June 2008
44 posts
The cost of William's lift to the stag do? £8,716... →
What’s fascinating about this is that when I was a kid - and prove me wrong if I am, British readers - I am pretty sure that the Royal Family was allowed to get up to ALL sort of expensive shizzle without anyone batting an eyelid. I wish we’d become a republic, already. I’m not saying that they should be beheaded, or anything - just left to their own devices to while away the...
Today...
I am twenty-five, for the third time!
I am feeling very sanguine about ageing, however. If I have any reflections, you can sure I will report them, although (fortunately, and unfortunately) I have a lot of work to do today.
Sorry...
…for the unprecedented hiatus. I have been busy, and also have had no amusing cab drivers to write about - even though I did my utmost to bait last night’s into some witty repartee, he wouldn’t go for it and thus he drove and I rode in sulky silence.
Anyway: I shall strive to improve this week.
Jean Edelstein: American democracy works - even... →
“You probably won’t read another book on surfing this year, but even if you...”
– Non-fiction: June 22 | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books
“Fallen on hard times thanks to the advent of Christianity and so on, the...”
– Fiction: June 22 | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books
“I think there were many things my father regretted, rightly or wrongly, but not...”
– Siri Hustvedt, The Sorrows of An American. Quite recommended, until the end, when it is less good.
“The pool was too tough.”
– Irené, Priceless. Highly recommended cinematic fluff.
Chicken and egg
I’ve been wearing contact lenses for the past couple of days. Usually, I am too lazy to bother with them (I use daily disposables which are not cheap, if they’re inessential) and so I just stick my glasses on when my slightly blurred vision is insufficient. But on a couple of occasions in the last couple of weeks I’ve actually not recognised significant people at not very far...
Trag
Trying to do my part for the environment last night, but also having to do the dishes, I picked up some dishwashing liquid at the corner shop but refused the offer of a plastic bag, preferring instead to pop it in my favourite lovely capacious handbag. ‘I’m so environmentally conscious!’ I thought to myself as I walked home.
Where I discovered that half the dishwashing liquid...
Bad Idea: The anthology, ed Jack Roberts and... →
Another top review for the anthology. Hurrah.
I am waiting...
…yet again, for the washing machine repairman. It’s all very existential. I was instructed that he would arrive between 10 am and 1 pm. I pointed out that this was ridiculous. I was told that there was no way they could give me a more precise estimate. Can anyone out there please explain to me exactly why the vagaries of washing machine repair/plumbing/what have you are so much...
Insight into the block
It has just occured to me that one of the reasons that I struggle a bit with writer’s block when writing my book is that it is fun, and thus doesn’t feel like work. That, I think, I can strive to get past.
Quotable
Lydia: ...and so I said, 'Be EXCELLENT to each other.'
Oli: Did you make that up? Or did you get it from somewhere?
Lydia: Bill and Ted.
Oenophilia
Reb: Jean, do you like this champagne? I think it tastes sour.
Jean: I think it tastes free.
“Doesn’t he have any free will?”
– Jodie, on Big. We came late to the SATC party but we still managed to have strong views.
“Now the biopsy is clear,” she snapped, “I’m going to New York...”
– John Crace’s digested read: Attachment by Isabel Fonseca | The digested read | guardian.co.uk Books
Oh, how I dream of having my own book digested by John Crace one day.
Why we are not going to Kathmandu
Jean: Christiane and Alex are going on a trek to the base camp of Mount Everest.
Lauren: I'm jealous! Oh, to be traveling and in love.
Jean: You don't have to be in love. You and I could go on a trek to the base camp of Mount Everest. Why not?
Lauren: You would have to wear trousers.
Jean: Oh. Never mind, then.
Two great things that happened today
1. I actually got an email from the organiser of the White Mischief Ball, offering condolences for the elbow-eye incident. That, my friends, is class.
2. While surfing the microfiche at the BLNA, I couldn’t help but notice an article about a French cookbook that was banned in Britain - literally stripped off the shelves after it had been published - because someone felt that people who...
“Days later, Jensen was still thinking about the reaction and the man’s...”
– Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace ‘open carry’ - Los Angeles Times
Oh, AMERICA.
My 27th birthday approaches
While leaving the rather excellent White Mischief Ball last night, winding my way through crowds of people having a rather good time in funny outfits in order to collect my coat from the coat check, I found myself with the elbow of a young vigorous swing-dancing man planted in my eye socket.
I reeled back, saw stars. “Kids today!” I found myself thinking, all contemptuous and...
The Geneva Correspondent has a blog →
I feel sort of maternally proud.
Check it out: he writes about food and politics, and sometimes both simultaneously.
Dying hard
This morning I have a particular feeling that I have a heck of a lot of stuff to do, but if I just hang on long enough and focus then I will finish everything and be able to relax over my ten weeks of vacation.
In other words, it’s early June and a small bit of my brain still thinks that I’m in high school.
A worrying development
I just spent the afternoon at the British Library Newspaper Archive, reading microfiche. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. This can’t be good for my street cred.
“The Hammersmith and City Line is experiencing severe delays due to the earlier...”
– Tube announcement. I’m loving East London especially tonight.
Modern love
I was enjoying dinner on my own at an outward-facing table on the pavement (the only way to eat dinner alone, I think) and eavesdropping on the people sitting next to me, purely for research purposes, who were talking about their upcoming wedding.
“I’m going to Vera Wang, then Brown’s…” said the girl.
“That’s my worst nightmare,” said her beloved,...
““You can’t say that you don’t meet men. You work with men,...”
– “Salad Olivier”, a rocking short story by Lara Vapnyar, excerpted yesterday in the New York Times.
I feel underwhelmed
I mean, yay Obama. But I still have less enthusiasm for this election than I have ever had, and I am counting Reagan v. Mondale when I got quite agitated about the anti-Reagan cause. For a three-year-old.
Nine years away has, it seems, dramatically changed my feelings about America.
A guest post
Published with permission from the author/ Geneva correspondent. Hopefully this will inspire him to start his own blog. *** Primaries are too long, the presidential race is too long, and eight years of George W. Bush has led me to the conclusion that presidencies themselves are too long. The only thing that is not too long in this whole process are the lives of ex-presidents. With the...
“When I started kindergarten, aged five, I was already an independent and...”
– Don’t put age ranges on children’s books | Books | guardian.co.uk
I Killed Britney Spears: My Role in the Downfall... →
miss-r: Great article by Tumblr’s own very talented Jean Hannah Edelstein. (Incidently, the magazine it was published in is produced by a friend of a friend. I’ve never met him, but my friend raves about how great he - and the magazine, Bad Idea - is.) Small world, eh? Thanks, Rachel.
BAD IDEA | the magazine of ideas and opinion for... →
I must draw your attention to Bad Idea’s very nifty relaunched website. Here is a piece that I wrote for Issue 5.
May 2008
40 posts
“Bad Idea: The Anthology, edited by Jack Roberts and Daniel Stacey (Portico...”
– Keeping mum | By genre | guardian.co.uk Books
Was your Saturday night as great as mine?
Unless you also had a cab driver who sang lustily along to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ which he had playing on a constant loop for the duration of the journey, then I think it was not.