you will always be my necessity,
i’d be lost without you.


Oh, how can I make up for the fact that I’ve been absent so long? I haven’t a clue what the answer to that is, but I do hope you’ll forgive me anyway. I haven’t got any fabulous excuse (you know, like moving to New York and being inundated with an exciting flood of work projects, à la Garance (author of the staple in my blog-diet, don’t you know)) except for the small Southern excursion which consisted entirely of cocktails, food, wine and a few sore heads. Oh and the obligatory trip to the haven that is Beyond Retro. Always fruitful.
I haven’t even got any fun things to report since my return (for how much fun can one have when ones hand is permanently attached to the end of an umbrella?). I’m so not up for this winter lark, especially this Northern winter lark. It cuts deeper than this Southern girl can take. I need a new pair of boots and fast.
I’ll be back tomorrow with something worthwhile – promise. Now I’ve got to trudge through the rain to get something or other to put in the fridge, ugh. Meanwhile, below = the most addictive birthday present ever. Thank you, the boy.

So, that gig I was telling you about, it was last night. I loved it. Kitty, Daisy and Lewis at the Night and Day Cafe in Manchester. The closest I’ve ever got to them is youtube, so it was amazing to see them in such a cosy little place (albeit a sweaty one). Unfortunately, it was obvious that they weren’t happy with the sound – they asked for something to be turned up after every song (sometimes they asked for two things to be turned up, or even three). The sound man obviously wasn’t on it. There was a guest appearance from a Jamaican trumpeter (who was sporting a rather dashing jester-esque shirt and an Obama baseball cap); after he’d finished dazzling through the microphone and Daisy started singing again, it took the sound man about twenty seconds to realise he had to turn the mic back up; this happened several times, so you could tell K, D & L weren’t all that happy.
Anyway, none of this detracts from the fact that they are all supremely talented and they have more passion and enthusiasm than anyone I’ve seen for a long time. They swap instruments constantly; they all sing and drum and strum and have more than a tinkle on the piano. Kitty plays a mean harmonica too. And Daisy brings out the accordian – just because she feels like it. Dad sits in the corner on rhythm guitar (he is TOO COOL and his red socks were an ingenious touch) and Mum holds it all together on the double bass. In all, they ooze charisma and charm and talent. Go see them, if you get the chance.
I didn’t take a camera, but I did take a few snaps on my phone, so you get the idea…






Sunday cleaning, sunday coffee, sunday ebay sessioning (selling, not buying – at last!). And the Sunday sound? Sarah Vaughan. I WIN.


Anyone else wish they were in polka-dots with the sand beneath their feet? At the moment I’m drinking coffee, trying to speak in French and pondering a massive overhaul of my record collection. All lovely, but I do rather wish I was in polka-dots, sand beneath my feet, not a care in the world…

I’m having a Bob day. There’s really no better kind. It’s utterly miserable out there but Bob’s resounding off my walls, so it’s OKAY.
Hey, hey Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song
About a funny old world that’s a’comin’ along.
Seems sick and it’s hungry, it’s tired and it’s torn,
It looks like it’s dying and it’s hardly been born.

I’ve got a couple of days off work so am being every bit the housewife. Yesterday I made curry (from scratch!) and today I am cleaning windows to the sound of Johnny Cash. It’s lovely and sunny but still a bit too nippy for my liking. Even more excitingly, I received an eBay delivery in the post yesterday – a beautiful, soft brown leather, 1980s, batwing jacket. I often find eBay deliveries come with a tinge of disappointment (the girl modelling it obviously had it pinned in at the back, because it’s the size of a tent in reality) but on this occasion I’m pleased to report that it’s even better than I’d hoped for. It fits like a dream and it feels like butter and I simply can’t stop prancing about in and asking the boy if he likes it. (He doesn’t, incidentally, but I reckon he’ll warm to it the longer I prance.) I better go now (no, not to try on my jacket…well, maybe just for a minute or two) to knock up a few more culinary treats!
