On the nature of being ill and memories

Or to be honest - a bit poorly...

I've had a low-level cold this week - took one day off work to try and shake it, and since then have just been generally bunged up and sneezing a lot. Weirdly it feels more like hayfever than a cold, but it is October and the leaves are dropping off the trees and nothing is flowering so I think it is just a cold limping its way out of me.

But this got me thinking about when I am ill. Which (touch wood) I very rarely am. I can't remember the last time I had a full on grotty head cold, let alone the flu (thereby now opening myself up to a winter of lurgies no doubt) and I don't really know what to attribute that to. I'm not uber healthy, nor do I live a clean and pure lifestyle which would build up my resistance to all the bugs floating around.  But somehow I tend to manage to avoid the worst of them - the most I do is quaff echinacea and fortified vitamin c when I feel something coming on. Maybe thats it!

But the one thing I do always have is lemon & honey with disprin. I can't bring myself to buy Lemsip - and don't really see the point. And there is something comforting and homely about my lemon & honey drinks. Memories of hearing Mum walk up the passage way when I was ill at home as a child, and knowing she was bringing me my drink. Always before bedtime to help us sleep. Although I think I put a tad more honey in than she did as sometimes they were a bit tart! And even feeling just a little bit poorly, I go straight back there, and still want to be looked after. I'll never forget my 21st family celebration - feeling full of cold, and I just wanted to be at home. I was going home anyhow (I think I bused back with Eryn) and it was a journey from hell - cold, hot, sweating and shivering. But we got back to Taupo, I crawled into bed and Mum bought 'the drink' in. I was so happy to be home - even though I felt like I was dying!

From 0 to 100 in...

Ok - not quite. But I've done my 'numbers' albums - so I'm very much reaching the end of my odyssey through my ipod... But I still do have quite a few new ones to listen to, so I'm not quite done yet.

Mhairi asked if I haven't been listening/buying to anything new since I've been doing this. I have been buying the odd new album and listening to new stuff - just as well as this has taken me a couple of years! But it is probably fair to say I have slowed in that regard. But then again, I've discovered some of the great music I already own :-).  So the albums are:

004: Hope - The Green Room (Loop)
12 Songs - Neil Diamond
12 Tales from Winter City - The Young Republic
16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens
18 - Moby
19 - Adele
The '59 Sound - The Gaslight Anthem
'64-'95 - Lemon Jelly
69 Love Songs - Vols 1, 2 and 3 - The Magnetic Fields
$87 and a Guilty Conscience that gets Worse the Longer I go - Richmond Fontaine
1972 (Bonus dvd) - Josh Rouse

The ones I really enjoyed in this (short) list were The Gaslight Anthem and Young Republic. Neil Diamond is obviously always brilliant, Moby gets very boring, Lemon Jelly just sounds like background filler music to me, and Richmond Fontaine was also very good.

Tracey comes to town...

I'm not even going to try and do a catch up in terms of Tracey's visit - she's been gone almost two weeks now :-( . But some of the fun bits below - and loads of photos are now on Flickr. More than my facebook album!

• Day out at the seaside in Brighton
• Beautiful Stresa/Lake Maggiore
• The heat in Bologna and Milan
• The weather during Tracey's last week
• Leeds Castle
• Buckingham Palace - no Queen but we did see 'The Dress'!!
• London Zoo - always a good day out :-)
• The Lost Gardens of Heligan - stunning
  
• Eden Project - great to go back to
• Having someone to drink G&Ts with!
  

W, X, Y and Z...

Visiting sister means I've not updated this recently... so lots of music I've got through in the last couple of months! Still not done tho - am now doing the "numbers" and then I've got lots of new music to listen to. This mission ain't done yet...

W

Wait for Me - The Pigeon Detectives
Wake Up! - The Boo Radleys
Want One - Rufus Wainwright
Want Two - Rufus Wainwright
War Elephant - Deer Tick
Warnings/Promises - Idlewild
Washington Square Serenade - Steve Earle
Water is Life, Aman Iman - Tinariwen
Watershed - Grant McLennan
Watina - Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank - Modest Mouse
A Weekend in the City - Bloc Party
What Are You Going to do With Your Life? - Echo & The Bunnymen
What the Crow Brings - The Low Anthem
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis
Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I Am - Arctic Monkeys
When Its Over We All Have to Clear Up - Snow Patrol
Whiplash - James
Whiskey Tango Ghosts - Tanya Donnelly
White Ladder - David Grey
Who You Are - Cary Brothers
Wilco (The Album) - Wilco
Wildwood - Chatham County Line
Wingspan (Hits & History 1 & 2) - Wings
Winnemuca - Richmond Fontaine
The Wire ' "And all the pieces matter" - Various Artists
Woman King - Iron & Wine
Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips
Words & Music: Greatest Hits Disc 1&2 - John Mellencamp
Workbook - Bob Mould

So the Ws....? Pigeon Detectives were good - bit Arctic Monkey-ish, Deer Tick was great - sort of alt country. Great voice! Modest Mouse have a couple of songs that I've added to my faves, but overall didn't grab me a lot. Cary Brothers I liked - sort of Snow Patrol/Mumford & Sons style. Quite into that at the moment. Richmond Fontaine also great - really like his stuff. Two albums of Wings is a bit too much though!

X&Y - Coldplay
XX - The XX

I quite like this Coldplay album. XX got loads of press when they hit the scene, and its a good album. Didn't really really love it though.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco
Yellow Moon - The Neville Brothers
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
You Are Not Alone - Mavis Staples
You Can Have it So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
You Gotta Go There To Come Back - Stereophonics
Yours Truly, Angry Mob - Kaiser Chiefs
Youth and Young Manhood - Kings of Leon

Enjoyed the Kaiser Chiefs again - some good songs on that album. Kings of Leon were a bit 'meh' on this album. Not one of my faves of theirs. Wilco - always good, and the Neville Brothers were a bit of history! The Flaming Lips was great - I saw them sing songs from this album at the Big Day Out back in 2004 so I have a real softspot for it!

"Z" - My Morning Jacket
Zeus - British Sea Power

MMJ - always good! The British Sea Power ep was ok. Good at the start but gets a bit too full on for me towards the end.