The Secret Life of Andrew

Right, I haven't updated for a week apparently so I'd better type something. The main thing is that we went to see Frankmusik at the Cockpit (yes, there again) on Friday night. He was very good and has a stunning voice on him. Funny as he was suffering with his throat, you really couldn't tell though. I think we got a slightly different setlist than previous dates, possibly because of the throat:

Encore: 11. It's A Sin (Pet Shop Boys cover) / Medley

It was a pretty brief set all told but it was all great, he's an enegetic performer and I danced my socks off. Him incorporating Rihanna's 'Don't Stop The Music' was an obvious highlight. 'Please don't Frankmusik!' Brilliant. Oh, and one of the support acts, Heads We Dance were very good. It's funny, electro seems to be moving more and more towards dance these days and I can see it being the template for the 10s.

We managed to plod on with our James Bond watching. This time it was 'The Spy Who Loved Me' which I really enjoyed. It had everything you want from a James Bond film in it and I love that Bond has a rival in it, even if she only mourns the loss of her dead lover for about 30 seconds before jumping on Bond's disco stick.

The other film we've watched lately is 17 Again. I hate myself for finding Zac Efron so damn attractive. I would have hated him if I was at school with him so to find him swoonsome feels like a total betrayal. In my defense I really do think that he's a good actor, well a comic one anyway. His indie film is out next month so we shall see. Oh, and having watched 'that' deleted scene I have to say that he looks far to muscley in it. Not attractive.

Zefron perving aside I don't really have much more to say. I'm so sick of there not being any jobs to apply for that I've decided to give myself away for free. I still get Thursdays off so I've enquired at the council to see if I can get on their relief register. They don't have one but I've been directed to a site called www.sliversoftime.com so I've signed up for that. We'll see where it gets me.

I keep researching trips to Denmark. It's become a bit of a 'thing'. I need to check the finances out first though. I just keep thinking about how it's nearly a year since we went to Iceland and how wonderful a winter holiday is, plus I need something to take away from the pain that I've been in my job for three years in Januray. Y'know, the temporary job which was only meant to last until I found a library position. *weeps*

Music wise it's become the quiet season for me. Too much X-Factor shit around for my liking. James said last night 'do you think it's like the Emporer's New Clothes? We know it's shit but no-one else can see it.'. So true. I just don't get it. How can you say you're a fan of music and yet subscribe to something so cynical? So I shall continue to listen to my Skunk Anansie Greatest hits. 4 discs, amazing. It has two DVDs, one with the music videos on and another with TV slots. It has 'Charlie Big Potato' and 'Secretely' performed on TFI Friday. When I used to tape music of the TV those were two of the performances that I had so I was glad to get them on DVD! I wish more bands would release their TV stuff on DVD. Pulp are the only other one I can think of that have, except that it's called 'TV Madness' and is brilliant.

Well I haven't updated for a bit because I've been ill. Again. This time I managed to catch whatever James had the week before. This may or may not have been swine flu. I seem to have had it in a more concentrated form though. Whereas James had it for over a week I had all the symptoms possible in the space of two days. On Wednesday night I went to bed at 4pm and didn't get out again until 9am the next day having had a permanent headache. Then I had aching muscles, other flu type stuff and then I've been left with a cough that I still had. Rubbish. It meant that my family had to postpone their visit too which was very annoying.

On the Wednesday I went to bed James went to his last LGBT group in Skipton. There was a party and the insanely hyperactive gays from the Bradford group went to as did a few from the Scarborough one. He's not safe to let out alone honestly. As per usual he got a few phone numbers thrust at him (as long as that was the only thing thrust at him). It's shameless! Hilariously one of the Bradford group didn't go because they would have had to have gone straight from work and they didn't want james to see him in his work clothes! Also, Chris who I've met a few times apparently never stops talking about James! Brilliant. I have to say that although I never ever consider myself not good enough for James but when he came home and was telling me about gays fawning over him I did wonder why such a hot guy was with me instead. In my defense though, I wasn't at my best what with me being at death's door. I am very lucky though. I think James is a bit glad of the group finishing. He won't have to travel to Skipton anymore and there aren't always a lot of people there. It's a shame though, he's met some nice people through it.    

On Monday my brother came to visit. We had a nice time. On Tuesday we both went to the Eurogamer Expo event at Clarance dock which had loads of games that are coming out for Xmas and talks and stuff on. Most of the games were playable and we got to try out some good stuff. I really want to be able to play the Uncharted games! Boo to that. The new one look stunning. I was talking about motion capture with james today and he said how it doesn't work for film but that game is a perfect example of where it does work. Mario Brothers for the Wii was also great, so much fun. We went to one of the talks - the one for Brink. It was mostly just a demo but the lead games designer was giving the talk and it was interesting to hear what went into the making of a game. It's crazy, there are so many people working on a game, it's just like a film.

To be honest, a lot of the stuff isn't that interesting to me. A lot of same-y FPS games and racing stuff which concentrate on realism as opposed to actual innovation. It especially showed in the over-18 sections that they had. the games there were the most boring! i do wonder if, while the technology of gaming increases, the rest of the gaming industry stays still. Storytelling certainly isn't getting better, nor is script writing. The only place that this is really pushed is in RPGs, especially Japanese games like Final Fantasy. It's for this reaosn that a lot of games just leave me behind. Don't get me wrong, I like playing games but I have to supplement some of my gaming needs with retro gaming, no bad thing. Anyway, moaning aside it was a good day and the tickets were only £6 each. They had a tonne of games there on two sites as well. I've never seen Clarance Dock so busy! jonather had a good day overall too and it was nice to see him.

We watched a few things over the past few days. 'Cockles and Muscles' was a French film which was funny. Apparently it got mixed reviews when it came out but I really enjoyed it, but then I like a lot of French films. I liked it's take of sexuality and humour and classic misunderstandings, a good film. We watched Abigail's Party last night. We've been meaning to watch it for ages after hearing so much about it, and it was very good. Very play like, but then it was a play. But it was all so subtley done and very funny. I really enjoyed it. The ending takes you by surprise though, and I do want to know what happens to Abigail!

I finished reading my QI book about animals. It was very interesting, obviously. I learnt a fair bit actually. I'm not sure what to read next although I have a few magazines and bits to catch up on so maybe I'll do that for a bit. 

Today James booked the day off and we went for an unplanned visit to York. York really is lovely in the autumn and it's been ages since we went there. We had a potter around the shops and had our dinner by the river. It was surprisingly busy. I don't even think it was because it was half term, it was probably just because it was York. I bought a jumper from H+M and BBC Wildlife magazine and it comes with the photographer of the year photos which I always love. I don't think I bought much else!

Tonight we carved out a pumpkin. I'm very pleased with him, he's very cute. We haven't thought of a name for him yet though. I'll put a picture up when I load them on here. He's on the balcony and looks in when we have the blinds up, bless him. I actually really like Hallowe'en. Mostly because of the colours though, all dark blues and oranges, my favourite. I love autumn.

I have to mention how good the new Annie album is! I've waited for it for 18 months and it's finally out! A miracle. It's really good though. There's a bit more to it than Anniemal I think, and it's all fun pop stuff done extremely well. I seem to be the only person who likes the Breakfast Song :(

Music

Well today is not the best of days. I went for an interview yesterday at Leeds College of Art and I'm guessing that the silence following means that I haven't got it. I'm really annoyed with myself about it really. There were only four candidates so I had a good chance. The job had change which site it was based at so I had a tour of both sites and both are lovely small libraries. The one where the job was based was more FE orientated which would have been nice and different. It didn't help that I mucked up the test good and proper. I had to put 20 books in Dewey order (easy) and then write down the bibliographic reference of one of them. I still don't know what that means. Harvard reference? I think I was thrown by the fact that they told us that the job would entail a lot of cataloguing and since I'd never catalogued a book in my life I wrote it as a catalogue reference, or what I thought one would look like anyway. Still, I was prepared to sell myself at the interview and talk about how my current workplace even has its courses validated by the Open University as well and how it was clearly meant to be. However, I didn't get a chance to sell myself at all as the interview took about 15 minutes. I talked about why I wanted the job and was given a few scenarios which were easy enough but I didn't get to say much as all. I had all kinds of things to say about equal opportunities and all sorts. I'm so fed up about it all. I've got another job to apply for which would usually keep me going a bit but it's a medical library and I know less about that than I do about art! Why do libraries hate me so much?!

I dunno if I've been up to much else this week. We've been catching up on TV stuff I guess. We've finished watching the (not so) new series of Skins which was fairly good. So many of the characters are massive dicks though, I found it hard to care and wanted a fair few of them to get what they deserved. The excessive and over-exaggerated use of drink, drugs and sex was also a little off-putting. I know that's the point of Skins but I found it really divorced from reality this time around. Also - extremely mopey. More so than the last lot. It's had its moments though. We're also coming to the end of Medium series 3 which is brilliant. It's one of the most underrated shows. It's quite X-file-y but the excellent family scenes ground it so well. It's a joy to watch, and so original with it. The way its filmed is also quite interesting. A lot of 'cop' shows such as Monk and Psyche are quite bright and comedy based but Medium has more in common with Without A Trace which is more dramatic, but with great comedy touches.

We're continuing very slowly through our trip through every Bond film. We're on Roger Moore now. I've not seen many of his. After Diamonds Are Forever though I'm glad to get to him. It was fairly rubbish all told. Flat on all points. Live and Let Die though was fiarly solid I thought. James prefers Moore to Connery and I can see where he's coming from. Moore is a lot more suave and seems to suit the role better somehow. I do quite like Sean Connery still. The only major bad thing about Live and Let Die is the awful boat chase near the end. Well, the chase itself is very good (and there are a lot of good chanses in the film) but it's slowed down by being broken up by crap policemen bits. And that goddamn awful Sheriff character, just awful.   

The other thing of note that we've been doing is watching all of Madonna's music videos right from the start. The Celebration doesn't cover them all so we're watching the ones it misses out in-between the ones that are on there. I'm a bit ignorant of Madonna pre-Ray of Light so it's been a bit of an education to me. It's funny how time has a habit of just remembering the 'classics' and one of the joys of watching everything she's done is that I've become familiar with songs I've never heard of. It's so odd that there are either songs I had no idea existed ('Fever', 'Bad Girl') or videos I've never seen. Also interesting is that not all of her early stuff is as amazing as people seem to think. The Immaculate Collection is pretty solid but then there's stuff like 'True Blue' which is fairly terrible. On the whole though I'm much more of a 1998-onwards fan. Still the highlights in terms of music and video are (for me): 'Material Girl', 'Papa Don't Preach', 'Express Yourself', 'Vogue', 'Bedtime Story', 'Ray of Light', 'Don't Tell Me' and 'Hung Up'. We did the Evita and Music era last night and 'Music' still sounds incredibly weird to me. It's just such an odd song. There's loads going on, lots of weird noises and yet it just works. 'Don't Tell Me' is one of my favourite Madonna songs though. There's just something about the video, the production and the song which is utterly spot on. I think the same about 'Ray Of Light' too. Gutted that 'Nothing Really Matters' isn't on the DVD though, it's an excellent video. Also, her look from 1998-2002 is proof that she doesn't need her get her vadge out to look great. She's in her 40s at that time and she looks excellent, really classy and stylish. Put the Hard Candy away love!

Last me and James went to the Playhouse to see Dial M for Murder. It was very good. Even with a minimalist set (one room) they were still inventive with it. It was beautifully lit, mostly with shades of red but sometimes blue too and they created great shadowing, giving it a contemporary noir feel. The music was very noirish and very effective especially the 'murder' scene. I didn't know the story beforehand which made it even better. There's quite a lot talking at the beginning but once you get past that it's really thriller-ish and just great stuff. I love the theatre I really do, it's probably my favourite of stage show. I do like dance and seeing orchestras play but I always feel like there's something missing from them, which is why I enjoy the theatre and musicals so much - they have everything great in them. Speaking of which, we're off to London next month to see Blood Brothers with Mel C in. It's James' desire to go rather than mine but I love seeing shows so I'll see anything, plus Mel C was the best Spice Girl after all. We've also just booked La Cage Aux Folles to see while we're down there as well with John Barrowman in it! I might get Lucy an autograph to bring back, ha.

We've been getting back into our Bond films again so we're working our way through them slowly but surely. Over the week we've watched You Only Live Twice and then Never Say Never Again. The former is pretty good, I've seen it before. There's something lacking though, I'm not quite sure what. The latter was really good. After first watching it I wasn't convinced but after james arguing that it's one of the best I can see where he's coming from. It's not really a Bond film per se but it has good stuff going for it, especially the brave ending. It's all good stuff though.

I don't really have that much to update otherwise. I've mostly been spending the time listening to Strawberry Switchblade and playing the new Professor Layton game. Tonight I'm off out with James workmates/friends which should be good. I kind want to go dancing but only if somewhere plays Shakira's 'She-Wolf'. Trouble is, everywhere will be full of freshers right now!

I caught Alexandra Burke's new video the other day, and while i prefer the song much more than anything that Leona's released I can't help but feel that it's ten times more cynical. It's almost as if Syco thought, hmmm, she's British but there's not much money to be made here, and we did so well with Leona - let's go for the most American sounding song ever. Kerching. It just really grates with me.

It's funny, I seem to be importing a lot of music recently. I don't think it's for any other reason than it's not available in the UK but I'm waiting for Dragonette's album fro Canada, Venus Hum's from America and Natalie Imbruglia's from Australia (and if it's not released there I will hunt her down! How dare she pull the release until February for everywhere else?! Clearly the new Annie :( ). Good stuff!

I can't get in to my dissertation. I really can't. I really resent having to do it. However, I have no choice but ot suck it up as it's due on the 25th. It does mean that this week has been miserable though.

So I will talk about films again. At the weekend we went to see Julie and Julia. Now I thought it would be a lot more chick flick-y than it was and I'm gald to say that I really enjoyed it. I do like going to see stuff like that at the cinema as I love the feeling of joy I get when I'm walking home. Meryl Streep's a joy to watch of course (she makes everything look so effortless!) and although the Julia side of the story is the more interesting of the two, the way the two stories are connected is done really well. It's like watching two films in one but even though the stories are fifty years apart it's weird how the similar themes cross over. So yeah, a really enjoyable film, and my God does it make you hungry!

The other film we watched was The Fast and The Furious. Now I like a silly action film as much as the next guy but really, this was utter rubbish. I mean, for a film full of car chases it was very boring. None of the car chases were that impressive apart from one with the truck at the end. Too little too late though. James wasn't impressed either and a few of his friends (on Facebook) leapt to defend the film, their main reason for it being 'good' seemed to be, 'it's got Vin Diesel in it'. And when that's your final line of defense you know something's wrong.

Right, I need to write about Austria before I forget it all! It was a brilliant holiday and I know that I'm getting a reputation for swanning off around the country but it's the longest holiday me and James have ever had, so there. Plus, it was so cheap. I still can't believe how cheap it was. So...

Saturday 29th August
Our flight was in the afternoon which is a nice time to go I think. I'm still in a position where flying is still a novelty for me, especially being fed on the flight. It just seems so swish to me, even when it's a toasted sandwich! However, we really did feel like we'd gatecrashed a Saga holiday. There were no young couples on our flight, at all. Not one. No kids either so we were the youngest there. I'll speak about more later though. Anyway, touching down in Innsbruck may have been a rainy experience (and taking off was full of turbulance. I've never had it before and it was scary!), but you'd fogive it all as you're confronted with proper massive mountains. A theme of the holiday. Honestly, we don't know what a mountain is in this country. We were picked up by Ingams who we booked the holday with. We didn't really know what to expect of the whole thing but we needn't have worried. There are four reps in Ingams and you can make as much use of them or as little as you want and they were very helpful. They took us by coach to Mayrhofen and were allocated a B+B on our arrival. Ours was called 'Vogelsang' which means 'Birdsong' and we were greeted by Margaret who was our landlady who looked after us very well while we were there. We had a lovely balcony in our room and after unpacking we had a wander round and went to get something to eat.

It's a great place to explore on arrival because the whole town is amazingly beautiful that you're just in awe of the whole thing. All the house have that wonderful large alpine look and I have never seen as many flowers in my whole life. Every house is covered in them. I've also never seen so many trees either. They are everywhere! Apparently Austria has a rule where for every tree cut down two have to planted in it's place. Having been there it doesn't surprise me.

I have this fear of speaking other languages. It's exactly the forum where I'd make a tit of myself so I get quite shy when I have to do it. Stupid really as I know enough German to be fine in restaurants at least. Mind you, everyone spoke such good English that we were ok. On the first night we went to La Vita. It's interesting to see how other countries do Italian food. Although the Tirol shares its boundries with Italy so it has a presence in Mayrhofen (a little anyway). I'll write a seperate entry about food at the end of here as it was damn good.

Sunday 30th August

In the morning we woke to wonderful weather (ok, so we woke up to a mountain as that was our view from our balcony but you get the point). I appreciated the warmth as it's how summer should be, I'm not used to it! Anyway, we headed off to a welcome meeting which told us everything we could do. Ingams ran many tours throughout the week and as we didn't know the area we signed up to nearly every one going. The first of which a visit to Krimml waterfalls with Kev the rep, which we did that afternoon.

It was a good first trip to go and we got to see the Ziller valley for the first time properly, and not in the rain. They have a lot of Spar shops in Austria which always seemed weird to me although lots seemed weird to me I suppose. Cows with cows bells being another example! Anyway, we stopped twice on the way for photo opportunities of which there were loads obviously. The waterfalls themselves are amazing. They're very, very tall, although they cascade down a lot of rock, it's not just one fall. There are three tiers and a path right up to the top. However, it's so far up we only managed to get up to stage two. A beautiful place though. There were rainbows all the way up in the spray of the falls! 

Even with eating beforehand we were still knackered. Our excuse was that we were rushed for time though, obviously. A nice day and a good opportunity to revel in the beauty of the Alps.

Monday 31st August

Monday turned out to be a long day. We went on a trip to Salzburg and it was a long coach ride there and back. It was worth it though as it's a beautiful city. Beautiful weather again as well. It's funny, we went through the very south eastern tip of Germany and you'd never know. There was no passport check and the scenery was the same. There really are no borders in Europe anymore, except cultural ones. Thankfully the commentary (given by Ruth) was good though, it passed the time.

Austria has a theme of churches and Salzberg has a tonne of the things. Beautiful architecture too, and colourful buildings, with the Salzack river running through it. The water in Austria is this lovely cloudy blue colour, very pretty and there are some great markets and little shops. I ate a massive pretzel and the highlight was going up to the big castle they have there. Although there isn't loads to do up there, the view you get is totally worth it, plus you get to take a little train up to the castle itself.

The day was really hot so after we came back down we went and had a look around the shops, sat in the Mozartplatz and then had an ice cream by the river. That was it really. Oh, and then we went in and sat in some lovely gardens. The great thing about the large number of of flowers in Austria is that there are loads of butterflies too. During my time there I saw Cabbage Whites, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, and other ones I can't remember the name of. Tiny pale blue ones and orange tipped ones. I think we have all them in the UK but you rarely see them, especially not in Leeds.

Once we were home we had tea at Cafe Tirol. Things went a bit pear shaped as I ordered apricot dumplings, only to turn out that they were a dessert! In my defense the menu wasn't clear! They were very tatsy though.

Tuesday 1st September
Our 5 year anniversary! The tour we were booked on was cancelled due to lack of interest! So instead we had a little shop in town and then went on a walk from our free walking guide book. The whole thing took us over four hours with stops and it was a great way to see all of the surrounding villages in the Zillertal valley though. We went through Burgstall, Schwendau, Hippach, Ramsau, Eckartau and Hollenzen. The day was hot and the last part was especially bad as there was less tree cover. Quite surprised I didn't get burnt actually. I did but sun cream on though and my neck was the only place to catch it. Got a nice tan otherwise :D

In the evening we were booked on the 'Gourmet Zillertal' trip which was a three course meal at a restaurant in Mayrhofen. We expected loads of people to go but we realised that a lot of people would be staying in hotels and so wouldn't need to go. As it happened, there was only another couple who went! So the four of us sat together. It could have been really awkward but it turned out to be a fun evening. The other couple were called Fiona and Gerald and were from Lytham St Annes in Lancashire. The conversation was great. We talked aboiut all kinds of things, politics, history, Austria, all sorts. They'd been to Mayrhofen before and it seems like a lot of people come back time and time again, it's one of those places.

The food I had was a spinach filled ravioli thing to start followed by the most gorgeous trout ever. And then we all had this amazing meringue souffle thing with fruit at the bottom. It came out and it was like a balloon! Amazing. Very sweet but tasty.

Wednesday 2nd September 2009
The morning was gentle. A good thing as we were still full from the night before! We had a little walk around the woods and came out near the restaurant from the previous night! Although the weather was a bit cooler in the morning it ended up being hot again. The excursion we went on was with Carole this time and it began with a steam trian ride to Ramsau. The most disappointing bit of the holiday I think! Our carriage was packed and we couldn't get any good pictures.

Thankfully it got better. Once at Ramsau three Haflinger pony drawn trailers shouwed up and took us up to the farm in Hippach. A lovely way to travel! The farm was ace as well. We we given Kaffee and Kuch and told about cow bells :D We even sampled some cherry Schapps which was damn strong! The farm was great. There were rabbits, goats, geese and, of course, horses. I was stroking one of the ponies which was just gorgeous. So soft and a funny feeling nose which he kept poking through the bars at me! The horses then took us all the wayback to Mayrhofen and we learnt some interesting things from Carole on the way back about remote huts and the valley.

In the evening we had a wnader around the graveyard which was very pretty (more flowers obviously) and then on to a restaurant. We times it just right as we returned the heavens opened and the most amazing thunderstorm occurred. I sat out on the balcony and watched it. 

Thursday 3rd Septmeber 2009
Thankfully the rain had gone by the morning and it was hot again. We had a short walk up the valley to a little 165 year old chapel. Austria's very catholic which means great churches. However, it also means that they have awful crucified Jesus' everywhere. Awful. A small price to pay I guess. 

Later on we headed off to the Hintertux glacier with Chrissie. This was one of my favourite trips as we got to go up three cables cars to a height of 3200m! At the top of the glacier you're meant to be able to see for miles but all we could see was cloud! We could hardly see anything. A shame but on the up side we got to play in snow! Very surreal! The whole thing was weird, getting colder on the way up. We stopped off at a restaurant on the way up and it was huge and empty. The place must get packed in the winter.

In the evening we went on another trip, the 'Hut Evening'. We weren't sure whether to go at first but I'm gald we did. We got taxis up into the mountains with a load of other English tourists to the Tristenbach Alm. It was a quiet alpine hut run by father and son. The father played us accordian music while his son Christian hosted the evening. The whole thing was hilarious, especially the game where he got couples to 'milk' a training' cow in competition while the 'maid' (a crazy 'Welsh' woman) had to slap a wet cow tail in the participants faces if they lost eye contact. Brilliant.

Of course it wasn't all good. At one point we were all outside and on the way back in a woman collored me to tell me I had the most beautiful speaking voice (I could see where this was going of course). She then went to tell me how much I sounded like Will Young. Go away woman, I'm on holiday!

We actually got chatting to the French couple who were there (best exchange ever. Woman to French girl: "So where are you from?" French Girl: "London", Woman: "Oh.") as they were the only other young couple there apart from us and they'd been on all the excursions we'd been on. I'm glad they did because they were lovely and had exactly the same thoughts on the place as we did, totally on our wavelength. They were called Matt and Corinne. Anyway, we were in a taxi with a rowdy lot, which along with being funny, did make me think of how awful the Brits really are when they're abroad. Still, a great night was had by all.

Friday 4th September
Friday was the only duff day weather-wise and we headed off to Innsbruck. It's a nice city but not as nice as Salzberg, especially in the rain. And as James is a kind soul he lent his brolly to Matt leaving us with my dying one, so I got soaked. We saw the Golden Roof and then walked all the way to the Bergisel ski jump which is amazing. We ate in the restaurant there too! Sadly we didn't get to slide down it though. The guy in the ticket booth was lovely too.He let us both in on students rates and told us to watch that our umbrella didn't get caught in the gate, so it didn't get 'more broken'. Cheeky man!

We kept running to Matt and Corinne around the town, it's a small place! We then got on a 'tour' bus which was terrible! There was a lacklustre commentary. The most exciting bit was seeing the results of a car crash on the way to the castle but that wasn't part of the tour of course! We had a little wander around the shops and down the river. The best part of the city is the old town which is lovely. The rain had stopped by then too thankfully.

On the way home we chatted to Matt and Corinne and at their stop they gave us a piece of paper with their names on and told them to look them up on Facebook which was really sweet of them. Who'd have thought we'd have made friends on holiday! We went to La Vita again for tea andthen had a quiet evening in packing. I miss the place a lot right now! Beautiful.

Saturday 5th September
The flight back went without a hitch but getting back to Leeds made me realise what awful places our cities are. So grey, so ugly, so dirty, so packed. Maybe cities really aren't for me. Especially as I've been really miserable since getting back. As I said on Facebook, this month is life laundry month! Oh, and when we got back we found out that our post box had been broken into. Joy. I might run away back to Austria instead.

Oh, nearly forgot to include anything on Food! Well I was determined to try some traditional Austrian food and the gourmet night certainly helped. It's funny that even though food is shipped all around the world dishes are so reliant on what's available locally. Like the trout I had, they eat quite a bit of that (it was perfect too) and although they eat apple in lots of things, apricot features a lot more than in the UK. I overdosed on every kind of strudel going. I had two pieces of apple strudel (much more packed with fruit that the stuff you buy here), and then a cream cheese and apricot strudel in Innsbruck. Although desserts were nice it was all very limited. I had the Kaiserscmarren which is chopped up pancake with a fruit puree (I had plum, another well featured fruit) and Eispalateschinken (panckaes with ice cream in them) but apart from that it was ice cream or nothing! Tasty though.

You'll never go hungry in Austria as the portions are huge. It got to the point where at Hintertux I ordered too child's portions of food and still couldn't finish it! Main courses were varied. They have a strange thing of putting loads of fruit and squirty cream with their meat dishes! James tried boar which was lovely and I had venison one night and both dishes came with half a pair, a blob of cream and some other smaller fruits. Very odd. One of the other things that I really wanted to try was Weiner schnitzel but the proper stuff proved difficult to find. The same place that James had the boar did it though so I got to try veal for the first time. Very tasty. Like a cross between chicken and beef. Yum yum. 

Other things of note include different varieties of Kinder chocolate, the fact that you can't get sandwiches anywhere! Their tasty Almdudlar drink and the fact that they serve whole aspargus. I'd never had the white buit before! Yum!

I haven't updated in a good while because the last week at work nothing happen. At all. Which makes it all the better that last Wednesday I finished work and started my summer hols. On Wednesday night I travelled back to Crewe. It's never a pleasure in itself but seeing my family really is. I don't really consider having moved over this way a sacrifice in the sense that I don't see my family as much as I used to but when I visit I do miss them. I miss the laughter and the full house I think, although I'd obviously go insane if I still lived with them now. 2005/6 was a miserable time! Haha.

Anyway, most of the time wasn't spent doing all that much really. Lots of Wii playing obviously, which is always fun. I always ache the day after though. My arms aren't used to the work out. I also finished Uncharted:Drake's Fortune on the PS3 which is a brilliant game. Much like what the Tomb Raider games should have become. And it looks ridiculously good. I can't imagine what computer games will look like ten years time that what we're at now. Virtual Reality anyone (on a side note, isn't it funny how VR, which is such a 90s concept, was replaced with stuff like the Wii and Project Natal, the latter of which is very like VR)?

I did lots of reading while I was there. Finally finished Frank Herbert's 'Dune'. God it goes on a bit but it was really good when something actually happened. Unfortunately, like Lord of the Rings, not a lot happens a hell of a lot so I was really glad to finish it. I'm not really into these mass world, lengthy description type of books. I think that computer games manage to do that tonnes better funnily enough. This might just be because I don't have the best imagination though.

Anyway, on Thursday we headed off to the Blue Planet aquarium. Jonathan drove and it must be the first time in ages that all five of us had had a day out somewhere. It was fun, even if the aquarium could have done with a few more weird and wonderful creatures. No octopus and only one type of crab. Boo. My family have recently bought the most amazing new tank and have some beautiful fish in it. Fish are in my genes I think. I want a tank! On the way back we stopped in at Snugbury's as it was an unusually warm day. Ice cream ahoy! I had coconut and elderflower and blackcurrent. Nom nom. So we ate that while looking at the cute piglets they have there. They also have a Big Ben scuplted out of hay, with a working clock too! Brilliant.

I visited Nanna Connie on the Sunday and had a tidy out of some old stuff. I've saved some but I've got rid of a load of old Uni work and posters and three bags of books went to the charity shop. Be gone old life! I did save my old diries though. I'll have to give them a read at some point although I know that they'll be ultra depressing. Especially the ones from when I was 16. On Sunday night we ate tea outside, even though it was raining, and we toasted marshmallows and sat chatting until it was dark, a lovely evening. Shame about the weather though.

Not much else to update really. Today I nipped into town and playtested my new MP3 player. It actually works and everything! I seem to be able to view film and all sorts of crazy stuff, but really, I just want to play music on it! Technology is such a headache sometimes.

I've got a lot of music to listen to at the minute. No change there then. Finally bought The Human League's 'Dare' as I really should own it. Must listen to it tomorrow. Finally bought Charliotte Hatherley's 'The Deep Blue' too and although I was wrong to dismiss it so quickly, I don't think it's as good a 'Grey Will Fade' which I have on now. Also bought Dan Black's 'Un' which is good in a wonky pop sort of way. I'm claiming credit for discovering him as I loved his old indie band 'The Servant' who no-one's heard of.      

James is not impressed with me at the moment. On Wednesday night, during the night I, apparently, turned over and started pinching his back. I have no recollection of this:

James: 'What are you doing?'
Me: 'Poking you.'
James: 'Why are you doing that?'
Me: 'Because it's ready.'
James: 'What's ready?'
Me: 'You are.'

Like I said, I had no memory of this but James isn't convinced as I had a big smile on my face while I said it. This was four o'clock in the morning and he couldn't get back to sleep so he is not best pleased! I don't think I've ever done anything like that before though, very strange.

On Wednesday we went to the cinema to see Coco Avant Chanel which was very interesting. I don't think I've ever been so outnumbered gender-wise in a cinema since I went to see Mama Mia! Audrey Tautou can do no wrong in my eyes and she was very, very good in this. It was quite a slow film but it was never boring which I guess is quite difficult to do, and there were some very interesting characters. The ending was a bit odd though and it could have done with some dates to tell you when when things were set as I found that a bit confusing. I enjoyed the whole thing a lot though. 

As James was very tired last night we ended up watching some crap TV. We don't do it very often but I do enjoy watching rubbish with James as he gets quite irritated about it all. We watched Snog, Marry, Avoid (amazing) and then How The Other Half Live which was less amazing and made me a bit uncomfortable at some points. During watching TV I got a strange call from a man at 'the theatre' asking me if I wanted a part in his play! At first I thought that the West Yorkshire Playhouse had gone down the pan but it's since occurred to me that it might be someone from Skipton Theatre. Either way it's odd as I haven't volunteered there for over two years. Must be desperate.

My IPod has arrived and although I struggled to work it with my computer at first I seem to have sorted it out and I love it dearly. I've become a bit obsessed about finding the right artwork for everything which I really shouldn't get hung up about seeing as I haven't got the space to keep loads of music on my laptop. It's black and it's sexy. Yum yum. 

Can anyone give me some advice on MP3 players? Although my old but reliable thing has been good to me I can no longer seem to update it. I'd quite like a bigger one anyway but they seem to be so expensive, so while I'm happy to go over to the Apple darkside, especially with 120GB IPods available, the prices just seem a little high for my liking. Sadly you can't buy smaller ones new anywhere, I just want something that's biggr than my 20GB one! I'm looking to spend about £150 if possible.

In my last update I forgot to write about my exciting news. I have a job interview! Funnily, it's for the job at Halifax Central Library which I'd given up hope of hearing about, being as the closing date was well over a month ago. It's good news but it's peanuts pay. The only way I could take it would be if they offered me the higher end of the scale, and even that's £14K and I have travel costs on top. The other thing is that the York Uni job which I really want has the interview date a week after this one which could leave me in a tricky position. I have no choice but to wait and see and just take it as it comes really. It's promising either way though I guess.

We went for a nice meal last night at Tompopo. I had some kind of beef thing which was very nice. I went Vietnamese this time, very good. I was also tempted by the Vietnamese coffee which has condensed milk in it! Next time it will be mine. I think I forgot to mention that I went out for lunch with work last week too, to Little Tokyo. I do love it so. Nom nom noms all round I think.

Continuing James' streak of luck, his work were celebrating 60 years of legal aid yesterday. Not only was there cake (!) but James won the raffle too. So our house has a load of nice smellies in it. He also won the poetry competition and got a bottle of wine! I've noticed that he had bought a lottery ticket for Saturday funnily enough.... 

I finished my book last night. It was 'Then We Came To The End' by Joshua Ferris. It was a good read and as it's set in an office, identifying with is quite easy. Not a lot happens though, and for that reason I doubt I'll remember much about it in a year. It was interestingly written though, in that, although there's some third person perspective, it's mostly written by an anonymous office worker. They talk about 'us' as lot but never identify themselves, and yet it's not first person narrative. Very odd but it did work.

Well I haven't updated because I've been ill - again. I had a total relapse on Tuesday of what happened on the train two weeks ago and it's been worse as I've felt generally crap and achey. It's been difficult to describe and although I don't feel 100% still, I do feel tonnes better than I have been. Oh, it's not been swine flu. That's reared its ugly head at work though as Debbie has it. Because she was always going to get it, she's just that type of person. Anything that she can have to get her some attention, it's hers. Plus she emailed our Head of Estates to tell him so he'd impliment our 'pandemic plans'. Thankfully he knew what an attention seeking mental case she is and has proceded with caution. God I'd better get this job at York Uni. Another reason I need to move on is the tweaked structure. People are starting to jump ship what with it being the end of the academic year, so I could end up with a horrendous line manager. Still, things have softened a little today as we're being given our 5% pay rise next month, the one that was promised us earlier in the year before the money had been pissed away.

I had to make myself better for today anyway as my work team went out to lunch at Little Tokyo, my favourite restaurant. Much fun, although my appetite isn't fully back, which is a shame. Still, I do feel better for going somewhere, the last three days have basically involved me at home, not doing a lot. I have realised though, that I haven't written about the books I've read recently. Actually, I've only read two. I read Alan Carr's autobiography which was great. Nothing revolutionary but it's fascinating reading about how comedians make it. Especially learning how much comedians have to pay to perform at the Edinburgh Festival! As ever with Alan there were two or three bits that had me in stitches. The best one being the 'phantom shitter' who worked at the call centre. Imagine working with someone who left massive shits in the corridors! Awful. The other book I've read is Christopher Rice's 'Density of Souls'. I do love fiction with a good gay character in it. The back describes as a mix between Donna Tartt and Stephen King which is spot on, especially on account of the large cast of well rounded characters. There's a slightly odd twist at the end though which I'm not sure was necessary. I didn enjoy it though. I'm now reading 'And We Came To The End' which is set in an office. I expected it to be like Dilbert but it's a tiny bit more serious than that. It's very funny though so far. I'm determined to read more, I might take a few books on holiday with me to really get into it.

Game-wise, I've just finished Broken Sword for the DS which was excellent, even if I did miss the voices. I spoke to my sister before I played it the other week and she couldn't believe I had trouble with the goat bit in the original. She'd only played it on the DS. Well, no wonder she didn't believe it, they've changed it make it easier! And I'm sure they've changed some other bits as well. Nico's side-mission is a welcome addition though. I've finished the special edition of Monkey Island as well whcih was ace. I wish I didn't know it as well though, I'm far too familiar with it for it to have the same puzzly, wow factor it did when I'd only played it once or twice. Hearing the characters talk is great though I have to say and it's still very funny. i wish they produced more point and click adventures. Still, I'm happy to play the old ones for now. Also on the Xbox360 I've finished Beautiful Katamari which is wonderfully bonkers, now I'm on to Mass Effect which is turning out to be very deep, but very interesting. It's like playing a massive book!  

I got VV Brown and Florance and the Machine's albums the other day and both are very good in different ways. James did make a comment about how everyone around is a solo female but I don't care as they're all pretty good, and they're not all the same I think. Tis Party In The Park on Sunday and it turns out that they've added to the line-up so it looks like this:

Sugababes
Dizzee Rascal
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Alesha Dixon
Beverley Knight
N-Dubz
JLS
Booty Luv
Little Boots
Pixie Lott
Tinchy Strider
Ironik
Agnes
Girls Can't Catch
Raygun
Steve Appleton
Dolly Rockers

Actually, that's quite a lot when I look at it. The show is only four hours so I'm guessing it'll be one song each which is a shame! All the ones I want to see are a little high up though so they might get a few songs. Mind you, I'll be pissed by the time Pixie Lott comes on, alcohol is the only thing that'll get me through that woman! I can't complain though, it is free after all.

The only other thing I've done of note is watch Wall:E on DVD. I do love it so, although something in the back of my mind wishes that the humans in it could be 'real' people, especially because the first half an hour looks so stunning without them. Oh, on the DVD is the story of Pixar which is well worth it as it's a 90 minute long documentary, very interesting.