Post two - more to come!
This week, my grandparents and cousin have been over, which has been rather fine. I'm happier when either totally alone and free from responsibility, or surrounded by friends - and happiest when I get both in turn. It bothers me that visitors, even ones I like, can thus never see me at my best. Rather exacerbated because Oceanic has been very depressed this week, and my cousin - Squirrel - has been missing her mum. We make for a very mardy bunch.
We've been doing Family Things, which I do enjoy. I was going stir crazy stuck in the house. The problem with Guernsey is the transport is patchy, and even if I could drive, there's nowhere to go anyway. Perhaps that's why people matter to me so much? They're the only entertainment to be had. It's not so much that there's nothing to do - having visited a smattering of English towns and cities, I'm convinced that Guernsey actually has more to do than most of them. Not many places have such a great range of shops, four(ish) great museums, castles all over the place, beaches, the list could go on and on. The problem is it's all the same. Same stone. Same tea green vegitation. I miss being able to be somewhere totally different within 20 minutes. London Tube as TARDIS. Now there's a new thought...
Earlier in the week, we went shopping and I splurged at Oxfam, for a copy of The Ethical Shopping Guide and Lemony Snicket's Unauthorised Autobiography. I've read both before, but the former is something you need to have for reference purposes. It is a very good book, because it presents counter arguments to ethical behavior, and degrees of ethical involvement i.e. fish to avoid even if you don't want to go veggie. The Autobiography is my very favourite of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. The novels are very well written, but repetitive - until you work out the plot you're seeing isn't the story at all - it's Lemony himself, and the details he drops about his life. And suddenly, they are the most exciting books on earth - and I dive through all the time to find things I've missed, just like that itch to see the Minutemen movie while viewing Watchmen. Naturally, the book all about Lemony is the must-have on that ground, so I'm a very happy chappie. Of course, doing a bit of innocent wiki research, I'm amazed to discover Lemony has released some five extra books that I don't own...I also spotted A BIG FEATHER BOA, sufficiently exciting to warrant capitals, which my grandparents got me of their own accord. Smart cookies :)
Last night we went for chips on the wall, and I went kite flying. The kite story goes something like this - I saw it last year in Herm and fell in love. Ever since, when stuck for a birthday present idea, I always thought "hmmm - kite?", but what I meant was "that kite". It's a flying viking longboat of rainbow coloured joy! When I went to Herm this year, and saw it was still there, and still reasonably priced...I tend to feel bad after buying things, but I've felt not a shred of regret.
Friend 2 christened it Zachariah - my dad has since tried to amend this to something a bit more noble, suggesting Odin, Earendil and Beowulf. When I pointed out that it was a happy, rainbow-kite, he amended his suggestion to "Gayowulf".
It is in truth, very very dull: it's too well designed. The boat has two flat wings to catch the wind, rather like that diagram they always include in encyclopedia entries about plane wings which I only pretended to understand. Once you get it in the air - not difficult - it just stays up there. You could fly it while riding a horse, or tie it to the back of a car, or loop it over your belt while walking - just so long as you keep it out of tree range. There's no skill involved, like with a traditional kite, and you can't do tricks. Friend 4 and I did some experiments - it can even carry light stuff into the air, if you balance it well enough.
But it makes me happy nontheless. Last night we had chips on the wall, and I played with it - by which I mean held onto the end, while trying to make sand-Liberators with my feet (not very well, and in the end they got destroyed by rising water). We had left a key strut at home, so I improvised a replacement with seaweed and a propelling pencil. If the wind had dropped, this would have been the best "I dropped my pencil and the lead broke" story ever. But see above - nothing will make that kite fall.
Super Squirrel released some chips for the seagulls, in the manner of a demolition expert - timidly carrying the package to a safe, open location; gently setting it on the ground, priming and opening the box, then running to safety as the area was divebombed by some fifty seagulls. We considered attaching the kite to some chips...but it didn't seem worthwhile, even if it would have been hilarious.
What else - we've been out to a nice restaurant. Pretty foul. My dinner was meant to be Asparagus, Spinach, Egg and Hollander Sauce - and turned out to be soggy leaves in custard. This I would not have minded - except for the other patrons. You know when parents snap at their children "this is a nice restaurant now be on your best behavior", and the poor kids freeze like meercats for the rest of the night? It was as if someone had yelled that at the adults too. I mined doing voiceovers on strangers for it's full comedy value, so again, nothing was wasted.
This week, my grandparents and cousin have been over, which has been rather fine. I'm happier when either totally alone and free from responsibility, or surrounded by friends - and happiest when I get both in turn. It bothers me that visitors, even ones I like, can thus never see me at my best. Rather exacerbated because Oceanic has been very depressed this week, and my cousin - Squirrel - has been missing her mum. We make for a very mardy bunch.
We've been doing Family Things, which I do enjoy. I was going stir crazy stuck in the house. The problem with Guernsey is the transport is patchy, and even if I could drive, there's nowhere to go anyway. Perhaps that's why people matter to me so much? They're the only entertainment to be had. It's not so much that there's nothing to do - having visited a smattering of English towns and cities, I'm convinced that Guernsey actually has more to do than most of them. Not many places have such a great range of shops, four(ish) great museums, castles all over the place, beaches, the list could go on and on. The problem is it's all the same. Same stone. Same tea green vegitation. I miss being able to be somewhere totally different within 20 minutes. London Tube as TARDIS. Now there's a new thought...
Earlier in the week, we went shopping and I splurged at Oxfam, for a copy of The Ethical Shopping Guide and Lemony Snicket's Unauthorised Autobiography. I've read both before, but the former is something you need to have for reference purposes. It is a very good book, because it presents counter arguments to ethical behavior, and degrees of ethical involvement i.e. fish to avoid even if you don't want to go veggie. The Autobiography is my very favourite of the Series of Unfortunate Events books. The novels are very well written, but repetitive - until you work out the plot you're seeing isn't the story at all - it's Lemony himself, and the details he drops about his life. And suddenly, they are the most exciting books on earth - and I dive through all the time to find things I've missed, just like that itch to see the Minutemen movie while viewing Watchmen. Naturally, the book all about Lemony is the must-have on that ground, so I'm a very happy chappie. Of course, doing a bit of innocent wiki research, I'm amazed to discover Lemony has released some five extra books that I don't own...I also spotted A BIG FEATHER BOA, sufficiently exciting to warrant capitals, which my grandparents got me of their own accord. Smart cookies :)
Last night we went for chips on the wall, and I went kite flying. The kite story goes something like this - I saw it last year in Herm and fell in love. Ever since, when stuck for a birthday present idea, I always thought "hmmm - kite?", but what I meant was "that kite". It's a flying viking longboat of rainbow coloured joy! When I went to Herm this year, and saw it was still there, and still reasonably priced...I tend to feel bad after buying things, but I've felt not a shred of regret.
Friend 2 christened it Zachariah - my dad has since tried to amend this to something a bit more noble, suggesting Odin, Earendil and Beowulf. When I pointed out that it was a happy, rainbow-kite, he amended his suggestion to "Gayowulf".
It is in truth, very very dull: it's too well designed. The boat has two flat wings to catch the wind, rather like that diagram they always include in encyclopedia entries about plane wings which I only pretended to understand. Once you get it in the air - not difficult - it just stays up there. You could fly it while riding a horse, or tie it to the back of a car, or loop it over your belt while walking - just so long as you keep it out of tree range. There's no skill involved, like with a traditional kite, and you can't do tricks. Friend 4 and I did some experiments - it can even carry light stuff into the air, if you balance it well enough.
But it makes me happy nontheless. Last night we had chips on the wall, and I played with it - by which I mean held onto the end, while trying to make sand-Liberators with my feet (not very well, and in the end they got destroyed by rising water). We had left a key strut at home, so I improvised a replacement with seaweed and a propelling pencil. If the wind had dropped, this would have been the best "I dropped my pencil and the lead broke" story ever. But see above - nothing will make that kite fall.
Super Squirrel released some chips for the seagulls, in the manner of a demolition expert - timidly carrying the package to a safe, open location; gently setting it on the ground, priming and opening the box, then running to safety as the area was divebombed by some fifty seagulls. We considered attaching the kite to some chips...but it didn't seem worthwhile, even if it would have been hilarious.
What else - we've been out to a nice restaurant. Pretty foul. My dinner was meant to be Asparagus, Spinach, Egg and Hollander Sauce - and turned out to be soggy leaves in custard. This I would not have minded - except for the other patrons. You know when parents snap at their children "this is a nice restaurant now be on your best behavior", and the poor kids freeze like meercats for the rest of the night? It was as if someone had yelled that at the adults too. I mined doing voiceovers on strangers for it's full comedy value, so again, nothing was wasted.
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