Liverpool and Picasso and the weekend

Katy and I went to Liverpool a week or two back, to see the Picasso exhibition at the Tate. I didn't really know anything about Picasso, and the exhibition was themed Peace & Freedom and looked at his works from a political perspective. So now for me Picasso is a political figure. This is my favourite painting from the exhibition, brought to you thanks to Now Public:



We had a lovely day of wandering around Liverpool and before we caught our train back to Euston, we came across an area of huge, old municipal buildings. Katy remarked on the wealth that must have resided in Liverpool a few centuries back - she said it was because of slavery, as Liverpool was an important port city.

London went off this weekend. Yesterday was full of cycling at Richmond Park, a special moment with deer, pub lunch by the Thames, Pimms and lawn bowls in Clapham, house party perfection, new friends fantastic, bicycle retrieval success (my bicycle is henceforth known as Stealth Ninja), mushroom soup delicious chez Lisa, Hyde Park Diana Memorial sublime with my awesome nieces and their ma'n'pa, and hanging out with my Aunt. Now: shattered, in the best way.

Weeknote #1

Taking my inspiration from Wired UK, which I love and am going to subscribe to just as soon as I can spare the money, here is a new format which I may attempt to utilise perhaps even more than once! It's not the most exciting but it's something.. and content is content. You know, I disagree with that statement, but I'm also time-poor, so you take what you can get.

at home
Busy week for visitors - while Martial and Mathieu are both away for another few days, I had three members of An Emerald City setting up their portable internet cafe in my living room all week. They were pretty low-impact and it was nice to have them around.

The landlord brought round a new vaccuum cleaner, causing great excitement, and a reinforced vow to never own a house with black carpet. At least it's restricted to my room. He also took away the double mattress which was taking up valuable full-length storage space in my room, so I can now hang my dresses unimpeded. More cause for joy!

Bad note for the week is the occasionally unreliable wireless connection (no thanks, O2), which - as I write - is refusing to give me a wireless connection. Not the end of the world but highly inconvenient when I have work that needs doing... luckily for me my sister Audrey rode to my rescue with an ethernet cable.

at work
Following on from above, work is busy! I have lots going on, more than enough to take up my time, and have even done several hours over this glorious weekend. I would be doing more if it wasn't for aforementioned failwhale O2 wireless box.

out'n'about
It's been a good week for kiwi music - I was lucky enough to catch the 3Ds at the Brixton Windmill on Tuesday night, and the Clean on Wednesday at the ICA - both fresh from supporting Pavement. The Windmill is an odd venue! Tucked away 15 minutes' walk from Brixton Underground, it reminded me of a gig in a rural NZ town, or possibly downtown Wellington, old-Bodega styles. In contrast, the ICA was very different, as it's more commonly known as an art gallery, although the band played in the theatre. A pleasure to see both bands.


And what a weekend it's been. It's after 7pm, and it's 26 degrees. This is unheard of and such a delightful far cry from the negative digits we had on my return from NZ in March. Long may it last! I spent a few hours yesterday at Hampstead Heath, near the Highgate Ponds, for Jo's birthday. She'd chosen the perfect day and a great spot - we were entertained by a hilarious revolving community of dogs, also enjoying the day.

After that it was back to E8, and a visit to London Fields, where I was alarmed to hear of the shooting that took place there yesterday afternoon. This park is five minutes from my door - and it was PACKED with people yesterday, including several friends who were near during the incident. My sister and her two little daughters visited me today, and we spent time walking through and sitting in the park - I didn't mention yesterday to them, but it was on my mind.

future happenings
This week: Barcelona for Primavera Sound! Can't wait to get away - feel quite ready for a holiday. I just hope I won't have to log on to work too much, although it's a catch-22 as I'm on an hourly rate at the moment.

Before that, I've got Nina Nastasia at Cafe OTO tomorrow, and UNKLE at Koko on Tuesday. Busy times.

Ring

My mum died ten years ago, when I was 19. While I was at home over the NZ summer, I took possession of her diamond engagement ring.

I wear it on my right ring finger, as that's the only one it fits, apart from the same on my left hand. I wear it slightly off centre, nestled beside a silver ring I bought in Göreme, Turkey, so it's not so starkly an engagement ring, but rather a significant reminder of Mum and where I come from.   

Two days ago, it occurred to me, as I gazed at the light reflecting in the multiple facets: I bet Mum used to gaze at it too, so many years ago, when her love for my father was new and fresh, and her eyesight was still perfect.    

I am the youngest of five sisters (and one brother), so you might ask why I should come to own such an heirloom. The answer is simple: I had a claim on it, and no one objected. When I was about twelve, sitting in the living room, I saw a tiny piece of tin foil on the sofa, and went to flick it onto the carpet. A split second pause, and I saw it wasn't tin foil: it was a diamond! Next thing: "Mum!!" The stone had come loose of it's setting, and Mum hadn't noticed. I was so pleased, and I imagine she was too. 

Busy-ness

Things are starting to get busy in the world of Jessie. This is a good thing, because lately I haven't had so much to do, and as a result, I've done very little.

I've started running again, and after a steep curve from 0km through 5km to 10km, I'm back on track and quite enjoying it. I'm cutting down on non-essential tv watching, which is a bit difficult seeing as I'm partway through 30 Rock season 3, the last few episodes of Community, and season 2 of Veronica Mars - not to mention that I've just dipped my toes into the seedy world of Underbelly.

Still, these .avi files are not going anywhere, and there are things to be done! I have proper work to be getting on with, at least proper training for work, as my capabilities step up in the world of Topspin. I have a proper holiday coming up - cos yes, it's about time I took some time off and jetted around the world - in the form of ten days in Japan. My travelling companion is my sister Audrey, and we're visiting a bunch of cool friends, which means this is holiday is set to be TEH AWESUM.

Enough procrastination.

A few words

I feel muted. I miss the craft of writing. Is it really the tube that's to blame for a lack of space in the time of my life?

I found some old posts (including this picture of Kai Iwi beach, taken two years ago, two months before I left the country) and I no longer know where they came from. I want to know. It makes me miss home. Of course it does.

It was my birthday last week; I am fortunate. Today I walked and walked with my sister Megan. We circled amongst crowds at Borough Market, admiring and sampling fine fine foods. Across Tower Bridge we walked, then explored the Tower of London. I compared the portraits of Henry VIII in the Dressed to Kill exhibition with those of him in my head, and Jonathan Rhys Meyer. I'm one episode away from finishing season one of Michael Hirst's series. We walked some more, to Gordon's on Villiers St, where we drank fine wine and ate a lot of cheese.

This evening, we drank Banrock Station cabernet sauvignon and tried to watch Withnail & I, only the dvd was faulty. Thanks HMV sale..ah well. Five episodes of Spaced season one hit the spot. Always does!

I have listened to The Presets' Talk Like That three times in the last hour. Some other stuff too. Great track!

I procrastinate from sleeping. I don't know why. It is a recent development.

Ex-racers make great pets.

Last night Katy, Megan, Audrey and I went to the Walthamstow dog races. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but hopefully this person won't mind me linking to their awesome shot here.

It was Stella's fourth birthday too, but she didn't come to the track. Here's a slideshow of her gift from me being created, on a warm afternoon in Park Güell, Barcelona.

I am in post-interview limbo. Lucky for me it's an interesting juxtaposition between proper grown-up job with decent career prospects and bumming around with temp work and doing lots of travel.

Ask not

I'm reading Hemingway's 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' (ref), and while I was touring over the last weekend, I had opportunity to get stuck in during the drive home from Napier. I was riveted to the gruesome and harrowing account of the day the revolution came to the small village of Pablo and Pilar.

I discussed it with Dad, who lent me the book a few weeks ago. He seems to know a lot about the Spanish civil war, whereas I know barely anything, aside from vague recollections of stories told to me by Catalonian Abraham, one day in Copenhagen.

"This Sunday will be difficult for you," Dad said.

"Sunday? What's happening on Sunday?"

"It's Mother's Day."

"Oh."

Usually I ignore the hype. But then it occurred to me, wouldn't it be a fitting time to remember the wonderful things about my mother? Better than remembering on the anniversary of her death, perhaps. I thought about it as I went to get the mail this morning, and in that context I remember Mum when tree roots warp the pavement, and when low-hanging trees encroach over fences.

Clip'n'Climb

I had so much fun last night... I went along to the new Clip'n'Climb climbing centre on Dominion Rd. My brother has been working there getting it ready for a couple of months now, so when he invited me along to the friends and family opening night I figured I'd go along for a half hour and see what it was like. And I stayed for something like five hours! It was great!

Some of you may know that I am a keen tree-climber, and this isn't so far removed and is probably easier and less dangerous. The scariest part was letting go at the top after my first climb. The automatic belay catches on and lowers you down to the ground quite slowly, but you have to let go of the wall first (Guy helpfully offered to push me). Talk about adrenalin. There's even one of those 'leap of faith' type structures where you climb up a wooden pole then dive out towards a trapeze. Which I eventually conquered.

I could probably rant on for a while about the climbs, the supportive atmosphere etc, but they're not paying me, so I'll just say that you've got to try the dark climbs - with black lit hand holds - and I can't wait to try the 9m vertical slide. I am a thrillseeker! I have got aching forearms and strange bruises on my hips! I'm going back again as soon as I can!

the 11:21am news

In the interests of quantity, not quality, I have four important news items:

ITEM: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is to become a Broadway musical! Thanks Pitchfork news.

ITEM: Mike Patton is coming to town with Peeping Tom! Only it's on 16 June, and I'll be in Turkey.

ITEM: My dad was one valley away from The Lahar! But he didn't hear or see anything.

ITEM: The latest on Earthrace in Guatemala - read here.