Liz isn't here anymore

She is now here:

TL;DR - now with extra gifs

Day 17

Let them eat cake. If there was any left. This is the saddest lemon drizzle cake in all the land. Last year's malteaser cake was much better. But then again, last year's cake was a great deal more fraught. This cake! This one layer piddly cake, is a cake of quiet and serenity. But it could have had more than one layer, at least.

Day 16

Worshipping at the altar of Joss Whedon at the moment - an epic Buffy rewatch, plus a little Astonishing X-men. Not quite enough Logan yet, but I see seeds of greatness blooming. I really enjoy reading graphic novels on my tablet. It's one of the rare types of reading I actually prefer to do, not in paper format. Possibly because I can interact more with the art?

PS Still hate Jean Grey.

Day 15

A photo taken of me ages ago, that I quite like. I remember on this day I was eaten up with weird, unspecific anxiety. The photo doesn't seem to reflect that. Perhaps I have a better poker face than I think! Perhaps I'm just distracted. But I like the idea that that is what people see when they look at me. Candid photos are the best.

Day 14

Burns Night. Cultural observance: done.

Day 13

I've started Weightwatchers again. I was so narked with myself last time I gave up on it. It felt like an enormous waste of money when I wasn't committing. This time I've committed, but it hasn't stopped me gaining 5.5 pounds. Iconically, that has cost me £5.00 in membership fees. So it's expensive gaining weight.

I worked out that if I keep going to WW for nine months, that would both take me to my birthday, and cost me about £150. Nothing like seeing it in currency to leave a mark.

That, plus the fact that I've joined the swimming pool for the princely sum of £19 a month (that's about £1.70 a throw, for those playing at home), should get me moving.

Skinflint? Me?

Day 12

When life gives you browning bananas and a solitary Sunday night - make banana bread.

Day 11

Decided to use one of the packaged curries that Catherine sent from Thailand. Possibly I should have ignored the instructions to add more chillie? It was lovely, but a sinus-clearer.

Day 10

Dinner tonight at the lovely Blue Orchid in Aspley Guise. Mmm, duck in tamarind. It's a quaint building, and I found this picture online, dating from the early 20th Century.

That teeny little road at right angles to the building was called the Bedford Road. You only have to travel it to know how hilarious that is.

Day 9

Another day, another delivery. Nearly four years of daily jabs, with a few missed along the way. Wonder how many that is?

Partner in crime (some caveats apply)

Me: But I don't really like the library.*

Him: That's because you're on the run from them.

Me: I'll be Clyde, you can be Bonnie.

Him: I can't get involved - I'm a librarian!

Me: Will you at least visit me in jail?

Him: As long as it's in London.


* A library once tried to hand me over to a credit collection company for a £5 fine. I objected, strenuously.

Day 8

We're having a lot of weather.

Day 7

When winter started, I had one pair of boots. Now look! I may get through the whole winter without getting wet feet once. And I have so many, none of them will wear out by being worn to a nub every day. And these are on nice stubby heels so I won't fall flat on my face.

There is something amazing about wearing boots. I feel brilliant when I do, as if my brain expanded. Maybe it's the thinner air up here.

Number crunching

Last year I randomly decided to improve my maths skills, and so I turned to Khan Academy to show me the error of my problem solving ways. It didn't go too badly, once if figured out how to use the scribble space.

I'm still doing it, but you can now plough through the skills in grade order, so I am currently ploughing through 4th Grade maths. Apparently I have 97 skills that need improvement. I feel substandard.

Day 6

Sometimes there are only cats, and a cuppa.

Day 5

This is all I've done today. Well this, and watched 'The Thirteenth Tale', with Olivia Colman and Vanessa Redgrave. Broke my own rule and haven't read that. But now I want to! Frantically justifying...

A Long Walk to Freedom

A version of this is posted to Just Finished Watching.

Really well done, neatly constructed and epic account of Nelson Mandela's life, the struggle and South Africa's evolution. That said, I found myself not spectacularly moved. I don't know if this is because I know the story really well, and so I knew exactly how it would unfold as a movie. I found it really interesting, and Idris Elba and Naomie Harris were fantastic as Nelson and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, but it didn't ping my sentiment bone, like Invictus. Worth watching though.

To my Saffa shame, I haven't read the book. I will now, though!

Trailers: 'Wolf of Wall Street', which seems kind of random but might be amusing. And something dire-looking called 'The Monument Squad', but as Jones rightly pointed out, if we're going to get enough out of our cinema cards, we'll need to become less discerning.

Day 4

We went to see the Shunga Exhibition at the British Museum today. Shunga has always fascinated me - they're erotic Japanese images. Beautifully drawn, and extremely detailed. The genitalia are always exaggerated, probably because Shunga were used for education, and included in young women's trousseaus. They're extremely gentle and sweet - facial expressions are tender; little moments of ecstasy are juxtaposed with moments of domesticity; there is a great deal of affection between the lovers. They're also very funny, as this image demonstrates. It's to our detriment that the West is a bit prudish about Shunga. Our relationship with sex, and our relationships with each other, could possibly be a bit healthier if we were a bit more lackadaisical about it.

Day 3

New Year's Eve was so dire, I had to hang myself*.





* No Lizzes were hurt in the making of this photo.

East Coker (an extract)

"O dark dark dark. They all go into the dark,
The vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant,
The captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters,
The generous patrons of art, the statesmen and the rulers,
Distinguished civil servants, chairmen of many committees,
Industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark."

T.S. Eliot

Day 2

Tea-stained eggs! I had seen them online unpeeled, and shells were all marbled as well. But of course, our eggs are brown, so they're only marbled on the inside. Am rather excited...

I'm all about the attainable goals

I hate myself a little bit for even writing these down, but it achieves Attainable Goal Number 2 on the list, so what the hell, sez I.

Attainable goal 1:

Read 100 new books.

Attainable goal 2:

Actually update my effing blog This includes both taking a photo a day and posting it, and scratching in my diary without thinking about it too much.

Attainable goal 3:

Maintain and complete my to do lists, daily and weekly.

Attainable goal 4:

After September, to never, ever, ever, ever have to go to Weightwatchers ever again.

Day 1

Greta the Goose gets curried. Greta was the enormous goose we bought for Christmas lunch, and she has served us well as roast goose, goose sandwiches and now curry.

Goose is not as complicated as everyone says it is, and even more delicious than everyone says it is.

Goodbye, Greta. You were delicious.