books by the bed

So here I am, mid cleaning, and listening to Bob Seger. I have decided to take a break and list the books I've read over the last couple of weeks which were in a pile by the bed. In no particular order of merit:

The other side of silence Andre Brink (****)
The photographer's wife Robert Sole (***)
The girl in the red coat Ronnie Ligocka (**)
The six wives of Henry VIII Antonia Fraser (*****)
Star of the sea Joseph O'Connor (****)
Holy Fools Joanne Harris (***)
Odd Thomas Dean Koontz (*)
Cold Mountain Charles Frazier (***)

Re reads:

Year of wonders Geraldine Brooks (*****)
An instance of the fingerpost Iain Pears (*****)

It's not been a bad crop, but I'm going to have to get down to Waterstones to buy the next batch. I'm sorry I can't make the list easier to read, anyone know how to tab in Quickpost?

Mrs McMuffin

amazing...i am

Just thought I would tell the world that I have cooked a very nice three course meal in about three hours, and there is hardly any mess in the kitchen. I still have a couple of last minute things to do, like actually cooking the food...

Today I have mostly been cooking:

Aubergine and Parma ham roll stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach. Followed by fantastic huge salmon fishcakes, with the secret ingredient of smoked salmon, which just makes the whole thing taste more salmony. Pudding will be a version of a Turkish pudding that I found on the internet. I can't remember it's name, but it is shredded filo pastry with ricotta cheese, again, and raspberries. The whole thing is then soaked in an orange and lemon syrup.

I am getting hungry just thinking about it...Must go and eat something.

mr mcmuffin is asleep

Mr McMuffin has been sleeping since about 9.30pm. He has had a hard day, having to physically be in work for the first time in 7 days, such a hard life. I suspect he's dreaming of the cooking that lies ahead. Yes, we've done it again, invited someone over for the weekend, so we don't get a day to ourselves. I have to say I really like entertaining, as I am very lazy about going out, but this does mean that we won't have had the house to ourselves for about 5 weekends. It really spoils my Saturday when I can't lie on the settee in my dressing gown with a pot of coffee, reading a book, and listening to the Biography Channel. I also like to watch Best of Cribs for the sheer nastiness of some of those houses, money really doesn't buy taste.

This weekend we have Mr McMuffin minor, and his new boyfriend visiting. He is very good company and I hope the boyfriend is too. The last one was quite nice, and he had actually grown up in Surfer's Paradise and assured me that it was a real place. But, he was a bit humourless in comparison to the McMuffins, so I never thought it would work out. Mr McMuffin minor has a lovely friend that I want him to marry, but they say that they don't fancy each, other which is such a shame as they get on so well.

Last weekend we had a visitor from Haarlem (or that Dutchy mini country as she describes it). It is so shameful to hear her fluency in English, which is her third language. She has a fourth, and plans to take another MA in Paris so she can sharpen up her French. Anyway, she was a perfect guest and even brought me a box of my favourite chocolates from the concession at Schipol.

I love Leonidas Chocolates. I know they're not the best in the world, but they are to me. When I was a child, my Dad had to travel a bit, and always seemed to have to go to NATO meetings on my birthday and miss it. He always came back with boxes of these chocolates, and chocolate waffles. It never made up for him missing the day, but it did help. As we all grew up and left home, he used to get us all our own boxes and carry pounds of these things back with him, just to see our eyes light up with greed. He is a good man, and they are good chocolates.

Our Dutch friend is really interested in languages, and her willingness to perfect her pronunciation is admirable. She is excellent at the Welsh 'll' sound (same as the ndbele 'hl' sound if that helps!) and can pretty much do any sound. She told me about the word that non Dutch cannot say, and that they used to prevent Germans infiltrating the resistance in WWII; Scheveringen. It has driven me mad all week. I managed to say it perfectly on 2 occasions, then it was gone, completely. If I hadn't done it at all I would have given up (I really can't do the African clicking thing, much to the amusement of my colleagues) but having got so close, I couldn't stop. As they say in the Netherlands 'Gottverdomme' (sp).

bereft

I had no idea how horrible it would be to live without the blog. I have had 'issues' about privacy/exposure but I now say to Hell with it all. I love our blog.

The best bit has been blogging by proxy, I've visited and posted on quite a few, and there are so many good ones out there. Ones that put our pathetic attempts to shame, but nevertheless I think we should link to them. What is the etiquette? The lovely Retro Girl at California Dreamin' told us that she was going to, but the Fabulous Norah as she is known in this household did it, and it felt like a present. Does anyone know what is the polite approach to steering people in the direction of great blogs?

I also found a blog which shall remain nameless as it would fill my mouth with bile to repeat it. There was a rant on it about the BBC and how the British public should stop paying their (get this) TAX DOLLARS towards it. Profoundly offended I tried to post, only to realise no comments were allowed, only emails. This struck me as so rude, like shouting rather than having a conversation. Reserve the right to edit, comment back by all means, but don't put it out there, blather on about 'Freedom' in public and then deny the right of reply publically.

Rant over and out.

why does Amex hate me...

I can't believe how bereft we have felt over the last week or so. None of our entries are that interesting and we never have that much to say, but we wos cut off because Amex couldn't get their act together. I completely exhonerate the TypePad people because I have had this problem before with Amex. For some reason they have taken against me. I cannot believe that the people at Amex, a massive, multi-national company, have it in for me, but it seems like they do. Why oh why does Amex hate me. Even their offers of Amex Gold cards cannot hide the fact that they hate me...

mail order husband

I am satisfied with Mr Mc Muffin, but was very surprised to find that I couldn't get another husband on the internet. I was just idly searching for information about Kiev and Sophia, and managed to find a lot of information about Russian brides. When I tried to find a Russian husband for myself, there was absolutely nothing except the excellent mail order husbands site, which is very amusing, but did not yield a handsome Russian Doctor for me to marry.

I don't want to be greedy, but if Mr Mc Muffin can get hold of a cute, well educated Tatyana and Svetlana, why can't I have a gorgeous Mikhail or Goran? It's not fair, and I want to complain to someone. It really is a man's man's world. I don't think we Western women will have achieved equality until we can buy some hopelessly mismatched man from an economically depressed nation. I should have the opportunity to be ugly, poorly educated and not very socially skilled, and have some bright, pretty young thing want to marry me.

Mrs Mc Muffin

things that go bump in the night

Mr McMuffin slept through the scary banging noises coming from downstairs last night. I could hear loud knocks about every 10 minutes, and thought that the strong wins forecast might be responsible. Then one sounded very loud at the front door, so I decided to investigate. I turned the lights on, because I know from watching horror films that bad things happen if you don't. As I went downstairs I could hear loud knocks on the front door, and eerie scraping noises. I was very brave and called out, asking who was there. I heard an unmistakeable yowl. It was little Slinky. He was so desperate to see us that he was hurling himself at the door in a successful bid for our attention.

Delighted by his achievement he ran upstairs, dripping wet, and landed on the bed. We are so lucky to have such a considerate neighbour.

Roma

I mean the city, not the "gypsy" people who seem to play a lot of fiddles or be begging with their drugged babies. Rome was fantastic, not an especially interesting point of view I admit, but as my expectations were't particularly high, a sign of the wonders of this city. for some reason, I could't get a picture of Rome in my head, I thought that there were lots of motorways, and the places of interest would be miles apart. Understand that no one said this to me, it was just some madness in my mind.

I had a wonderful time in the best company, and it was almost worth the month of panic about flying. Thankyou to our friends for making it so special. I love all the cities I've visited, and would gladly revisit any of them, but Rome would be a top priority. I can't believe I waited so long.

Mrs McMuffin

rome

Our trip to Rome got off to a bad start yesterday when our flight was cancelled as a result of the Italian air traffic conrollers going on strike for the day. We did not find out about it until we were just about to leave. We decided to go to the airport anyway, hoping that perhaps we could get on to another flight. Ended up having to turn back. As disappointing as it was not to be on our way to Rome, I must admit it was quite nice having what was in effect an extra day to do some of the things at home that we should have done before we set off. It felt like the day was extra long because we had got up so early. Did some shopping and had a lovely big cooked breakfast. Later on we managed to arrange for us to get on a 7.30am flight for the next day. And is how I come to be typing this post while sitting at a computer in Rome. I will write some more later.

mrs mcmuffin's top 10 films...ever

We really are crazy for listing. I just thought I would get a quick one in before going off to work. This is Mrs McMuffin's list of her Top 10 Films...ever. She may want to say something about them later. You can get all of them through amazon.co.uk.

Kevin

Although I haven't yet put on my top 10s (me? who am I fooling? Am not too bad at engine diagnosis but am a Mac idiot) I have also chosen Field of Dreams in my film list. Kevin is very good in this, and I dispute Single Cookie's analysis. Just because you don't notice him acting, doesn't mean he isn't doing it, in fact it's a recommendation. I also rate Charlie Sheen, but that is a view held only by half of this household.

Poor Kevin. Everyone liked him until he had the cheek to succeed with Dances with Wolves, remember Kevinsgate? He was supposed to fail. Even Waterworld did well at the box office, so it could only be critically dissed. Actually, I really didn't like it. Of course he made a miss with the Postman, which is better, with a great Sound of Music scene.

I actually think the Philadelphia Story is a far more controversial choice, it's not that good, far too mannered for my liking. Doesn't everyone think they're a critic? At least Single Cookie works in the industry, so has the experience and training to be critical. Doesn't stop her being wrong though.

Mrs McMuffin, challenging Single Cookie to a fight in the Trevi Fountain for Kevin's honour. Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!

Go Brazil

I'm probably not alone in thinking the new USA policy of fingerprinting and photographing foreign visitors is just a tad racist. I'm sure most of the US blogs I visit would agree (they're all good people, I've read their posts). Wake up USA (Bush administration) Europe has Black people too, and 'Ay-rab' (do not read Muslim) terrorists.

With this in mind, I applaud Brazil. They have an appalling human rights record, but on this issue they've got it absolutely right. Go Brazil.

I mean what I say about reading blogs. I have been genuinely moved by the intelligence and level of debate I read. It really has changed my view of how ordinary Americans engage with the world. Although it has to be said they're probably the more thoughtful end of the bell curve, much like we try to distance ourselves from the average Sun reader. Am now going to watch West Wing. I like those people too, even if they're not real.

Mrs McMuffin

top 10 books...ever

I seem to be in a bit of a listing frenzy. This is my top 10 books of all time. Again I am not going to say anything about them, except they are all brilliant stories, and you can buy them all through amazon.

top 10 films...ever

I couldn't help myself, even though I haven't finished writing about my top 10 albums, I just had to post my top 10 films of all time. I will finish writing about the albums, but that has proved to be a lot more work than I first thought, so this is just a straight forward list. The films are in no particular order of preference. They are all available to buy through amazon, although Leaving Normal is only available from amazon.com on VHS.

top 10 albums bruce springsteen: tunnel of love [1987]

I always knew that Bruce Springsteen had something to say. I remember listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town, knowing that the lyrics meant something but not being able to understand his mumbled delivery. With Tunnel of Love, Bruce finally realised his potential. It is an album filled with stuff to say about men and their inability to articulate how they feel, not that this is something that Bruce ever suffers from. This is an album about ordinary men and the relationships that they have, with women, and perhaps most eloquently with their fathers. There is a sense of melancholy running through the album, a sense of lost opportunity. Forget all of the throw away power pop hit singles that Bruce has had over the years, this is the album that people will point to in the future as the one that proves Bruce really did have something to say.

pickled grapes again

I just thought it was important that you should know that I just found out that nearly all of my Christmas dinner guests, including my very own wife, lied to me about how much they had enjoyed the pickled grapes. It appears that no-one liked them except for me and my brother, and now I am beginning to doubt whether he liked them either...I will have to check it out with him. The grapes did look a bit funny, but I thought they tasted good. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

top 10 albums AC/DC: Back in Black [1980]

This is the sound of a band revitalised after the sudden death of their lead singer, Bon Scott, a couple of years before. Forget the somewhat dubious lyrics, this is bone-crunching rock with sing along choruses at its best. You will not find any sensitive ballads on this album, in fact, I don't think you'll find them on any AC/DC album. This really is music that is meant to be played loud.

top 10 albums david bowie: ziggy stardust [1972]

I discovered David Bowie when I was about 16 or 17 years old. Sure, I had heard a few singles, it is kind of hard not to hear Bowie at some point. But it wasn't until I saw a rerun of the BBC Omnibus documentary 'Cracked Actor' that he suddenly came into focus for me. I know that it is a cliche to describe Bowie as 'other worldly' but that is exactly how he appeared to me at the time. He wasn't like anyone I had seen before. I don't think it was just his physical appearance, long and thin with different coloured eyes, it was probably more to do with his confidence in his own artistic vision. As I have grown older, and perhaps a bit wiser, I can now see some of the pompous pretension in what Bowie does, and his sometimes pathetic attempts to cover his own apparent feelings of inferiority by talking in solemn riddles. This doesn't stop me from still buying all of his albums. I think I am still trying to recreate the sense of wonder and belief in rock and roll that my first hearing of Ziggy Stardust raised in me. From the opening beats of Five Years to the pained wails of Rock 'N' Roll Suicide, all dressed up in glam rock clothes, music would never be the same again for me. I really didn't have any idea that music could be used to express feelings, other than the sickly sentimentality of some of the country music my parents listened to at the time. It really is a pointless excercise trying to analyse Bowie's lyrics, after all these were produced using cut and paste, rather our time is better spent 'wallowing in the mire' of emotions expressed through these songs. This is ART...I think Bowie has struggled ever since to articulate what he does.

top 10 albums dolly parton, linda ronstadt & emmylou harris: trio [1990]

There is not much to say about this album other than it is beautiful. It is a tribute to their talents as singers that these three long-established solo artists were able to get together to produce perfect three part harmonies devoid of grandstanding. There is nothing in the music which suggests that this is anything other than a group. The three voices gracefully entwine one another to produce a breathtakingly soulful sound. This is the work of people who like and respect each other and their joy at being able to make music together shines through every song. This is country music which transcends the genre, any genre for that matter.

top 10 albums hole: live through this [1995]

By the end of the eighties I had decided that modern rock music was crap and I just stopped listening to it. My musical heroes were proper musicians and even though they didn't really make albums anymore I still had their back catalogues. It wasn't until I got together with Mrs McMuffin in 1994 and she introduced me to Nirvana that I began to suspect that maybe modern music did have some merit after all. It is hard to talk about Courtney Love and her band, Hole, without making some reference to her famous husband, Curt Cobain, and his band, Nirvana. There are many similarities between the two bands. Certainly they came out of the same developing music scene and share a common approach to making musical noise. Both are furious and rageful at the hurt that has been done to them in their lives and they are able to express this eloquently in their music. It occurs to me as I write this that maybe the two bands, and their leaders, need to be compared. In many ways, it seems to me that Nirvana represents a male approach to dealing with emotional pain, all outward turning rage and fury. While, Hole, on the other hand, seem to offer a more stereotypical female approach, where their rage and fury are turned inwards. Courtney Love brings a depth of emotional range which seems to be beyond her male counterparts in rock music at that time, with the possible exception of Billy Corgan and his band, The Smashing Pumpkins, although he has never been able to sustain this across a full album. I wonder if in part this helps to explain the way in which Courtney Love is reviled by the media. She doesn't seem to behave any worse or better than other, male, rock stars but she is often held up for ridicule in ways that they are not and her essential femaleness is often attacked: she is a slut or she is a bad mother. It is easier perhaps to ignore the way in which Curt Cobain expressed his pain, after all he killed himself, and after the initial shock, it is relatively easy to forget about him. Courtney Love is far more troublesome, she hasn't killed herself, and she continues to challenge people by confronting them with her pain and she has the talent and skill to articulate this through her music. Hole's last album, Celebrity Skin, was not particularly successful because, in their efforts to court public acceptance, they moved away from what they do best and they seemed to forget that their strength lies in Courtney Love's capacity to communicate what is important to her. It is this that separates Hole from the other mass produced bands that are around. I think Live Through This is the perfect example of Courtney Love's craft: it is rock music with soul. But, perhaps more than anything else, it is important to remember that this album needs to be played loud!

hello.....again

Well after an early night, I have found myself unable to stay asleep. I never had any problems until the last year, and have discovered that the advice is right, don't stay in bed under these circumstances, get up. One night I did this and never did get back to sleep. Having got up, I just thought I'd check our emails and found some comments from the lovely Single Cookie and Norah. Thankyou for your comments, i may try the Benylin approach-If it aids sleep following what I assume to be a night of heavy chemical consuption, then who am I to argue?

I found Norah's comment quite thought provoking-it seems we both have flying fears quite unrelated to terrorist activity, but I wondered if some North Americans have now developed a fear of flying because of this. After the terrible shock of the enormity of what happened, the terrifying speculation about what shape Bush's retaliation might take and the very real sympathy for the victims of this attack, most of us got on with our lives.

Most people of my generation have parents who lived through World War II and we also grew up fearing nuclear annihilation (spelt right?) and were used to bomb threats and attacks by the IRA. We knew that bad things could happen as we went about our daily lives, but I felt the threat reduce from the time of the reunification of Germany until the collapse of the USSR. Following the 11th September the threat seemed to increase hugely, but the biggest threat seemed to me to come from the need for the USA to do something to appear strong and unafraid.

I remember a lot of conversations about how it might remove the USA from what was seen as increasingly isolationist foreign policy and connect them to the rest of the world-we don't live on different planets-I don't think that this did happen in the best way at all. I suppose what I'm rambling on about is that in that essentially British way, we just got on with it. Within a month of the attacks on the USA Gypsy Tart and I went to Prague and I don't remember being any more frightened of getting on the plane than usual. I have flown many times since then, and apart from idle speculation about whether my destination increases any risk of terrorist attack (eg Spain were pro war, so a flight between the UK and Spain would have the dubious distinction of hitting two birds with one stone) it hasn't felt any worse. I am quite worried about the idea of armed air marshalls. I hate the thought of anyone being armed, and hate seeing foreign police with guns, it does not make me feel safer at all. I can't really imagine what they might do in the event of a hijack. I think we all know now that we're probably not getting off the plane under these circumstances, so there's a strong motivation to fight back and not allow access to the cockpit. The idea that they blend with other passengers is a bit stupid, they're ex army and Police, right? What are they going to do as a disguise? Scuff their shoes and put long wigs on? It's not a good idea is it? fortunately for me, my fear of flying prevents me from going long haul, and I think transatlantic flights count, so it's not really an issue at the moment.

I am trying to focus on the positives of flying as a means to an end, after all I get to see Rome and spend time with my lovely friends (not you, Single Cookie, promise to look the other way if I see you with your beau on your romantic weekend). I may also see Pompeii with Ms Carrot Cake and Mr Rock Cake, if they're up for it. I am also a bit scared of volcanoes, especially after Gypsy Tart told me it was ready to blow again, and you don't get any warning with this one.

Anyway, am going to try to sleep again. Night all.

hello

It's been a long time since I wrote anything, but I have been busy. Between festivities and work, I haven't had much time for my favourite activities of reading and watcching TV, so have made up for lost time. I too have become completely obsessed by 'The West Wing', and making lists of my favourite films, books and albums.

My poor father has recovered well from his tangle with scotch, and we celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday. It was a bit low key as we're going to have a proper celebration soon when restaurant food returns to decent quality after Christmas.

Every year the arrangements get more difficult. This year I had a complicated set of New Year celebrations to consider. We planned to go to Mr and Mrs Carrot Cake but I was feeling a bit guilty about this as my sister and family were going to be down for New Year. As it happened I decided that we should keep our word to the lovely Carrot Cakes. Then they cancelled! We were then invited to the lovely Helen's but poor Mr Rock Cake was sick, so we gave up and stayed in. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda alright.

Am sort of looking forward to Rome (we're going on Thursday), my hesitation is around flying. My fears grow every time, and I am anxious for so long before, I wonder if it's worth it. I have also had dreams about planes, and really need to get a grip of this or I'll only be able to visit places I can reach by train. Eurostar is so good..... I suppose we could travel by boat, but I'm not very keen on them either. Gypst tart recommends 'Kalms', but I wonder if old fashioned Valium might be better. I took some about 10 years ago and made such a spectacle of myself at the airport that they pulled my luggage. They didn't repack it properly either, and I had to cope with crumpled linen clothes for a fortnight.

top 10 albums...ever

I have just finished reading Nick Hornby's new book 31 Songs. This is a lovely book made up of one of those lists that he usually suggests that laddish men like to make. Well, it worked, because it got me thinking about what my top 10 albums of all time were. I set myself some ground rules before I began. I decided that I would not include any compilation albums or greatest hits collections, although there have been a few of these over the years that I have played to death, and still play. There is one greatest hits collection that I return to time and time again. Does anyone remember a British group called Smokie, who had a whole series of hits in the seventies and early eighties with Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman penned songs. Smokie were never cool, but I loved their hits album, which if memory serves was really a best of culled from their first three albums. I did buy a couple of their albums over the years, but they could never sustain the momentum of their singles. I think part of the reason Smokie hold a special place in my heart, even though I can't include them on my list, is because I was introduced to them by the son of some friends of my parents. Billie came to stay with us for a while in 1975. We had just moved from Glasgow to live on some isolated islands in the north of Scotland. Billie had had a rough life. Both of his parents were alcoholics, and he used to talk about sleeping in an upturned wardrobe which he pushed up against the bedroom door to make sure noone could get into his room at night. Sadly he wasn't able to settle into island life and returned to his family in Glasgow after only a couple of months. I often wonder what happened to him. I don't imagine that it ever was anything good. By the way, Smokie are still going. I did a Google search and found that they are touring in South Africa this year.

This is my list of top 10 albums...ever. I haven't put them in any particular order. That would have been a hellish task. It was hard enough getting the list down to just 10 albums. I was going to write about my top 10 albums in one post, but I think that this would be too long, so I will write separate posts for each album.