3 days in brief

Sunday: lazy morning. Afternoon and evening at GR while rjk was off painting. Music, good company, talked lots, went out to dinner. Good way to spend the day.

Monday: work still not bad, pleasant afternoon, coffee with E-J in town then pizza. Post-pizza had sing-along-Radiohead and Bridge, which are both good. A communications mix-up meant a rather hasty exit just as the second rubber began, but I was only watching anyway. Really trying hard not to balls stuff up. Oh and I successfully bid on a Reading Festival ticket on ebay. That's the bank holiday weekend booked then.

Tuesday: tired at work, but still getting along OK. Beginning to let myself get more distracted. Must nip that in the bud. Need to find things to do while waiting for bits of automagic processing to finish. Cooked dinner for rjk in the evening. Something of a success: I managed to make passable onion gravy. And the sausages had garlic in. And so did the mash. And the pudding had chocolate and cream and icecream and booze. What more could you want? Crime telly on 5 also good. Definitely getting into The Lyon's Den more each week. Want to know what happens next.

Tomorrow: work, lazy afternoon, some housework, dinner out with rjk?, Carlton quiz.

Musical Memories

Was just listening to Suzanne Vega's The Queen and the Soldier and thinking about something that occurred to me last night might make a vaguely interesting post. Various bits of music remind me of different bits of my life. Sometimes of specific people or places, sometimes just of being a certain age. That Suzanne Vega track doesn't seem to have any particular resonances of its own, but it is one that I really love, and which always hits me with the shivers. Sometimes tracks can change from triggering one memory to another. Some of them are romantic links, others just reminders of friendship and fun. Sometimes the track springs to mind when thinking of things, sometimes I only remember the link when I hear the music.

Terrorvision's first couple of albums will always remind me of Ian. Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with reminds me of flirting with Tom at Purgatory, or whatever the Oxford goth night was at that time, but also of August. Temple of Love always reminds me of David, while This Corrosion makes me think "He's a vet", or reminds me of being a teenager at school and the reaction of our music teacher to us apparently listening to something choral. The Passenger brings back CUWoCS parties, and Road to Nowhere RPGsoc/OUSFG Christmas parties. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers album By the Way will always remind me of how lovely Janet is. Placebo's Nancy Boy always makes me smile and think of Kitty. For some reason Belinda Carlisle makes me think of JT, and The Bangles' Eternal Flame will always bring back embarrassing memories of a long-held teenage crush on my mate Phil. Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms (the albums) will always live back-to-back in my mind, and remind me of being 11 and dancing alone in the moonlight in our back room in Kippax, in the silly girly pyjamas I owned at the time and loved. There are many many more.

They all seem to be pretty happy associations really. I can't think of any sad ones at the moment, except where they're tinged a little with sadness for love lost, but for most part there's more good memories than bad.