4: Repetition and One-Offs
I listen to Radio 6 a lot since I started working from home and I think it's changed my life.
I listen to the same music over and over again when I'm left to my own devices. I love all genres, and I love finding new music to listen to, but when I'm working, I tend to fall back on repetition to keep my head clear. I'm a passive listener most of the time.
I realised that repetition is soothing to me, as I'm sure it is to a lot of people. I also realised that I spend a lot of time in silence too -- something Tom can't understand at all.
The things I listen to, watch and look at over and over again aren't routines as such, but they do form a large part of my frame of reference. It's nice to have someone chattering away in the background, giving me new points of view to think over, nudging me off my velodrome and down spooky paths. You have no idea how many of my articles began as ideas thrown out into the world from music played by Lauren Laverne or Mary Anne Hobbs. I owe them.
Old New New York
A photo of a beach made from landfill in Battery Park, New York appeared in my timeline while I was casting around for something totally out of my comfort zone. This article in the New York Times looks back on this "hipster beach" and manages to articulate just how wonky it made me feel.
Then, Agnes Deyne's Wheatfield was shared in the same thread. Another beautiful, strange, eerie, unsettling scene in Manhattan. It's not nature juxtaposed against the city, because a field of golden wheat isn't natural. The work they had to put in to create it there, the land they had to move, it's spectacular. I can't put my finger on why, but it's haunted me all week.
Other Things
Emily Rees Nunn wonders if comfort food is only delicious in our minds, and then regrets making an old family favourite.
An ice cream truck owner was so sick of 'grammers asking for free cones he created an influencer tax.
This week I found out about Radon, a deadly invisible gas that's everywhere. The upside: in America they encourage kids to make posters about it and the results are often incredible.
Sarathy Korwal's music switched something on in my brain this week. Finding out about who he is and the projects he's worked on has been even more inspiring.
This piece on plastic flamingo lawn ornaments from 2001 is everything I love about longreads. Ponder too deeply about what the iconic pink flamingo means to culture and to wider society. Meet Don Featherstone, the hugely lovable visionary who first made them. Rethink forever what you consider "tacky".
My Things
"East Lancs Steam Rail Ale Trail" is a fun thing to say, isn't it? Well, I actually went on it with some guys from my local, and finally, here is a blog post about the trip.
My latest restaurant review is of 18 North in Morecambe. A great restaurant in Morecambe! Yay Morecambe!
May 15, 1977.CreditCreditFred R. Conrad/The New York Times