Pie in the blue sky thinking

Sometimes I come up with a phrase in the middle of a discussion which seems to be original. Well, today's title (at least in internet terms) almost is. (Google gives only 3 other occurences of the full string, if you're really that interested)

We were doing some planning for the wedding today. It's a year away but we realised we ought to start having a few ideas. So far, we've been looking round the farm at various possible venues as well as creating a first run at a guest list.

I didn't think I'd have that many people to invite, but came up with about 60 names straight off. Which is a bit scary as Rob did the same (with no overlaps). And we have been aiming to keep it fairly intimate...

As we can pretty much come up with our own ideas for ceremony and celebration (after the legal bit, of course), I started throwing all sorts of (at points random and/or over-ambitious) ideas around. Which takes up back to the title. Generally, I hate 'management speak', so I quite liked my little variant...

I knew we'd forget something...

We're on holiday. In Devon. At the in-laws.

And very nice it is too (I really do get on with Rob's family very well). Except for one thing.

We forgot to bring something with us, in the way that is almost inevitable when it comes to going on holiday.

Not clothes or personal stuff or anything like that.

We forgot to bring the weather. :(

It was gloriously sunny when we set off yesterday. And it's absolutely poured down all day here. And I really don't want anyone to underestimate the quantity of water. I'm kind of glad the farm is on the side of a hill - well, unless we get washed away in the middle of the night - because I suspect we'd be like ducks if we were down in the valley.

On the plus side, it's been a handy day for unwinding, sitting around reading, playing board games etc, which is not the worst way to start a holiday.

The Unbearable Brightness of Seeing

No. I don't have any idea what that title is about either. Sadly, I seem to have a tendency to come up with good titles (or in this case a dubious pun on an established title) and then think of what to write to go with it later on.

Sometimes this works really well. In my days of being a fanfic writer (I shan't bore you with which fandom, but (surprisingly) it isn't sci-fi related), I was quite prolific at coming up with titles and then juicy short stories to go with them. For anyone who is aware of my 'previous life', I can only beg forgiveness for the inevitable cliffhanger at the end of each part of my longer stories.

I imagine that I've lost any potential reader by this point, what with the cryptic references and the general lack of suitably gossipy detail.

But you may be starting to note that I like punctuation. Even brackets within brackets. Not that I always remember to close brackets (I've had to go back already and close an earlier one).

Let this randomness finish...

Busman's holiday, mochas and kids' films

We went to Tate Liverpool yesterday to see the Klimt exhibition. As someone who works part of the week in an art gallery, you might consider this to be a bit of a busman's holiday, but I was looking forward to it, partly because my partner really likes Klimt's work and partly because I had it in my head that The Kiss was in the exhibition.

No such luck. No Kiss. And a relatively small proportion of Klimt. It was as much about the Viennese Succession (one of those inevitable breakaway artists' groups - usually that have broken away from an earlier breakaway group [much like most branches of Christianity, come to think of it]) and design around the turn of the 20th century. I was actually quite disappointed by it. There was a Klimt lake scene I enjoyed, and a couple of quite stunning portraits which really depicted the essence of the sitters, but otherwise it was... well, a bit dull. Sadly, it kind of confirms my suspicion that paid exhibitions often aren't worth the money you spend on them.

Before I sound like too much of a grumpy old man, I should point out that I really enjoyed the two floors of 20th century art. I was especially pleased to see an Yves Klein blue (IKB79) which I'd last seen in the Tate Modern a few years back, as well as Jackson Pollocks, a Craig-Martin and a whole range of other imaginative work.

And before anyone suggests that yesterday was a 'culture vulture' day, I should point out that in the morning we took my friends' two boys to see Wall-E (the film was fine, if possibly more adult in some respects than I'd imagined - the queueing for 25 minutes to get tickets not so great) and we had lunch at Debenhams in Liverpool (it was nearby and we were hungry - nice deli sandwiches, worst mocha I've ever drunk [all the chocolate syrup glooped at the bottom]).

Leak update: the handyman is bemused by its continuing presence, so we've now (at his request) removed the halogen light until he can come and have a look. It, for some unknown reason, now only drips every other day after we've showered...

It's always windy in Stretford...

Well, so says my esteemed other half. And since we've moved here it has seemed that way. Apart, of course, from the days it rains. Like now :(

No wonder Manchester gets called the Rainy City.

And on the subject of water (sort of), we've managed to develop a very strange leak in the kitchen today. A small drip round one of the halogens for about 3 minutes in the morning. The handyman confesses to be puzzled - there's no obvious sign of leak or damp above.

I can't find any particularly clever link between water and work, so I'll just point out that creating the design and content for a 16-page magazine (which doubles as our gallery education programme) is a lot longer work than I ever thought it would be, especially when I'm coming up with mad schemes to rename all the 7-11 sessions after song titles (you won't believe how much googling that took last week). Blame my boss - she suggested Madonna lyrics - and has since adapted the Kylie song title :(

This is just a test run for now. The aim being that if I can write a bit on here every day, perhaps a 'diary' entry, perhaps something about work, or maybe even a fiction snippet, I'll start getting my head back round some more serious writing.

We can hope :)