... my weekend in photos (and some comments)

Dave and I were in Paisley/Glasgow for most of this weekend. Saturday was a bit of a wash - a hot grey day, a very long bus journey, a really bland meal and terrible service in an overpriced restaurant, and both Dave and I being irritated by people's general rudeness. It's saviours were a nice walk in the evening, cups of tea made by the husband, and a new beautiful book bought with Christmas vouchers.

Saturday's saving grace. A beautiful book and the beginning of a collection

Saturday's saving grace for Dave - his guitar

Sunday started glorious and stayed glorious all the way through - a relaxed morning of breakfast, chat,radio and guitar playing, early afternoon gardening - the combination of all the bad weather and us doing nothing to the garden last year has left it in a very sorry state, and we aim to mend it. In the late afternoon, a party for Dave's taid's birthday at his sheltered flats followed by Vietnamese food, and in the evening a gig,  two bands who we are happy to call friends - good people and brilliant musicians. We had pizza on the way home and went to bed happy, tired people!

Sunday morning, a glorious day in Paisley(this is our street)

Listening to the radio on my very old hifi (we have no TV)

Dave playing guitar

one of the many ladybugs found whilst trimming the ivy on our stair wall

our garden - believe it or not this IS an improvement.

hotpot ginger chicken at the Vietnamese restaurant 

Roscoe Vacant & the Gantin' Scriechs - proof that protest music is not dead

Apologies, I Have None rocking the 13th Note

A,IHN's merch - foxes, owls, polka dots and flowers.

Monday is usually a work day for me, so it was a bit of a treat to switch days, meaning I could see the gig on Sunday and then travel home in the early afternoon today. Dave had a short meeting in Glasgow, so I had tea and a biscuit and read my book in a coffee shop. It gave me a wee smile to see that there were three other girls doing the very same thing - sitting on their own and reading. It seems a small thing, but even 15 years ago, people would have considered it a bit odd.

Tea, biscuit,book, happiness.

 The week is off to a good start, and at the end of it, a week's holiday and a few gigs.

...trying to read more widely

I read a lot, which is probably apparent. I like all genres of fiction, and I'd say that I am willing to give most books a try. There are only one or two types of book I routinely dismiss, and I do like reading non-fiction too. I realised the other day though that I claim to have read 'every book we own' but the truth is that I have read every book we own that isn't a science book. It's not as if Dave even buys science books that are difficult to read, they are fine if you just take time to process the information.

I have, in moments of 'oh no I have nothing to read' picked up one of these books, but I rarely finish them. Having lived with Dave for almost five years, I think I am relatively knowledgeable when it comes to science, but I find myself asking him fairly basic questions and thinking 'I should already know this!'. So, I've decided that for the moment, I am going to aim to read one of the science books we own per week.

I have tried to rotate this pic three times. It is not happening!

Last week, of my own accord I bought 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' which discussed the life of  cancer 'victim' Henrietta Lacks and her children in the very rural, poor 'black' south, and alongside that, the impact her cells (HeLa, the first 'immortal' cells) harvested without her permission, have had on science. It is in parts difficult and shocking to read, what was accepted then is considered entirely unethical now(both the scientific morals and the matter of fact racial separation), and the sheer poverty and difficulty of her family's life, juxtaposed with the amount of money, and the impact on science her cells have made is a stark contrast. I find the science interesting, but the human story alongside it makes it more so.

Next I am going to start 'In search of Schrodinger's Cat' again, I started it before and got half way through, and gave up when I got a new fiction book. It is well written and I'd understood everything to that point, so I'm a bit sad I gave up!

In other news, this week I am doing an overnight at work, so hopefully I'll catch up on blogging then, but I may be a wee bit absent from internet land!

Do any of the rest of you do this? I know you are all widely read, but is there any genre you tend to just skip?

...grateful for the weekend!

Glorious blue sky at work on Monday 

This is where I walk with the children!

This week has been very busy. 4 days in a row at work, with the length of time that I travel is quite tiring! For two of the days I had only one of the children (the eldest) which was lovely and calm, and also made me realise how far I've come considering that I had only the middle child for most of the day when I started! About one in every three days feels quite stressful at the moment, but I can at least see that I am juggling everything quite well now. I was very much ready for the weekend when it came, and I made the most of it!

Friday
Catching up on telly. Picking up presents for my sisters birthday (and wee bag of a new blend of tea for myself). Picking up and post-iting my first few World Book Night books (I have 20 or so to give away for free still, do click and comment if you'd like one).

New Selected Poems by Seamus Heaney - free if you comment on previous blog post!

Making soup, reading, eating Tunnock's Teacakes, pottering, catching up on blogs.

Saturday
Day in Glasgow for Hazel's birthday. Getting the train (a treat for this bus travelling girl). Meeting Hazel and our auntie Ina. tea and cake (Ice cream in Hazel's case) in Fifi and Ally's, surrounded by monochrome loveliness. Wandering, bargain hunting, catching up. More hot tea in Tinderbox. Falling in love with a Le Creuset teapot - I may or may not have been hugging it, and Ina buying me it (lovely, because I couldn't justify buying another tea pot)

The blue is very springtimey, no?

Visiting friends in the evening, and having cuddles with their smashing wee baby. Home on the train, a table to myself, a magazine and a cup of tea for company. Toast and cheese and late night comedy watching with Dave.


Sunday
Waking up early (NOT ON PURPOSE). Using my 'lie-in' time to watch trashy telly (Four Weddings). A new blend of tea from a new teapot.

The pot is too wide and squat to fit in the normal way...

Bacon sandwiches for breakfast. Sunday afternoon food shopping, kitchen spring cleaning, tidying and pottering, organising cupboards. Tea as sustainance. Hoovering and dancing to the tune of The Gaslight Anthem. Baking brownies.

Cosying up the bathroom -  new towels, a teal bath mat and some pictures, it was like a white cell before.

These are not beautifully shot, there is no space to take pretty pictures of the bathroom 

and it has no window so light is terrible. Isn't the teal colour lovely and cosy though?

Home-made fish and chips for tea. :)

At the moment I'm watching South Riding, which I love, having multiple twitter conversations, and getting my brain ready for work tomorrow. The flat is clean, organised and tidy, the cupboard and fridge are stocked, and I am closer to the bottom of the washing box than I have ever been. There are brownies to look forward to when I get home tomorrow, and I've succeeded in making our cell of a bathroom a bit more cosy. It feels very good knowing we'll start the week with a tidy, cosy, organised flat.

...a World Book Night giver

I was chose to be a giver for World Book Night, an organisation who's aim is to encourage more people to read, and to encourage those who do read to expand the range of genre they choose. People often tell me they find poetry a bit difficult to get into, so after thinking long and hard about which of the many and varied titles available I would like to give, I chose 'New Selected Poems' by Seamus Heaney. Heaney has a rare talent in that he writes poetry that is brilliant and beautiful, and is also accessible and very real. I think his work would change many minds about poetry. I am extremely excited to have been chosen as a giver, I love books and can't imagine a life without them, and to be able to give some to people for free is utterly wonderful. I have been offered a hug in return from a few people, and I am more than happy with that.

Yesterday I walked into town to pick up my sister's birthday present and my box of books, and having picked up the box and had a chat with the man in Waterstone's, I headed home. I quickly became grateful that : a) I am tall, and therefore the awkward box fitted, at a stretch, under my arm and b) that number 15 bus leaves from just up the road from Waterstone's and stops at the top of our road.

The books have been printed and bound with beautiful World Book Night 2011 covers (by faber and faber, a mark of quality in the book world!). They have new book smell - ink, paper and glue.

I originally had 48 copies to give away. 8 of them have been claimed by other people, so I have 40 left. If you don't tend to read poetry, are interested in Seamus Heaney's work, or even just want a free book, please do leave a comment below and email me your address if I won't see you in the near future so that I can post your copy!

Hurrah for books!