Week 17

Hey chicks!
So freshers week is about to start and we should probably be in the corridor right now, downing cheap wine and talking about our trials and tribulations to complete strangers while playing beer pong but duty calls so here we are. And yes, this blog has now been elevated to 'duty' status. Because this week has been extremely frivolous, and it gets to a point where you think 'maybe I should be doing something with my life, maybe I should be...helping? with stuff?' But we don't really know how we could help, so if anyone reads this and thinks of some project that they'd like to see done, but don't really have the time to do it, or have that scrap of dignity or social decorum that would hold them back from ridiculous actions, let us know, and maybe it'll feature in the next few weeks.
Over and out.



You might remember that we tried out cross-stitching way back in June and have realized that actually, we're quite taken with it. And it just seemed so funny to write horrible messages in a such a twee format. These are now hanging in Fran's toilet so if you're ever in Chalk Farm you should probably knock on her door and pretend you need a wee so you can sneak a peak. Or you could not act like a fucking creeper and just email in to receive your very own 'cunt' in a heart.

This week we love...



Every once in a while you have to do something that you're afraid of and whether that's bungee jumping or dumping your boyfriend, you always leave with this colossal sense of achievement, like you are actually pretty good at living. Then you've got the survivor's story, and strangely enough I feel like meeting this week's featured person falls under that category.
This is how it went.
For a while now I've been meaning to have a chat with the hordes of hippies that occupy Parliament Square and this Wednesday I finally manned up and asked them some questions. Now don't underestimate how intimidating it is to march up to a tight knit group of political extremists, let alone those who've been living in tents for the past 10 years, and try to understand how relieved I was to find, right in the middle of this strange ensemble, an old man with bushy eyebrows and a polyester suit.
His name is Bunny, he is 80 years old and you can find him in the Square twice a week sitting in his chair for 4 hours at a time and handing out slips of paper with his website handwritten on it. I sat and chatted with him for an hour or so and while I didn't have any sort of recording device, here's the basic jist of the conversation.
E- So, what are you fighting for?
B- Well we'd like to remove the troops from Iraq, dissolve the armies and use the money productively to ensure a basic standard of living throughout the world.
*told me a load of statistics about government expenditure through the military, then we went off on a tangent about 9/11 but he was lovely and said he had only read a few books about it and preferred not to comment on conspiracy theories when he wasn't properly informed*

E- In a perfect world, how would the government operate?
B- Well in my perfect world, all resources would be pooled together, and then distributed according to people's needs, so that people with children, or disabilities or any sort of disadvantage could get the support they need. But everyone would be represented, so I would have a group to represent me as a senior citizen, you would have one as a student and everyone would have their say. I'd also really like it if they had an hour set aside everyday on the telly so that they could screen all sorts of issues, from little ones to really major things and then people could see them, and call in if they had any ideas. Because you don't realize how much people are capable of. I mean do you think the Wright brothers knew they would invent the airplane? No. People don't realize how much is inside them. I'm four times your age and I still think there's a little bit inside me, you must have bags and bags of ideas!

E- I hope so, well I want to be a writer.
B- That's wonderful.
*Looks at 'horses jump off boats when they see me' tshirt.*
Well you obviously have a strong effect on people. I like to write. I write on the inside of chocolate bar wrappers, so if it's rubbish I can just pop it straight into the recycle bin, but if it's good I can write it on real paper.

E- What's your favourite kind of chocolate?
*Bunny pulls out a bar of Green&Blacks milk chocolate and gives me two squares. He also hands me a print out about the havoc caused by Uranium in the Middle East. Heavy shit incidentally and very scary*
B- Now I've given you this information and you have to decide what you want to do with it. It's up to you. But if you disagree with what's going on in the world you can just come down here, even just for an hour a week and sit so people know you're not happy.

We chatted about this and that for a while, then we shook hands and he pointed out all the CCTV cameras and warned me that the government might be keeping an eye on me from now on. Bunny's been going to Parliament Square every week since 2005. Bryan and Barbara (the big cheeses) have been living there since the 1st of July 2001. They live entirely off donations so if you're ever in the area you should probably drop by and hand them some tea bags or bread or sugar or whatever and you're sure to have some pretty interesting conversations in return.



The Firekites- The Bowery

So the temperatures have suddenly dropped and it's now the season for wooly scarves and cinnamon and school books and incidentally also The Firekites. Written and recorded in a vacant dance hall/bookshop called The Bowery (hence the name) the songs are all pretty slow, fairly mellow but definitely not wintry. You know, not depressing or wailing, just autumnal, like we should all be getting ready to hibernate. It's all very consistent with a lovely quality, but no one off hits so don't expect to sing along with the top down or anything. Just make yourself a cup fo chai and watch the leaves fall.


The Secret in Their Eyes- Juan Jose Campanella

I don't think I can describe how much I enjoyed this film so I'll start with the facts. Esposito is a recently retired legal counselor who decides to write a novel based on the unsolved rape and murder of a 23 year old woman back in 1974. He tells his old superior and long standing love interest Irine that it's just an alternative to planting begonias but they both know this isn't true. And so we're taken back and forth from flashbacks of corrupt 1970s Argentina back to the present where the chilling reality of the case finally seems to be unfolding. I won't go into anymore detail just because I don't want to kill the tension but this is an incredible film. And you should probably watch it. It reminded me a little bit of Louis de Bernieres' 'Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord', with all this horrific but matter of fact violence mixed in with incredible beauty and passion and while it's a really dark film the end is incredibly satisfying. Favourite character has to be Sandoval, the drunken legal clerk who is hilarious, although Ricardo Darin made a very melancholy and gallant lead. Massive thumbs up.


Toy Boats- National Maritime Museum, Romney Rd London SE10 9NF


So I took advantage of the very last day of summer and tested my super sayne (level 4) cycling skills by riding from Chalk Farm to Greenwhich to see the Toy Boats exhibition at the National Maritime Museum and I'm proud to say the 2 hour treck and getting lost in Deptford was well worth it. While the exhibition is only small (about 3 or 4 rooms and just over 100 exhibits) it is absolutely lovely. The leaflet describes it as 'ocean liners, submarines and battle ships that defined and defended the nation' but it's really just a bit of fun. Pretty tin boats lined up in glass cabinets and making you dream a little. One fun fact I did read though was that when they drained the Round Pound in Kensington Gardens in 1923, they found the remains of over 150 toy boats in the mud at the bottom. How cool would that have looked? Only beef would be the fairly poor selection of postcards in the gift shop. But there you go.

Also...



Just fucking love Ribena.