Monthly Archives: October 2005

Tears and Laugher in the Bookshop

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I knew I would buy it, of course.  I just didn’t necessarily know I would buy it today.  But I popped into Waterstone’s at lunchtime, and had a look at Margrave of the Marshes, John Peel’s autobiography.  It was posthumously completed by his wife, Sheila (once better known as “The Pig”, fact fans) and their (grown-up) kids.

Even reading the acknowledgements was curiously moving, listing as it did the likes of Billy Bragg, Andy Kershaw and Tom Robinson.  So I read the introduction, which was written by the four kids.  I found myself laughing and my eyes filling with tears just from those three or four pages.  So obviously I had to buy it.

I’m now thoroughly looking forward to tomorrow’s Home Truths, which is a special edition featuring Sheila.

I also seem to have bought Singularity Sky, but I’ve been meaning to get that for ages.

Post-exam comedown

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Right then.  It’s been a long time.  But this morning I sat the exam for my latest Open University course, A210, Approaching Literature.  The exam was OK.  Hard questions, but good, you know?  Each section had several questions that I could have a go at answering, but none that immediately leaped out and said, “Do me!”

As to the course itself, well… I’m glad I did it, but in many ways I didn’t really enjoy doing it.  I think I’m coming to the conclusion that, while I love reading the novels and the poetry and the plays, I don’t really enjoy reading the textbooks.  So I felt during much of the course that I only had time — or I only allowed myself time — to study what I needed to write the essays.  Which is all very well, and I did well in the essays; but it isn’t an ideal approach to learning, and I thought it would (and I think it did) leave me wanting when it came to the exam.

Still, we shall see around Christmas time, which is when the results come in.

I had hoped to go and see Serenity afterwards, since I had the day off work; but there was no showing at a time I could get to that would also be compatible with collecting the kids later.  So it’ll have to wait.

What’s slightly annoying is that yesterday UCI Whiteleys had a showing at 1:20, which would have been perfect; but not today.  So instead I went and had beer.  In a pub.  And lunch.  Ihad to try three pubs before I found one that sold proper beer.  Can you believe it?  What’s West London coming to?  And I read Hannu Rajaniemi’s story from Nova Scotia.

Then, since I was in the area, I put The Clash on the MP3 player and went and stood under the Westway.  It was curiously like standing under a big, raised road, surprisingly enough.  Then I thought that standing near a major part of transport infrastruture with backpack on and wires hanging off me might not be very safe these days (can you imagine trying to explain it to some fresh-faced copper: “Honest officer, there used to be this band that lived near here, and they made the… errm… road… famous… Aw look, just stick these in your ears for three minutes: you’ll understand.”) 

So I headed for home.  And now something approaching normal service will be resumed.