Posted on by Alasdair

“The world is quiet, it’s New Years Day…”

Just back, after spending half the night crashed on Anna’s couch, having consumed a good amount of both whiskey and champagne down by the Thames at midnight on a beautifully cold and clear night. Walking home on a morning that seems (in my not quite sober state) bright with fantastic promise, 2002 begins, and I feel like I could take on the world. A good way to start the New Year. A toast then:

“Let those that love us, love us, and those that do not, let god turn their hearts. And if he cannot turn their hearts, let him turn their ankles, so we may know them by their limp.”

Wish I could remember where I got that from.

A happy and prosperous New Year to all of us.

Topping Up

Posted on by Alasdair

I have been at this for two days now, and I still have 2 gig spare on this MP3 player. On the one hand, I love that I can now carry all my favourite albums in one pocket, on the other, I fear I’ll never fill this thing…

Billy Some Mates

Posted on by Alasdair

So, looks like I do have friends. Ten minutes after the last post, the phone rings – it’s Natalie and Rob, just back in town from Christmas, looking for an excuse to go for a drink before finishing their journey home. So we did. Huzzah!

Back home now, “cooking” dinner (leftover party nibbles) and drinking a rather nice red…

Billy No Mates

Posted on by Alasdair

Fucking shitehawk whorebeast ratfuck cumstains. It’s the fucking festive fucking season, and I don’t appear to have any friends. Aside from the basic embarrassment of inviting a load of people around for festive fun, and have all of three people turn up, tonight I get home from work, and think “I know, I’ll phone around and see if anyone fancies seeing LOTR or a pint ot two.” So I go through my phone book, to a litany of “Out of town. Busy. Out of Town. Not answering phone.” and so on.

In the end, I give my brother a call. Not, I hasten to add, as a last choice, but he saw the film the other week, and I didn’t reckon he’d want to see it again. I figure he might at least fancy a few beers, or something,

He’s out. Seeing LOTR. With one of my friends, who’d I’d tried to call and got voicemail. Neither one of them thought to phone me. Fuckers.

So if anyone I know in London is reading this, and fancies a drink, or a trip to see LOTR, give me a ring. Or drop me an email in the next hour or so.

Otherwise, I’m going to eat things that are bad for me, drink a bottle of wine, and watch videos, while having a huff with the world.

Prep

Posted on by Alasdair

Hope you all had a good Christmas…

I’ve invited a load of folk round for Boxing Day, but given that almost no-one bothered to let me know if they were coming or not, it may wind up being me, my flatmate, and two or three other people. In which case, I have probably bought far too much food and booze, but still.

Also have no idea what time to expect anyone – I said from two, but have no idea if they’re likely to arrive then, or later, not really a problem, but it’d be nice to know if it was worth mulling some wine for anyone arriving at two…

Ah, fuck it, I’ll go mull some wine anyway. Worst comes to worst, I’ll just have to deal with it myself. Oh, the hardship.

Pogue-o

Posted on by Alasdair

Saw The Pogues live last night. Am now in some pain, but by god, it was worth it. Especially since we got to see them do “Fairytale of New York” two days before Christmas, and probably for the last time. A fantastic, fantastic performance. I’m so glad I saw it.

Mango

Posted on by Alasdair

Out at Anna’s birthday party last night. Met the crowd from Barbelith who were lovely. I am a good little hippy, and have downloaded the Peace Mango tune, and fear that I am stuck with it in my head all day. You should download it as well, and do your part for world peace.

Solitude

Posted on by Alasdair

Now it begins to feel like Christmas. I’ve got the flat to myself until Boxing Day, so I’m sipping a good malt, relaxing with a CD of European choral music, with candles lit. Much as I love my flatmates, the prospect of having the flat to myself for a few days is nothing short of wonderful…

Opening

Posted on by Alasdair

Today’s Weird Thinking:

2000 was the ghost year, not quite part of one century or the other, a year for doing shit that was disconnected from what was around it. It didn’t count. A good year to try things out, see how they worked, a bad year for laying foundations for anything really big. 2001, a bad year generally. The year the future died. Big stain of psychic disappointment hanging over the whole event. Not a good year for beginnings. A year for looking back one last time.

2002 isn’t here yet, but a quick examination with Gematria (because I’m in that kind of mood) tells us it evaluates to 4, Dalet in the Hebrew alphabet, the doorway. It’s all about the stepping through into something new. I’m taking this as a good sign for my plans for next year. This is the year to start shit…

Budget

Posted on by Alasdair

Lunchtime, I popped across the bridge to Putney in order to buy a couple of last minute things for Mum and Dad, and buy tape and wrapping paper and the like. It was lovely – I kept noticing people with suitcases and bags, clearly setting off (or arriving) to spend Christmas with loved ones. Wonderful time of year, this.

Because I was over the bridge, I took the chance to nip into Starbucks for another Gingerbread Latte, and as I was walking back, I wondered – when did my financial sense get so screwed up that I would hand over almost a fiver for a coffee and bit of cake, and not think anything odd of it? I mean, I remember living in Edinburgh, and having a weekly budget of about 30 quid for “luxuries”. Spending a fiver on a coffee would have been out of the question. Now, it’s a casual thing that I do without thinking, even when I’m running low on cash…