random acts of senseless beauty

It’s been a little busy.

Here is a snapshot, and some snapshots, of my week.

Tuesday was all about working really quite hard.

Wednesday was about Cambridge. I saw many interesting things.

This is Seymore from miss Black America Shaking his thing:

Montreal’s finest, The Dears…

It was a great show and a great gig… the band that I haven’t got a picture of is The Earlies – I missed most of their set as I went to grab some dinner. I love Outside Broadcasts; it’s not just the fact that you get to be out of the office, which is good, it’s mainly the fact that you get to hang out with the wonderful breed of man that is the BBC OB Engineer. Richard, Folky Ralph and the team are hugely experienced chaps who’ve been that the Beeb for about a million years. As a rule they are a gentle breed, who like a drink (after work of course), have the best sense of humour, and work harder than anyone I’ve ever met. One only usually meets them in fields, but they always make my day.

The favourite thing I saw, though, was the monk who cycled past me with his habit tucked down the back of his jeans.

Thursday. This morning I got an earlier train than most so I could go to Abbey Road studios and listen to the Coldplay albumX&Y. I hate to throw superlatives upon an album on 1 or 2 listens (I’d heard about 5 of the tracks before), but it really is a truly remarkable piece of work. There’s a lot more light and shade than the single Speed Of Sound would have you think. There’s a lot of Beatles-a-like strings, some much more interesting beats, and just a step up in depth.

I think I blogged before about the fact that I cried the first time I heard the track Fix You, well this time it didn’t (quite) stir me to tears, but the track Message did. It’s an incredible track that more than borrows from one of my favourite Hymns:
“My song is love”, “Love for the loveless shown”, “My song is love unknown” “I’m standing here on a stage, to tell you that I’m nothing on my own, my song is love unknown”. You can take the boy out of the church…

This afternoon was really all about these fellas:

The general squealing and excitement that the arrival of the cute-looking chap on the right cause in the office had to be heard to be believed. Lovely blokes. He gave me a wee kiss on the cheek as well. Wasn’t that nice of him!

This evening I wandered through The Tonsleys to vote. The sky was throwing up the most incredible colours and the air was thick with the mixture of blossom and dinner smells. I love voting. I loved the fact that I had to queue, I loved the fact there were all colours and ages there. I loved the fact that I passed several couples, hand in hand, walking to the pollings station like my parents have done every time.

And now… I’m here. Breathing. Watching Peter Snow and his swingometer showing an early swing of 4 – 5%. I wish I had the energy to stay up and watch.