txtbux.co.uk

Thanks to mark for this link .... the idea of txtbux.co.uk is that you can text any book's ISBN number to the service and get a message back telling you how much the book is on Amazon.

That's great for anyone who regularly buys new books, but where I'll find it useful is in keeping a record of books I've seen that I'd like to read - there've been so many occasions where I've seen a book in the supermarket or Waterstones, haven't been able to afford it but have scrawled the title and author down on a bit of snotty crumpled tissue or old till receipt so I can look for it in the library or on eBay or (more likely!) on BookCrossing - and have then thrown away the bit of paper. Now I can text the ISBN and get both a text and an email to remind me what that fab-sounding book I saw was called!

Not a Blog

More a space for me to plonk all the links I come across that might be useful for college!

LookSmart's Furl - The sapphire Archive

When Your Co-Worker is Away

When Your Co-Worker is Away

How Not to Do Things #1

How not to retrieve a car from water ...

Depanneren

Rainbow

I've heard about this legendary episode of that fantastic kids show Rainbow but have never had the pleasure of seeing it ... until now ....
Rainbow - Twangers Clip

Sorry Everybody -- How Can We Make It Up To You?

Sorry Everybody -- How Can We Make It Up To You?

Chelseagirl's Book List

I've just set up a new page where I can record all the books I've read this year - I have been keeping a list of names and titles on my profile at BookCrossing.com but I've also been keeping a slightly more detailed list offline - thought it was time to make it go public!

Chelseagirl's Book List

Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies

Very sad news today: John Peel has died suddenly whilst on his holiday of a lifetime. RIP.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Legendary radio DJ John Peel dies

Welcome to Sapphron!

In a bid for world domination, I've decided to play the politicians at their own game and create my own nation, in the hope that I can do better than them!!

Come along for a visit and set up your own nation state while you're at it!

Jennifer Government

(Ta, Michelle, for getting me into this!)

Yahoo! Groups : guildfordfreecycle

Freecycle is a wonderful idea .... people who have stuff they don't want offer it up for free for other people to claim. All for free. The ultimate in consumer recycling - upgrading your telly/stereo/sofa? Old one not worth selling but too good for scrap? Then Freecycle it. Simple.

Only problem was my "local" Freecycle group was in London, so people were offering loads of stuff that was fifty miles away from me. So I set up a more local group - Guildford Freecycle - and in less than a fortnight it's already got 34 members! Now I'm just waiting for that elusive bargain to crop up ...

To church I must go

Mystery shopping's been around for a while now but whoever thought of Mystery Worshippers?

BookCrossing exists, it's official!

Next time anyone asks me what this BookCrossing lark is all about, I'll point them in the direction of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary:

bookcrossing
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

NobodyHere

Clever. But weird. Very weird. Very very weird.

NobodyHere

Steam vs.Diesel

Now I love travelling on steam trains but can't find it in me to share my fiance's passion for diesels. So when he was desperate to travel on a diesel train after we'd had an afternoon steaming on the North Norfolk Railway, I went along but wasn't over the moon - until I realised that it was a Class 101 DMU, which is the very train we used to travel from Norwich to Cromer on when I was a child!

Not on the Label

"Then there was an unexpected pause. The chickens from the factory's own slaughterhouse had stopped winding through ... We were given an early break. When we got back, a couple of dozen Belgian and blue Dutch crates filled with vacuum-packed [chicken] breast fillets had been pulled in. We were set to packing those instead.

The crates were labelled GMB Meats [a company that imports meat from mainland Europe], 'use by 25 November'; the vacuum packs said the same ... The vacuum packs were cut open and tipped onto the conveyor belts. Several chicken fillets fell down through the gaps and stayed at our feet while we packed into Sainsbury's trays for the next couple of hours ... Further down the line workers were sticking a Buy One, Get One free label on each pack as it emerged from the wrapper, before it trundled on to get its British red tractor logo and a new Sainsbury's label with a ... 'use by 27 November' date stamp."

---

The extract above is taken from Not on the Label: What Really Goes into the Food on your Plate, a staggeringly terrifying book by Felicity Lawrence. I've read most of it with my mouth hanging open at the total arrogance that supermarkets show. They are in total control of our lives and we don't even realise.

I'm quite seriously considering giving self sufficiency a go, a la The Good Life. All I need is an allotment, a cow and a couple of chickens. And some co-operative neighbours :0)

Seriously, this book describes a frightening future and a more terrifying present, because it is happening now. If you only buy one book this year, make it this one.

preparingforemergencies.co.uk

I'm sure everyone's already seen this site, but in case you haven't, visitpreparingforemergencies.co.uk.

It's one of the best spoof sites I've seen for a while, and in fact it makes so much more sense than the official one!

The Infinite Cat Project - Cats watching cats watching cats. Hey! It's a concept!

I don't know why, but "The Infinite Cat Project - Cats watching cats watching cats" makes me think of Alice in Wonderland. Sometimes I'm a bit weird, I know. Now all I have to do is find a way to get Peaches to pose for the camera ...

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

As you can see, I've been making a few changes around here, in the vain hope that I'll actually remember to post in this thing a bit more regularly (Fat chance of that, methinks!)

Only problem is that in changing the format I've managed to lose the comment facility that I used. Which is okay, because Blogger now has its own comments and it would have got very confusing having two comment links, but it does mean I'm rather lacking in froggy references. Could anyone oblige and provide a few new ones, please?

Glastonbury Observations ... warning, long and winding ramble!

And so we return home from another fantastic time at the Glastonbury Festival. This year felt very different from last year, very much more chilled rather than a manic rush from stage to stage, and of course the weather played an important part … but it was still the most amazing, fantastic, incredible weekend I’m likely to have this year!

So much to write about but it’s all a bit jumbled, so here’s some random thoughts on the last five days. By no means a definitive review of Glastonbury and probably won’t make much sense to anyone, but I know what I’m on about!

Last year we had a list an arm’s length of the bands we wanted to see, but this year I was happy to see anyone so long as I got to see Snow Patrol and Muse. So we were much more selective and went for quality rather than quantity, but we still managed to see getting on for thirty bands! For the truly anal (and as a record to myself) the next entry will detail everyone we saw but highlights were Snow Patrol (of course!), Keane, Franz Ferdinand, Elbow, Muse, The Divine Comedy and Longview. And The Others, who sound like a Buzzcocks/Cure hybrid. And Simple Kid, who was the first performer to make me smile on a wet day.

Lazing around (and dozing) in the Greenfields on a sunny Sunday afternoon, shortly before the heavens opened, guitars strumming in front of us and drums beating behind.

In fact, I love the Greenfields so much more than the areas round the main music stages; they seem to be the spiritual home of Glastonbury, people are friendlier there, the grass is (literally) greener.

The moment during Keane’s set when the sun finally showed itself after hours of rain, and the whole crowd cheered.

Sitting in the stone circle watching the world go by.

The staggered, amazed, joyful looks on the faces of the singers of Keane, Snow Patrol and Hope of the States as they realised just how many people were there to see them.

On the Sunday U and I were already suffering from sore feet (not easy standing for hours when I’m too fat for me feet!) so decided to set up camp at the back of the Pyramid field and watch Supergrass and Morrissey before Muse. During the Supergrass set we watched a rainstorm move in from the rear of the Pyramid, it swept across Glastonbury Tor and everyone braced themselves and huddled under raincoats, carrier bags, bin bags, brollies … we sat really still while the rain moved in and pounded on us for a good twenty minutes, but in the distance we could see the clearer weather and blue sky and when the clouds parted and the sun shone through everyone cheered and it was a really magical moment!

Bursting into tears when XXXthousand people sang along to “Run” … Hard to believe that less than a year ago we saw Snow Patrol in a tiny venue in Northampton, along with probably about 60-70 other people … how on earth did they get so big? And when is Gary Lightbody going to stop looking so surprised that everyone knows the words?!

Mud, mud, glorious mud …. Mud like you’ve never seen it, three or four inches deep in places, liquid mud like a fast flowing river in places, sometimes sticky and sucking up your boots, sometimes so slippery that even an Olympic-standard ice skater would have problems staying on their feet. Watching people skate down the muddy slope near the New Tent. Slipping up the slope on the way to our campsite, and then slipping back down the very same hill on the return journey. God, the mud!

Muse were singing about “this is the end of the world” and I looked around at the apocalyptic scene about me. Gaggles of people wrapped in blankets, sitting on muddy stools or plastic sheets or standing round in huddles around candle flares, everyone muddy and wet, the ground churned up and muddy and littered with rubbish … it certainly looked like a post-holocaust scene.

The toilets were much cleaner this year … apart from the long drop I visited where someone had done an enormous dump ON THE TOILET SEAT!!! Ewwwwwwwww. The flushing loos were bearable, even the portaloos were a lot less full and less smelly than last year. And we tried a couple of novelty loos too … the African pit latrines run by Water Aid, where you squat over a hole in the ground and then rinse away any spillage with a pot of water, and the much-debated ShePee, a pretty pink female urinal. Nice idea, shame about the mechanics … it involves standing against a basin with a cardboard funnel between your legs, and although some people loved it I just couldn’t quite coordinate holding down my trousers and holding up the cardboard funnel without squashing it and trying not to fall over, and I was so terrified that I’d pee down my leg that I got stage fright and just couldn’t perform! Think I’ll stick with the long drops…

Best cover version ever … The Divine Comedy did Queens of the Stone Age’s “No One Knows” complete with piano accordion!

Make sure you buy Elbow’s single “Grace Under Pressure”, which is out next Monday. It includes U and me (and several thousand other people) singing “We still believe in love so fuck you”!

Engaging in some culture .. We packed up the tent to the strains of the English National Opera doing Wagner’s Ring Cycle (Think “Apocalypse Now”)

Being cold and wet and miserable and tearful and tired and wanting to go home on Saturday morning … I’m so glad I didn’t :0)

Things on sticks … no Stuart Pearce this year but Tigger, Spiderman and a penguin.

Frisbees at the Other Stage (I found one in the mud and brought it home for Dan!)

Naked men with balloons in the Cabaret Tent … very bizarre.

The Dance of the Dying Swan, performed by a tattooed hula-hooping Australian girl wearing frilly underwear that made her look like a sexy sheep

Barbecued toast and marmalade

Longview … I just closed my eyes and soared while they sang.

Boogieing to the bhangra band in the Gaiaspace Dome

Sneaking away to get changed and have a quick shag in the tent ;0)

The Frank Sinatra singer in the Church of Love and Loathing in Lost Vagueness

Glastonbury smells wonderful (apart from the loos) – around the markets your senses are bombarded with a hundred different sensations, and you’re never far from the sweet scent of cannabis. Just wish I’d had some to smoke!

The flags at the Jazz World stage

Seeing Goldrush, our hoped-for wedding band, performing in the New Tent. Ostensibly they were there as a backing band for Mark Gardener (ex-Ride) but to me they were Goldrush.

Feeling part of something amazing.

Watching the England game on the field at the Pyramid stage – actually, we saw most of the game from our tent and didn’t realise for ages that England’s second goal had been disallowed (why? I still haven’t seen it properly!), but we did wander down for part of extra time and the horror of the penalties, and shared the moment with 60,000 other people.

Laughing at the crapness of Oasis (why did they bother turning up?) and Paul McCartney – his Beatles songs were okay but the rest was dreary. So glad we watched from the tent and not the field.

But the best thing about Glastonbury was just wandering around with no agenda, never knowing what to expect. And although at times we were cold and wet and miserable, I had the most amazing time, and I’ve probably only really realised how good it was since we came home, and I can’t wait to go back again! Roll on June 2005 – and thank you, Mr Eavis, for a fantastic time on your farm.

 

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Images of Glastonbury

I never fail to be fascinated by the flags at the Jazz World Stage at Glastonbury. There are more of my photos from the festival here.

Genuine Glastonbury 2004 Mud ! Fresh this morning !!

I wish I'd thought of doing this ... could have made a fortune the amount of mud on me!

eBay item 3824508716 (Ends 01-Jul-04 15:25:35 BST) - Genuine Glastonbury 2004 Mud ! Fresh this morning !!

Our wedding :0)

It may be 67 weeks away but we are already making plans for our wedding, and will be putting all the info in a website that Ulen is putting together ... there's nothing on there yet but keep checking www.alisonandulen.com for all our plans!

Global Rich List

Never again will I moan about being skint ... theGlobal Rich List is sobering stuff.

Wedding plans

Hah, no bog-standard wedding band for us, oh no!!! My gorgeous husband-to-be has only gone and provisionally booked this lot for our reception! And they only happen to be one of my most favouritist bands in the world!!

:0)

GHOST TOWN

Apologies for the absence, I've been far too busy being obsessed with weddings! I've finally managed to get the blogger tool to work in Opera (my usual browser) so expect much more regular updates from now on!

This site is well worth a visit. It's by a Russian woman who is a biker. One of her favourite rides takes her through Chernobyl, and the site is a series of photos of the abandoned city, and it is extremely poignant, especially the last couple of pages.

Good news!

Ulen and I went to Paris at the weekend. We had a wonderful time, and on Sunday evening, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, in howling winds, I proposed to him and he said yes!

Snow Patrol Official Website

Best band in the world at the moment, IMHO. Up till August last year I'd never even heard of Snow Patrol, but then I went along to a gig in Northampton with Ulen and his friend. Started off thinking they were okay, nothing special, just another guitar band but as the evening wore on they just captivated me. Since then we've seen them three more times (Reading fez Club, Oxford Zodiac and Reading Uni), I've bought the albums and the Run single (no.5!!!), got two tshirts, won a signed album and am going to see them again next month. I suppose you could say I'm just slightly Snow patrol-obsessed!

Anyway, check out the band at the Snow Patrol Official Website, buy the album and discovoer what's so good about them for yourselves.

If you're ever tempted to go and see a band called I, Ludicrous, don't bother!