beeker ideas

changes

Seu Jorge singing David Bowie in The Life Aquatic

There are a few changes coming up for me.  One main one really, which is a new job.  And of course that involves all sorts of other changes I suppose, big and small.  Like getting to know new people, moving to a new part of town, learning a whole other discipline, working out what kind of tea people drink.

I'd forgotten what a funny time it is working out your notice somewhere.  There's all the excitement of going somewhere new, and then - if you're lucky - the sadness of leaving.  My family are famous for ridiculous, prolonged goodbyes.  It takes about an hour to leave someone's house after tea, for example.  And this feels a bit like that.  A big long goodbye.  But the next bit's very close now and I can't wait.

This time round, instead of letting the blog slump while I adjust I was thinking I might document the whole thing a bit better.  I'm going to need to learn a lot, so hopefully it'll be interesting.  As long as my new people don't mind.  (They're all digital like, so it seems appropriate.) 

off

I'm going way for a couple of weeks so if things go a bit quiet, that'll be it.

away

We're going here on Saturday for 2 weeks.  I'd love any recommendations.

new caddy

Matt went up north to see family this weekend.  One of whom had knitted us this tea caddy.  It's a thing of beauty.  I'm very proud of it already.  I don't think any of my southern relative would have done this.  Even though they're all outstanding people, of course.

feeling jacobean

I find myself in a Jacobean Manor, in the depths of deep dark Devon for work.  Eating very good ham sandwiches.  (Check out the decor.)   

I've never slept in a Jacobean Manor before.  I wonder if I'll have Jacobean dreams, or if they have Jacobean ghosts here.

Anyway, it seemed a good time for a quick post - finally - so I wanted to wish anyone still out there a very good 2008. (It's been so long since I posted I got my Typepad password wrong.  That's not right is it?)  One of my resolutions is to write non-blog stuff every day.  Which might mean even less blog stuff.  But then again another one is to merge a couple of other things with this blog, which might mean a bit more.  Who knows. 

Good night.  As Ben would say.

seagulls in my bedroom

The unthinkable has happened.  I've got seagulls in my bedroom.

My big sister (who knows what she's doing as she recently qualified as an art teacher – surely one of the best jobs in the world) gave us this picture when we got married. We got round to hanging it with much ceremony yesterday. I love it.

The thing about it is, it’s enthralling for all sorts of strange reasons. Not least the ugly-beautiful one. Despite supporting the Brighton & Hove Albion variety of seagulls in a sort of half hearted marital sympathy sense, when it comes to actual seagulls, I've always had a bit of an issue. They seem weirdly selfish. Rat-like sometimes in their scavenging. Disconcertingly, blankly insistent. And they nick your chips.

These photos were taken on a fishing trip in Cornwall a couple of years ago. For the first hour or so three or four seagulls watched us, from a couple of hundred yards away. At the point these photos were taken Matt had asked the captain to show him how to gut the fish, and was completely absorbed in outing innards as (much to my distress) the seagulls quadrupled in number and started to close in. Every now and again he’d even toss an unneeded bit of mackerel to them (another trick picked up from the captain that impressed me not so much) which they’d catch with a snap. Like Rottweilers.

Watching

Waiting

Coming in for the kill

Just as it was all turning a bit too Hitchcock we were done. We turned round and headed back, losing the interest of the gulls to their next meal in a few minutes. That night we had a mackerel barbecue in a cave by the sea. The best meal I’ve ever had.

So when I opened this picture I instantly loved it.  It’s beautiful. Not just the photos and the composition - the seagulls themselves. My sister made something ugly beautiful. Which I think must be my other new thing.

violently pitching

the fish

I got fish for my birthday.  I've had to introduce them because I'm now obsessed. 

This is Stringer.

And here's Wallace.

 

Stringer bullies Wallace.  A LOT.  We're worried that naming Stringer after a gangster and Wallace after the weakling who's ultimately a fatal victim of Stringer's gangsterism might have made this all too inevitable.

This is Stringer in the middle of roughing up Wallace, interrupted by the flash.  Look how mean he is.

And lastly, these are The Twins.  It's hard to get a photo of them because they're mental.

new business card

These arrived recently.  Good likeness I think.

being away, and football

So here I am in America again. Feels like about 5 minutes ago I was here before. Although an awful lot has happened since then. And it's so long since I posted I'm not really sure I know how to do it any more. (Of course it's debatable I ever really did). But I'm getting that thing - I don't know if this is a common blogging malaise - where the longer I leave it, the less I think of that's worthwhile posting. At least not on a blog that still vaguely purports to be planning related.

So I thought I might jack in the planning thing, blog wise. And start to do something more like the writing I'd like to do on here. That's the plan anyway. We'll see.

Actually since I came for work last time, I've also been back on our honeymoon road trip. But that was west - San Francisco, northern California. We would have made it to Oregon had we not put the wrong fuel in the car...but in the end that didn't stop it being completely perfect. And one of the surprising things about it was how O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D I got with NFL. Out of nowhere. Anyone who knows me knows this is weird. I don't get rugby. I do get soccer when I'm enough in the mood. I loathe stuff where people get hurt a lot, like, well boxing. And on the whole I find sports analysis about as fun as stabbing my eyes out. But there I was, motel after motel, sneaking peaks at the new season's NFL coverage with something like mania.

God knows what it is. The national festivity around the new season. The beauty of it when someone breaks free to score, definitely. But really, it's in the commitment, and the danger, and the ridiculous courage involved. I think. Also, it's a lot to do with this pep talk I saw.

I wish I could give pep talks like that. Or maybe have someone who could give me them.

So we had to watch Any Given Sunday when we got back. The best bits of which were the lion growling noises they put over the action sequences. Silly, brilliant stuff.