Silver Lining (Sorry, my fonts are ferkackt!)

I love Carol Ann Duffy! She has made poetry exciting, insistent, immediate. Here is her take on the air ash crisis:

SILVER LINING

Five miles up the hush and shush of ash,

Yet the sky is as clean as a white slate —

I could write my childhood there.

Selfish to sit in this garden, listening to the past

(A gentleman bee wooing its flower, a lawnmower)

When the grounded planes mean ruined plans,

Holidays on hold, sore absences at weddings, funerals ... wingless commerce.

But Britain’s birds sing in this spring

From Inverness to Liverpool, from Creith to Cardiff,

Oxford, Londontown, Land’s End to John O’Groats.

The music’s silent summons,

That Shakespeare heard and Edward Thomas and, briefly, us.

And for those who haven't read it, her rumination on DB's recent foot injury:

Achilles (for David Beckham)

Myth's river- where his mother dipped him, fished him, a slippery golden boyflowed on, his name on its lips. Without him, it was prophesised,

they would not take Troy.

Women hid him, concealed him in girls' sarongs; days of sweetmeats, spices, silver songs...

but when Odysseus came,

with an athlete's build, a sword and a shield, he followed him to the battlefield, the crowd's roar,

and it was sport, not war,

his charmed foot on the ball ...
but then his heel, his heel, his heel ...

Oracle!!!!!!!!!!!

To Life!

So the other day I ventured down to Brick Lane on my own and had a fabulous martini. I was so impressed with the description (I so enjoy literary excellence in menus) that I copied it for your enjoyment.

Columbia Martini

(mango vodka, lavender, lemon, love)

Take your senses for a stroll down the old Victorian shop-lined flower market of the East End. Officially Mary Poppins' favourite cocktail. (And she drank on the job!)

I am an unashamed sucker for twee. This is one of the reasons I love you, London!

The Bodies

"The Spanish have the right idea when it comes to talking about bodies: They say "the", not "my", distancing themselves. I am not my wattle."

-Carol K. Howell

ETA: Just noticed misoGYNy runs so deep they forgot to label that woman's pippi.

I'm having a multiple cleggasm!

Yes, I've made the joke twice (it's my facebook status update) but (a) the majority of my friends are Aussies and won't get it and (b) HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so fucking happy - and I can't even vote! (I can in local elections as a commonwealthee, but not nationally until I apply for citizenship, which I most certainly will because (a) I can do dual and (b) I LOVE BEING A CITIZEN! It is one of my favourite roles ever! Excepting Betty Parris in my high school production of The Crucible and Monica Lewinsky with my bf during the Clinton scandal ... but I digress ...)

I know the Obama analogies will rankle with many, and perhaps rightly so, but my heart felt so much lighter at every mention of "a third way" - plus the Cable guy? He can fiddle with my antennae anytime, ifyoucatchmydrift. I love a man who talks dir[ec]t[l]y.

But seriously? A politician trying to put justice, equality, and humanity on the agenda? What the ...? A one-two-punch rejection of Bullyboy Brown and Cringeworthy Cameron? ("I agree with Nick!" "No! I agree with Nick!"). Brilliantly executed - who was the alpha male in that debate? I could only love Clegg more if he had a vagina. That's high praise from the rabid Dr. P, btw! Also: MORE WOMEN IN POSITIONS OF POWER PLEASE. It is so fucking monotonous. I'd like to see a pantsuit or two, if it's not too much trouble. Postfuckingfeminism, my grobeh tuchiss.

Also thanks to TV for making it all possible! (Dr P 4 TV 4eva) Brown did a Nixon (BIG surprise there) and the Toryboy was outclassed by the contender with real class.

Vote Lib Dem, please. Do it for those of us who can't.

ETA: I am so embarassed I wrote this. I feel like it's all my fault!!!!!!

Online, unkind?

Just got into a bit of a spat on the Guardian website, which I left with these words:

"Apologies for my rudeness. I just get a bit defensive when writers I admire are attacked anonymously by people with an option to skip articles that aren't to their tastes, choosing instead to insult both the writer and, by implication, their readership (eg, me). I can't even fathom why people do that. I don't give a crap about the financial blogs - should I go tell them?"

and ended with this plea:

"The internet has created a strange, anarchic society which isn't always a nice place to play, and I just think once in a while we should remind ourselves how our interactions would look in real life, and then adjust our antennae accordingly.

Peace."

Why can't we all just get along? No, really. I'm asking.

Just realised

that I managed to get addicted to anything even mildly subversive I tried.

Oh, Doctor P! A marketer's wet dream, albeit a thinking person's wet vermicelli!

Think of yourself as a mop!

Just thinking about people who single-handedly

do so much for changing perceptions.

1. Eddie Izzard

2. Roscoe Lee Browne

Who springs to your mind?