Help Me Out

I have no idea what this will become although I'm thinking "strange necklace" or "very strange necklace". I just liked the colour combination of the turquoise waxed cotton and the matte red beads. I have some big opaque white beads too which I think might also make an interesting necklace. I don't tend to wear much jewellery, so this is certainly a departure for me. Regular readers might have spotted that I am dealing with persistent medical matters and that I tend to visit doctors and/or hospitals with alarming frequency (actually, there is nothing alarming about the medical matters but I prefer not to blog about very personal things. I never was a confessional blogger). Anyway, this week I was advised by my NHS person to relax as much as possible in the weeks to come and, I quote, "watch some trashy TV and read crap books".

Huh.

Trashy TV: I don't think I will ever be able to stomach this. I tried watching some nonsense "middle-age female TV presenter investigates cosmetic surgery" programme yesterday but I only lasted ten minutes before switching to G20 coverage on BBC News. Is there a trashy TV programme which I would potentially enjoy? Recommendations for standard UK networks (remember, I'm in Scotland).

Crap books: Granted the actual words were "light reading which won't rot your brain but won't tax you either" but the gist is certainly crap books. Any recs? I think I'd prefer historical fiction, regency romances, fantasy or crime novels set in the early 20th C, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm not keen on contemporary chick lit, hard-boiled crime novels or writers who have graphic sex scenes every 18th pages or less (Laurell K. Hamilton, I'm looking at you in utter disgust).

Today I trawled through the seedy secondhand shops in Glagow's Partick area and managed to pick up 9 books for less than £5 plus a fabulous knitting magazine from 1983 with hilarious sweater patterns, stress-inducing lace socks and a curtain for the auto-camper..  and the beads you see in the photo. I tried to go for "crap books" but sadly I ended up with mostly Booker prize nominees and post-colonial classics. I clearly need recommendations.

I Was Just Here. Where Did I Go?

Kirsten Marie, my good friend and erstwhile bookish.dk contributor, visited Scotland this week. We spent a few days walking around Glasgow's West End, drinking coffee, and I talked her into buying some expensive Japanese yarn(!) too. It felt really good to talk in Danish again and I really enjoyed being able to make culture-specific jokes (like quoting Lars von Trier's Riget in a wholly inappropriate context). Walking around with Kirsten Marie, I realised how much more settled I feel here in Glasgow now than I did just a year ago or so. I can navigate Glasgow now and do so with ever increasing confidence. Vegan food? Oh, go to Sith, the 78 or Mono. Fair trade, you say? Bolshie's the place. Arty? There's a really great mural just down by Kelvinbridge subway station. Okay, so I wouldn't be able to point you to the local gun range, but I wouldn't have been able to do that in Copenhagen either

Knitting-wise, I have done a lot in the last few days owing to the fact that Kirsten Marie has been bitten by the knitting bug and not only demanded to be taken to yarn shops(!!) but also thought knitting in public to be a perfectly agreeable way of spending her holiday here. So I only have 6" to go on the body of my green cardigan before I can start the sleeves. I am still unsure about which buttons to use. Having been VERY monogamous with my knitting lately, I am dying to cast on one or two new projects (I never have more three WIPs on the go - I know it's sickening) but first I need to re-organise my stash. Other Half had to get something in the closet behind my yarn containers and everything's now all a-jumble. It's really lucky that I love organising books and balls of wool.

A few random links from the last few days:

+ The Other G20. My postcode happens to be G20 and a BBC journalist went to see what it's like here. One comment at the buttom nails it: "The schizophrenia of the postcode is emphasised by a local running joke: those originally from Glasgow who live in G20 say they live in Maryhill; those who have moved to G20 to the middle-class developments refer to it as North Kelvinside". I live in .. North Kelvinside. + Seven Abandoned Cities and Towns of Europe. Beautiful urban/rural decay. + Cornify: "the #1 unicorn and rainbow service worldwide, giving websites sparkle around the world." Yes, Cornify is really for all your unicorn and rainbow needs. + Sound Comparisons: accents of English from around the world.

I'm A Professional Cynic (But My Heart's Not In It)

It is fair to say that the last week or so has been a bit of a blur. I spent it recovering from two days in Kraków(!) which meant painkillers, getting up only to need a long nap two hours later, and spending my awake hours on the sofa either looking out on the sunshine or reading. My partner, David, took over cooking duties for most of the week, bless him, but I still feel vaguely guilty about leaving it all to him. I've read three books this past week: Anne Donovan's Being Emily, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Michel Faber's Under the Skin.

Donovan's book was a letdown after her excellent Buddha Da or perhaps I am just not very good with emotional, comic and heart-warming family tales. Satrapi's graphic novel proved an interesting, clever and often funny look at growing up a smart woman in 1970s and 1980s Iran. I still struggle with the actual graphic novel format, though. Finally, Faber's Under the Skin. A fascinating, horrifying and absorbing read. I wonder what it says about me that I cannot get behind "emotional, comic and heart-warming family tales" but I fall head over heels for a strange, disturbing, genre-defying short novel?

Finally, I know I've posted a lot of YouTube links lately, but this one is an absolute cracker. A student at Glasgow's School of Art sat down to make a video installation about obsolete technology. This is the result. So strange and beautiful.

Girlfriend in a Coma

Kraków is not a great place to shop if you are into your crafts. I managed to track down a couple of pasmanteria (I have no idea how to pluralise the word - it means "haberdashery") on Ul. Karmelicka, but the best one I found was on the corner of Ul. Królewska and Aleja Juliusza Słowackiego. I had to pass through a room of children's clothes and another filled with children's shoes before hitting the tiny pasmanteria. I bought a few buttons using a lot of sign language, pointing at my cardigan's buttons and speaking a hybrid between Russian, German and the few Polish words I knew. I wish I had known that the Polish word for "buttons" is guziki.

Dave has uploaded a few Kraków photos, by the way.

I'm now on my third day of resting after our little Polish adventure. I do not mention my health very often, but I wasn't amused that I had to take painkillers yesterday just to get out of bed. I think today will be yet another slow day, but hopefully that means I will be back to normal tomorrow. Sometimes I really do regard my body as my enemy.

And thank you so, so much for the extraordinary response to my Heritage shawl.

Letter from Krakow

Dear everybody, I am typing this entry in the lobby of our Art Deco hotel in my bare feet. It has been raining all day and, just as I moved to Scotland without an umbrella and still do not own a pair of wellies, I cheerfully wore my comfy (not rainproof) sneakers to rainy Krakow. I also only packed three pairs of socks. I have already changed twice today, so I'm not quite sure how tomorrow is going to work out. I hope it will be drier.

Also? I had been singing New Lanark Aran wool's praises in recent weeks and refuted any claims of its dye bleeding. I currently have a red-striped forehead where my newly-knitted New Lanark beanie in red has been resting. What do you mean I should've washed and blocked it before leaving? You sound as though I'm a patient sort of person!

Krakow, then. To me, it feels like a Copenhagen which has been through hardship and war (which Krakow has, of course). The same architectural feel, but very run-down in most places. A beautiful, proud but tired place. We visited the old Jewish Quarter today which affected me on a personal level (a long-lost branch of my family tree is Jewish) - particularly as somebody has drawn white ghostly figures on abandoned houses. I felt decidedly twitchy and we left for more carefree ventures. Tomorrow we intend on tracking down some Art Noveau stained glass, eat more pierogi (yum!) and just maybe take in a church or two before heading home to Glasgow and dry socks.

And I've bought the first Christmas present of the year. Score!

But .. I Don't Observe Lent!

Due to Certain Health Issues, I have embarked on a lactose-free, low-caffeine diet. This is very difficult for this milky-tea and Diet Coke devotee. I allow myself one cup of glorious caffeinated coffee every morning, but it's not any fun having to put soy milk in it. Oy. I have also been googling lactose-free rice pudding and custard recipes because I refuse to give up my comfort food. You say there's caffeine in chocolate? La la la la .. I cannot hear you! (You'd be forgiven for thinking I was Catholic as I have also given up buying wool)

I'm about two-thirds through Junot Diaz's The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. I'm torn between absolutely loving it and finding it woefully uneven. Perhaps it's just that one of the narrative voices is so compelling that whenever he disappears from the book, I become very impatient. I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow and then need to mull over my reaction to it. I like it when a book demands a proper response.