Home Sweet Home...

I have spent the last two months with my Sister in Crawley. Now, I am home. Back to Warrington.
Here is a photographic list of things that I did...

I worked as a waitress in Pizza Express, Reigate, and attempted to perfect latte art... Still working on that! As a waitress my most asked questions were:
Q. Where abouts in Yorkshire are you from?
A. I'm not, I'm from Cheshire.
Q. How do you cope when it is so busy?
A. The truth? I don't I panic. I black out, go into auto pilot and come around at about 3.30, when it quietens down, feeling strangely elated.
Q. If I give you this tip do you get to keep it?
A. Yes, hand it over!
I also served Shane Richie, he ate a Leggera Contadina, gave me a £3.50 tip and enjoyed calling
me "darlin'". I refrained from asking for his autograph.


I witnessed my nephews heartbeat and helped to compile a shortlist of names. My favourite was Dylan, as in Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas and Dylan from the Magic Roundabout, couldn't name a child after a better bunch. I have recently found out this name is no longer on the shortlist. Other names I wished they would have considered include, Neptune, Hades, Hermes and Apollo.

I went to explore Brighton three times. I found a bohemian area with many street markets.

Played (f)unfair games.

Became fascinated with the pier. How many feet have trodden these planks? When will they fade away and become weak? When will all these rides and amusements plummet to the sea's bed? An under water funfair. A new Atlantis. A little like that film A.I.

Ate fish and chips on the beach after fantasising about doing such a thing since last Christmas.


Found a reissue of Velvet Underground and Nico LP, COMPLETE WITH PEELABLE BANANA! As well as adding to my Bowie on LP collection. Andrew and I's new favorite thing to do is buy LPs. It is nice to share a hobby.

Entered one of my books into a competition.

Went on many, many, train journeys. To Bristol, to Brighton, to London.

Discovered a River Island window display not too dissimilar to my Secret History project. Even the same head. £15 ebay? Really spending the big bucks there aren't you River?



On a walk through Notting Hill with Lucy Vann, we stumbled upon George Orwell's House. We took this as a sign. We have to move there.

When Lucy and I take London, we do not take photos of monuments, no. We take pictures of eerie train tunnels. I like to think I put a full stop to her European adventure with Libby Scarlett.


Finally, on my way home, I went to a slightly unconventional wedding in Derbyshire (which turned out slightly more conventional than I had expected but was lovely all the same). It was my auntie and new but actually kind of old uncle's (in that he has been around for 18 years and we have always called him uncle) wedding. I was in charge of the music. These were the songs that were included in the ceremony...
I Will - The Beatles
Jerusalem
Song Bird - Which my cousin, Dominic, performed to a backing track
Burlington Arcade - Rick Wakeman
Followed by a garden party with Pimms and Sangria to a mixture of the Gipsy Kings and Salsa! Salsa! Salsa!
Then we ate Hog Roast. Poor pig.

In the morning we gathered in a stripped Marquee and feasted on bacon croissants . Enough for fifty people.
I returned home to a water bill from my previous house in Manchester, and a hand written envelope. In the top right hand corner there was a stamp which stated the country from which it had departed, "Prague". It was a Birthday gift from my good friends Lucy Vann and Libby Scarlett. It was full of joy and forgotten memories and made me happy. Thanks guys! There was a postcard within which contained a thoughtful poem I could truly appreciate and relate to.

"Bongo the monkey sits in a tree
the happiest monkey you'll ever see
In his spare time he plays the guitar
one of these days he'll be a big star!"

This poem belonged to one of Lucy's beanie baby toys from when she was a little person. He shared my birthday. I am impressed she was able to remember. Happy belated brithday Bongo. Hope you are living the rock and roll dream.


Last night I sat alone in Sandbar with a glass of red and a Moleskine. The jukebox played The Pixies and Nico. It felt like home.

I Want To Cry for Humanity...

But I would drown.


Adam Curtis' "It Felt Like A Kiss"

Probably the best, most terrifying and important thing I have ever seen. I do not need to say anymore. It is self explanatory. Watch it right now!

Semi Conductor...

This post is dedicated to two stunning videos made by Semiconductor (www.semiconductor.com)
They are beautiful, honest, raw and haunting images of space taken from satellites. "Brilliant Noise," show us images of the Sun. The noises are unnerving, mechanical and very fitting. The images are real, yet we are distant from them, separated by a machine (static) and a thick layer of glass keeping us alive (machine/atmosphere/computer screen). We are not there. It is foreign to us, yet we still get the feeling of absolute awe. The majesty of life, of being, of self. We are here but we shouldn't be. It is all some massive accident. To see the Sun - life giver, in full bewildering all natural beauty and untamed on screen is somewhat breathtaking almost overwhelming. The machine like static noises remind us that we are not there, we are not seeing it first hand, we are being kept alive by this machine. All in all it is an isolating sensation. Pleasant all the same.

Close up we see the suns surface dance, unpredictable, alight, the opposite to the cold wet suface of the Earth. To catapult the Earth into the sun would cause the dimmest, almost inaudible "Sizzzzzzzzz" sound as the fiery surface swallows it's sphere. Or perhaps there would be an unpredictable effect. That man and nature would cool the suns heart and it would turn to stone, gravity would collapse and the universe would fall onto the floor of a small child's bedroom (or something as equally paradox).

From time to time the sun spits out a dark silhouette that is as haunting as the stirring of a soul, a ghost dancing, an alien invading. But enough of that, you simply must experience this your self. Lights out. No distractions. Full screen.

You would be dumb not to follow these instructions: Download TV on the Radio "Staring at the Sun" on iTunes (79p, bargain!) An equally distorted, haunting but beautiful track. Play "Brilliant Noise" with no volume (the volume control is in the bottom corner of vimeo screen) Wait for about 10secs in (when the title disappears and the sun appears) then hit play on itunes. The two sync up absolutely wonderfully. However there is quite a bit of left over video, you can fill that in with whatever song you like.

Brilliant Noise

Brilliant Noise from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

"Black Rain" similarly awesome. This time we track interplanetary space for solar wind and CME's (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. You don't really need to understand that bit though.

Try syncing up with the Velvet underground's White Light/White Heat" it is great at first but then loses it a bit.

Black Rain

Black Rain from Semiconductor on Vimeo.