Festive

Lots to report, but too little time here in the Folknet cafe, as there are many other things going on. I will update fully when I get home, but there are some highlights.
Yesterday I was very excited to meet Kate Rusby, and get her to sign my copy of her new album, which is only available at the fest until September, when it comes out in shops. She was lovely and cheerful and very tiny. She later played the main stage, which was excellent, as expected.
I've also really enjoyed the Oysterband, and Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, who we have seen twice, once on the main stage and then today in the club tent. Beautiful harmonies. And I had a good dance to the Oysterband.
This morning we went to Martin Simpson's guitar workshop, which was inspiring and brilliant and fun, and later we saw him perform on the main stage, which was also really good.
So it's all fun here. Although, it having dried up and been gorgeous and almost mud-free, it then rained ALL last night, so there was mud again today. And some crazy person woke us up playing a banjo all around the campsite at 6am, which was both irritating and amusing.
Anyway, off to enjoy the last evening. Farewell for now...

Festival blogging

At the folk festival. So far it's rained torrentially, but we had already got the tent set up by then, thank goodness, so we sat in a little cocoon and read and sketched and listened to the rain on the roof. Very cosy.

So far we have found lots of things to purchase, but not bought all of them yet. Also saw Mabon who played funky accordian and fiddle stuff. There is lots of mud.

We ate veggie chilli with cheese, sour cream and cajun fries, gorgeous. Later a crepe with chocolate and nuts, and iced, freshly squeezed lemonade. Oh yes. Festival food rocks.

Folking

I am off tomorrow morning to the Cambridge folk festival, yey! I'm hoping it doesn't rain much, although a little bit would be OK, because then I can wear my new pirate wellies.

Besides them, the tent is all ready, and I have my notebook. I just need to choose some books to read, and I'll be all set. Looking forward to chilling out and listening to funky music for a few days.

Yee-hah.

Apparently, sexism is still "rife"

The Guardian has a not so shocking article about how sexism is still rife. Yes, we all know this. However, I suppose it's something that this is getting some attention in mainstream media, instead of ignorant articles about how feminism is irrelevant now.

"Sex equality will take generations to achieve at the current "painfully slow" rate of progress, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said today in a final report before being wound up by the government after more than 30 years fighting gender bias across British society."

There are also other linked articles down the left hand side of the page that are worth a look.

Obviously

I read the book, of course. I didn't go at midnight because I was the only person who wanted to go who lived anywhere near me that I knew, and I thought going by myself would be a bit sad. So I picked up my copy on Saturday morning, when we went out to get the rest of the stuff for the folk festival. I started reading around 2pm, finished around 10pm with a half hour break. So 7 and a half hours, pretty good.

I enjoyed it a lot. I don't think JK Rowling is a brilliant writer, she's certainly nothing compared to Phillip Pullman. And you don't come away from reading her books thinking about important life issues. But she's a fantastic storyteller, and sometimes that's enough. Especially for a children's book.

Anyway, now I'm back working on my writing course. Life writing now. Not sure how it's going yet, we'll see in a few days.

Fighting sexism day by day

Mr. Huntress has been fighting against sexism this week, of which I am proud. He was buying me a Pirates of the Caribbean notebook in the Disney store, and the assistant was putting it into a blue bag.
Assistant: "Is it for a boy or a girl?"
Mr. H (not admitting it's for a 26 year old woman): "It's for a girl".
Assistant: "OK" (Gets out pink bag and starts putting the notebook into that)
Mr. H: "I'd rather you didn't do that, it's really sexist."
Assistant puts notebook back into blue bag.

And people say boys and girls aren't treated differently anymore. I especially love that the assistant clearly thought to begin with that because it was a Pirates related item and not the Little Mermaid, that it must be for a boy. Stupid sexist Disney store.

Also, feast your eyes on The Guardian's 50 Years of the Women's Page G2 special. Lots of interesting articles.

AND, somehow, I got 83 on my poetry assignment. I still can't believe it. It's shockingly good. Yey!

Oh yes

I have seen "Order of the Phoenix". And all I have to say is.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

OK, a few things I meant to draw attention to yesterday, but didn't, because by the time the poetry was finished, I was too tired to bother.

52 Projects has a nice post on things you can do to keep yourself writing, and find inspiration, which I enjoyed reading. I used to read the 52 projects blog ages ago, and had somehow lost it, so I was glad to discover it again via Moleskinerie.

Friday's Guardian had an article about the rise of feminist magazines, which I enjoyed, especially as it was written by Jess McCabe of The F-Word, one of my favourite feminist sites. The F-Word has also recently put up its first podcast, which is worth a listen.

Since I've managed to hand the poetry in, I spent the day wandering around my city, eating lunch in one of my favourite cafes, and then, after a brief rest at home, doing a good workout at the gym. And now I'm going to have a Lush bath, and a face mask, and read the latest Robin Hobb book. Lovely.

Finally!

Poetry assignment is finished and submitted. Thank goodness that's over. Now I can go back to wonderful prose.

And now I need sleep.

Spent the weekend watching all the tennis, which was excellent and the men's final was really gripping. I wanted Nadal to win though, so was disappointed with the result. I really enjoyed the match though, they both played some fantastic tennis.

Also worked lots on the poetry and managed, eventually, to write a sonnet. Bah. I hate the stuff. Can't wait until it's all done.

Links Update

I've added many links down the side of the page, and tried to give the blog-list something resembling organisation as it's now in alphabetical order. Woo!

That's all for now, I'm meant to be working on the poetry. Pah.

The Guardian today has a good article about Nancy Drew and childhood heroines, which I enjoyed reading. Mainly, I think, because Nancy Drew was one of my major childhood heroines. I think she's probably less relevant to girls growing up today since there are loads more books with decent female characters, especially Phillip Pullman's stuff, but when I was smaller there were much fewer. And I still like Nancy Drew very much.

Bleh...

Am feeling generally fed up at the moment, mostly due to being extremely tired and having to deal with the tediums of the real world after having had an excellent holiday, but also because it appears nowhere in the UK does an MA in Women's Studies via distance learning, which is something I'd really like to do. The OU is brilliant, but it just doesn't do the stuff I want to do next, once I've done the writing course.

Bah.

Pictures

My favourites from the holiday. The beach in Greneda:


Palm trees on Maracas beach, Trinidad:

And sunset over Port of Spain:

Pity I'm back at work now...

*sigh*

Last days

I have eaten out so much in the last two weeks. Mmmm. Tonight being my last night here, we went out for Italian, a rather bizarre thing to eat in the Caribbean, I know. It was excellent though, I had pasta with chicken and three types of mushroom, and then tiramisu, which I love. And one last rum punch, of course! So now I'm feeling exceptionally full.

I have spent the last two days sitting by the pool at the Hilton, working on my creative writing course, reading and swimming. It's been blissful. It'd be so nice to be able to write for a living and sit by a pool writing, and knowing that was your full time job. Sadly I have to go back to my real and tedious job next week, but I've managed to forget about it pretty much all the time, which has been lovely. Just what's needed.

***

So, while I've been here I have seen a lot of American TV. There are some local channels, but most are American. And I have to say, American TV is weird. There are adverts every 10 minutes, which is really irritating. There are constant adverts for other programmes, the same advert for the same programme every single advert break. It's so tedious. It makes me really determined not to ever watch any of the programmes after I've had them shoved in my face thirty times in two hours.

Also, the adverts are incredibly sexist. I criticise British adverts, but at least we have adverts that show men doing the washing and other non-stereotypical things. American adverts are so sexist it's unbelievable. There's actually a woman who gets so angry about a stain on her washing that she throws the washing machine out of the house, making a giant hole in the roof. And her husband, who owns the stained shirt, whined about it to her and then watched her totally lose it. Clearly this is the most important thing in her life. There are loads of adverts for prescription medicine too, with people constantly telling me to ask my doctor about medication for any number of conditions. And they're always "Side effects are mild, and may include internal bleeding, ulcers, and infection". Yes, very mild. In the UK, we get adverts for cold and flu medicine, and things you can buy over the counter, but not stuff you have to get on prescription. It seems so bizarre to me, I'd never dream of going to my doctor and going "Ooh, well I saw this advert on TV for a medicine, I think I'll try that!" I hope my doctor knows more about medicine than I do, or else I'm in trouble.

There's also a really irritating woman who wishes life was like a parking meter and she could just keep putting in money. I bet she wouldn't wish that when she was a minute too late putting her coin in, and her car got clamped.

Also, (and this is really not interesting to anyone except me) "Law & Order", in fact, all of the Law & Orders, have different beginnings and theme tunes in the UK and the US. Which seems pointless when it's a US series. At first I thought it was just an earlier or later season, but I've seen a few episodes here that I'd already watched at home. Before every US episode, you get this creepy man's voice saying "In the criminal justice system, people are represented by two different groups. The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the criminals. These are their stories." (That's not the exact wording, but hey). "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" have similar explanations. I can only conclude this is because there are lots of Americans too stupid to realise what the programmes are about and therefore need it explaining before they watch them. I'm obviously not including any readers in this group, if you can follow my rambling entries you're doing better than I am.
Anyway, I should really stop my tirade against American TV, it's getting old. And there are some good things. Such as the fact I have managed to watch six or seven episodes of various Law & Order series without even trying. And the fact that "Frasier" is on every morning. Daytime TV is actually watchable when you can see things like that, and not the crap that's on every single UK free channel all day.

***

OK, so tomorrow I begin what is pretty much a 2 day journey home:
Leave apartment: 9.30am-ish.
Flight to Tobago: 11:50am
Get to Tobago (if all goes well) 12:15pm
Check in for flight to UK: 2:15pm
Flight to UK leaves: 5.25pm (10.25pm UK time)
Land at Gatwick: 7:15am UK time.
Get back to London, and across London to Liverpool Street station
Train from London: 1.30pm
Back in home city: 3.30pm.
It's hideous even thinking about it. I wish I could teleport.

Books I have read so far while on holiday

PD James "Cover Her Face"
Fiona McIntosh "Betrayal"
Fiona McIntosh "Revenge"
Fiona McIntosh "Destiny"
PD James "Death of An Expert Witness"
Jessica Valenti "Full Frontal Feminism"


On "Full Frontal Feminism", I read it not because I need an introduction to feminism, but just out of interest. I think it's an excellent book to introduce young women to feminism, but it also makes me incredibly thankful not to live in the US. I know the UK has major problems, and needs to do a hell of a lot for equality, but really, we're nowhere near as bad as America. If you don't think so, read the book, it's horrendous some of the things a so-called developed country does to half of its citizens.

It'd be nice if we had some decent British feminist overview type books, there are a few American ones now, "Manifesta" off the top of my head, but nothing equivalent that I know of in the UK. I hope it doesn't take our country screwing over women that much until we get one.

And, I've got a few days left yet, I may well read more.

Back again

I keep suddenly getting access to the web when I don't expect it. But hey, I'm not going to complain.

This morning I got up at 7.30, way early for me usually, but here it's so hot that you can't really sleep very late. I drank orange juice while sitting on the balcony, made real Jamaican coffee, and ate breakfast on the balcony while watching the parrots fly over. By 9am though, it's really hot, and I've had to come inside for some relief.

I wanted to point out this article on The Guardian's website, about Harriet Harman and Hazel Blears and the deputy leadership race.

Right, back to my exhausting morning of reading on the balcony, such a hard life.

Blissful

I've been meme-tagged, but as I'll be without web access from tomorrow until I get home, I'll be doing that when I'm back in the UK.

Meanwhile I've been to a gorgeous Caribbean beach with white sand and palm trees. I've been swimming in a sea that isn't freezing!! I haven't found any pirate gold yet, but there's still time. I have, however, seen monkeys and dozens of parrots flying overhead, and even a couple of hummingbirds, which is amazing.

I've been reading a lot, the Fiona McIntosh "Trinity" trilogy was excellent, very absorbing. It's so nice just chilling out and reading and not worrying about stuff. Mmmm.

Caribbean

I'm in Trinidad, having an extremely relaxing time and reading absolutely loads. I've been here 3 days and am already onto my third book. Blissful. I've seen monkeys and a hummingbird and been swimming in the sea. Proper updates when I get home, obviously.

I wanted to avoid all this while I'm on holiday, but of course made the mistake of clicking on The Guardian's webpage and this story was the top headline. *sigh* Do these damned judges not see that the conviction rate for rape is so low for a reason? Because of society's prejudices, because of the way victims are treated, because of the attitudes of judges just like them. It's not because the majority of rape vicitms are making false accusations, and I'm fucking sick of hearing about the poor falsely accused men. The rate of wrong convictions for rape is no higher than for any other crime, and we should be embracing any measures that are proposed to help the victims of this horrific crime. You can bet your life that 1. Most or all of theses judges complaining are men, and 2. If this was a crime that affected mainly men, they'd be doing all they could to do something about it, in fact, it would never have got this bad in the first place. It makes me sick. Until women aren't raped every day, we will never be equal. Every time I feel happy about some progress that's being made toward equality, I'm brought back down to earth with the facts about rape. While this still goes on society has a very long way to go.

Back to my holiday now. More ranting when I return.

Am writing this at Gatwick, mainly because I wanted to check my email, but stupid airport computers won't let me for some reason. Bahh.

All has gone smoothly so far, and am in the departure lounge awaiting my flight, and not buying giant Toblerones.

Yee hah.