So, I had to go to the post office on Saturday to pick up a letter that was sent "signed-for delivery". No one had been at home on Thursday when it was delivered. This is no fun, since Saturday is when everyone goes to do the same thing. But I took my daughter and away we went. Stood in line for 20 minutes. Finally was presented with a plain white envelope containing £40 in vouchers from my credit card company - fruits of participating in their affinity scheme. Nice!
And then, on returning to the car, a £40 parking ticket. I couldn't help but laugh.
At least I paid the ticket with the credit card, so someday we'll get £0.02 for that. Not a total write-off, except for the petrol. Sometimes I'd do better to just stay in bed.
Well, here I am back again after too long an absence.
I just got notice that this domain is set to expire in 21 days and it's made me think, "Do I want to continue with this?" And I think the answer is yes. But I should have something more to show for my efforts than this truly sporadic posting.
Am I resolving to post more frequently? Could I post any less frequently? I guess I'll be more regular.
A correspondent recently noted how the world "changes" when you change your outlook. I've been thinking almost exactly this for the past few months. Little things, but they stand out. I've been much busier in these past few months, both at work and at home. When you're busy at work, those little admin tasks that need looking after tend to slip to weekends; to evenings; or just into the "someday" pile. And since I've started all-grain brewing, free time at home has seemed more skewed to this pastime and away from other pursuits. Like reading. Or maybe I read just as much, but the topic is brewing, and I'm not reading so deeply among the back catalogue at home.
I definitely notice the absence of the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books; the signals that they sent to inform my worldview. My wife pointed out that I still have a mountain of these in stacks under the bed. Which is true. The point is that I could, if I wanted to, delve back in, but I just don't seem to have the time. Or better, the motivation. Other things are driving me; my outlook on life is informed by them, and thus the world seems to be changing. I sense the absence of my more literary, contemplative self and the growing presence of my more commercial, economic self. It's this realisation of the fact that I can affect this balance that makes me think about how the world seems to have changed.
I've been trying to spend lots of time with the kids and involve them in some kitchen projects - we've made ice cream, sausages, pasta and pizzas recently...all goals for the year. We made a batch of Italian sausages with fennel and anise; a taste I love but have never been able to find in England. They're awesome, and go well on the pizzas!
We've done a lot of travelling and hosting of visitors. We've been staying closer to home in our wanderings, seeing more of England, but staying a night out at a B&B here or there so we don't have to drive all the way back into the city. That was another of my goals for this year. It's given us reach to see some real English countryside living. We did a six mile walk with the kids through the apple orchards of Kent, and the next day visited a castle and did a "hop walk" through hop fields at harvest time. We bought some freshly harvested hops and I used some in a batch of beer. From vine to barrel in about a month. Now drinking, and it's good - very bitter.
I've got a porter beer in the secondary fermenter just now. If it works out, which seems likely, it will be one of my entries in the upcoming Home Counties Craft Brewing Festival. I'm aiming to brew again this weekend to have an IPA for the festival as well.
We've also cranked up our hometown tourism with our visitors, having a couple more "London days". We've been very lucky with the weather this season. For me, it's really made the weekends fly by, and with busy weeks, it's made time just seem to fly by.
Which indirectly leads me to confess that I've broken down (a bit) and made some media purchases:
After seeing it mentioned in an Ask Metafilter thread, I bought a copy of Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes Our Past by Douwe Draaisma. This sounds fascinating and spot-on what's been eating me lately.
It's the first "just for reading" book I've bought this year. I have bought other books, but topical, or cookbooks; references; books that don't add to the backlog. I'll be getting to Draaisma soon, as soon as I finish reading what's currently on the go - the third volume of Thomas Merton's journals.
And I've made a music purchase through iTunes. Sinead O'Connor's new release, Throw Down Your Arms, an album of roots reggae covers. I'm just starting to get into this and it's raw and lovely. I wouldn't have known about this were it not for Robot Wisdom pointing to a lengthy and gripping interview in the UK Independent newspaper. I think O'Connor has a helluva voice, and I admire her for her struggles, even if she has gone past limits of propriety on a few occasions. I think it's great that she deals with them in this interview.
That was only my third music purchase this year (others were Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert (CD) and Arcade Fire's Funeral). So, in both books and music some signs of restraint, keeping those pledges to myself.
We're also still keeping on the decluttering agenda, although I confess my wife's done better than I have. We'll probably wind up selling our house and moving further out to the country next Spring. Ironically, it's the fact that my job might move further in to the city that could make this possible. Ahead of a move, there's a real desire to lighten up on the household goods; downshift; streamline; freecycle.
Well, must leave things here. I'll try to get back and tidy up the ol' place more frequently. Until then...