Monday, Monday...

A sunny everlasting Monday. I'm thinking I got up too early.

The sunshine has forced the daffodils from their leafy cases. The sight of their new yellow petals always gives me a 'first day of the rest of my life' feeling. The newness of spring can be quite inspiring if you're not too busy grumbling to notice it. I get the feeling changes are about to happen.

Monday is a day for thinking and I'm already on my third cup of tea. In keeping with the theme of re-birth, the thought for the day is Idlewild.

Next Monday (I believe) is new album day. I could just direct you here, but that would be cheating and my mind has changed significantly since the last record. It truly is a love/hate affair. Anyway, I haven't heard the album yet. The single, I heard it and I was surprised. Safe to say nothing like I expected but it made me want to twirl around in my very short dress and send the Royal Doulton crashing to the floor. Last time around I was obsessed with the days of 2000 when windows were broken and there were road trips to Orkney. Channel 4 filmed this and made me want to marry Woomble and grow neeps and sip whisky in front of a roaring fire. Now someone else is doing just that and I'm courting a life of spinsterhood. This time I'll be optimistic. He has his solo record to thank for that.

I look forward to hearing the album in its entirety. I might even go as far as ordering it from Amazon because I know I wont get a free copy - the only bands I ever seem to get for review are American groups I've never heard of (and one else ever should.) On a more romantic note, I have an eccentricity about holding the records of those I love in my hands and feeling the grain of the paper inlay on my fingertips. Ritual.

We'll see.

Liebe Nadiah

Sometimes the postman can restore your faith in humanity. Or rather he gets to take the credit for gifts collected and mailed two seasons and thousands of miles away that restore your faith in humanity. We do little to appreciate our worldwide postal service.
I just wanted to say thank you for my mail, Miss Nadiah.

North West Zine Works

University now has a review by the lovely Caroline Tigeress at North West Zine Works. Click here to read and vote till your hearts desire. (You can do this once every 24 hours!)

Distros

University is now available at Parcell Press and Brass Buttons. Give them your money because both are run by beautiful, lovely, dedicated boys.

One hell of a week

One week ago I was at a Propagandi gig in Derby. The building was somewhere I spent a considerable amount of time when I was younger. Around me were all the people I spent that time with. My heart still feels like it's encased in bubble wrap.

When I turned the laptop on this morning, there was nothing. No pictures, no documents, no iTunes and most importantly, no un-submitted yet finished 2006 review article. You know, the one I spent the last two weeks obsessing over. I had an almost uncontrollable urge to leap out of the nearest window. Instead I wandered to the train station and joined the Christmas shoppers on an expedition into the big city. Here I met my oldest friend Nicola for lunch. It's a bit like Sex and the City, I suppose. Except with a few minor alterations. Firstly, you would have to replace New York with a middle-English shit-city, then the trendy Manhattan eatery with our dingy local Starbucks and of course, the four stylish, successful thirty-something women with two unsuccessful twenty-somethings who look like they got dressed in the dark. So, not much like Sex and the City at all really... As for the laptop, a conversation with the man on the helpline two years ago and my obsession with notebooks proved quite useful once I managed to calm down.