Two nice things today. Sold a photo (framed) to someone who wanted it as a photo, and not as a Christmas card or calendar. And when I showed yesterday’s photo of her hands to the spinning lady, she bought a copy of it too. Which was very satisfying.
Today was my last day at work for 11 days – I’m on my Christmas break. So is Joe, it was his last day at school for two weeks. However, the most distinctive thing I saw today was this lens case, next to me while I was having my annual eye test. Of all the bits of my body, my eyes have probably been the most properly looked after for the longest time. Wouldn’t want to be without them…
Today I was the University of Manchester’s representative at the graduation ceremony of our partner, the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. Like all graduates these guys have worked very hard. Like all of us they face an uncertain future, but hey, that’s what futures are. Good luck to them all. This was a good day.
The Juke Box Is Your Friend.
This one’s pretty good. There’s no Joy Division, Spiritualized. Ministry, Santana, LCD Soundsystem, Pink Floyd, Lard, or Can. But there is plenty of Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, the Doors, Bowie, and occasional outbreaks of the Temptations, the Sex Pistols, Primal Scream and other positives. I invest three or four quid a week in it. It’s money well spent.
Although feeling sometimes like I do rather too much of this flying lark I do like looking at the departure boards in airports and thinking one day, I’ll just turn up and go somewhere random. I like the odd juxtaposition of destinations on this mural. Bangkok and Orkney in the same context – that won’t happen too often. Home tonight, though not until after midnight.
Not easy to encapsulate a day which was the third in a row spent at home trying to entertain Joe (I’ve been single-parenting this weekend) and where the only real distinctiveness was having to do some minor DIY to fix an electrical problem in the house. It’s hard to take photos of the Boy these days without him sticking his tongue out (see October 8th, for example)… so here’s an abstract for you. It might not be exciting, but then again, neither was 20/11/11.
Took a few reasonable photos today but if you want one to really encapsulate the day then here it is. Beer. In front of a real fire. This is how I want to spend my Friday evenings after work, and today, I did.
I spent a good portion of the middle part of my life avoiding London, but recently I have been visiting more often. It was nice today to be able to walk out of a hotel on quite a pleasant late autumn morning and be exploring Covent Garden before everywhere was open and while it was still fairly quiet. I think it’s too early to have Christmas decorations up anywhere – but I suppose these ones are quite attractive.
For reasons I am not at liberty to explain, the wife needed a couple of masks, and this morning I was sent to get them. It’s amazing how many shops are completely full of total tat these days. But what the hell, I still bought two.
Never done one of these before. Having no idea what to expect it was a surprise to see quite how sour- or dead-faced many people are as they shuffle past, or how unwilling many are to acknowledge a ‘hello!’. Others (stallholders, customers) very friendly and encouraging, however. I did not lose money once all things were accounted for and it was an interesting learning experience.
Being 42 