Little Red Courgette

Charity shops: not something I've really ventured into before but have recently become a good source for CD hunting. I obtained Iron and Wine's The Creek Drank the Cradle and Tori Amos' Strange Little Girls for a mere two quid each along with an old RATM single in PDSA of all places. Not that you'd associate Rage with animal cruelty it just seemed like an odd place to find it to me.

Iron and Wine... I've been really getting into them lately. I've had Our Endless Numbered Days for a while now and loved it and got given the new album, The Shepherd's Dog, for my birthday. On my fruitful trip to Canterbury during the week I managed to pick up two more EP's and the charity shop purchase means I have a lot more to listen to. Sam Beam is a musical great.

Briefly on the subject of music: Friday was an amazingly creative day for BrokenOrchestra. I'll leave it at that for today. Stereophonics seem to have become the most boring band in the world.

I've been doing a lot of driving on motorways at night this last week or so. This means I've been privvy to a lot of free firework displays as I skirt around the tarmaced edges of cities and towns in the dark. Especially the big city itself. I like London at night, driving over the Dartford bridge and looking across at all the lights is nice, nicer than during the day when I just think about how much of a shame it is that the river is barely used these days. That the M25 is lit at night makes me think two things; firstly that it must be a large electrical bill and secondly that the road serves as a dayglow belt around an overweight, bloated and gassy fat man heaving it's way to a heart attack. Not that I dislike London, a few areas I really like. A few.

My new(ish) car eats up the motorway miles like they're nothing but there's two signs that I'm almost home that I love to see. The first is Aylesford Newsprint. I've been on the tour there a long time ago and it's an awe inspiring place inside but seeing the outside and condensation steam rising from the towers lets me know that I'm about 15-20 minutes away. The other is a white house. Just as you come round a bend there's a white house that I guess is down Sandyhurst Lane but as it comes into view it's directly opposite the sign for my junction. A welcome sight after a long journey.

I had a Gingerbread Latte yesterday!! As much as I hate the earlier and earlier build up to Christmas - mainly as it intrudes upon my birthday - I do love the Starbucks festive drinks. Just wish they'd bring back that cinamon dolce thing they did. Also wish I could spell that word...

Argh, gotta go back to work tomorrow.. I need to clear that writers block and maybe then I can get around to finishing a book. I used to have so many ideas and now I haven't written a word since it turned out my last one was bearing a bizarre similarity in it's beginnings to Twin Peaks - which I'd never seen before. Or a job where I can work from home occasionally. I like drinking coffee during the day outside of the office.