Staycation Breakfast Blog* 05 - Home

The Ninth of August Two Thousand and Twelve. Thursday.

*Incorporating Supper News and The Elevenses Argus

Oh, I love the Wizard of Oz. The fillum. Haven't read the book. Heart's will never be practical until they're made unbreakable. Time has been powerless to its kindly philosophy out of fashion. And, of course, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

But as a wee boy one thing I could never really get my head round was why at the end of it all Glinda just pops up and says 'You had the way to get home with you all along.' What!? Why didn't she just tell her that's how the Ruby Slippers worked in the first place? Why did they have to go through all that potentially lethal rigamarole?

Now, as a wiser and more mature individual (I wish...) I know the answer. Not just the smart alec one about narrative necessity and it would have been a very short film if she had. But she had to go on the journey to realise just exactly what was so important about home. If she hadn't gone exploring how could she discover that 'there's no place like home'.

I've had a lovely day today. Very laid back. That was supposed to be the formula for the rest of the week - late starts, no imperatives and the chance to unwind. But I couldn't help myself coming up with a checklist of things to do and places to see. And I think if I hadn't done some of that I wouldn't truly have relaxed. Some part of me would be wondering what it is that I am missing. Well now I know, and while I wouldn't have missed it for the world it's made me glad of what I had all along.

I sat at home and watched a bit of telly (New Girl is my Seventeenth Telly Recommendation) and enjoyed some Weetabix, a bagel, some coffee and some juice. It was ace.

Yesterday was book day. Well, they take a bit longer to get through than a film or comic. So I'm actually still in the middle of the one I started reading. It's the Doctor Who novel The Coming of the Terraphiles by none other than Michael Moorcock and very entertaining it is too. Lots of musings on the nature of the multiverse (I've not read much Moorcock - the Oswald Bastable books and 3/4 of the Jerry Cornelius ones but it's clearly the same man at the helm), a bit of a Wodehouse pastiche and a namecheck for Meng and Ecker, who I knew I'd heard of but I couldn't remember where. A quick Google reminded me that it was in St Ann's arcade in Manchester. Still a bit to go - I'm not the fastest reader in the world - but it's all good so far.

To conclude the Breakfast Blog I'll mention what I've been up to today. I keeping with a regular breakfast I did what I do most of all - watch telly. So whereas I could have watched the unaired pilot of Sherlock, an episode of The Mind of JG Reeder and The God Complex and The Wedding of River Song (with the commentary) any night on this occasion they were part of my official programme.

That's it for now. I go on proper holiday on Sunday. There might be a blog or two from that, but I think we're all close enough friends now to know what the likelihood of that really is.

Nevertheless...

More soonliest.

Staycation Breakfast Blog 04 - Arnie's, Whitby

The Eighth of August Two Thousand and Twelve. Wednesday.

Today, I hit what is known in the breakfast-seeking world as 'The Wall'. I mentioned earlier how there comes a point where you tire of having a whopping great breakfast and decide a bowl of cereal would be just as nice. The place I had in mind today was 20 miles away and as I ran for the bus there was almost a moment where I thought the effort was too much. I even briefly considered hopping on the train to York and having a Burger King brown breakfast at the station, so disappointed was I with its absence yesterday.

But 'The Wall' is there to be broken through. Whitby was my goal, and even though the double-decker was nearly full, forward I went and pressed on with my goal.

And this was it:

Veggie Eggy Bread Breakfast at Arnie's in the Market Place in Whitby. Sat in the shade, enjoying the sun with eggy bread, caramelised onion chutney and the tomato substituted for an extra hash brown! That tupperware thing contains the condiment sachets. And you know what, it was all very pleasant, but I want you to go back and have another look at the breakfast I had at the Rendezvous on Monday. It was much cheaper and had egg (yes, I know there's egg in the bread, and I do love that, but that whole 'dip your toast in the yolk' thing is an important part of this) and beans. Not eggabeans, but egg and beans. Consequently, I think that was the more satisfying meal, both for pocket and palate. Still, I had a nice time in and around Whitby, so it's all good.

Yesterday was Audio day, that is to say I was listening to sound-only stuff off of CD, download and the radio. With my headphones on it meant I could still get out and about while listening to various stuff. And various stuff it was.

I started off with the last of Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcasts, where the cornish-faced buffoon spoke with Armando Ianucci OBE and Graham Linehan. This entertained me while I wandered about Primrose Valley Holiday Park. When that finished I listened to someone I haven't heard for years, Arnold Brown. And why not?

I then made my way down to the beach, took off my shoes and walked down to Filey, paddling as I went. From one Scot to another as Arnold went away to be replaced by the sound of Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor in The Word Lord, a self-contained episode from the Big Finish release Forty-Five which you can download for 99p.

I had a bit of a mooch around Filey and caught the train back home while listening to The Minister of Chance, a free download made through contributions of listeners with a few familiar Whoish names attached. It's actually pretty good, having some similarities with Doctor Who which is not too surprising as the Minister originally appeared some years back in a Who webcast called Death Comes to Time played by Stephen Fry.

Next was a bootleg of Daniel Kitson's stand-up show, 'It's the Fireworks Talking', performed in Cardiff in 2007. The little coincidences that have dotted around this week reared up again. Kitson talked about the joy of going for a paddle, just an hour or two after I had done just that. Less of a coincidence, more of a hypnotic command was the way I ended up lying down next to the south bay star map after he talked about millions of stars you can see in the perfect black of the Australian sky. He began by talking about melancholia, and when, as his perfectly structured piece built to an emotional climax some idiot in the audience ruined it, the piece inadvertently ended with it too. Kitson was savage with the heckler, insisting he leave or be ejected. How easy it is for morons to spoil beautiful things. How easy it is to be a moron.

I still think I shared a bill with Daniel Kitson on the one and only occasion I attempted stand up. If it was him. he gave some supportive comments and said something nice about my material. I'd rather leave it with the Schrodinger-like possibility that it was him rather than collapse to the certainty that it wasn't him by trying to find out.

When I got home it was the turn of stuff I had recorded off of the radio. I started with two episodes of Jeremy and Rebecca Front's comedy Incredible Women. I then went on to hear Jeremy interview Rebecca on Chain Reaction, followed by Rebecca Front interviewing Chris Addison.

Then there was three bits of Eoin Colfer's addition to the the Hitch-Hiker's Guide. And Another Thing..., read by Stephen Mangan with Peter Serafinowicz providing the voice of the Book.

The evening came to an end with a couple of doses of Matt Berry's therapy comedy, I, Regress. Phew!

I am certain tomorrow's entry is going to be a lot shorter...

More soonliest.

Staycation Breakfast Blog 03 - Starbucks Primrose Valley

The Seventh of August Two Thousand and Twelve. Tuesday.

Well, how many times can someone let you down before you fall out of love with them? No, this isn't a whiny, introspective blog (although, I guess, it is). It's just that I caught the bus out to the Blue Dolphin holiday camp looking forward to a traditional Brown Breakfast (egg and cheese butty, hash browns, mini pancakes an syrup washed down with some OJ (no bits)) and Burger King (there isn't one in Scarborough town centre) have let me down again. They did it at Piccadilly station, and they did it in Islington when I was having breakfast with the American Pop Cultural Attaché - opening late. On that last occasion we decamped to Starbucks instead, and that's what I did today, only on this occasion the nearest one was two holiday camps over in Primrose Valley.

To be honest, that was always the plan anyway. I'd been curious about the camps and wanted to check 'em out. They're both static caravan affairs with centralised shops/food/kid stuff bits. Primrose Valley did remind me a bit of The Prisoner cos everyone seemed to be travelling around on these four-person cycle things that evoked the Mini Mokes of The Village.

So, breakfast. There was this mushroom croissant concoction that didn't appeal so I went for a not particularly breakfasty mozzarella panini (olives and pesto - v nice) and a coffee frappucino with an extra shot and topped with cream. I suppose more brunchy than anything.

I was enjoying it very much when this young Geordie lass of about nine - she was waiting while her mum was in the loo - told me I had cream round my mouth. I gave her the traditional reply that I was saving it for later. This didn't faze her, but I was taken aback when she suddenly asked if I had two boys. Then I realised she had seen the photo on my phone...

Before her mum returned I was subjected to the third degree: was I on holiday alone? Where did live? Where did I work? Will I be seeing my boys? I'd been told not to talk to strange girls, but she was very sweet even though I was glad of a breather when her mum got back.

So yesterday was films. I started with my regulation Doctor Who RDA with a bit of Daleks' Invasion Earth - 2150AD. This was only one of two films that I had seen before on this day and I think I do still prefer it to its predecessor Dr Who and the Daleks even if that has better music. That flying saucer is still ace.

Apart from that I hadn't really decided what I was going to watch at home that day. I had my computer on, so I looked at the files that I had transferred from my old PVR but still hadn't gotten around to watching. That led me to In Bruges, which is a real slow burner but really blackly funny in places. I looked up the writer and director Martin McDonagh and saw that he was one of those guys who only does something every now and then but seems to put his all into it. Will keep an eye out for more stuff by him.

The middle of my afternoon triple bill was JCVD, the rather odd Belgian film with Jean Claude Van Damme playing a fictionalised version of himself (I know, that seems to be all the rage at the mo). It was very good, but I guess it shows that there are dangers in that level of self awareness as he's now gone and spoilt it all by doing those hopeless beer adverts.

I had my tea watching Attack the Block, which was better than I was expecting. To be honest, I'd shied away from the post-Shaun of the Dead, exec produced by Edgar Wright vibe that I'd thought it was trying to ride (can you ride a vibe? Why didn't I just use 'wave' and 'surf'? It's a cliché but at least it would have made sense) - even the announcer (this was a Channel 4 recording) made the tenuous link that this 'starred', quote, 'Simon Pegg's mate Nick Frost'. As it turned out, it was its own thing and all the better for it.

Then it was off to the cinema to see Moonrise Kingdom. I could watch the way Wes Anderson puts stuff together all day, but I felt the tone was a bit uncertain in this one. I don't know if that was because of the contrast between the earnest performances of the the child actors against the more knowing ones of the adults but it seemed a bit uneven. Still fantastic, though.

Back home I finally got around to watching A Clockwork Orange. Yes, I hadn't seen it until yesterday. Another one of those 'everybody goes on about it so I'm going to be contrary' scenarios. Anyway, this was a gorgeous-looking HD version taken off ITV1 - it looked brilliant. And, yes, I see what all the fuss was about now. Kubrick obviously knows what he's doing.

I finished off the day with a film I had seen before, but not for a while, Enter the Dragon for no other reason that Bruce Lee is just cool. Remember, there is no such thing as an opponent because 'I' does not exist and the highest technique is to have no technique. Or something. A brilliant end to my filmathon.

Strange little links too: hadn't planned it but two films ended up being set in Belgium; there was Godfrey Quigley in two of them and, er, well that's about it, really. So there you are.

More soonliest.

Staycation Breakfast Blog 02 - Rendezvous Café

The Sixth of August Two Thousand and Twelve. Monday.

Hello. Just popping in to show you a picture of my breakfast. Here it is:

This was at the Rendezvous Café here in Scarborough on the corner of Westborough and Northway.

You get exactly what you pay for at the Rendezvous. It's not the best food in the world, but it's unfussy. In my veggie fried breakfast I want sausages, hash browns and egg and that's exactly what I got here.

I had the good fortune to live with a bus driver for some years and back when she worked full time if she ordered jam and toast while she was in uniform she (and any hangers-on) would get a discount.

They also do a very good nut roast dinner (three scoops of mash!) and I'll probably have a go at that sometime in the hols, probably after the exertions of next week.

So yesterday was comics day and it went something like this:

Started off with the reprint of Incredible Hercules 138 and 139 from Mighty World of Marvel.

More Hercules in Chaos War 5 (the end of Greg Pak and Frank Van Lente's superb run of Hercules stories - funny, clever and with a very dry line in sound effects...

Along with Heroes for Hire 1 and Avengers Academy 5 all reprinted in the latest Mighty World of Marvel.

Paul Cornell's Saucer Country 1

More UK reprints: Batman and Robin 3 and 4, plus Batman 8 from issue 2 of Titan's new Batman anthology.

Parts 1 to 6 of Avengers: The Children's Crusade from the UK Collectors Edition Avengers Assemble - Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung's follow up to their excellent Young Avengers run.

The conclusion of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's latest volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century: 2009

Mark Millar reprints in CLINT nos. 2.1 and 2.2 featuring Super Crooks, The Secret Service and Hit-Girl.

Issues 2 to 5 of IDW's Doctor Who comic featuring the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory.

And then I finished the day with a marathon of Ultimate Spider-Man, reading issues 113 to 128 digitally, 129 to 133 - and Annual 3 - in a premiere hardback, before going digital again for the two Ultimatum Requiem issues. Phew! This is still my favourite Brian Michael Bendis comic and these particular issues feature some outstanding art from Stuart Immonen, a favourite of mine. Loving Bendis' work on the character of Miles Morales, the new Ultimate Spider-Man - it's boss.

Right, films today. Let's see what's on.

More soonliest.

Staycation Breakfast Blog 01 - Francis Tea Rooms

The Fifth of August Two Thousand and Twelve. Sunday.

Hooray! Hooray! It's a holi-holiday!

Next Sunday I'll be taking my sons and heirs on a whirlwind tour of capital cities and theme parks, but in the meantime I'm enjoying a 'staycation' here in my beautiful home of Scarborough. A lovely quiet few days decompressing before it all goes crazy next week. Weather's looking good - warm but not too hot and a minimum of rain. So it's a perfect opportunity to digest my favourite things in the world: food and culture!

Why do people insist in blogging/tweeting/tumblring pictures of stuff they're eating? It's tedious and typical of the lack of imagination behind most people that when presented with the instant communication opportunities of social media that this is what they fall back on. In an attempt to get to the bottom of this I'm going to post pictures of my breakfast for the next five days!

It's usually toast or bagels for me - occasionally a Weetabix or two. In the past, when I've gone on holiday I've opted for the cooked breakfast as a treat, only to be too bloated by day three to persist with this 'luxury'. Nevertheless, even though I have perfect access to my own toaster this week I have resolved to have breakfast in a different location each day. Today it was the quaint Francis Tea Rooms on South Street just round the corner from my flat.

We've gone for the scrambled egg on toast here, with a lovely extra slice of toast. Always big chunky toast at Francis, fab if a bit expensive.

But that's not all. Not only will there be a different(ish) breakfast each day. I will also be spending each day dedicating myself to consuming tasty morsels from a different cultural medium each day. Today, I will be immersing myself exclusively in the world of comic books (plus ça change...). Tomorrow, it will be movies; Tuesday, it's audio and radio stuff; Wednesday will be books; and Thursday will be your friend and mine, telly stuff. It's my intention to let you know what I've been into in the following day's breakfast blog. I can tell you now that there will be a Doctor Who element to each day...

Yes, I know I always come up with these grand schemes and don't always complete (where's that novel you were writing, Vin? (it's still coming, I promise!)), but this is only five days so even I can't make a hash of it.

Can I?

More soonliest.