construction and have scaffolding and tarpaulin around them. For some odd reason this has become an obsession with me in the latest year or two…and there’s no shortage of objects to photograph.
8. Food. I love eating, wheather it’s really expensive top quality stuff or a sturdy home cooked fridge emptying stew (or, twice a year, some awful greasy fast food item just because you feel like it right there and then). I love shopping for food in food halls and markets and small shops full of regional/global specialities. I love cooking food when I have time and energy and inspiration to improvise wildly. Or cook and bake for a family party, trying my best to impress a food loving family whose praise is worth twice as much as other people’s.
9. The night. I was born a creature of the night, and although this is challenging in a society built for day people, I wouldn’t change if I could. These dark hours when everybody else is asleep and I’m up enjoying myself are the best.
10. I don’t know why, but you can’t deny that there is something very, very satisfying about buying office supplies, even the boring kinds!
11. I’ve covered food in general, but one specific item that I basically put in everything because I love it so much is zucchini, or courgette as I believe you guys are calling it. No meal is complete without it!
12. The Summer Olympics. Since 1984 (when I found myself out of work just as the Los Angeles games started) I’ve watched it obsessively; taken time off work, watched every minute of the TV coverage while writing down everything that happens and how I feel about it (not in a score-keeping kind of way with times and lengths and places etc, more like a running commentary…yes, yes; my usual verbal/written diarrhoea…) with bad jokes and small cartoons.
I had thought this year that I wouldn’t do it, just watch it a little every now and then, because I haven’t got a TV anymore and the channel it’s on this time around you have to pay for to see online. But a few days ago I signed up and payed for the online channel(s).
Oh well, at least it gives me a reason to buy office supplies – I need to buy notebooks and pens!
Locust says
That’s whether and not weather…
minibreakfast says
Am totally with you on stationery; I love buying new notebooks and pens, particularly spiral bound notebooks and highlighter pens. Mmmm…..
And regarding your no. 6: it sounds like you have a case of Stockholm Syndrome. I’ll get my coat.
davebigpicture says
Any excuse to post this, my favourite track from Southeastern.
minibreakfast says
I actually bought some new stationery today: matching spiral bound notebooks in A5 and A4, a pack of 4 different coloured highlighter pens – and a little pencil case to put them in! Bliss.
deramdaze says
I heartily agree with the inclusion of the novel “Absolute Beginners.” A wonderful book.
Anything they could get wrong in the film, they did.
The book’s set in August ’58….modern jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, Chicago blues, the year of “The Lambeth Boys”….
Bowie (yes, Bowie), Ray Davies, Paul Weller, Sade are, therefore, all completely surplus to requirements, especially if you factor in the dire 1980s production.
And, every great chapter…..the Department Store, the U.S. diplomat, the homophobic café, the photo shoots around London, Dean Swift, the boat trip, the cricket match, the truly remarkable and life-affirming ending on the airport runway…..is bizarrely missed from the film.
My obsession is the history of the long defunct local rugby team (very rough, played on an Everest-like field, normally lost but ALWAYS beat their posh local rivals), and, as I’m currently in 1924 anyway, ‘so I might as well do that as well,’ the history of the local football team.
Nothing replicates viewing old newspapers from the past in learning about history.
Now looked upon with a certain fondness, the 1923 Cup Final was close to being a Titanic-like disaster with many more fatalities than Hillsborough. As it was, 900 (nine hundred) people, mainly women and children, were injured…..and they played on around them.
And one of the local rugby team’s opponents in 1920, H.M.S. Hood, was the very same H.M.S. Hood sunk by the Bismarck in the Second World War…..three survivors.
Having moved recently, carrying books around the village and “looking vaguely busy/intellectual” has, so far, meant I have avoided all attempts to get me up a ladder to fix things for the Church Fete, winter lights, summer festival etc. etc.
“He can’t do that, he’s writing a book.”
Vulpes Vulpes says
Following the rules of the OP, and omitting the family givens like my wife and my brother:
Our Jack Russells.
Our ponies.
Our little house in a little village.
Gardening; especially growing veg. This is a new thing, since I built my own potting shed.
Making things out of wood and metal in my workshop. Learning woodworking skills.
Tools. Hand tools and power tools. Especially hand tools. Using and maintaining them properly.
Music of all descriptions. Classical & contemporary. Vinyl and CDs. Piles of CDs. Too many CDs.
Fun, engrossing movies – often historical, action, fantasy or sci-fi yarns. Escapism on the screen.
Books. Piles and piles of books. Too many books. All sorts.
Walking in the wild places. Dartmoor. The west of Ireland. The deserts of Lanzarote.
Great beers. Dark Porters. Strong IPAs. Imperial Stout. Golden ales. Fine European lagers.
Don’t think I need a twelfth thing listed when there is a lifetime in the eleven above.
Junior Wells says
Increasingly, gardening. Got a house with a bit of land now, plus, I guess I’m just getting old.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Cooking – one of life’s great pleasures. I’ll never win Masterchef Australia (the only Masterchef to watch) but never so happy than with a new recipe and a glass of wine.
Of course, music but tbh I’m listening to less and less these days ( couple of hours a day?)
Staggering through the vineyards three times a week. Ten years ago I ran all the way, five years ago I jogged all the way, today I speed walk with stops every so often to fully take in the splendour of the countryside (and catch my breath).
Stephen King – like Van, Dylan, Young etc he should have called it a day twenty years ago but unlike Van, Dylan, Young etc he still manages to produce a belter every so often. Finest writer of the 20th Century…
Wine – living in the middle of the world’s largest wine lake it is far too easy to over-indulge (and at prices that make me weep every time I venture outside Languedoc) but virtually every day a friend will say “have you tried that young Austrian in the next village or that mad Irishman over in Corbieres?” My liver will die happy
Sitting on the terrace on a summer’s evenings with a glass of wine (natch) watching the swifts do their boy-racer act, swooping and swirling in ever-tightening circles belting out their it’s-a-joy-to-be-alive shrieks.
Oh, and I like a glass of wine every so often
Lodestone of Wrongness says
And I should have also listed this place. Even though my gerbil Cicero has better taste in music than most of you here, your enthusiasm and most of all wit fills me with daily pleasure.
retropath2 says
Where in Oc are you, LW: it will probably feature in my list. (The region, not your house specifically, or indeed the room, however clearly I can see you right now. And I would take that out of your mouth right now if I were you, you dirty wretch.)
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Pouzolles, not far from Pezenas or Beziers.
Wayfarer says
I worked in the Languedoc in the early Eighties – a wonderful part of the world
Gatz says
Off the top of my head (doubtless forgetting some which are so obvious that I overlook them)
1) Crosswords. I do one every day, and the greatest site on the internet is the Guardian’s crossword page
2) Coffee from my Bialetti. I don’t want any fancy, 3 quid a cup stuff full of flavourings – just strong, black coffee, ideally in my home
3) Venice, for its sheer absurdity, its architecture, the lack of cars and the cheap wine
4) Wine, while I’m at it. Nothing high end, and I don’t drink alcohol during the week, but I do love a warming, full-bodied red at the weekend
5) Real ale, which is largely displaced by wine as I grow less sociable in my middle age. Not the overhopped blonde and golden ales which predominate now, but something with dark, roasted flavours, a similar palette to how I favour my coffee and wine
6) The poetry of Philip Larkin
7) Richard Thompson cutting loose on electric guitar. Nothing in the whole realm of music gives me such a thrill
8) The novels of Geoff Nicholson, as entertaining and underrated a writer as you could hope to have recommended to you. Everything and More would be a good starting point
9) Fresh white cotton sheets after a long bath
10) Going to gigs. Sometimes people here will say that they don’t enjoy live shows any more, but nothing beats being in the same room as music being created before your very eyes and ears
11) Entertaining television. The Avengers and Buffy will always be much greater than any show which takes itself too seriously
12) Charity shops. We visit some most weekends, and most of what I wear for work comes from them. Last weekend’s best find – an unread copy of Alan Moore’s masterwork From Hell for 50p
mikethep says
Good grief! Your 1-10 and 12 could be mine, though they didn’t occur to me today. You lost me at 11 though…
I published Everything and More, have I mentioned that? Probably, I have a dim memory of it coming up before. Also Footsucker, Bleeding London, Flesh Guitar, Female Ruins and Bedlam Burning. He has a couple of good blogs – Hollywood Walker and Psycho-Gourmet. Worth a read if you don’t know them. He’s a great man.
Gatz says
I remember you saying that you had been Geoff’s publisher. That was a terrific run of books at Gollancz, though I think that Bleeding London is probably his last (to date) indispensable title. He’s always at his best when obsessing over a theme and examining it through a wide cast of characters, before tying up all the threads neatly at the end.
Kid Dynamite says
A publishing question for you, @mikethep, sparked by remembering reading and enjoying Flesh Guitar. I picked it up in a remaindered bookshop – my question is how much of the stuff we see in these bookshops are genuine remainders and how much is printed especially for that market? Surely the remainder market factors into the financial calculations for things like Gollancz’ SF Masterworks range?
mikethep says
Well, I suppose the rule of thumb is that if it’s a good book by someone you admire or someone with a track record, it’s a genuine remainder that didn’t sell enough and the publishers are dumping it – if a cheaper paperback is due out, for instance. In my more cynical moments I used to claim that only the best books get remaindered – and I’ve made quite a few good scores on eBay selling books that I bought in remainder shops 20 years earlier.
All those glossy pasta cookbooks, collections of dirty jokes and World War 1/2 picture books are cheapies produced solely for the remainder market, or old stuff dug out and given a makeover.
Nobody actually wants to remainder books, they want to sell out the first printing and reprint, because that’s when you start making money. I would certainly doubt in the case of SF Masterworks that they costed remainders in – given that they only fetch pennies, that wouldn’t make the costings look better anyway. More likely they saw it as a way of giving the backlist a fillip and they seriously overestimated the market for a bunch of books that were already clogging up second-hand bookshops and eBay, and that true fans would have read anyway.
Gatz says
@kid-dynamite It’s also worth bearing in mind that new bookstores buy all their stock on a sale or return basis (or did – I’ve been out of the trade for over a decade).
If publishers have excess stock of a title it is entirely possible that they ‘sold’ it all, then had half of it come back 3 months later. In those circumstances they either have to pulp it, or cut their losses and sell it with (I guess) very deep margins and firm sale terms to stop it coming back again.
Kid Dynamite says
thank you, gents
mikethep says
Ah yes, as some wag once said, ‘We counted them all out and we counted them all in.’
Harry Tufnell says
1. Music, obvs! Leonard Cohen and Elvis Costello have been with me a long time, Wilco a more recent friend. I’ve drifted in and out of Bowie and Dylan and a record collection of over 2,000 lps, 700 singles and 6,000 cds perhaps suggests it’s got a bit out of hand! I’m listening to Twang’s latest offering as I type this.
2. Football. I’m a season ticket holder at Barnsley FC and make the 230 mile round trip for every home game (ok I might skip the odd evening kick off and I no longer plan holidays to fall outside the football season anymore), seasons like 2015/16 as detailed by Paul above make the whole ordeal worthwhile but I can’t understand the attraction of supporting one of the “global brands” who throw money at success and suck the soul out of football. I’m also a Club Wembley member which means I see every England home game and the big Wembley finals.
3. Wildlife, birds in particular. I’ve travelled the world birdwatching and in doing so seen some really beautiful places, some beautiful wildlife and I’ve met some wonderful people. I’ve also see many shitholes and too much evidence that we need to respect this planet more. I’ve seen and photographed wildlife on every continent and been lucky enough to also spend time educating others regarding birdlife and photography.
4. Bird books. I’ve got far too many.
5. Whisky, I love a wee dram, often several and while I like really nice expensive fine single malts I’m just as happy with a glass of Famous Grouse with a splash of water. Can’t abide bourbon whiskeys though.
6. Cycling, I’m a recent convert and I can’t believe I stopped cycling as a teenager and didn’t carry it over into adult life. It’s not just the physical health benefits, though they are huge, it’s also the mental health benefits, it’s a great way to clear your head and put things into perspective. Trouble is I’ve twisted my knee badly and haven’t been able to cycle for two weeks, it’s driving me mad!
7. My dogs, Nobby and Angus have caused me to waste so much time over the past 3 years, they are a constant source of amusement and are another reason to be active as they need walking at least 3 miles every day.
8. Travelling, it often goes hand in hand with the wildlife photography but I love seeing new places. I’m off to Canada at the weekend for two weeks to photograph Polar bears and Beluga whales.
9. Norfolk, my adopted home of the last 14 years, I just love it here.
10. Not working. I worked in healthcare for nearly 30 years and now I don’t have to work anymore – I heartily recommend it, it leaves time for all the above!
Clive says
Hey Neil, we were in Kyryzstan recently and saw 3 ibisbill. Awesome birds.
Harry Tufnell says
Never been to Kyrgyzstan, it one of the places on the bucket list, was it good? I’ve seen Ibisbills in Bhutan – a fantastic bird, one of the really iconic species!
Clive says
It wasn’t really a birding trip but it’s an amazing country. Got the odd lifer like RF serin plus big flocks of citrine wags, nesting ruddy shelduck and plenty of golden eagles.
Paul Wad says
Club Wembley is fab. We were in there for both games last season and the whole experience made the two days even more memorable. For example, it is so unusual to attend football matches these days where all the staff at the ground act like they want you to be there, but everyone at Wembley, right down to the cleaning lady who helped my kids gather balloons, were so friendly (and the ones who held back the marauding Millwall fans were so brave!).
I’m still part of the London branch, despite moving back up here 8 years ago, so with me no longer working I had the pleasure of sorting out 73 seats in the same block. Hard work, but the reward was getting front row seats for those of us with young kids. Problem is, after two tastes of the Club Wembley experience it is going to be difficult to convince the missus to come with us to enjoy the Oakwell experience ever again!
Harry Tufnell says
For the JPT final I got our mob tickets on the front row of Club Wembley right next to the royal box, it was fantastic when the team picked up the trophy. Josh Brownhill got my flat cap.
For the play-off we went proper posh and had a private box next to the scoreboard with hospitality, a meal, free bar, etc. As a CW member I got a big discount, I didn’t realise how big until the guy in the next box told me that he’d paid the same amount per-person just for match tickets!
Clive says
Travel – 80 Countries and counting.
Nature – Anything but mainly birds because you can find them even in the cities.
Photography – I used to photograph wildlife but now its people http://www.clivetemple.com
Coffee – Currently enjoying Yirgecheffe by Raw.
Food – Cooking and eating.
Being clean – I was known as Pig Pen at Uni… But in older life I’ve taken to using a laundry for everything, I get facials and manicures… don’t hate me 🙂
India – I love everything about the country.
Being straight and sober – Best thing I ever did.
Dad’s Army – Greatest sitcom ever.
Brideshead Revisited – Greatest drama ever.
Ken Burns – Greatest documentary maker ever.
World at War – Greatest documentary ever.
God and women, the best thing he ever made.
Junior Wells says
Nice photos Clive. I have found it hard to get non smiling natural photos of people esp from developing countries / remote locations.
Clive says
You read all these worthy types saying you have to ‘engage with the subject’. Bollocks to that I just use a long lens 🙂
Tiggerlion says
Superb photos, Clive. You seem very close to most of these!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Yirgecheffe – I believe Kate Bush is a great fan.
SteveT says
With you on India and Women Clive.
Wayfarer says
Excellent photos, Clive.
Bingo Little says
1. People – They’re great, and they’re everywhere.
2. Sex – Seems to be enjoying a curious lack of support on this thread.
3. Books – Everything about them is good. Except for Mein Kampf. And the other evil ones.
4. Exercise – Playing football, surfing, running, lifting heavy things. What we were made for.
5. New ideas – The exciting ones, anyway.
6. The holy trinity – Mark Twain, P.G Wodehouse, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Every golden word.
7. Bad movies – Give me brilliant or give me awful. Spare me the in-between.
8. Good music – I.e. the music I like. Categorically NOT that retrograde shite you listen to.
9. Great comics – Alan Moore knows the score.
10. Anything to do with the mechanics of outer space – It’s all relative.
11. Larfing, and inducing larfter – Sweet manna of life.
12. Spectacular feats of human bravery/ingenuity – Big wave surfing, the Manhattan Project, Bobby Fischer and the Apollo program. I’ll throw Christopher Hitchens in here too (his writings, rather than a physical lust).
Gary says
Seen Pawn Sacrifice? I watched it last night. I thought it was decidedly “in-between”.
Ps. I didn’t know you’d had sex.
Bingo Little says
Seen it. As a fanboy, I enjoyed it, but it’s not a great movie.
THIS is the bad movie I’m waiting for. An adaptation of Stephen King’s “Cell”, with John Cusack in full “must fire my agent” mode. Please, please watch this video and tell me it doesn’t look amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTBlFJfViac
Re: the whole sex thing; I’m going mainly on reputation. I’m sure it’s fantastic.
Gary says
Looks good. Reminds me of Glasgow.
Marwood says
I have read the book and it’s a pretty good King (a sort of mid-range King that skips along nicely, before throwing in some sort of weird / supernatural stuff).
When watching the clip my first thoughts were:
John looks old. Why did he put on his little hat? I enjoyed his acting when hiding from the bullets (flappy hands ahoy). The FX look decidedly lo-fi. I want to see this movie.
Locust says
Wonderful – I haven’t seen that much bad acting at the same time in ages!
Is John Cusack slowly turning into Nick Cage, BTW?
moseleymoles says
In no particular order:
Homebrewing (just bottled a Youngs Pilnser for the rest of the summer) and growing my own veg
Emusic – a continuing thing of joy, god knows how they keep it going.
Reading – a book is always a consolation, an escape and time well spent. Have recently challenged myself to veer from my standard diet of literature/scifi alternating, to venture into the thriller/spy novel. May write something on this later.
Running – recent convert to the parkrun as briefly documented in Chubby Checkers.
Tennis – try and play once a week, unlike with running the time and effort flies past. Unlike running you can’t do it with headphones on.
Going to gigs – never as often as we should, but looking forward to Whitney and Caverns of.. at the Hare and Hounds.
chiz says
Travel – “fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” as Twain said.
Writing – I don’t do enough these days, except for work, but I’ve always loved that ‘dialled-in’ feeling of being totally immersed in creating something out of your head.
Film Making – I’m a self-taught auteur of the i-phone. I can record, edit, caption and circulate interviews or speeches within 10 minutes, all from my phone. When I started out as a journalist, that would take days and cost thousands. You should see my holiday videos too. No, really, come back
Cricket – no finer way to spend a Sunday than beneath the church clock on the green, with the bizarre collection of personalities that village cricket attracts. The world changes around us but the game and the walk at dusk from the pitch to the pub have been exactly the same for generations.
The Church – the Australian band, that is. 33 years since I first saw them. I guess we all have ‘our’ band, one that’s not well known but still somehow struggles on, and that’s the way we like it.
Running – currently too broken to do it, but exercise plus countryside plus the smug feeling of virtue afterwards is a great cocktail
My job – unusual perhaps but I enjoy what I do all week and sometimes feel like some of it might sort of actually be worth something to someone somewhere sometimes
Jeff Goldblum – he is the Most…. Mannered… Actor evertohavemadeit… to the. SCREEN. Even Walken doesn’t get away with the shit Jeffie pulls. I love his style. Watch out for his slow blink, half smile, one-finger-raised pause. It’s his signature move.
India – for reasons that are far too pretentious to share, but I recommend a visit. Go, dive in and enjoy.
Clive James – we’ll miss him when he’s gone.
Pic St Loup – a Languedoc red we discovered when I worked in Montpelier. Tastes of wet grass and scorched earth. Now available in Sainsburys.
Cooking – it’s the nightly ritual of seeing what you can do with the contents of the fridge, with music and a glass of wine on… more relaxing than actually relaxing.
retropath2 says
Usual disclaimer in that passions rage and change, but most of these hold good and have for a good while:
Live music: nothing beats the being there. I love recorded music, but I love the live.
Festivals: file under the above, even if only make 1 or 2 a year these days. (Getting less keen on sleeping on the ground, mind…..)
Scotland: OK, it’s in my blood, but nowt like that rush of genetic memory that says home as I cross the border, amplified all the more as I leave the mainland for a hebride or 2.
France: dunno why, just do, the ambience, the geography and architecture. Food and wine form no small part.
Beer: my favourite choice of alcofrolic in truth, trying new ales, draught and bottle, is a pleasure that gets stronger the lesser and weaker I drink it.
Dogs: foolish beasts that make me smile and looked after me in bleaker days
Horror films: a genre that fails more often than it gives, these days, tho’ the odd box set can still tick the marrowchill box
A good read: Irvine Welsh and Iain Banks my current favourites, I think. (File under Scotland?)
Cooking and it’s companion, eating: I enjoy a dabble in the kitchen, but the whole mystique around foodie culture appeals, so reading food books and mags, no doubt helped by the fact that my boy is a chef with a good Jay Rayner review under his belt.
(Family and familiars are naturally top of the list, but that’s a given.)
Rob C says
Otters Mellotrons Butterflies Owls Sitars Bagels Pickled Eggs Curry Megaliths Celery Ley Lines Water Ships Moon Mantras Beads Dawn Dusk Cats Bats Trees Crystals Guitars Laughter Friends Love Tea Singing Asparagus Music Pizza Dreams Samosas Soup Pakoras Cushions Incense Hares Candles Being Underwater Clouds Sprites Leys Riverbanks Stars Spirit Soul Eternity etc
Rob C says
ps: Cabbage Silk Wholegrain Mustard Spiders Cheesecake Honey Potatoes History Olives Pendants Loose Clothing Dolphins Seaweed Cashews Melons Hills Fiddles Harps Woodsmoke Seasons Garlic Scarves Tweed Sandalwood Firesides Thunder Smoking Autumn Chimneys Sandalwood Hedgehogs
Cheese Wolves Bluebell Glades Whales etc
Rob C says
… sorbet chaise lounges french windows beezums.
minibreakfast says
“….these are a few of my favourite things.”
Rob C says
Indeed. There’s a few more too!
Rob C says
.. but that’s the main bunch.
minibreakfast says
You forgot brown paper roses tied up with, er, mittens.
Rob C says
… kittens ! I did cats, but kittens are a sub category all too their delightful beautiful little selves.
Rob C says
..bees.
Rob C says
… forgot calliopes.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Polishing a wristwatch with a damp towel.
Rob C says
… tiled Victorian vestibules.
Rob C says
… and musical boxes playing by themselves in dusty rooms.
minibreakfast says
Marigolds.
Rob C says
Foxes!
Rob C says
… pomegranate juice, naan bread and piccalilli.
That’s a wrap.
Johnny Concheroo says
Displacement
Rob C says
Steam Trains
Rob C says
OK. Enough or I’ll be back at the megalithic era of Goddess worship pre the rise of agrianism and city states.
Rob C says
Priest holes.
bungliemutt says
Is that still legal?
retropath2 says
Spoken like the altar boy you once were.
Rob C says
It is true that I was a choirboy, but I did actually live in a house that had a priest hole. Used to hang it in behind the fireplace from time to time.
SteveT says
1) food – Bacon sandwiches, Fish and Chips, Chicken Dhansak.
2) Elmore Leonard – no one did crime better than him.
3) Willy Vlautin – newish to novel writing – why did he wait so long? Brilliant.
4) South America – my favourite continent. Been to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Looking to add Uruguay and Colombia in near future.
5) Swallows – they nested with us this summer, they made my heart soar – just left this past weekend.
6) The songs of Tom Russell – particularly Guadalupe and Nina Simone.
7) New York, London, Paris, Buenos Aires – magnificent cities.
8) Humour – preferably uncensored
9) English countryside
10) Singing hymns – my voice is shite but love singing hymns that I remembered from school.
11) Lucinda Williams – sassy, brilliant.
12) Friendship with kindred spirits.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Ah yes, the swallows. Still with us, as are the house martins, and next week I’ll be visiting some sand martins I know in Ireland. Hoping the swallows and martins will still be here at home for a little while after we return; their departure hastens the beginning of the descent for me. I am not a winter person.
TrypF says
Loads of stuff:
1) Cats – Annoying, capricious, adorable.
2) Guitars – I collect, tinker with, and occasionally build them. There’s nothing better than taking a friend’s knackered old instrument and making it playable again.
3) Power pop – especially that of the 90s: Jellyfish, Jason Falkner, Velvet Crush, The Posies, Teenage Fannies, Brendan Benson…
4) Rugby – being Welsh this is almost a given. After the misery of being Welsh in the 80s (too young to remember before that), I’ve been lucky enough to live through the golden generation of 2005-2013. They’re now on the wane and I fear an English stranglehold which will go on for yonks, but it’s been wonderful.
5) John Finnemore – I’m late to the party, but have concluded that the man is not only a comedy genius, but he also wears that genius in the lightest possible way. Every second of Cabin Pressure is a joy, and the sketch shows are as good as radio sketches get.
6) Toilet gigs – Give me a beaker of weak fizzy beer, plant me in the middle of a sticky-floored back room in front of a band I’ve never seen, and I’m happy, at least for a few minutes til I’ve heard them. It’s the thrill of the chase.
7) Slightly, but not totally, arthouse films. Certain directors (Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, Kubrick) bring out the completist in me.
8) Slightly down-at-heel Italian restaurants. Family-owned, red check tablecloths, massive pepper mill, big bowl of pasta, glass of red. Lovely!
9) Long hot baths – with a mug of fresh coffee and a couple of back issues of Word to read.
10) XTC – especially the latter stuff. I don’t have to explain here, do I?
timtunes says
Love Power Pop and anything Jellyfish related.
The new Posies is great. Have you heard any other good new ones? One other that comes to mind was Fred Abbott – Serious Poke
TrypF says
If you like Fountains of Wayne (RIP, sniff) the Davenports are great – a little more arch but with the same way with a melody. Farrah’s latest one (I think called, just Farrah) is a joy and the previous one (Cut Out And Keep) has Fear of Flying, possibly the best Power Pop song ever. It’s certainly got the best middle eight ever.
timtunes says
Thanks, just trying Farrah
Captain Haddock says
Having never heard of Farrah just a week ago I feel it would be remiss of me not to put on record that this is currently my favourite song ever.
Must investigate further.
TrypF says
You’re very welcome. I saw them supporting Pugwash at the Windmill in Brixton, a tiny venue. I was instantly smitten. Unfortunately their main man Jez Ashurst has to earn a crust as a songwriter for chart acts, but I’m still awaiting the follow up to their last CD. Here’s another:
Paul Wad says
If power pop and the Fannies are your thing, give the Pernice Brothers a try. Start with The World Won’t End, because the 2nd song, 7:30, is the definition of power pop, complete with an ending that could have been done by The Turtles. If you like that album move on to their masterpiece, Overcome By Happiness.
timtunes says
Ta – I do remember trying Overcome by Happiness – will give it another go.
Marwood says
1) Dorset.
The Jurassic coast, Durdle door, the pub overlooking the river in Wareham, Lulworth cover, the coffee shop overlooking Weymouth beach, Bournemouth beach, Monkey World. Love the place.
2) Whiskey.
Jameson is my tipple – sweet, warm and smooth. But have started to take a liking for Bourbon, too. Old Granddad is rather fine.
3) Bookshops and libraries
I have always loved books and even now whenever I walk into a bookshop or library I feel like a hungry man walking into an all you can eat buffet.
4) Reading
Novels as a preference, but whenever I have a spare moment (or even if I don’t) I will search out something to read.
5) Writing
Always scribbling in a notebook, always noodling away at something, always dreaming about that novel.
6) Going to the pictures
Watching a film at the cinema has always felt like an occasion to me. Whether it’s a first night showing of a blockbuster at Leicester Square, something subtitled at the Hampstead Everyman or bit of popcorn trash at the local fleapit, going to the pictures has always been something of an event for me.
7) Museums and galleries
Big fan of the National Gallery and have spent many an afternoon contemplating the Impressionsists. Since our daughter arrived on the scene we’ve been regular visitors to the Natural History museum – we go for the dinosaurs, but stay for the blue whale, the volcanoes and earthquakes and the lovely wildlife gardens (which includes a bee hive in tree trunk).
8) Cooking
I love cooking and am rarely happier than when I am in the kitchen rustling something up. I don’t have a signature dish, as such, and am happy to give anything a crack. I get a sense of serenity whilst cooking that I struggle to find elsewhere – I know people stress and panic when cooking for crowds (at Christmas, say) but I actively enjoy it. Been known to linger round kitchenware sections of stores and in food halls.
9) Music
Although, if truth be told, I don’t connect with much music in the way I did when in my teens and early 20s. But I suppose that is true of so many things, isn’t it?
10) DVD box sets
Television is such a big part of many lives – and am not that different. But I do try and be a discerning viewer. That’s where box sets and tivo (and originally VHS tapes) help. So amidst the fluff and nonsense there has been Hill Street Blues, The Young Ones, Blackadder, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Peep Show, Modern Family.
11) Hotels
There are few things finer than travelling a bit of a distance from home, having a nice day out and then repairing to the hotel – rather than traipsing home. Once ensconced I like to luxuriate with a pint in the bar, the powerful shower (always powerful showers – what bliss after a tiring day at the beach or walking round a theme park). And the breakfasts – I rarely eat breakfast at home (tea and maybe a small bowl of porridge) but at a hotel I tend to embrace the feast laid out in front of me. I put all this down to the fact that I didn’t frequent hotels until I worked for a company where I had to travel a bit to meet clients. I am catching up for lost time.
12) New York
I was a bit worried about going to New York. I had romantic / fantastical view of the city – fed by films from Manhattan to The Warriors and books like Catcher in the Rye and Bright Lights, Big City. How could such a place live up to my ridiculous expectations? Easily, as it happened. We came into town in the back of a yellow cab, the Empire State loomed over our hotel, we ate ice cream in Central Park, shopped in Macy’s, visited Tiffany’s, drank cocktails one evening as the sun set over the city, took the Staten Island Ferry, walked across Brooklyn Bridge. I was in love with the place before I even got there, and that love grew stronger when I visited.
Gary says
The National Gallery – excellent choice. Perhaps my favourite place on the planet.
H.P. Saucecraft says
As Half Man, Half Biscuit said, there is no more sensual pleasure than writing on the sole of a slipper with a Biro.
goodfella says
Or on a banana.
timtunes says
I can go with a lot of what is written above so will try to be more specific
1. French music – all colours of French popular music, from Charles Trenet and Tino Rossi to Serge and then Les Liminanas and the electronic crowd. But a particular fondness for cheesy- ballad- torch-pop – see Pascal Obispo and Florent Pagny.
2. Walt Disney World – the happiest times my family have had are at WDW, and I have been over 10 times since 1989. I’d go tomorrow. An isolated bubble of Americana (as in Main Street as opposed to steel guitars) and fun.
3. Tyrconnell whisky – favourite ‘dram’.
4. Toast – the food of the gods. Lurpak, toaster and good bread. Strong coffee helps too.
5. Justified – best TV series ever. Great stories, characters, funny and also a smattering of good music eg Dave Alvin.
6. A fairly empty art gallery combined with fresh legs
7. Indulgent record shopping combined with beer
8. The last song in a set at a concert – not because it’s the end but because it normally gets drawn out & epic. (see also second song on an album)
9. LA – lived there for a while and miss it every day – maybe helped by being single at the time…. But my commute was either through Beverly Glen or Laurel Canyon – everyday.
10. The blaring horns at the start of the James Bond gun barrel ident – irregardless of the quality of the film takes me back to being 8 and my (recently departed) mum taking me to double bills at the Odeon.
11. Pre-Raphaelite women (see also Californian women…)
12. Buying art materials (don’t use them enough)
13. Coffee mugs from places visited
14. Hi-fi – not crazy expensive but just tinkering with it. Current love my Audeze EL-8 headphones in the office.
15. 2 new hips – I couldn’t pick anything off the floor, or stand at gigs, 6 months ago – I can now. Thank you progress.
16. A cool breeze on a balmy night.
17. Powell & Pressburger, John Ford, Spielberg, Eric Rohmer
18. Podcasts – what a bloody handy invention for the commuter. Marc Maron interviewing John Carpenter and Joe Dante for 2 hours..
19. Frank Sinatra – all periods all media
20. Musicals – some modern ones but really – can Rodgers & Hammerstein or any Gene Kelly be bettered?
Blimey got to 20…
Wayfarer says
In no particular order:
Record shops – There are not many left and I have more albums than I know what to do with but I’ve spent a fair chunk of my life (& money) in them, from my teenage years, weekends spent mooching around the record shops of Brighton, especially the Cottage, where I got my first Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Maria Muldaur and Todd Rundgren albums, amongst many others; to my time in London as a sales rep, where I trawled the record shops, greasy spoon cafes and bookshops of Camden – anything to avoid what I should have been doing. Later travelling many times to the States and Canada, spending hours in Tower Records and the like wherever I found them, working my way through the many listening posts, searching for something magic. Sam the Record Man in Canada, plus countless independents and second hand shops.
Bookshops.
Writing – I’ve kept a diary for around thirty years, which I intend to transform into a magnum opus – one day.
Travel – My partner and I have spent most of our working lives being paid to see the world and when we’re not working, we’re travelling
Photography – I got my first camera when I was ten in 1966. I’ve been snapping away ever since.
Joni Mitchell – I bought Court & Spark in 1974 and was hooked.
The Sea – especially a cold, wild, wintery sea.
People – I love them, when they aren’t driving me crazy.
Wayfarer says
And…
Gigs – clubs, pubs, theatres. I’ve done a few festivals over the years but they’ve never really done it for me, especially the mutiple stage format – I want to see everyone on the bill – not a third or a quarter of the lineup.
Doing nothing – when I get home from a stint working away, If I can I spend a day doing nothing. Just sitting on my arse, playing a few cds, drinking coffee or wine. or both. I recommend it.
Meeting up with friends, catching up over a pint and a bite. My friends are scattered all over these days so we rarely see each other. As with all good long lasting friendships, it’s easy to pick up where we left off.
Wandering through cities, just following my nose, people watching, discovering hidden corners.
SteveT says
Sam the Record Man. What a store. Spent many business visits to Toronto prioritising a visit to Sams on the weekend.
retropath2 says
Record shops in Brighton; jeez, when Virgin records opened at the Clocktower it was some serious hippie shitden! I felt the squarest teenage schoolboy in christendom on entry, needing to escape to the other record shop in town, in Churchill Square, to feel safe.
Wayfarer says
My first visit to Virgin at the Clock Tower was to get Gong’s Camembert Electrique for 50p. It was way too hippy for me too – I didn’t go there often.
Wayfarer says
There was another store close to Sam’s which was also good but the name escapes me – I think it became a HMV
SteveT says
I was thinking the same thing – it did become HMV – I went to Toronto at least twice a year from 1990 to 1995 and miss it. Now its about once every 3 years but will be there in October.
niscum says
True crime – American TV progs and any books.
The 17th Century. History, literature, philosophy. Personally would have liked the gunpowder plot to have succeeded if for nothing else than the beautiful architecture it would have allowed, but hey, can’t have everything. Descartes to Locke and the creation of the modern world.
Walking – anywhere, city or countryside. I can walk for hours. The best exercise you can do.
Outdoor swimming – lakes, rivers. Freshwater preferred.
Cycling – I ride a fixie which is usually attached to me whenever I leave the front door.
Tour de France – the ultimate in landscape porn. And a true endurance test for which rider can consume the most drugs.
France – rural. I love south west Fance particularly but just being there anywhere soothes the soul. Gods own country.
Ireland – the language and people. I do a good ‘oro se do bheatha bhaile’ and am available for chistenings, weddings and wakes.
Clothes – I like nice clothes but not in the expensive suits and shoes way. I like quirky and colourful, and as my partner only really wears black we can make an odd couple.
Music – with cider. Aspalls, ice cold. In small amounts it gives so much more than it takes.
Cooking – I eat meat only at the weekends (booze too) and so spend time doing something good. Current favourite is king prawns with garlic, coriander and ginger. But my main dishes would be paprika stews served with soured cream.
Ornate Catholic churches – all bells and smells. Ideally with a latin mass and a good choir going on in the background. The Brompton Oratory floats my wassaname. Boat.
bungliemutt says
Okay, here goes.
1. Music. Rock, pop, Americana, folk, classical, early music – too many too mention.
2. Books and bookshops. I’ll never live long enough to read all my books, but I still keep buying them. New books, old books, big books, small books, fiction, non-fiction. I also have a lifelong love of Penguins, and have bought and collected them for as long as I care to remember.
3. Films. I don’t really watch much made after 1960 though. Classic Hollywood era and film noir are hard to beat. Oh, and European cinema, especially French, any era.
4. Walking and the Outdoors. At least before I developed arthritis. Favourite haunt at the top of Cat Bells or Dale Head in the Lakes, but more likely to struggle walking to the bus stop these days.
5. My car. It’s a clapped out old banger that badly needs replacing, but I love it.
6. Twin Peaks. Classic telly that is coming back with a third series after a 25 year hiatus next year. Food for the imagination in which the owls are not what they seem.
7. The photographs of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. Victorian photographer who created fantastic glass plate negative photographs of Whitby and its fisher-folk. House full of them, framed on every available wall. Never get tired of looking at them.
8. Whitby. Mrs B and I go there for a week every autumn. It’s our place. Who needs abroad?
9. Blue and white Spode china. Mrs B and I started collecting many years ago. House collapsing under the weight.
10. My garden. I’m not green-fingered, but I love my garden and being in, and looking after it. Oasis for the soul. See also gardens – Hidcote, Sissinghurst etc.
11. Art and architecture. I ain’t no genius, but I know what I like.
12. The National Trust. It’s up there with the BBC and Penguin Books as part of the fabric of national identity. They try too hard to be hip and happening these days, but I admire what they stand for and what they do.
bungliemutt says
“Too many to mention” Doh.
Bingo Little says
“I also have a lifelong love of Penguins”.
Afterword tshirt.
bungliemutt says
I just knew someone would pick up on that.
bigstevie says
As an Americana fan, I’m sure you’re aware of Lyle Lovett’s ‘Penguins’.
walker1 says
Just when I thought I would be the first to mention the National Trust……
mikethep says
@bungliemutt (and @deramdaze), have a look at http://vintagepenguins.blogspot.com for some serious Penguin porn. Don’t know about you, but this woman makes me feel like an amateur.
deramdaze says
1. Cats.
2. Mono.
3. 1965 black and white Diana Rigg Avengers’ episodes.
4. The Rolling Stones on Decca.
5. Test Match Special.
6. Sitting at the kitchen table.
7. The newspaper library.
8. Cornwall.
9. Wet Saturday afternoons in November at a football/rugby ground.
10. Seeing the results gradually come in at about 4.15 (generally 2-2.30 kick-offs down here) in an English pub after a wet Saturday afternoon in November.
11. Penguin paperbacks of pre-1970 novels.
12. The sea.
deramdaze says
…and 13. The BBC.
walker1 says
1. Walking. More specifically, I love having a long-term trail that I can walk in day trips. I’ve most recently finished a Staffordshire moorlands circular and the Anglesey coastal path and am part way through the Shropshire way. I love the planning of them, the walking of them and the writing up of them afterwards – once complete, I’ll get a book printed up with loads of photos and the write ups of the history, wildlife, architecture etc. Which brings me to:
2. Writing; and
3. Photography; and
4. Wildlife and the British countryside.
5. Cricket – I don’t play any more but nothing outside of my family has brought me more pleasure and friendships than this wonderful game. And Test Match Special, Worcestershire and Market Drayton CC will see me a very happy man in my forage.
6. Other sports. A game of golf with my dad (80 and still playing – every game that we have is an absolute joy); watching football with friends; rugby; tennis; Tour De France; oh and the Olympics. Sport brings me to tears like nothing else – in a good way.
7. Bookshops. Nothing to add to what others have written.
8. Quizzes. I’m not overly competitive but give me a quiz to be won…..
9. Being an uncle. I know – bends the “no family” rule slightly but I love, love, love being an uncle. No kids ourselves – my wife’s ill health means it’s a non-starter – but the joy of seeing how pleased my little nephew is to see me….
10. The National Trust, RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and all the other custodians of this wonderful countryside
11. Friendship. Nuff said.
12. This year – I took part in a Tough Mudder event and to my enormous surprise as an overweight 49 year old in the company of younger, fitter team-mates I had an absolute ball. It’s ten weeks ago and I’ve still got that afterglow of having achieved something that people thought I was foolish to do (and I raised a decent sum for a charity close to my heart too)
Bingo Little says
Blimey! Well done on Tough Mudder.
walker1 says
Thanks Bingo. I’m not going to claim that I completed every obstacle (I fell into the water when frying to cross it monkey bars and failed to reach the top of “Everest”) but did more than I thought possible. What made it special was the teamwork – not just of the gym buddies I went with but practically everyone on the course. Everybody wants everybody else to get round and enjoy themselves. It’s human spirit at its best
Billybob Dylan says
Chocolate, but not American chocolate. I sometimes make a special trip to the “English” shop to buy a pack of Cadbury biscuits or a bar or three of chocolate, but these days I’m increasingly relying on Amazon. Either way, it costs a small fortune.
Tea & coffee. Thank god for Taylors of Harrogate and the myriad coffee bars of southern California.
Viz – I’ve still got a subscription. Yes, I know, it’s not as good as it used to be, but there’s always something in each copy that makes me laugh.
Bill Bryson. I love his books. I always buy the latest one no matter the subject. Same with Kinky Friedman, although he’s not writing anymore. And they’re basically the same thing each time anyway… kinda like Viz.
Talking of books, I recently enjoyed David Hepworth’s ‘1971,’ Elvis Costello’s ‘Disappearing Ink’ and especially Andrew Matheson’s ‘Sick on You’ memoir. Highly recommend.
The beach. I can see it from my house… just. Actually, I can see the port clearly but I know there’s a beach down there somewhere. And the dog loves it.
Margaritas. My new drink. Jose Cuervo’s ‘ready to drink’ is surprisingly good. And cheap.
The music of Squeeze. Loved ‘em since the ‘Packet of Three’ ep almost 40 years ago. Blimey! 40 years!
Mid 70s reggae. The dubbier & rootsier, the better. Also have a thing for the vocal trios, such as Culture, Mighty Diamonds and especially the Meditations.
The desert. A very good friend of mine has a house in Palm Springs. Him & his wife, me & my missus, and occasionally another couple, go out there on holiday weekends to just relax. It got up to 117 degrees F (47C) last weekend. I love it! We drink and swim, and swim and drink. What’s not to love? Apart from the sunburn.
bungliemutt says
Cripes yes. Cadbury’s chocolate. That should have been my no. 13. Fruit & Nut, Dairy Milk and the occasional bar of Bournville. An essential daily treat to oneself. That and Jacobs’ cheese flavour Oddities. Can’t get enough of ’em.
timtunes says
Mid-70s reggae? I’ve dabbled but would be interested in any recommendations
Billybob Dylan says
If it’s still available, Virgin’s ‘Front Line’ compilation is great place to start. Otherwise you can’t go wrong with these vocal harmony trios: ‘Two Sevens Clash’ by Culture, ‘Message From The Meditations’ by the Meditations, ‘Right Time’ by the Mighty Diamonds and ‘Satta Massagana’ by the Abyssinians.
Lee Perry put out some great stuff in the 70s. If you prefer a melodic vocal style, there’s Max Romeo’s ‘War Ina Babylon,’ the Heptones ‘Party Time,’ and Junior Murvin’s ‘Police & Thieves’ (all produced by Perry with the Upsetters as the backing band).
If you like a bit of dub try Perry’s ‘Super Ape’ or Joe Gibbs’ ‘African Dub’ series. Also back in those days just about anything on the Studio One label was worth a punt.
Although not one of my favorites, there’s also the Congos ‘Heart Of The Congos,’ which seems to be regularly praised.
timtunes says
Cheers – I do have a bit of Lee Perry and the Congos so I’ve gone for Frontline Presents Dub
Billybob Dylan says
You’re welcome!
Rigid Digit says
I’m pretty shallow and most of my spare time is filled with drinking, smoking, shouting at the telly and writing stuff on internet blogs, but …
1. Music – particularly if there is an electric guitar present. Always something new to discover, and still gives me a thrill.
2. Beer – finding a decent pub with decent beer is one of lifes gifts. And the Belgians know how to make a fine brew.
3. Football – not playing it, not supporting it (I’m a Reading fan, I know about low expectations and disappointment) just knowing about it (I’d like to say “everything” about it, but that may be pushing it a bit far)
4. UK History, particularly 1960s and 1970s – I may be the only person who owns every book published by Dominic Sandbrook
5. Local History – I’ve lived in the same town since birth, so I think its only right that I should know the history of the place.
6. Museums – a visit to any new town or city MUST include a visit to the local museum.
7. Writing – always fancied myself as some sort of journo/cultural commentator, but 2 CSEs and a Grade E O Level in English meant that particular career option was a non-starter. Still enjoy writing stuff (even if it for my own amusement), just not sure I’m that great at it (yet)
8. Well written books, or well made documentaries about seemingly un-intersting subjects (Maps, The UK Road Network, Motorway Service Stations, the history of swearing etc)
9. Formula 1 – even if it has become pretty damn boring, I still can’t stop myself watching it.
10. Trivia – seemingly pointless and useless information is lodged in my brain, and can be retrieved and processed whenever the need demands it. You never know when you could be in a pub quiz. And there is seemingly no end to the pointless facts and information that can be collected.
11. Possibly a “guilty pleasure” (if there is such a thing) but I think I am addicted to UK Gangster Films
12. Ditto 1970s sitcoms (except Last Of The Summer Wine)
13. Ditto The Sweeney
14. Lists
bungliemutt says
Another vote for Dominic Sandbrook’s hefty volumes.
Arthur Cowslip says
1. Silence
2. Solitude
3. The Beatles
4. Mike Oldfield’s first four LPs
5. Cool, dark cinemas on hot, sunny days
6. Making music
7. The 1960s
8. Early mornings
9. The Watchmen
10. David Lynch movies
11. Terry Gilliam movies
12. Alfred Hitchcock movies
androo1963 says
1. Music, obviously – can’t imagine life without it.
2. Travel / city breaks – Barca, Dubrovnik, Madrid, Lisbon etc. New York soon.
3. Loch Katrine – taking the bike to top of loch on the steamship & cycling back.
4. Walking in the Italian Dolomites.
5. Kayaking on the Dordogne in the sun – one of my best days, ever.
6. Men’s shoes / boots – I’m a footwear freak. Age has given me the confidence to be daring.
7. Women’s shoes / boots – Stylish footwear makes all the difference.
8. Animation – Pixar & Ardman especially.
9. Fragrance – I like to smell good.
10. Watches – nothing too expensive. I just like to wear a different one each day.
11. A good book – but I’m not easy to please.
12. 5 a side football – I’ve played every week for 34 years but I’m still rubbish.
Obviously food, drink & sex trump most (but not all) of the above. They are the essentials.
Mousey says
Fish and chips from Fishmonger in Bondi
Test cricket on the radio
A Sudoku that takes a long time but I eventually crack
Listening to Nino Rota’s Fellini scores
Finding out something new about Nino Rota’s Fellini scores
Watching the All Blacks at their best
Linguine with seafood and a crisp Pinot Grigio
My Sunday morning bacon and eggs with the Saturday paper
British TV drama (current fave Happy Valley)
Italian Neo-realist cinema
The New Zealand landscape
Being in bed
mikethep says
Is that the Saturday paper or the Saturday Paper? I’m a fan of the latter – nice to read something that’s independent of the two big newspaper groups (Rupe especially).
Another up for Happy Valley – terrifyingly good.
Mousey says
Actually what I meant was the SMH Sat edition but we also get the Saturday Paper, which tends to be more of a long read for later in the day.
Beezer says
1. Books. I always seem to have at least 3 on the go at any point. I can skip between them very easily. I buy so many, mainly due to names picked up from this place. I found Patrick Hamilton and Eric Ambler because of you lot.
2. Fender Guitars. Strats and Teles. I play a little but wouldn’t dare play for anyone.
3. American humourists (humorists, then). Thurber, Perelman, Benchley, Leacock (Canadian, I know). Superb users of the English language.
5. Northumberland. I left there green as a berry looking for I know not what, always looking away and out. Which most young people do. Recent trips home have made it clear it’s a place I should go back to at some point, having seen more of it lately then I ever bothered to during my first 23 years.
6. Humour. I like to make people laugh. Often, I think I’m a needy smart arse and I know others do. But I like to crack wise without being sarky or smug. I love being made to laugh. When someone nails me I guffaw and clap like a seal. It’s a great feeling.
7. Songs. As the above mentioned green young lad I was enamoured with the guitar riff. And I still am, but for a long time now it’s a tune and a lyric that gets me. A lilt. An air.
8. Quiet. Nothing. No noise from the TV news. No babble in the open plan workspace. No phone.
9. The company of women. The platonic presence. Generally, for me, the atmosphere and the conversation is far more enjoyable than with a group of guys – as much as I love my male friends.
10. Procrastination and idleness. Can’t think of any more for now. I’ll get back to you…
davebigpicture says
Fray Bentos pies?
Rigid Digit says
Procrastination and idleness –
Why do it today, when you can put it off until tomorrow (it’ll still go wrong, anyway).
I consider myself to be a Multi-tasking procrastinator – there at least 20 things I can put off doing at any given time
Sometimes I can’t even be bothered to finish typing a sente
Beezer says
I’ll reply properly tomorrow.
Blue Boy says
1. Spain – just the most wonderful country in its variety, it’s people, it’s culture, it’s food
2. Bitter – however crap this country increasingly is at so many things, it is beer champion of the world
3. Cheese – not good for me I know, but I can’t resist it
4. Pasta – if I could only have one food…
5. Music of course in its infinite variety – from Beethoven to Dylan, life is pretty much unimaginable without it
6. My books, as important to me as my records even though many I will never read again, and some I haven’t even read once
7. Relaxing at home, often with a combination of some of the above – especially late at night, lovely bit of music on the stereo, beer in the glass, good book to read, and Mrs BB on the sofa with me (I know, no family etc)
8. Solitude – there are times when just being on my own is all I need. Would hate it all the time, but sometimes…
9. Running and cycling – not at the same time of course (I’m not Chris Froome) but I love both and the buzz the physical exercise gives me. Do more of the former these days and it’s addictive.
10. Politics as a spectator sport – that’s kind of shallow I know, but I find the politics of politics, if you see what I mean, engrossing. Right now it’s extraordinary of course, although the feeling that we’re all going to hell in a handcart does take the edge off it somewhat.
dadwardo says
As per previously…
The phrase “tuppence ha’porth”
Doner Kebab and Taco Fries at Abrakebabra in Donnybrook, Dublin, Ireland
A small glass of ice-cold beer after an Australian round of golf
Murder on the Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis Bextor
Submarine movies
Leinster Rugby
Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Prima early on a Friday evening
The smell of freshly cut grass (it’s filling up my senses)
Sausage and Potato Salad sandwiches
Disney’s Tangled
Egg, cheese, pasta, bacon – Carbonara
George Ivan Morrison
Warm bed, cold bedroom
A well-made Margarita
A late night out that ends in dancing
Anything with the word “Campagnolo” on it
Local Hero
rotherhithe hack says
– Strolling around art galleries with the Mrs.
– Listening to John Hiatt.
– The feeling after I’ve run a few miles then showered.
– Lying on the lawn in the garden, staring up at the branches of our cherry tree.
– Satisfaction of having cooked and eaten a good meal that I’ve shared with others.
moseleymoles says
Can I add one? The Saturday Guardian. It is pounced upon in our house and the magazine, the listings magazine (called The Tiddler) in our house, the highbrow literature bit and the sports section are all eagerly devoured over the weekend.
Smudger says
Music – playing, listening and watching at gigs, although I wish I could play better myself and had been blessed with the ability to write my own stuff when I was younger. I listen to most stuff, although the darker the better basically sums up my musical taste. As others have said, I can’t imagine life without it.
Gardening and growing my own fruit and veg – a great way to unwind and relax with the added bonus that you get something lovely to look at and/or eat for your troubles. When I bought my house, the one compromise I really made was to only have a smallish garden. But paying off the mortgage so that I can move somewhere with a bigger garden is sufficient motivation.
Cooking and baking – again, I wish I was better and my fussiness with food probably hinders me on that front, but I do love cooking and baking. Cakes which include something grown on the allotment are a bit of a speciality. Chocolate and beetroot muffin, anyone.
Wine – white only (I’ve never got into red) and usually French. I love the smoothness and the fact that the taste is not overly complex, as opposed to the harsh, oaky, in yer face stuff that large parts of the New World seems to produce en masse. White wine shouldn’t be let anywhere near an oak barrel.
Beer – Bobness of this fair parish and I get together for a pint on most Thursday evenings at our favourite boozer in Nottingham which has a number of Good Beer Guides from the 80s and 90s on its bookshelves. Looking through them makes you realise how fortunate we are these days to have such a wide choice of quality ale and craft beer to drink. You can even buy tasty lager these days. There’s no comparison between now and the days of Shipstone’s (or Shippo’s, or Shitto’s as it’s known locally), Kimberley, Home Ales and Mansfield, although it would be nice if someone started brewing Ind Coope Burton Ale again. Now that was a top pint.
Cricket – I was fortunate enough to play whenever I wanted for about 20 years and am now fortunate to work opposite Trent Bridge, the most picturesque cricket ground in the world. What a place to eat your butties or pop in for an hour after work. It’s just a pity Notts are having such an indifferent season this year. Plus, cricket brought us TMS.
Ice hockey – I’ve been following hockey in Nottingham since 1982 and it usually makes for an entertaining Saturday night. The speed, skill and toughness involved probably explains why I find football so utterly boring.
Walking – another great way to unwind and get a bit of exercise to boot. I love getting an OS map out, planning a circular walk (which preferably passes a pub) and then just heading off.
The British countryside – linked to the above I suppose as walking is the best way to experience it. Even Nottinghamshire (not the prettiest county going) has some nice bits, although I don’t take enough advantage of my proximity to the Peak District. Native hedgerows, dry stone walls, rolling landscapes, mountains, river valleys, the native wildlife, what more could you want. It’s just a pity our wildflower meadows have been decimated over the last few decades as the few that remain are a real picture.
Ireland – as good as our countryside is, I think it’s usurped by Ireland’s. I’m not a great traveller but I can’t see me ever getting bored of the place. Plus, the people are so nice. When I was in the Burren and Connemara last year, almost every car I passed, the driver would raise a ‘how do you do’ index finger and I would respond likewise. Thought I’d try it when I got back home and all I got in return were scary glares and ‘Barclays Banker’ signs.
John Shuttleworth – I’ve seen him probably 8-10 times since first seeing 500 Bus Stops on BBC2 in 1997 (can’t believe that’s nearly 20 years ago) and his radio shows get better and better. The rumours doing the rounds at the moment that his latest tour (My Last Will and Tasty Mint) is to be his last are a worry.
Friends – I don’t have too many but those I do have I treasure and I’m very lucky to have them.
walker1 says
@Smudger I’m afraid I can’t quite let it pass that Trent Bridge is the most picturesque ground in the world. As I allude to above and Salty similarly below, Worcester is (probably, on all available evidence, OOAA, etc) the prettiest ground and most pleasurable on which to watch cricket (if we discount Market Drayton, where I have a slight bias).
I will happily concede Trent Bridge as my second favourite first-class ground however.
Kid Dynamite says
The Somerset ground at Taunton is lovely
http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t407/maggieloveshopey/County_ground_taunton_churches_zps6fxnmyr3.jpg
Kid Dynamite says
Well, I think my great passions of books, bookshops and cricket have been adequately covered (although has anyone mentioned the smell of old books yet? Put me in the right second hand bookshop and I’m like one of the Bisto Kids), so here are some more.
Tokyo. It’s like a city done right. For every neon drenched concrete intersection there a dozen tiny alleyways of wooden houses, quiet shrines and parks. The record shops are the best, the food is terrific and the backstreets are full of quirk, strangeness and charm. Every time you leave your house there’s something new to see. I could spend twenty years there and never be bored. I’ve never met an East Asian megalopolis that I didn’t love, but there’s something very special about Tokyo.
Dogs, the scruffier and stupider the better.
Long rambling conversations with my friends that start from utterly stupid questions (“Who would win in a fight between Chuck Norris and the Pope?”)
Wild country – I was born and spent my childhood on the fringes of Dartmoor and we spend at least a week each year around Brecon and the Black Mountains, which leads me to…
The music of New Model Army – unsung romantics with a love of nature running through their work like a seam of green and grey. They are powerful, passionate and deeply, deeply unfashionable.
Large, complex games centred on worldbuilding. If I can’t spend the rest of my days in Tokyo, I’ll settle for Skyrim. I think the thing for me is narrative. It’s the common thread through books, films, games, comics. Really, I’m just a huge fan of finding out happens next.
Kid Dynamite says
(tagline for the Chuck Norris / Holy Father movie: “One of them wants to say a Mass. The other’s going to kick some ass!”)
Dodger Lane says
Interesting what you have to say about Tokyo. I lived there for a year, loved it, the quirkiness, the quiet passageways, the transport and the decency of the people. I never tired of walking around even in the punishing Summer heat.
Kid Dynamite says
Those summers are brutal, aren’t they? I was there for just over two years, and my wife and I are both still in love with the place. I honestly think it might be the greatest city in the world.
bungliemutt says
Much to the consternation of Mrs B, I can often be found sniffing my books instead of reading them. Old books have a comfortable lived in smell, while the whiff of print and new paper is positively intoxicating.
anton says
Salty says
Music. Can never get enough of new stuff. Just when I think I’ve got enough I stumble across a new seam. Australian and Scandinavian indie is my current passion. The Amazing, The Legends, The Lucksmiths, Skipping Girl Vinegar…..
Racing. Used to work for Ladbrokes and got immersed in the sport. Left it alone for a good few years, but now particularly love the flat, especially in the height of summer.
Puzzle pages in papers. Now that the I is available again in Northern Ireland I’ve spent too much of my summer struggling with their tougher tests.
Teaching. Hate the politics and management side of the job, but love the day to day craic with the kids.
Running. Got a treadmill for my wife’s birthday (she had requested it I hasten to add). She’s hardly gone near it, but I’ve got pretty addicted and feel so much better having lost over a stone.
Sitting in the garden with wine and a book. Our garden backs onto a forest park and as the kids are now too old to avail of its delights I’ve allowed the trees to take over. Love to hear all the birds.
Speedway. Not fashionable, but a sport I was indoctrinated into as a child and still follow. At it’s best it’s brilliant.
Detective books. All the usual suspects – Rebus, Banks and Bosch.
Cricket – Dislike a lot of the recent changes in the sport and I will dislike it a lot more when the “franchisers” get their way. Root for the Windies, New Zealand and Pakistan against the big boys and try and get to Worcester at least once per summer. A day in the sun at New Road has to be one of the most beautiful days imaginable.
anton says
and clever guitar pop (the art school dance…
Tiggerlion says
1. The thrill of hearing some wonderful new music for the first time. You know, the kind that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. This obsession has led to no end of expense and a room full of CDs
2. Food. I love food of all kinds. I would eat anything, even if it means killing my own chicken. From pies to Michelin stars, I love it all. Hence, my weight.
3. Everton Football Club. Royal Blue flows through my veins. I went to my first match fifty years ago. Unbelievable.
4. St. Helens Rugby League Football Club. I love the Saints just as much.
5. People. I adore people of all kinds, even ones that others shy away from. I’m not a hail-fellow-well-met kind of guy. I’m more of a keen observer but I’m more than willing to engage with anyone and help make life a little better when I can. It’s no coincidence that my line of work is trying to help people.
6. Visual art. I’ve never studied the subject and I don’t indulge but, after music, it is the thing that has the biggest emotional impact on me.
7. Formula One. Funnily enough, I don’t like cars but I love Formula One razzmatazz. It’s the driving that attracts me, the speed of thought, the risk. The crowds are amazing, too.
8. Walking the dog. This seems a popular activity for The Afterword. The key for me is the fact that the commitment of having a dog exposes you to all weathers. Fair weather walking occurs perhaps 25% of the time. It’s the bracing winds, the downpours, the frost, the mists, the lot for me, not just the sun. My favourite one is early morning just as the world is yawning.
9. My iPad. I could spend every waking hour on it and remain perfectly happy.
10. Dancing. Hardly dance any more. A broken leg put a stop to that. However, there is nothing better than letting go, surrendering to the music, whilst paying close attention to and responding to a partner. I’ve had formal lessons and really enjoy a tango or a salsa but nothing beats a good old-fashioned boogie.
11. Sleeping. Oh, man! What joy a good night’s sleep brings.
12. Passion. I don’t care what people like doing, I just thoroughly enjoy witnessing them wringing the last drop of pleasure out of it. Same goes for me, too.
Lovely thread. Have an up!
Kid Dynamite says
Our dog flatly refuses to leave the house if it is raining. Not too upset about it, to be honest.
Tiggerlion says
Light weights!
Fin59 says
Are only good for tone. For true muscle build and definition, use heavy weights.
davebigpicture says
We had a cat that, if she could see it was raining at the back door where the cat flap was, would run to the front of the house in case it was dry there. It never was, of course.
Gatz says
And that reproachful look they give you. ‘Yes? Can’t you see it? And what are you going to do about that then?’
Dodger Lane says
There was a very amusing review in The Times on Saturday about a book called The Trainable Cat (yeah, right), in which the reviewer said how cats tend to present their anus to you when they’ve been treated and done with you. On the look out for something better. Very true.
Dodger Lane says
What a great thread, saw this on holiday – forgot my password though and am too dim to reset.
1. Good restaurants – a combination of good food, excellent service, ambience and value for money. If any of the above are missing I feel cheated.
2. Bookshops – independent ones which are still flourishing though I can do without the superior snotty booksellers who are increasingly a thing of the past. My local one when I grew up had staff that terrified me, worse than librarians, so when Waterstones opened up and put them out of business I cheered but now that I’m a grumpy old sod I want to keep them. Thankfully the ones that are flourishing have good staff.
3. A day at a county championship cricket match with mates, not 20/20 which seems to attract a crowd of pissed up yobs.
4. Maps – OS, old ones, anything really. It may be an exaggeration but OS maps are a thing of beauty, contour lines are just mesmerising.
5. Architecture. My interests in periods have changed as I have learnt more and how to appreciate. I increasingly have come round to understand and appreciate 20th century architecture, but I still think The Shard stinks. Top tip….go and have a look behind The Gherkin in the city and there is what seems like an unremarkable early 20th century office building called Holland house, but have look through the windows and you’ll see some wonderful wood panelling and the entrance is fantastic. It’s a little masterpiece and I envy people who work there.
6. Train travel. not on Southern region obviously, but stick me on a long train journey, preferably an overnighter with a restaurant car and I’m in clover. I was a bit spoiled as a kid in that we travelled from London – Naples with tea, restaurant cars, couchettes the lot – it was brilliant – and I still love it.
7. Walking around new cities.
8. Good manners, grace and humility; as exemplified by Malala Yousufzai. She was interviewed on TMS (probably still available as a podcast) and she was delightful. An extraordinary person.
9. Pens and stationary. My handwriting is not great but still have a collection of pens and I can salivate in stationary shops, especially Italian ones.
10. Music, obviously but above all the excitement of hearing something new.
11. The feel of a book and that includes the smell of 2nd hand paperbacks.
12. Ealing comedies, 60s English crime capers – the sillier the better.
13. Chicago, Paris, Naples and Berlin.
Leeds United used to float my boat in a very big way, but now I couldn’t care a jot and I kind of hate myself for feeling this way but the way the club has conducted itself means they have broken the contract they had with me, and quite frankly, what money I have should go towards giving me pleasure, not pain.
Scarlet says
I always seem to find these threads just as they’re on their last legs.
Nevertheless…
1. Music. Specifically, those familiar adored voices that make my stomach flip. Also, the moment when my favourite band arrives onstage.
2. Travel. Whether in being motion towards a new place or standing before a view that blows my mind, either one that I’ve travelled thousands of miles to witness for myself instead of looking at it in pictures, or one that I’ve chanced upon while somewhere new. Exploring. Interacting. Being entirely out of my familiar comfort zone.
Driving, flying, cycling, walking, any mode of transport whatsoever.
3. Words. Books, magazines, newspapers, web pages – hell, even the back of a cereal packet – I am utterly in thrall to the written word and constantly have at least three books on the go. I once mortified a friend of mine by walking into a bookshop with her, loudly requesting “Just stop me if I start sniffing them!”
4. My nephews. Aged four and six, they are fabulous. I live hours away from them and miss them like hell. I’m constantly told that if I don’t have children I just don’t understand the relationship, and that I must hate children if I didn’t have any myself and that is so far beyond utter utter bollocks. I’m dedicating myself to being the best aunt that I can possibly be. I’m seeing them this weekend and already excited about it.
5. Canoeing. This is new. Actually, extremely new because I only tried it out for the first time yesterday. But I fell totally in love with it and am now desperate to find rental places on as many different rivers within a 100-mile radius as I possibly can. I love being around water and being so in tune with it was just perfect. Also saw a couple of kingfishers and swimming snakes, along with dozens of ducks.
Despite sore muscles and an elbow that feels like it’ll never forgive me, just pass me that paddle!
Limiting myself to five, else this could go on forever. When I love something I am nothing if not enthusiastic.
Fin59 says
What floats my boat is boats. Or, more accurately, sailing.
A skill passed on by my father for which I failed to thank him.
A love handed down, a debt that endures.
Moments that feel like forever.
SixDog says
U2
Seriously
Rec Room says
Movies from the 1940’s and 50’s. Anything pre New Wave really. For the past couple years I’ve been binging on American Westerns and Noir. For 5 years before that it was an absolute obsession with Japan, with a bit of French and Soviet added as mixers. Can’t get enough of this stuff. I’ll watch anything in Technicolor, no matter how crap. Of the great old film making nations Germany’s still a blindspot, but I’ll get round to it eventually.
bricameron says
What I love the most is incidental filming of the time at the time. My imagination runs wild when I happen upon that unintended footage.
Rec Room says
Do you know Christian Marclay’s The Clock? It’s a 24hr looping video montage composed of 1000’s of sequential film/tv clips showing the time, IE a clock or watch. It’s culled from all of film/tv history. When you see this in a museum it’s set to your local time.
I haven’t seen it myself, but it sounds interesting.