Revolutionary Rants

Been quiet again, haven’t I? Sorry, sorry. The weekend seems to be eaten up by swimming and gardening (the woefully late start on our allotment is slowly but surely becoming some actual ’stuff’ going on, more of which in a moment…) and the week is, of course, the toad as Larkin named it. Plus lots of dog walking and the obligatory crime dramas I have to watch (tonight, Wire in the Blood).

I actually rang on my own tonight, properly on my own for the first time. A long way from stay breaking, I feel pathetically proud of myself! My one remaining fellow-ringing is also ringing alone now so we are starting to ring as a two-person team, too.

I have got my summer baskets up, sweltering in the heat, plus some planting has gone on down the allotment. We have potato plants coming through despite them going in awfully late.

Alex is hopefully coming down at the weekend, and I am hopefully meeting up with Andrew, too, as he is in Exeter for work. So, life rolls on like a bell tolling…

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OK, so Thursday has kid of tagged me for this one  – sorry for the lack of posting T., full time work is taking some getting used to for me!!! The temptation to sit of the sofa with Ferris, a cuppa/G&T and an episode of Daziel & Pascoe is worryingly huge at the present…

What is your current obsession?

Getting more sleep… And Radio 4 driving to and from work to de-stress!

What is your weirdest obsession?

The Manic Street Preachers

What are you wearing today?

At the moment my pyjamas, but earlier I had posh office wear of a black skirt and top combo!

What’s for dinner?

We had goats cheese and vine ripened tomato parcels with creamed leeks

What would you eat for your last meal?

Bouillabaisse, right at this moment

What’s the last thing you bought?

Shopping from the largest evil capitalist shop

What are you listening to right now?

Chicken laughing at That Mitchell and Webb Look

What do you think of the person who tagged you?

I think she writes beautifully

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

Paris

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Again, Paris; to see the lights of the city come up on the Eiffel Tower

Which language do you want to learn?

French

What’s your favourite quote (for now)?

“You know what the fellow said—in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” – Harry Lime in The Third Man

What is your favourite colour?

Red

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

All the things that don’t fit anymore…

What is your dream job?

Writer, lecturer in Political Philosophy

Describe your personal style?

Black. Lots of black.

Who is your favourite actor?

Orson Welles

What are you going to do after this?

Go to bed and to sleep!

What’s your favourite fruit?

Figs

What inspires you?

My politics, my parents

Your favourite books?

The Catcher in the Rye, The Picture of Dorian Gray and most of Orwell’s stuff

What are you currently reading?

The Torment of Others by Val McDermid

Go to your bookshelf, take down the first book with a red spine you see, turn to page 26 and type out the first line:

‘that between white workers and capitalists; and this split depended not simply on economic exploitation but on a racial folk-law grounded on centuries of instinct, habit and thought…’ Marx and Engels, Basic Writings of Politics and Philosophy

What delighted you the most today?

My early morning walk with Ferris

By what criteria do you judge a person?

Their politics…

What’s your favourite magazine

The only one I read is the one that comes in my Guardian on Saturdays…

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?

A collection of Larkin’s poetry, a bottle of fizz and something nice to eat

What are your favourite films?

Amelie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Citizen Kane, Pan’s Labyrinth

The rules:

1.  Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.

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Thought this might be of interest to some: Not in my name.

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At last! I’ve got around, with the help of my Dad, to putting in three rows of potatoes. Phew. My bro’, sister-in-law and I also got some beetroot and sweetcorn in the week before. Dad might rotavate the plot for us tomorrow, too. We are rather smothered in weeds, as the DIY projects have rather taken over at the weekends here, recently…

Finished with my old job on Tuesday and on to my new one on Monday, which I am pretty excited about.

Chicken is working today and had to work until 20:30 or so yesterday as there is a big move at his workplace, but the sun is shining and it was last Sunday when we got out to Countisbury hill for a lovely walk.

UKIP propaganda continues to arrive, David Cameron has now written to the whole family and the expenses row rolls on. I am torn between ‘wasting’ my vote on the Greens or a token leftie party or tactically voting for the mellow yellows… Hmmm, the horror of it all…

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I would urge you to go and cast your vote (for Philip Larkin, hopefully) here for the nation’s favourite poet.

And if you think Larkin is just a grumpy old Right-wing git, read this… If any line can take me back to my A Levels and summer 2001 in an instant it is that:

Our almost-instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

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The new Manics album is causing some furore it seems… Which reminds me I need to buy it! Hope it is better than some of their latterly albums (Lifeblood aside).

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Just a quick note to say happy 2nd and/or 6th anniversary to Chicken. It is our ‘cotton’ anniversary today and six years since we first met, at Milton Hall Student Union Bar and Cafe, on a sunny Wednesday.

Crumbs, Chief!

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We have just returned from a fantastic week in Brittany. Sadly the rain has now set in to North Devon and the world is in the grip of a pandemic, but hey-ho. I have a new job, which I am starting soon.

Back to our hols… We used Condor ferries, Weymouth to St. Malo and were rather shocked to discover that we would be stopping off at Guernsey and Jersey en route! The crossings were both rough and there was quite a bit of seasickness however, on the plus side, the loading on/off the ferry was especially efficient. We were no more than 10 minutes getting off on our return journey and the third or forth car off at St. Malo. Oh, and the second car on the ferry at St. Malo, too!

We had booked a lovely gite on the

Port du Dinan

Dinan. The gite was great, fantastic location, large kitchen/sitting room with four person table, lovely double room, nice bathroom, good twin room on the second floor. The only problems we had were that the walls were paper-thin and we were quite disturbed by our neighbours on either side and that there was a big ant problem.

You can walk up to Dinan in about 20 minutes, up the cobbled Rue de la Petite Fort. Dinan is a nice, busy medieval city.

The Port is the cities nicest part, in my opinion, and we enjoyed a nice meal at L’Atelier Gourmand which is just off the bridge on the Dinan side. We both had fish dishes and a beautiful tarte tatin, but we felt the service lacked something generally.

We visited Mont St Michel, which we found hugely disappointing apart from the view of it from afar as it was very tacky and not very attractive inside. We also had went to Cancale, which is nice if very shell-fish orientated!

We walked the round the walls of the old town of St Malo twice, in the sea-mist and the sunshine. We hired bikes for €12 for 24 hours and cycled a lot of the Rance from Dinan in both directions, doing oer 30km in one day and seeing lovely view and a moorhen pecking at a swimming snake! We also had a wonderful day driving along the Cote d’Armor from Dinard (very disappointing again) and saw the fabulous Cap Frehel and the oyster beds along the shore.

We had a absolutely fantastic meal at Le Chalut in St Malo; the €25 per person menu, which was one of the best meals I have had in France (wayyyy better than a €90 per head one I’ve had elsewhere, actually!). Scallops, John Dory with Langoustine sauce and celeriac puree and a poached pear with passion fruit and white wine to finish. Simply glorious.

An excellent holiday!

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All quiet here. Had a lovely – quiet – Easter weekend. Went to Castle Drogo on Dartmoor on the Friday, had a dinner at my brother’s on the Saturday, went up to Mortehoe for a walk on the coast with Ferris on Sunday and did very little and ate soupe du poisson on the Monday.

Smashing.

I am now hoping we’ll avoid the ’spectacular’ thunder storms that are hovering over the South West… Also, I can hardly believe it is twenty years since the awful tragedy of Hillsborough; one of the first ‘played out of television’ national news stories.

Now we all live out our lives on YouTube, including the coppers with their truncheons…

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Quote of the day; the ever leftie Daily Mail says that protesters were joined by ‘HUNDREDS OF HARDENED ANARCHISTS’.

I love it. I keep thinking of myself all made of stone. With a little bomb, of course…

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