Swede

In my final year at Uni a good friend and decided to runaway to Norway for a week. Whilst we were in Oslo there was a modest sized music festival taking place, which meant much of the city was plastered in the some of the most affectionately printed posters. One which I climbed a wall to rip off was Lykke Li's, who at the time I had never heard of. Fast-forward four months and there she is in Somerset...playing the Park stage at Glastonbury. Now here she is with Kleerup, who also hails from Sweden.

If this were in a film I would like to see it playing at the transitional time between night and morning when you have just left a club and just want it to be daytime or bedtime. Maybe you are feeling something bad. Or maybe it's just bittersweet?

Jakwob

Heard his remixes of Ellie Goulding's tracks then hunted him down on myspace. Hard to believe this talent comes from someone who has only spent twenty years here. Go listen loud. Brilliant noise and beautiful snap.

http://www.myspace.com/jakwob

p.s....another musical delight that I was made aware of this evening courtesy of the BBC1 Concert for Children in Need, was the legendary Dame Shirley Bassey collaborating with Dizzee Rascal. This is the stuff dreams are made of....what an inspirational partnership demonstrating that anything really can (and does) happen.

Eden Project

Yesterday I visited The Eden Project site for the very first time and was completely overwhelmed by the whole experience. The Eden Project is an educational charity "conceived when the environment had dropped from the agenda and environmentalists had taken on the mantle of Old Testament prophets, doom-laden and jargon-heavy".

The site of the project is not only rich in vegetation but also education and inspiration. Most widely known for its space-age like 'Biomes', The Eden Project is more than just cultivating tropical plants. The vibe you immediately pick up on as soon as you enter the gates (where you receive a substantial discount if you have cycled or walked) is one of genuine positivity that we, as a team, can slow down and maybe even repair the damage caused by our over-indulgent use of non-reusable fuel. Instead of using scare tactics like many movements attempting to promote are more sustainable lifestyle, The Eden Project does not drone on about the dismal state our world is in, but instead focuses on positive, manageable ways of helping not only the future of our world, but our communities and personal lives as well.

Please check out their website, and if you head to the South West at all, then The Eden Project should definitely be sat near the top of you 'to-do' list.

co2cut

 

http://www.co2cut.blogspot.com/

Motto for the coming season...

This was a brilliant gift I received from a good friend at the weekend. Having spent last winter season both working in the chalets and riding the mountain with her in France, I feel it would be rude not to listen to her advice. (If any SD managers are reading this, I'm getting Vitirina transferred from Portugal for the winter so those taps will still be super-sparkly. Do not worry).

Hooper and Shaw

Remember remember the fifth of November...as a lovely day. A day that included a blustery visit to St Isaac where I stumbled across the most wonderful Print and Gift shop run by two Illustrators. The cosy little shop is rich in beautifully thoughtful sayings which appear on large limited edition screen prints and greetings cards, as well as intricate paper cutting scenes and an illustrated collection of friendly looking farmyard animals. If you find yourself nearby it is most definitely worth a visit...in the mean time, check out their equally wonderful website.

http://www.hooperandshaw.co.uk/

A little bit disconnected

Having spent a week away from home visiting various places and faces, I returned on Sunday evening and casually threw open the lid on my Mac to see what had been going on in the world only to discover that the bastards at BT had (apparently, for no reason at all) decided to cut our internet connection. Being familiar with the felling of being phone-less due to a long line of misfortunate hydro-accidents, pickpocketers and general carelessness, it shocked me to encounter such feeling of isolation and disconnection. I can only blame my current location and possibly the weather for these irrational emotions. I have spent much quality time over the passed week with people I care dearly about, so why should I feel like I am missing out on something greater just because I cannot write on their virtual wall, or send a pointless email just to spur a response that is not one fueled out of love, but which is purely reactive. My obsessive habit of checking in on the Guardian website to see if I have missed anything that is headline worthy also seems to be superior to picking a trusty old newspaper, or listening to the news updates on the radio which never fail to be broadcast on the hour, if not half way through as well. Surely an hour isn't too long to wait to here what is (or isn't) going on our there?

So, here I am...sat in a swanky bar in Truro, swigging their over-priced g+t's, whilst it howls with terrifying rain outside. Just so I can feel part of the 'real world'. The only thing 'real' about this situation is that I am going to get drenched as soon as I step back outside into actual world.