That's What's Up

Here is an adorable video to my favourite song from the new album by my current favourite band, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (oh, have I already mentioned that I competely adore this band? I have?)

I'm still adjusting to life working full-time and having class on Saturdays, plus fitting homework in somewhere else along the way. I'm starting a new job next week (hooray!) for which I will have to start (and, thankfully, finish) an hour earlier every day, and dress smartly - a feat which I have never before had to achieve on a daily basis, and which does not come naturally to me! I'm trying not to get nervous about it. Actually, I haven't really had time to get nervous about it - where does the time go?

I've been ill a fair bit over the last few weeks, so some of my time has been (blissfully) spent reading. I finished The Great Gatsby and am now reading The Hobbit - chasing Hollywood all the way this year! I will not go and see the 'Life of Pi' movie, nor 'Cloud Atlas'. The books were just too magical and there will be no surprises. Speaking of magical books, I somehow never read the last Harry Potter book, and I am still impressed that I have managed to avoid any spoilers (I'm three movies behind as well). It's on my Christmas list, along with A Christmas Carol - another book that I am surprised not to have read thus far in life.

I tell you what movie I did go and see though: the new Bond.

Image via Druga Strona Filmu

Yep, this one. Fit.

October Update

I am aware that, while you were positively inundated with my posts throughout September, October has been comparatively quiet round these parts, so I thought I'd drop in to tell you what I have been up to. I wish I'd brought cake - I haven't baked a cake in ages.

The temperature's dropped and I got ill - just a cold, and not a particularly painful one, but a real energy-sapper, so my brain hasn't been working 100% for the last week or so. Despite this, I have a job interview this week and have sent off another application which I am hugely excited about. Plus, of course, I started my course. I already love it! I can tell it's going to be hard, but I am just so excited about it. I have already learned a couple of things about myself:

1. I am a chatterbox. I already know I am comfortable meeting new people and can usually find something to talk about, but apparently, when given free rein, I am an unstoppable chatterbox. "Chatterbox" - I like that word so much I used it three times.

2. I feel compelled to speak when nobody else is. It feels like a responsibility - why are we all wasting time sitting here not saying anything, when there's just so much that we could be talking about? (See above) In the context of the course, however, I have already figured out that just because people are not saying anything it doesn't mean their brains aren't working hard. It's nice to have a dedicated space where this is allowed to happen, and I can relax and just worry about the contents of my own brain, rather than whether everyone else is having a good time or feeling left out.

3. I get impatient with people who are not particularly self-reliant, as well as people who say "I don't mind" when really, they do.

Apart from that I've been reading more Carl Rogers and I've also started 'The Great Gatsby' on the side. It's such a joy to be back reading purely for fun - yes, 'War and Peace' was for fun, but it did start to feel more like an assignment from about two-thirds of the way in. Which is why it felt like such an achievement when I finished.

I've been itching to pick my knitting needles up again, but I've promised myself I'll get through my sock-darning pile first, now that the necessity for knee-high socks and woolly tights is once more upon us, and it would appear that only one or two survived last winter without a toe-poke or two. Luckily, I have discovered that a trip to the laundrette is the perfect amount of time to get at least one pair darned, and I am always proud to been seen out and about with my beautiful painted darning mushroom, which you may recall I bought from Vintage Jane last year.

I bought a new plant for my room and some furniture for the fish:

They were skeptical at first, but I think it suits them well. Next on the list is a bigger tank, poor things! They've grown so much since last time I featured them here. I love them so much, they really do deserve an upgrade!


My lovely London friend, Lucy, came to visit and we went to the Thermae Bath Spa - Britain's only natural thermal spa and one of Bath's biggest tourist attractions, and yet I hadn't visited before. I suppose I didn't really see the point and always thought it was over-priced, but my oh my, now that I've been I can't stop plotting my next excuse to be able to go back! I don't know why anyone would want to visit in the summer, but with pools which stay permanently at 33 degrees, and scented steam rooms in-between, they might have trouble keeping me away from the place once winter sets in. It was unbelievably soothing, and warmed my very bones (it was kind of a chilly day when we visited and it felt great, so I can only imagine what bliss this will be when it really gets cold outside). Of course, I took her to The Wild Cafe afterwards, so all in all it was a treat-filled weekend.

So, that's October so far. I've got another friend's visit coming up, plus a visit from my parents, so with any luck I'll be able to go back to The Wild Cafe at least twice. Another friend is hosting a beer festival this weekend (he brews his own) which, based on past experience, will be immense fun but somewhat painful the next day. I am also planning to attend the latest fundraiser for Bath Food Cycle - a brilliant charity which a friend of mine volunteers for, who pick up unwanted food from supermarkets and cook it up for the homeless. Pretty much perfect, right? To raise funds, they get a bunch of local musicians to play a gig, and they make cakes and canapes for us all to enjoy while we watch, all for a thoroughly reasonable admission fee. Last time I got to take home a shoebox full of leftover flapjack, and I won't embarrass myself by telling you how quickly it got eaten.

How's October treating you so far?

Eleni Drinks Tea in Paris

So, back in August, I got to go to Paris. 

Le sigh.  I don't care if it's a cliche: I love Paris.

That's me, loving Paris.  See the love?

You can actually lock your love in Paris: 

Thousands of padlocks line the bridges over the Seine, with lovers' initials written on them, to lock their love in Paris forever.  Le sigh.

OK, so although Paris is all about romance, I actually went with my sister.  It wasn't that kind of trip!  We've been talking about it since at least Christmas, how we've both been before for long weekends and seen all the tourist attractions (although I don't think I could ever get tired of looking around the Notre Dame cathedral), but that there was so much cool stuff to do in Paris, and you just can't drag your boyfriend around flea markets and vintage shops and stop for tea and crêpes and croissants every hour, pretty much on the hour...OK, before you start, I know there are a lot of good men out there who do enjoy these activities (mine included) but in mine and my sister's experiences, particularly with our current respective partners, there is only so much they can take.  They just can't keep up with the two of us, and it's mean to make them try.  So we left them at home.

Seriously, do boys appreciate the necessity of Ladurée macaroons?

Yeah, I'm in front of the Louvre.  But it's not about the Louvre.  It's about the Ladurée macaroon.  

That should give you an idea of the kind of week we had planned!

My sister lives about 10 minutes away from St Pancras station, so we caught the Eurostar at 7am and were in Paris two hours later, with a minimum of fuss.  I friggin' love the Eurostar.  You can even buy your Metro tickets on the train, so you don't have to queue at Gare du Nord, you can just stroll straight through like a local.  Once we'd located our hotel (I may have boldly directed us to the wrong rue Jean-Jaurès) we headed into town to get our bearings and pay our obligatory respects to the appropriate towers, arches, and cathedrals, then spent the rest of the afternoon (and indeed, most of the rest of the week) just walking around, seeing what we would stumble across.

Well, we stumbled across a heavenly biscuit shop.  I'm still amazed that any of those biscuits made it all the way home to Blighty to share with my boyfriend!

We marvelled at Paris' penchant for extra large doors:

See?  Small sister, large door:

We each picked out our favourite wing of the palace.  Here is mine:

And we swooned over every blue door number and every shuttered window of every Paris apartment:

Of course, you bloggers may remember that Sarah Strawberry Fields was in Paris a couple of months ago, and upon her recommendation we headed to Le Petit Zinc for our first evening meal.  It did not disappoint:

It's an art nouveau dream come true: the interior looked like the inside of the Titanic:

Booth seating, original tiled pictures of flowing-haired fairies in diaphanous dresses, and my oh my the biggest escargot either of us had ever seen!  The snails were amazing, then my sister had a coquelet and I had the lamb, and we both nearly died of happiness.  Promise me, next time you're in Paris, you will eat there.  It's at 11 Rue Saint-Benoît, which is near Saint-Germain-des-Prés Metro station.  

One other restaurant I simply must mention is Le Café Marguerite, which we discovered completely by accident at 3 Rue Rougemont, just behind Grands Boulevard Metro station.  The two old guys who own the place were like a comedy double-act straight out of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie, and we ate like kings for about €12 each.

Between blogs, guide books, friends' recommendations and just the good old internet, we had each compiled a list of shops, cafes, and such that we wanted to visit.  The night before we left we pooled our resources and picked out two or three areas which had the most hits on our list, and so our general plan each day was to head to an area, try and find the places we'd looked up in advance, but otherwise just wander and soak up the atmosphere.  We spent a lot of time around Saint-Germain-des-Prés, found some brilliant shops in the Marais district, and of course, headed up to Montmarte.  Amelie's very own stomping ground, and home to the gorgeous but aggressively touristy Sacre Coeur, it is a maze of picturesque streets filled with vintage shops and cute boutiques.  You come out at Abbesses Metro station, which is one of the few with its original wrought iron entrance...

...and then you spend the rest of the day winding your way down the hill taking pictures of every cute shop front and wishing you lived in every apartment block:

It has always been an artists' district, and there is evidence of their continued presence everywhere:

On our last day we had a few hours to play with after we'd dropped our bags off at the Gare du Nord and headed to rue Montorgueil (Les Halles Metro station, really central) which I'd heard was a good foodie market street. 

If, like us, most of the souvenir gifts you plan on bringing back from Paris are edible, then I would definitely recommend you head down there on your last day, too!  There are two or three main streets lined with butchers, boulangeries, charcuteries, fromageries, wine merchants, grocers, and every other kind of food shop you could hope to find!  We'd bought all our gifts within about half an hour, which left us plenty of time for a delicious lazy lunch and a good old snoop around, and absolutely no need to rush to catch our train home.

We packed a lot into our four days.  We ate a lot, we did a lot of walking, and of course, we did a lot of talking, too.  My sister and I have never been on holiday together before, and I think we both agreed that it was a roaring success.

Le sigh.  Can we go back next week, please?

It's Only Rock and Roll

I mentioned in my hasty catch-up post that I'd been to a couple of gigs recently, then the week before last week I went to another one, and it was a total last-minute surprise, so I thought we'd have a little chat about music today, if you don't mind?  Since my fella's a musician (oh and by the way his album is finally out and you can listen to it and buy it HERE! Sorry, couldn't help myself) and therefore most of his friends are also musicians, I am lucky enough to get to see my friends play local gigs and open mic nights on a fairly regular basis, but since moving out of London and ceasing to work in the industry, I've been attending far fewer Proper Gigs - you know, where you actually have to buy a ticket and everything.  So, here's what I've actually been spending my money on recently:

The first gig was Pure Love at Moles, which is Bath's main gig venue and just so happens to be on the same block as my flat.  I do love being able to basically go downstairs and be at a gig!  Anyway, Frank Carter, the singer from Pure Love, used to be the singer in a tremendous punk/hardcore band called Gallows whom I had the pleasure of seeing and sweating along to at Reading festival one year.  Gallows were awesome, and Frank is one of the best frontmen I have ever seen.  Have a look-see:

Alas, I heard he'd left Gallows and formed a new band, so when my buddy Death (real name: John) informed me they were playing in Bath (or "downstairs" as I usually refer to Moles) we had to go and investigate.  They had only released two songs thus far, and as you can see they clearly had a lot more money to go around this time:

I must admit, I wasn't expecting much.  It sounded a little too slick, a little too over-produced, for my taste.  But you can't keep a good man down...they were outstanding live.  Despite clearly having matured somewhat since I last saw him, Frank retained every ounce of that greyhound-out-of-a-trap intensity that you can see in the Gallows video above: he owned the room.  They made a good noise.  My ears were ringing afterwards (but thankfully not the next day) reminding me once again that I need to invest in some good earplugs - safety first, kids!

The second gig was back on much more familiar turf: the Garage in London.  It used to be my second favorite London venue (the Astoria came first, always - alas, she is no more) but they've done it up since last time I was there and now I'm not so sure, but it's still a really good size.  My old roomie and I went to see We Are Scientists, as we have done every year since we've been friends, so it was a total nostalgia trip.  If you haven't heard of We Are Scientists, here is the first song from their first album, which I still love to bits:

I hate to say I think their newest album is lacking a little something, but they are still brilliant live, not least because they are hilarious.  The onstage banter at a We Are Scientist show is unparallelled, I can assure you.  Seeing them is like seeing old friends, especially when it's in an old favourite venue with an old favourite roomie.  Loved it.  Must also mention the support act: The Virginmarys.  Good, big noise.  Reminded me of AC/DC, of all things.  The Kerrang crowd will be all over this lot when the word gets out, you mark my words.

My final gig outing (for this post, at least!) came about due to a series of coincidences.  I'd heard my friend talking to her boyfriend about First Aid Kit the other week, and while the name sounded familiar it didn't really register.  Then on the Monday, Skunkboy Creatures did her usual Music Monday feature, and lo and behold, it was First Aid Kit again, and this was the song:

Isn't it dreamy?  I realised I'd heard it before, here and there, but the weird part is that they looked familiar - I knew I'd seen their picture somehwere recently.  It took me a minute, but I realised I'd seen it downstairs - they were playing at Moles!  Feeling sure I'd missed the gig, I checked the website, and it turned out they were playing that very evening, and there were still tickets available!  A round of texts and phonecalls later, and we ended up as a party of five.  It was packed - I could barely see their pretty little Swedish heads bobbing above the crowd, and I have no idea what they were wearing (although I'm sure it was something suitably bohemian and romantic) - but oh my, they are so talented.  It was really, really lovely.  Their dad is their sound man - how cute?!  Must get the album.

Oh, and that reminds me, I bought a new album!  By a current band!  This is definitely note-worthy: I hardly ever buy new music, because I hardly ever find new bands that I like (and it's not because I'm a music snob, it's because I'm set in my ways) but do you remember last year when I got all excited about Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros?  Well, I heard they'd made a new album, and I loved the first album so much that I went right online and bought the new one, without even hearing so much as half a song!  Such a leap of faith!  But it paid off.  I am smitten.  It's magical.

Where the first album made you want to take off your shoes and follow them, skipping, through the desert, this new one makes you want to dance in a garden with your sweetheart.  Barefoot, of course.  It's has arrived in my life at precisely the right moment to coincide with the end of summer, and I think it will forever transport me to this time of year, whenever and wherever I hear it.  Delicious.

War and Peace

 I just read 'War and Peace.'

And I don't mean I just read it this afternoon - I have, in fact, been reading 'War and Peace' for eleven months.  It is the longest I have ever spent on one book, and I am exceedingly proud of myself.  I feel like I have joined an exclusive club: those of us who have read 'War and Peace' versus those of you who have not (or have you?  I know you are a most learned and well-read lot, so who's in this club with me?!).  I know You Who Have Not Read 'War and Peace' outnumber We Who Have Read 'War and Peace' considerably, but we are each armed with an enormously heavy book, which I am sure would make an excellent blunt-object sort of weapon if it came down to it.

You can see it here, pictured in front of the pile of books I have been squirrelling away for nearly a year, ready to read when I finally finished the mighty tome:

And here is 'War and Peace,' victorious, on the top of the pile:

It was good!  Not my favourite book ever (I cannot imagine I will ever be able to commit to reading it again) but it was very readable, frequently moving and awe-inspiring, and often very funny, which I wasn't expecting.  It loosely follows three or four aristocratic Russian families, and I really got engrossed with all of them - I couldn't wait to get stuck into the first epilogue to find out what happened to everybody after the war was over and people started moving back into Moscow (did you know that Moscow was burnt down during the Napoleonic wars?  I had no idea.  Imagine that: an entire capital city burnt down and rebuilt, in the 19th century too).  I could have done without the second epilogue - it doesn't continue the storyline but consists of Tolstoy's thoughts on the origins of power and the failings of historians - but by the time you've read 980 pages of the tiniest print you've ever seen, you feel like you might as well finish it properly.

I am going to miss its reassuring bulk in my bag every day (although I'm sure my spine won't!) but it will be so nice to get back to reading something which can fit into any handbag, something that will not have to be left at home during weekends away because it is just too damn big to fit into my bag along with everything else!

In the end it was perfect timing: my course starts in a couple of weeks so I'm getting stuck into Carl Rogers (and really loving it so far, by the way), but in addition to the twelve novels stacked above, I have another twelve waiting for me in my Book Depository wishlist.  I am spoilt for choice, but I think my next novel will be either 'The Great Gatsby' (wouldn't mind reading it before the film comes out) or Patti Smith's 'Just Kids' - I just want something that is completely different from 'War and Peace.'  Something short.  Preferably in a nice large font.

Absolutely Autumn

Look what I saw on my way out of work yesterday:

We've had the most beautiful evenings this week: warm with dramatic skies and stunning sunsets.  We frequently get spectacular sunsets in Bath, the best I've seen in the UK.  I wonder why?  I think we're in a bit of a micro-climate because we sit in a valley.  We certainly collect enough rainclouds!

I love autumn.  I always think summer's my favourite: warm weather and sunshine, sundresses and sandals, long light evenings - what's not to love?  But (and forgive me for sounding terribly English for a minute) the last couple of summers have just been so disappointing: rainy and cold throughout June and July, random hot weekends in September/October...it's been unpredictable, to say the least.  There are dresses and skirts in my wardrobe which have not come out to play this year, because it just hasn't been warm enough. 

Ah, but autumn?  You know where you are with autumn.  You know you'll need a jacket this evening.  You know you ought to wear boots and bring an umbrella because it will probably rain.  Then as September gives way to October the scarves and gloves and woolly tights come out.  But for now, just when it begins, it's still light when you're heading home from work.  There are still the occasional evenings you can sit outside.  You still need to take your sunglasses out on a Saturday, just in case.  You need an extra layer, but there isn't that frantic bundling-up-out-of-necessity which winter brings.  A girl can still maintain a silhouette!  Everybody starts wearing my favourite colour palette: browns, purples, mustards, and mossy greens.  Warmth.  Comfort.

And when the leaves start to turn?  Gets me every year, they're just so gorgeous.  Autumn is beautiful.  Swishing through piles of leaves on the street like a schoolgirl.  Autumn in nostalgic - it brings excitement along with it - back to school, new pencils and shoes.  Halloween, Thanksgiving (my boyfriend's American, so I get to hijack this holiday, too), and, of course, (whisper it) Christmas is coming - you can hear rumours of them on the breeze.  Autumn is whistful: summer is coming to a close, like the last days of a holiday, and we're feeling relaxed and sleepy.  Ready to curl up in thick socks and cosy jumpers.  Autumn is reassuring.

Carter's Steam Fair

I first read about Carter's Steam Fair on the Yours Truly blog a couple of months ago and it looked so delightful that I went straight onto their website to check if and when they'd be visiting Bath.  I put in in my diary, then finally, this weekend, I got to go!

They only have vintage rides - 19th century to 1960s - and as you can imagine, they are all completely gorgeous:

 

Not sure about this pig...

The whole park was filled with the sound of pipe-organ music, accompanied by a little mechanical conductor:

 

The Carter family even get to travel in style:

 

There was a big crowd around this amazing working steam engine (I was pleased I got to sneak in at least one decent photo):

We had tremendous fun on the Rock 'n' Roll Dodgems, got all giddy on the Paramount Chair-o-Plane, and displayed our manly prowess on the Mighty Strikers, but my favourite part was the penny arcade.  The Carter family had been collecting antique penny slot machines for years as a hobby before they developed the rest of the fair, and they have the most wonderful collection.  As with many arcades, you had to buy tokens to put into the machines, but the 'tokens' at Carters are actual old pennies!  We kept one of ours because it was from 1918.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

 

There were, of course, a couple of creepy old ones, Old Betsy here being one of them (but she reminded us all of Tom Hanks' finest hour in Big, so we put a penny in anyway!)

There was also a horrible laughing sailor, whose name is, apparently Jolly Jack, but his mechanical laugh and tatty edges scared the crap out of me because he reminded me of the laughing clown that used to be on Clarence Pier in Portsmouth, who had been frightening generations of Pompey youngsters until the place was revamped some time in the '90s and someone had the good sense to remove the cursed thing.

Maybe it's because I grew up by the seaside and we frequently holidayed on the Isle of Wight, but I absolutely love fairs and arcades.  How about you?  If you're in the UK you should definitely look up when Carters Steam Fair is heading your way, it was a fun afternoon/evening and just that little bit nicer than a normal travelling fair.  And the doughnuts were sensational ;)