The Signal and the Noise

"And we are quietly resistant to the threat of non-existence And we can think without assistance from the top. You can keep your popes and presidents and your suicidal mal-contents. What they gonna give us when the world stops? A bang. A whimper. A drop"

Juliet Turner, "The Signal and the Noise"

I'm in a strange, mal-contented mood today. I have no reason to be so mal-content--Susan spoiled me with breakfast--a bacon and veggie omelette and a piece of banana bread, I got tons of work done and am finally getting to grips with proofs (damn logic...), and I got an unexpected and lovely package in the post from one of my best friends back in England (more about that later). So why the discontented mood? I have no idea. Well, I suppose I do have ideas but I don't want to harp on about them here. Let's just say that a situation that had been supportive and beneficial to me has ceased to be so and I'm upset about it. And I have a residual worry about something that I can't shake off and rationalize. I'd usually use the aforementioned supportive situation for the latter residual worry but...well...you get the picture. I'll figure it out eventually.

In the meantime, though, I've been listening to Juliet Turner, a singer that I was introduced to by an ex-girlfriend (and was lucky enough to see live) and whom I've loved ever since. The lyrics above are hers, from a song called "The Signal and the Noise" which is one of my favourites and clearly inspired by TS Eliot. I tried to find a youtube video but none was forthcoming. Nevertheless, I highly recommend giving her a listen if you can track some of her stuff down.

ETA: You can listen to a snippet of her music on Amazon. Click here, if thus inclined.

So let's think about good stuff for a while. We have good music, I've had good food, now for the package. Clare is such a sweet friend and I miss her so much. Funny, I dreamt about her and her family last night--I'm really missing the support she gave me over the years I've known her, and just that practical day-to-day friendship, the frequent text messages, endless cups of tea drunk in our kitchens while putting the world to rights, lengthy drives to dance competitions with our girls, just the minutiae of a friend that you've known for ever. Anyway, this is what was in my package:


Monsoon and Next were two of my absolute favourite shops in England. I've not yet found anywhere here that comes close to replacing them, although I keep trying!


Plus: chocolate! English chocolate! Cadbury's Flake! I may just have died and gone to heaven when I saw the packaging. And Custard Creams, as Clare remembers (she's such a darling) were one of my favourite biscuits. Alas, my gluten intolerance means I can't have the biscuits anymore but the gesture is massively appreciated and the girls will enjoy tucking into them. Although it may just be worth getting glutened for a Custard Cream dunked in a mug of tea...

Aside from the lovely package, I've been having fun with chocolate today. Yesterday, whilst out on our regular Saturday potter, Susan and I bought some Halloween chocolate moulds--witch lollipops and pumpkins. We're going to a Gender Bending Halloween party in a couple of weeks--my Gender & Women's Studies professor is holding it at her house (she's all kinds of fabulous) and from what I can tell all of my class will be there. I thought I'd take a hand-carved pumpkin as a hostess gift (although I haven't yet decided what would be an appropriate design) but thought that we should also take some small foodie things too. Hence the chocolate moulds. I've got a few more of these to make before the party but these are the ones I made today:


They're still in the mould and there's some chocolate where it shouldn't be around the edges, but they look fun to me.


Then there are these little chocolate rounds--I coloured some white chocolate with icing dye, I think it came out okay, although there are a few air bubbles in the chocolate. I'm sure no-one will care though.

In other news, sock progress is going well. One down, one to go. I've got most of my school work done for today so when I get back from tonight's meeting I'm going to knuckle down and see how much I can get done. I need to get them in the post, and soon!


There's not much else to add today. Might just go and treat myself to a Flake...