Calling for Plan B

First day of leave today

Yey !

Plan A was to chill out in front of the cricket, however the weather in Leeds intervened and there was no play at all today. What to do ... what to do ...

Partly inspired by needing to top up the supplies (ok, the cupboards were bare and I was down to my last packet of biscuits), Plan B was to head into Bristol centre for a wander around. Wandering the shops usually involves lurking in record shops for way too long and book shops until I get bored (which isn't too long seeing as the local book shops aren't great now).

Oh - did I mention I was on leave ? I needed a break and I'll be away from work until Monday 3rd. I'm hoping for some good R&R, although my legs are slightly torn up again. It's not serious, at least it's not nearly as serious as a month ago. They've just been objecting to one of my stress reactions, which hasn't been helping.

Back to the shopping. We have 2 reputable record shops in Bristol now (are there more ? tell me if there are!), Head and HMV. Ok, HMV have their own problems with customer disservice but they're what we have available as competition, which actually kept them honest, went bust in our recession. Head were the place I went in first, they're a bit cheaper. I wouldn't buy any blurays from them though as they sell discs that are exrental and marked "not for retail". Better not tell the law.

I ended up spending a bit of cash in Head, there was a favourable 3 for £10 offer plus I'm checking out soe Daft Punk. What did I get ?

3 for £10 was :
Bjork - Homogenic
Enigma - Le Roi Est Mort ...
R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
£1 - Jan Hammer - Best of Miami Vice
£5 - Daft Punk - Discovery

I've always enjoyed Bjork's not-quite-sane vocals and Enigma's atmospherics. I've managed to not have any R.E.M. for far too long. Jan Hammer's Miami Vice soundtracks were incredible moody instrumentals. And I enjoyed Daft Punk's soundtrack to Tron Legacy. Oh - Daft Punk were playing over the tannoy too, which probably saw me staying in that shop longer than I otherwise would have. But it gave me an excuse to make the check out girl giggle when I said, on her spotting the Daft Punk, that I'd been beaten into submission by the album playing over the tannoy.

Next door was Waterstones. I'm kinda surprised we still have bookstores. The online sellers blow them away on stock, value and offers. In the Mall, the Buy One Get One Half Price offer included the latest Jack Campbell but not David Brin. In the centre, it included the David Brin but not the Jack Campbell. I'd already ordered it off Amazon anyway.

Never read anything by David Brin. Always been interested, never bought the books.

Bit more wandering, bit more being disappointed by the prices in HMV. Since Virgin/Zavvi went bust, they've had no competition to encourage lower prices. Hunger saw me making a beeline for lunch. I'm getting to be a fan of Soho Coffee Co. Good coffee, edible food. And ... today ? Great music too. And I coulda sworn someone was checking me out from another table. Wishful thinking perhaps :-).

I have an app on my iPhone called Shazaam, which listens to what's playing and tells you what it is. I use it in two cases : "What the hell is this awful rubbish so I can avoid it ?" and "OMG This is awesome and I have to buy it". Well, the second of those today was by Caro Emerald playing in the coffee shop.

And ... HMV were asking too much so it got acquired as soon as I got home.

Before I close - Supermarket was done on the way home and ... who do I spot ? Superspy ! This was a fella who worked with us for far too many years before taking a well earned retirement. He worked in our registry section and would have done anything for anybody. Great guy. I was in the queue when I spotted him, so I couldn't chase him down and say hello.

Ah well.

On the whole, good day today. There was no play in the cricket but that spurred me to get those supplies. Being serious (for a change), I needed bread, apples and some other proper supplies. Can't rely on teacakes for breakfast while you're on leave ...

Looking forward to the next week.