flotsam & jetsam

Lots on my mind, weird night last night and general life rules. This entry will cover that.

Had an amazing lobster meal cooked by the friend of a friend. It was extraordinary. Lobster claws on toasted crumpets with lobster butter, a balsamic lobster tail salad, and then a lobster risotto, the production of which consisted of making an intense lobster bisque and then using it as the stock. Add some asparagus. You now have one of the greatest and most simple meals in the history of the world. Cream was involved too, of course.

Made an interesting discovery regarding the various lobster found along North-East Atlantic coasts. Norwegian lobster resides in deeper water slightly further from the shoreline, due to how rough the surf is along much of the coast. It also has the least polluted waters, as most of them are well out of the way of the main shipping routes. Scottish lobster is kind of in the middle. Shallow waters closer to the shore mean that their shells are slightly thinner. Bit more pollution too. Irish lobster have very thin shells as the warmer gulf stream water requires less insulation. They have longer claws. They're also exposed to the most pollution. Bummer.

They all taste pretty much the same though.

So after amazing lobster I went for a walk. This brought me to the pub with Pete C & Lil where we drank beer and discussed, with eager anticipation, the upcoming polo. I mentioned that I'd had second thoughts about attending due to many things, most of them beginning with this symbol: £. Pete looked at me as though I'd grown another head, which I took to be a sign that bailing was not an option. It's nice that people really want your company. It's one of those things that you can feel really good about without the fear of being big-headed.

After pub I went for one of my very long walks along the beaches of St Andrews. I ended up, as I often do, at the end of the pier. The stars were incredible. The sort of stars you shouldn't get near a densely populated area. There were so many visible that they lit the space between them, and gave the impression that for every one you could see there were a trillion you couldn't. I knew that within those gaps there were more stars and that if all of their light reached us the night sky would be consumed with starlight instead of midnight blue and black. I tried to find the two stars I'd made my grandfather's constellation but failed. Ah well...

I got home and found Lish online. She was drunk. I was drunk. Drunken messaging ensued and in the heat of it all I started a new blog. It's fictional, but only slightly. I got to bed at 4 and had a driving lesson at 11.

The Bob Marley Songs of Freedom box set arrived from Amazon today. It's a legendary collection, and one that I owned before, but lost in quite a silly fashion. I was on a train from Birmingham to London and left it in my bag, as well as my passport. I only realised this when I got home. I phoned Paddington to see if anyone had handed in a bag to lost and found. I was told they couldn't check as the station was under a security alert due to unattended luggage. Oops. I mumbled something about finding it and hung up, blushing bright red in solitude.

Do what you like. A friend of mine made this discovery when he was going through a rough patch. He looked at all the things he used to do that he loved. He wasn't doing any of them any more. He was in a job that he hated and his only extracurricular activity seemed to be heavy alcohol consumption. So he went back to the things he loved, that made him happy. I've started doing the same, going back to the things that I love: writing, reading, adventuring and finding some new things like rugby and photography. I even went horseback riding the other day. That kind of filled a gap. So, go do something you like.

Bought a book today, recommended by someone who has yet to suggest a book I didn't like. I feel guilty because I don't have as good a record with her. Ah well.