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Personal

One week down…

  • What have I learned? – That bad cars are still made
  • Listening to – When I was cruel – Elvis Costello
  • Reading – I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain – Anita Sethi

I belong here is a great read, I finished over a few nights when I was struggling to sleep this week. It’s a wonderful story with a rough start: the author was racially attacked in northern England and told to go back to her home. Only she was home, she was British.

She sent out for a walk, to see some of the place she came from. To get away from the closeness of the attack and experience the wide expanse of the Pennine national park. She takes this moment of hatred, goes back to where she comes from and shares with us a journey through along the Pennine way.

It is a wonderful tribute to the amazing place, she turned oppression into vulnerability, and then into power. Wonderfully written and one of my favorite books for a while. Can’t recommend this one highly enough.  

I’ve only seem Elvis Costello live once (The empire in shepherds Bush I think, in 93 or 94), but really enjoy a lot of his stuff. When I was Cruel is probably not one of his classics, but stands the test of time well. The anger of the Get Happy!!! and This Year’s Model (my favorite Costello and the Attractions record) has gone, replaced by, well, middle age and everything that comes with it.

Costello is a contemporary of people like Toyah, Joe Strummer, Edwyn Collins (Rip It Up is excellent) and Morrissey. Angry people that gave punk so much energy, and makes it relevant 40+ years later. I think Costello matured better and stayed relevant for longer than pretty much anyone else. Maybe Paul Weller and his transition from the Jam to the Style Council, and again into his solo stuff also gets a mention here.

I think with a couple of standouts. For me Alibi and the title track are both excellent, and while there are a few misses, the whole album is very listenable and worth your time.

As for the bad cars… My car got hit on I-5 a few weeks ago, a truck did not see me and turned into me. Lots of ugly bodywork damage, the Miata came off worse of the two, but otherwise OK. Finally went into the shop for repairs this week and I got a Chevrolet Spark as a rental.

I’ve maintained for a while no one makes a bad car any more, even poor cars are acceptable. I was wrong, this car is horrible. It’s hard to call what happens above 50 miles per hour as actual “acceleration”, it’s more gently gathering speed. I get it’s not designed as a freeway cruiser, but it feels actively dangerous if you venture into the inside lanes. Thankfully I only have it for another week.

Have a wonderful week.

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