Sunday Summary

This week, I have mostly been...

Installing Windows 10

...and subsequently plunging my laptop into a state of discombobulated limbo.

Laptop no likey.

Word to the wise? Your Windows 7 or 8 OS are perfectly adequate for your needs. Just... don't go there.

I'm currently operating off a laptop borrowed from work and with my trusty external hard drive plugged in. No Photoshop Elements, mind, so no sexy white and blue picture frames this week, I'm sorry to say. (The devil's in the detail, darling readers.)

This is the blue screen of oblivion that I get when endeavouring to reset the wretched machine:

and I've had several other passive-aggressive screens up in my grill in the last few days.

Ain't nobody got time fo' dat.

Still.

Considerably worse things have happened, especially in the last month or so, giving this QB a much-needed slap upside the head in terms of perspective.

This is a laptop having a blip. An inanimate machine. I'm actually a lot more zen than I've ever been in the face of a PC fail before.


...So, in between destroying my tech, I've also been...

Reading

closely followed by the equally baffling:

Listening

...to Spotify again.

I stepped away from Spotify when the proliferation of adverts overrode the novelty of streaming music (this is still an irritation but less so now); and back when I was working on NaNoWriMo in 2012 I streamed Stereomood, which is how I discovered Max Richter and the Sarah's Key soundtrack that still underpins that novel I haven't finished writing (though watch this space in the coming weeks for more news on that front).

Well, Stereomood has disappeared into the ether, but Spotify has picked up the slack and is now offering 'mood playlists'. I approve.

My Saturday morning treat is currently a chilled Morning Coffee/Breakfast in Bed-style playlist over waffles and coffee and back issues of the Guardian Weekend or Stylist.

Who knows what might transpire?! Ed Sheeran, Passenger, Liane La Havas (who I need to investigate further along with Ben Howard)... it's all good.

Also,

...listening to the vinyl collection. Which seems to grow every time I slope into a charity shop. Ahem.

Watching

{The Goonies}

...for the first time along with AJ (to whom I also introduced the epic genius of Labyrinth).

Yes, cleave your jaws off the floor, friends, for I have, at the age of 37, initiated myself into the Goonies realm.

What the heck were you doing with your childhood?! I hear you ask (if you weren't one of the 'privileged' few who knew me before my forays into GHDs, wine and basic social skills).

Well, this film, for starters, was more a part of my childhood (video routinely borrowed from Radio Rentals!):

{Return to Oz | mtv via here}

with apologies to anyone who got corralled into re-enacting this traumatic little anti-Disney specimen (Clare, Katie, Jo, cousin Rachel...?).

Goonies is a whole 'nother thing. Those baby-faced 80s icons -- Sean Astin, Corey Feldman... -- not to mention the renowned Truffle Shuffle... and of course Sloth.

Now I finally understand who the Keith Lemon Sketch Show is taking off! Get me and my cultural references.

(I do sort of wish I'd seen it in the 80s though; I think I'd have appreciated it more.)

Watching (and pretty much crying consistently through...)

...the truly astounding YESOS (the young arm of the East Surrey Operatic Society) schools'-edition production of Les Miserables on Friday night, directed by my fabulous and talented friend Fiona (who hasn't had a mention in here for a little while so -- here you go, lovely!).

{via here}

Oh. My. Word. Or, as they might have said in Victor Hugo's time, Oh! Mon mot! (ou, pas)

I'm in complete and utter awe of how talented and passionate this group of young people are and how much emotion spilled forth from every single person on stage. The principals could not have been better cast if 1980s Les Mis veterans Colm Wilkinson, Patti LuPone or the beautifully bedimpled Michael Ball were wrung through an anti-ageing machine and popped back on stage for a three-day run.

The whole cast were strong, and the vocals were first-class, especially in the ensemble pieces, where the combined young voices at the very end during the reprise of Do You Hear the People Sing was properly, spine-tinglingly eerie and wonderful; but there were a few standout performers especially in the lead roles of Valjean, Javert (who could have given Russell Crowe a few lessons on emoting), Fantine, Eponine, Cosette and Marius, as well as the two (even-younger) youngsters playing Gavroche and young Cosette. So much darn potential.

Fi, you should be so proud!

And I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house from Drink with Me through to Bring Him Home during which Tom Ball as Valjean demonstrated, not for the first time that night, his astounding vocal abilities. Plural.

*hears "God on hiiiiigh"; reacts*

Oh and in between all this cultural immersion I've been watching more Flight of the Conchords. I'm on to series 2 now.

Highlight so far? The Tough Brets. Bret tries to get a gang together to protect him against rappers he might have insulted in song. Meanwhile, Murray gets into a rivalry with members of the Australian Consulate.

Which appears to include Jim Robinson from Neighbours. Of course.

Enjoy this homage to West Side Story...

And yes, that's Adam Garcia again on the steps with fake, dancing, Jim Robinson. Adam Garcia sporting facial foliage. We love him.

Pinterest Pin of the Week

Weekly Web Finds

Sensible

• Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name by author Catherine Nicholls | on Jezebel 
• An open letter to Naomi Wolf: Let women speak how they please | Interesting response to this article in the Guardian | on In These Times via Evie
• How to write a condolence note | on A Cup of Jo 

Silly

• 15 Optical Illusion GIFS that will mess with your head | on Dose
• London's first goose-petting cafe opening ends in disaster | on The Poke (I honestly can't tell if this is parody or not but still, gnarf)
• Tips for modern dining | on The Poke
• A guide to Ordnance Survey symbols | Ah, so that's what they mean! | on The Poke
• This is too darn kitsch for words but hey. Who doesn't love to see two different animals cuddling?!? | Owl and kitten become friends | on Boredom Therapy via George Takei
• And finally, specially for Jos and Charlie, Uptown Funk sung by the movies. This is So. Darn. Clever. Hot damn. | by Don Draper Says What via The Poke

That's all from me for now.

Who knows what tech I can possibly annihilate in the coming week...

qb xx

Contemplation: ~~water baby~~

I think it’s safe to say I’m not a natural sportsperson.

I’m uncoordinated, boss-eyed and klutzy. I once generated a huge round of applause in PE at school when, unexpectedly, I caught a ball.

Due to some quirky developmental difficulties, I didn’t start walking until ... well, quite late for a small child. And yet, now as an adult, I love long-distance power-walking (see: this post).

Likewise, I didn’t learn to swim until I was six or seven. However, I had a thing for pretending to be a deep-sea diver in the bath and submerging myself beneath the bubbles and the water whenever the opportunity arose.

After I’d mastered the rudiments of swimming, I took lessons in the local pool every week – though in retrospect I think this was more for my mother’s benefit than mine (the instructor was a dish). But I love to swim.

I love the water. Always have done. (For what it’s worth, I’m a water sign.) I love pools. I love the open sea.

{via Pinterest}

Admittedly I can’t do much more than a sporadic breast stroke, and I still have trouble co-ordinating a) arms and legs and b) my breathing, though I’ve found that nose clips help me focus my breathing through my mouth.

Nowhere is more peaceful to me than beneath the water. I love the glimpse of the waterline as I drop down beneath the surface.

{moi, 2004, on Instagram} 

I love the scale patterns of the light through the water on the bottom of the pool, or on the sea floor through a clear patch of water. 

When I swim I love the movement of bubbles around me, and around the other swimmers. I love the other-worldliness beneath the water.

{Photo by Jvdas Berra | via Pinterest}

After all the excitement and build-up of the MoonWalk, I stopped distance-walking regularly – then I got to a point where I realised I needed to get back into some form of exercise. My metabolism ain’t what it used to be. That said…

Ten years ago I was a complete swim-fanatic, swimming before work or during my lunch hour.

{another one from the annals!}

See how proud I was to clock up those lengths? So proud. Yay 25-year-old me.

Fast-forward 10 years.

Give or take a year’s grace, I’d almost forgotten how much I loved to swim, to clock up length after length, and that resistance of the water against me (though not so much the waves of water from other swimmers that sweep into my nose and mouth, and the splashes of inelegant front-crawlers…!).

So I started swimming, once or twice a week. Then three times. And so it has been since the beginning of July (with a two-week leave of absence when the Powers that Be at my local pool saw fit to undertake essential maintenance during the hottest period of the summer).

Back then I was clocking up just 30 lengths of the 25-metre pool, sometimes even just 20 if I’d had a particularly exhausting day.

Then, for my birthday in mid-July, my best friend bought me a waterproof MP3 player and it has truly revolutionised my swim. It’s this model:

{from Amazon.co.uk}

It attaches to your goggles and the earphones fit in your ears much like ear plugs. The sound especially beneath the water is superb. There is a risk of losing some of your swimmerly mindfulness but provided you wear decent goggles and keep your eye on the lane then you should have no problems.

Last night I clocked up 72 lengths. That's over a mile, y'all. Then I got foot cramp. And some girl decided to change the lane direction so I kept getting other people's waves in my face. *complainarama*

In terms of kit, I’m currently sporting Speedo Pacific Storm goggles:

though I preferred my previous Zoggs Athena goggles which I accidentally tumble-dried… The thinner strap was far easier to attach the MP3 player to:

I'm also rocking a Zoggs cap:

...Speedo Endurance swimming costume (though without the excessive make-up...)

… and Speedo noseclips! Foxy.

What more could a girl need in the water…?

Currently, my top 5 swimming tunes are:

In the Deep | Bird York

Seaside Woman | Paul McCartney

Full of Grace | Sarah McLachlan

Long Hot Summer | Keith Urban

Underwater Love | Smoke City

This is changeable however, depending on what comes up on the shuffle.

When I'm swimming, for the most part my mind goes elsewhere. Sometimes I'm consciously counting the lengths. Sometimes I'm singing along in my head to the music. Sometimes I'm working up storylines and untangling plot holes in my own writing.

Next thing I know, I'm up to 50, 60, 70 lengths. Whoa.

Do check out: - my 'Swimspiration' playlist on Spotify here

- my ‘Swimspiration’ Pinterest board here

- and my 'Beside the Seaside' board here

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with zis little gem: