June 22nd

Sam left today so I’m back to swanning about in my pants, listening to music loudly and munching on delicious cakes, a Marlborough bun to be precise. It’s kind of like your standard bun but it’s got big ol’ chunks of deliciousness in it. It goes great with tea too so who am I to argue, I’d better go make one. There… now that’s much better isn’t it Ben? Yes it is Ben. You’re so wise in the way of tea and cake.
There’s been a fair bit of ruckus next door as they’re redecorating, sadly this meant my concentration has been a bit off today and I haven’t been as productive as I would’ve liked. Despite this I’ve managed to look over a job that’s been hanging about now for a while and I’ve also agreed to help out Laurence by coming up with a couple of ideas for a site. Not bad considering the bloke next door seems to be trying to perform the 1812 Overture using only a hammer.
Now before I go any further I’d like to remind you all of my thoughts on the strange absence of the humble gooseberry from the shelves of our supermarkets. I had a big old rant about the highly underrated fruit here on my other blog. You may wonder why I brought this up, well I’ll tell you dear, sweet-smelling reader, it’s because today I enquired in my local Waitrose (my spiritual home) as to the lack of the aforementioned fruit and guess what? They’re coming in to stock on Monday! WooHoo! Monday is gooseberry day. I can’t wait. And to celebrate here’s a wee gooseberry factoid to moisten your appetites. Gooseberries are in fact the only true berries. A berry is technically defined as containing more than one seed. The pivotal word here is ‘containing’. A cucumber is a berry but a strawberry is not. A Tomato is a berry but a raspberry is not. You get the picture, this factoid makes me very happy as it’s the first time my ol’ mate the gooseberry has been top of the pile. Go get ‘em Mr… er.. Gooseberry. (I think I need to go and have a stiff drink. I’m starting to weird even myself out.)
Changing the subject a bit I have a good friend called Simon who is (save for maybe Beth who is still my favourite) probably the number one list-maker extraordinaire. He makes lists like a glass blower blows glass, like a nanny cares for kids, like Santa delivers pressies. When he lists, he cares. So when I developed my list of my favourite retro British Sci-fi TV I naturally had to ask him if he’d listed anything of any note recently. He naturally had and was currently working on that pinnacle of lists, the top ten. In this case it was the elusive top ten albums. So, in his honour I have tried to repeat the exercise. So, Simon, here’s my current top 22 (too weak to go for the ‘big-boy’ top 10) albums. In no particular order I give you -

1: Ella Fitzgerald - The Cole Porter Song Book
2: Zero 7 - The Garden
3: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works '85-'92
4: David Bowie - Hunky Dory
5: The Divine Comedy - Absent Friends
6: ELO - All Over The World
7: Everything but the Girl - Walking Wounded
8: The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
9: Goldfrapp - Supernature
10: Ibrahim Ferrer - Buena Vista Social Club Presents...
11: Jacqueline du Pré - A Lasting Inspiration
12: The Jam - The Sound of the Jam
13: Jimmy Cliff - The Harder They Come
14: Johnny Cash - American 4: The Man Comes Around
15: Terry Callier - Speak Your Peace
16: The Strokes - Is This It?
17: Massive Attack - Mezzanine
18: Nina Simone - Released
19: Orbital - In Sides
20: Orbital - Snivilisation
21: Penguin Café Orchestra - Preludes Aires and Yodels
22: Saint Etienne - Fox Base Alpha

And I should say that I currently can’t stop playing the new Keane & Divine Comedy albums.


Tea drunk: 7 (Big day)
Lists made: 2
Pregnant women given a lift to the station to: 1