atomicules

Mostly walking the dogs

I Fell In Love With His Long Legs

"I fell in love with his long legs, saw him getting smaller in the distance, felt him pulling one of those long strings out of my heart."

— Monkey Grip by Helen Garner

Loved it. Has been on my list for some time. I didn’t know anything about it, but didn’t realise it’s a cross between Trainspotting and Normal People, but set in Australia (I’m sure people would hate me for saying that). And of course pre-dating either of those by years. I find anything “relationshipy” incredibly stressful and this stressed me to the max (but I still thought it was great).

The Secrets To Dressing Well In Your 40s

"Remember: There is power in being in your 40s. Your body may have changed in the past decade, but so too have your budget and your confidence. This is the era in which you buy nice clothes that make you look good. It should be the best you've ever dressed."

Made me LOL and then stop reading the article. I had more of a clothing budget when I was a teenager. On a related note, I have just bought some running shorts from Vinted for £3. Mostly to go over the top of my worn leggings so I don’t get done for indicent exposure. Has taken me about 30 months to “save” for them.

A quote not from a book! I’ve nearly finished my next book though.

Maybe in my 50s?

The Snow Did Not Look Like A Killing Blanket

"And, today, the snow did not look like a killing blanket but like a tender coverlet designed to keep the cold away from germinating seeds."

— Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Sarah Walters says in the forward “it’s also the most engaging and accessible of her fictions” and I was going to say “but I can’t remember The Magic Toyshop being this bonkers”, and yet it turns out I did say just that.

Why A Woman Should Want To Murder Her Husband

"There are many reasons, most of them good ones, why a woman should want to murder her husband."

— Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

I mean, in the grand scheme of things, she’s not wrong.

From Water That Holds Within It The Entire Sky

"Outside the window, there slides past that unimaginable and deserted vastness where night is coming on, the sun declining in ghastly blood-streaked splendour like a public execution across, it would seem, half a continent, where live only beads and shooting stars and the wolves who lap congealing ice from water that holds within it the entire sky."

— Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

Beautiful.

And From The Coffin Of Your Madness There Is No Escape

"Farewell, old man. And from the coffin of your madness there is no escape."

— Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter

First book of the Christmas book haul done. Since then I’ve got another two. Due to the rest of life getting in the way I could see it taking me until near the end of the year to get through all these.

LINK: Drinkaware

I’m not doing dry January (why make an already hard month more miserable than necessary?) so this post is just coincidentally in January - I actually started using Drinkaware last year, but only got around to writing about it now.

These are my uncollected thoughts on it:

  • As far as doing what it says on the tin I can’t fault it: It does make you very aware.
  • It would be nice if it worked offline / without an account.
  • It would also be nice if it didn’t nag every time about enabling notifications.
  • And further, if you could edit existing entries (names, percentages, volumes, etc) rather than having to delete and replace.
  • The unit goals can only go down which I find a bit silly. Ok, yes, I am trying to stick to 14 units a week, but if I only have 10 units one week I can’t then set a goal of 14 for the next week.
  • Related: It’s not the most positively re-enforcing app. It tends to want to tell you you’ve “significantly increased your drinking” if you’ve gone from a week with 0 units to a week with 10 whereas I feel it should be saying “well done, you are under 14 units”.
  • 14 units a week is not a lot at all.
  • Also, that the 14 units is a rolling seven days, which of course it should be, but that makes things even trickier and actually harder to spread things out.
  • What’s more, 8 units in a session (any more is technically binge drinking and a session is a whole 24 hours) is really not much at all. That’s less than four pints at 4.5%. If you had two pints at lunch on a Saturday and then two in the evening you’d be a binge drinker (technically).
  • It’s really made me aware how strong drinks are. It’s hard to find craft beers under 4%. It’s easy to find beers over 5%. Similarly it’s so much easier to find wines at 13% than 10.5% (and it makes a lot of difference: You can do a whole bottle of wine at 10.5% and stay under 8 units).
  • I’ve found a new found appreciation for “bests”: Bellhaven Best and Caledonia Best are only 3.2%
  • Of course there are lots of great alcohol free beers nowadays, but I also wish there were more around 3%. Similarly with lower alcohol wines (alcohol free wines are… not good).
  • I could probably give up drinking for myself, but, like everything else in my life, I’m trying to stick to these guidelines as a compromise.
  • But I’m also doing “everything in moderation, including moderation” - I.e. I didn’t bother over Christmas (I did have a very light New Year though just by accident).

[EDIT: 2025-02-28] Mentioned the rolling seven days.

The Jazz Bar Edinburgh

The Jazz Bar Edinburgh

We’ve done quite a few visits to the Blue Lamp since, but yesterday we managed a brief stop off at Edinburgh’s The Jazz Bar. It is more like a movie jazz club and a very cool place indeed.

Christmas Book Haul

Christmas Book Haul

Genuinely so happy when I’d already unwrapped a load of books and then unwrapped Addie LaRue. Also really looking forward to Butter - that wasn’t on my list but looks great. Will take me awhile to get through these though. Quotes incoming.

LINK: My Music Picks Of The Year

Highlights of the highlights? Could I pick a top ten? I doubt it. Right now that Divorce track is stuck in my head, plus I’m loving the Honeyglaze Ghost song (which I overlooked when I first listened to the album as I was so distracted by the brilliance of Pretty Girls), but this playlist sways from Ariana Grande to Architects so it really depends on my mood. There is some great stuff on here.

The craziest thing though is, that despite there being almost six hours of tracks here, I know there will have been songs that I will love that have completely passed me by.

Looking forward to next year.

These are the ten most recent posts, for older posts see the Archive.