Clothes and CDs
19th June 2008 – 4.12 pmI woke up early this morning wondering if I had slept through the alarm or not. The sun was shining bright through my curtains and I couldn't remember if the radio had come on and I rolled over to go back to sleep or if I had woken up before it. It's awfully difficult to prove a negative, after all. My body was restless, telling me that I had to get up before the day is wasted, and my mind was saying to my body, screw you, body, it's a day off from work. Yes, I set an alarm even on weekends and days off, because I like to try to make the most of my time. As it turned out, as I jumped up to squint at the tiny time display on my hi-fi, my alarm hadn't triggered just yet. I turned on the radio anyway, because I was now quite awake after that physical exertion, and had a pleasant lie-in to start the day.
A little later I got up, and then I walked in to my local town to pick up the NME I get reserved for me each week, a loaf of French bread, and a little cake to take to my D&D session this evening. I walked home, in the glorious sunshine, and had cambozola cheese with some of the bread and a cup of delicious coffee for breakfast, whilst watching an episode of The West Wing on DVD that I have borrowed. After that, I headed out to the station and caught an Overground train in to London for a small shopping expedition.
I had a lot of fun checking out all the vintage shops I found in the past few months, looking at all the neat clothes. I like seeing all the clothes that I would like to wear but are a little too dated for day-to-day wear, as they are generally quite interesting, as well as those that are simply too ostentatious. I managed to find a couple of shirts that I liked enough to buy, including a Van Heusen, which I have a general impression of being quite a stylish label, but I dunno. It's a cool shirt. I also found a tiger-print shirt, which even though I'm not sure when I would dare to wear it was something I thought I couldn't pass on the opportunity to buy. Maybe I'll wear it tonight. I tried on a couple of other items that were really quite lovely but didn't quite fit me, which is perhaps fortunate and I'll try to leave it at that.
In-between clothes shopping I also went in to Sister Ray, picking up Modey Lemon's Season of Sweets and The Duke Spirit's Neptune albums. I had previously ordered Modey Lemon's album from Newbury Comics, but when it hadn't turned up some time after the order I e-mailed an enquiry and was told that they hadn't been able to get any stock and suggested reordering at some point. I then found out, after a brief search, that the album had been released in the UK at around the same time as the US release, which I hadn't realised. When I read Modey Lemon's blog post about Season of Sweets being released I must have assumed that the album would not be released through Birdman records in the UK, an erroneous assumption as it turned out. It was quite easy to find in Sister Ray, and the album is playing on my CD player as I type.
The Duke Spirit's album is one I held back on buying for unknown reasons. I love their earlier work, both Roll, Spirit, Roll and Cuts Across the Land, although I often forget just how much I enjoy those recordings. It was the other day when I listened to Souvenirs, an extra CD of demos and rarities that was included with their first full-length album, that I decided buying Neptune wasn't a particularly risky decision. I'll be having my first listen to it after Modey Lemon's album finishes. Maybe I can listen to the wonderful first album of The Radio Dept. to remind myself of how beautiful a collection of songs that is in a bid to persuade me to get their long-released second album some time soon too.
Now I am home, and am relaxing before heading out to my D&D session later, with cake in hand. I may pop in to EVE Online soon for a bit of missile-firing entertainment. My bike's coolant system can be filled tomorrow morning, on the second day of my extended weekend. I have now bought some coolant, which I can now cross off my to-do list from earlier.
It's been an excellent day, and it's not yet over.
One Response to “Clothes and CDs”
In fact, The Radio Dept.'s Myspace page has some music available that can be downloaded if you're logged in, as well as a link to their Annie Laurie EP that was released in 2002, so I have just found some more music to enjoy just from researching links for this post.