shell of light

one of the many things going to aberdeen has taught me is how small our country is. it takes 7 hours to get home to cheshire from aberdeen. this makes ANY journey within england seem tiny and inconsequential by comparison. the hour long journey to manchester now seems a quick sit down.

the journey from aberdeen to manchester or vice versa is an excellent train journey, particularly between aberdeen and carlisle, where it is almost continuously impressive. nose-to-the-window points for me are always the magnificent wallace monument, an amazing structure that always feels like a natural part of the landscape around it, and reminds me of a stretched version of kings college chapel tower in my silver city itself, or st giles in edinburgh.

this time, i was lucky enough to have a 40 minute stop in edinburgh so had time to zip up into the streets at stand around for a bit. edinburgh waverley is the only train station that gives me a sense of what travelling by rail was like in its new-fangled, fantastic heyday. it's the most spectacular experience to walk out of waverley. from the churning, cast iron victorian bowels of the city, up that gently sloping ramp straight onto waverley bridge and BAM you're in the center of things. everything is so perfectly positioned from that exact point in the city; the castle, the national gallery, scots monument, st giles, the bank of scotland. i believe that even hardened commuters, who often are miserable, must get some extent of a lift from it every time.

anyway then you're zipping through the countryside. the forth bridge, the distant mountains with a mess of snow on top, then curling through pine forests growing on grey scree slopes. the tay bridge by dundee, which is exhilarating, far better than the forth bridge because it's just so very long and unspectacular, so for minutes on end you're flying over water on an invisible bridge with no grand arches beside you, just 'the feeling of being in motion again', to bring in the mountain goats. "it's the most extraordinary thing in the world." and finally, the last 'leg' as my mum would say, parallel to the sea, sometimes feet away from it, for an hour or so straight up to aberdeen. endless, occasionally oil-rig dotted sea on one side, highland cattle and stone farm shacks on the other side. it's really not that arduous a journey.
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wittgenstein's first lecture at cambridge was titled 'what is philosophy' and lasted four minutes. i love this fact, as i love all facts about wittgenstein. i think about wittgenstein a little more each day. there is so much beauty and so little art in what wittgenstein did. how can you fail to be inspired by the little snippets of wonder wittgenstein would capture in his writing:

"if i post this letter to new york, does it confirm my belief that the world exists?"

"here i stand; everything around me tells me so" (i'm paraphrasing a little here)

"we must climb the ladder then kick it away, having reached the higher ground"

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^^^^^^^^^^^^these are by no means exact quotes by the way! just what i could remember off the top of my head.

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dont get how the guardian get away with writing the same editorial on obama and the resurrection of liberal america EVERY DAY. for the past two months. that gary younge is the polly toynbee of obama, exact same thoughts, over and over and over again...

incidentally, a beautiful piece in G2 t'other day about how to re-energise your house, or summat. contained tips such as moving chairs around around, of course, cushions. a sign of tough (and cheap) times ahead, for sure. was particularly great in the guardian, where in the lifestyle section they recommend 25 quid bars of soap.


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new years resolution is to achieve a better general understanding of science. exams are finished so lets get to work!

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they show this advert in cinemas before the film in scotland and we all stand up and salute.

but seriously, it's awe-inspiring, isnt it. connery's bit is my favourite, just about, but they all had us cackling out of our seats for different reasons.

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everytime i hear H20's what we gonna do i'm staggered by how good the vocals are. it's one of those perfect vocal performances, expressing every emotion simultaneously. and yet, the singer is unknown, out there, in the masses. it was a massive single, but it should have been REALLY massive, it should have beaten heartbroken, because its easily better. it should have been a contender, it should have been something...

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if anyone is wondering what the lone mainstream indie single that i enjoyed was this year, it was 'impatience' by we are scientists. so that's done for another year.

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heard this in a white canteen today and it filled with colour. i find speeded up vocals irresistable, i always have. they sound like what pop is, condensed into a single sound: vulnerable, beautiful, calling out to you.

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and now, to bed, to read my book on space and dream of being an astronaut.