T Plays It Cool

This is a game courtesy of Serendipity. Ten things beginning with a particular letter of the alphabet which relate to me and my life in some way. Serendipity has given me the letter T. It's a tad more tricky than it sounds, so some of the ten are slightly tenuous:

1. Teacher - In my former life (pre-children) I was a teacher of Business Studies and Economics in a sixth form college. I loved teaching and have thought about returning to it once Daisy is at school. Unfortunately, I'm slightly put off by my subject specialism which no longer holds much interest for me. I'd love to teach English or Primary school but as my degree was in Business Studies and Politics, I'd need to do some kind of retraining.
   
   
2. Trains - I think I've mentioned previously that I love travelling by train. (OK, hands up everyone who's now visualising me as some kind of anorak-clad nerd with a notebook!) When I was a child, my grandparents lived in Anglesey, North Wales and several times a year we'd make the long journey to see them. We'd travel to Sheffield by bus, get a train to Manchester Piccadilly station, a shuttle bus to Manchester Victoria and then catch the 10 pm boat train to Holyhead.
   
   The trains were almost always the old-fashioned type, with a long corridor running the length of each carriage and individual compartments of six seats. I was inevitably too excited to sleep and spent the journey reading, munching sandwiches (Mum always packed enough for a small army!), and checking the progress of our journey as we passed each station. The train stopped at Warrington Bank Quay and Chester before snaking its way round the North Wales coastline: Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele and Pensarn, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan, Bangor and finally, at somewhere around 2 am, we'd arrive in Holyhead and walk, luggage in hand, to my grandparents' house.
   
   The return journey was usually made in daylight and, despite the fact that I then had a view through the window, it was nowhere near as thrilling as travelling through the night, when I'd normally be tucked up in bed.
   
   
3. Travel - There are so many places in the world I would like to see that I slightly regret the fact that I didn't do more travelling when I only had myself to worry about. I never had any mad back packing adventures or exotic long haul holidays. Travel is definitely on my medium to long term To Do list.
   
   
4. Trearddur Bay - Trearddur Bay on the Isle of Anglesey is one of my favourite British seaside resorts. Gloriously uncommercialised, even at the height of summer, it has a fabulous sweep of golden sand which is just perfect for building sandcastles. When I was very young (until ill-health forced a move into Holyhead) my grandparents lived just down the road from Trearddur Bay, off the beaten track in a picturesque old cottage. The nearest shop was in the bay and we'd walk the mile or so up the road each day to buy bread and milk.
   
   
5. Talk - Anyone who knows me well will vouch for the fact that I like to talk! During my schooldays I was constantly in trouble for chattering and even now, at work, I find it all too easy to waste time in conversation with my colleagues rather than getting on with the task in hand.
   
   
6. Telephone - Telephones are linked, naturally, to my love of talking but phone conversations are also a large part of my current job... (Edited to remove material which may be deemed sensitive.)
   
   
7. Two Tribes - When I tried to think of a 'T' related song with an associated memory, this was the first one that came to mind so I thought I'd go with it. Every time I hear this song, I'm transported straight back to 1984 and the summer I was 17. In particular, the song reminds me of driving over the North Yorkshire Moors, with P, my boyfriend at the time, on our way to spend a weekend with his family in Sandsend, near Whitby. It was a balmy June evening, all the windows of the car were wound down and, as we drove along the winding road, past the weird "golf balls" of RAF Fylingdales, Two Tribes played at full volume on the car's stereo. It seemed strangely prophetic and, despite the warmth of the evening, I felt an undeniable cold shiver run down my spine.
   
   
   
   Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Welcome To the Pleasuredome, 1984)
   
   
8. Tranquillity Tea - I've never been a fan of traditional tea but, conscious of the fact that I drink far too much caffeine, in recent years I've began to replace some of my daily cups of coffee with herbal tea. Amongst the herbal teas I've tried, Dr Stuart's Tranquillity Tea deserves a particular mention. A couple of cups and you begin to get a definite feeling of drowsy well-being. It must be pretty potent stuff as there's a warning on the packet not to drink more than four cups a day!
   
   
9. Temper - It's not something I'm proud of but, when provoked, I have an incredibly bad temper. People who don't know me very well are usually surprised when they discover this aspect of my character; on the surface I appear quite laid back. I have a fairly long fuse but when it's burnt out, I am not a pleasant person to be around...
   
   
10. Tipsy - I love the word tipsy. It has a peculiarly quaint ring to it which somehow appeals to me. I also love feeling tipsy. Not drunk. I hate feeling that I'm losing control, that my world is spinning and - more than likely - I'm going to be ill. But tipsy is good. Tipsy is the warm glow of knowing everything's all right in your world, feeling that everyone's on your side; you're invincible and life is good.

T Plays It Cool - Marvin Gaye (Chilled Ibiza 3, 2002)

Young For Eternity

Friday and as Daisy and my mum left to collect the boys from school, I skipped off in the late afternoon sunshine to catch the train to Birmingham. There's something about train travel: the feeling of anticipation, the scenery (picturesque or otherwise) rolling past the window, the chance to unashamedly people watch and eavesdrop on the conversations of strangers... Our local train station is a convenient five minute walk from home and I often catch the train to Leicester but only rarely get the chance to take a longer journey. Unfortunately, I appear to have the knack of sabotaging the smooth running of the railway network. The mere fact of me planning to catch a train will inevitably ensure that the said train is subject to a lengthy delay, if not cancelled entirely. However, Friday must have been my lucky day; the train rolled into Birmingham New Street station a whole minute ahead of schedule...

I love Birmingham - both in its current tarted up for the new millenium guise and the down at heel appearance I remember from the late eighties and my days as a student at Aston University. It was the city to which I made my escape from the confines of small-town life; the place where I met some of my best friends, had my first taste of independence and met my husband. Birmingham has a lot to answer for!

The purpose of Friday's visit was a Subways gig at the Birmingham Academy. Cam had bought the tickets and, it has to be said, The Subways are perhaps more to his taste than mine. Although we've had the album for a while, I've never really managed to get into it. Anyway, Cam had driven into Birmingham (he works on the outskirts, not far from The NEC) and I'd arranged to meet him in the queue for the gig. One look at the average person in the queue (under 20, skinny, dyed black hair...) and I began to feel slightly conspicuous. There was another guy of around our age in the queue behind us but he was quickly joined by his daughter and some of her mates. I think we were definitely the oldest people there not accompanying minors!

The gig itself was pretty good. Our conscientious queuing had secured us a place front centre of the balcony (too old for the mosh pit!) so we had a fab view. Cam took loads of pics, I'll try to post some later. Two support acts: The Milk Teeth (well worth a listen) and The Dodgems (great stage presence) and then on to the main event. The Subways have an incredible energy and what they may lack in musical accomplishment they definitely make up for in enthusiasm. Billy really knows how to work the crowd and Charlotte is absolutely awesome to watch: dancing around like a maniac for the entire gig - that girl must be astonishingly fit! Plenty of crowd surfing throughout and a couple of spectacular stage dives from Billy (it looked for a moment like security weren't going to let him back on stage after the first one, having mistaken him for an over zealous crowd surfer!). I can definitely think of worse ways to spend a Friday night. We're back to the same venue on Thursday to see Corinne Bailey Rae. Compare and contrast!


Young For Eternity - The Subways (Young For Eternity, 2005)