Meanwood Community Shop, by bicycle

I have self-imposed the rule that I am not allowed to go to Meanwood Community Shop unless I am already taking some items to donate, and I can only buy things if I can think of a use for them, to avoid accumulating too much stuff in our beautiful but rather small home. (One of my Meanwood-residing friends used to go there several times a week when his son was a toddler, under the pretense that his son enjoyed it so much, but I think it was equally for his benefit. I have no small child to act as cover, so I only go on Saturdays, and not even every Saturday at that.) On this morning's trip, I found:

• two old-fashioned sweet jars (ideal for making blackberry brandy etc in) for 75p each
• a turquoise old-fashioned suitcase for 50p
• David Sedaris' book "Naked" for 50p

The woman at the til asked me if it was "a rude book?" and I replied that I hoped it wasn't.

I then went on to Chapel Allerton to pick up a hi-vis vest that I had ordered from The Edinburgh Bicycle co-op, and it is incredible! (In both the sense that it is delightful and amazing, but also in the sense that it probably 'lacks credibility' - it is fluorescent pink, and has a design on the back that says "1 less car". I love it though, and am happy choosing road safety over street cred.) Irritatingly, I could have got it significantly cheaper if I had ordered it directly from the people who made it: 1 Less Car but by this point I had already bought it in one size from Edinburgh Bicycle, and then been back to exchange it, so then to have to order one from somewhere else and start all over again would take up time when I could have been cycling round in the sunshine wearing what is, effectively, a wonderfully luminous waistcoat.

I also recently treated myself to a pannier bag and it is really great! I am in danger of getting hyperbolic about cycling gear at this point, so will try and hold back with the superlatives, but this bag has revolutionized my cycling! I haven't had one before, and had always put off buying one because they seemed quite expensive for what they were (a bag that is only of use when clipped on to your pannier rack) but found a reasonably sturdy model at an affordable price and I just wish I had bought one sooner. My bike is my mode of transport, so I frequently have to load it up with all manner of things, usually by balancing items in the basket on the front, and filling a backpack on my back. Now, I can pack most of that stuff into the pannier bag, which means there is nothing to bounce out the basket when I jump over a pothole, and nothing on my back making me tired and, I hate to admit it, a little sweaty. Brilliant.

Whilst out on my bike today, I was also able to help one cyclist who was lost in Chapel Allerton by sharing my a-z with her, and was in turn helped by an off-duty cyclist in Meanwood when my chain got jammed.

As one of my friends said to me earlier this week, my life is pretty f*cking ace at the moment.

"When it gets to the part where he's breaking her heart, it can really make me cry"

I have spent the week listening to this album: Various Artists – If I Were A Carpenter, frequently moved to tears by how AMAZING it is. I stood in the sorting office this morning, with "Yesterday Once More" through my headphones and warm tears running down my cheeks. I don't think it's a case of me being weepier than usual, but more that I am feeling everything a lot more - the good and the bad, as I'm consciously trying not to bottle things up so much. Everything is now so close to the surface that it's accessible by something as simple as a really good key change in a cover of a Carpenters song.

I came across this tribute album when I was searching for Shonen Knife on spotify, as they do a cover version of "On Top of the World". I then found out that my housemate has a homemade cd-r version of the "If I were a Carpenter" tribute album, with each song preceeded by the original version, so that has been on my mp3 player pretty much on repeat for the last week (interupted only by the All Girl Summer Fun Band)

When I get into a band I like to listen to them a lot. The same songs or album again and again and again. I sometimes try and disguise it by doing so on my headphones, or waiting until I am in the house by myself, because I know that not everyone appreciates the repetition. Which was why it was so lovely to have my housemate suggest she put the Carpenters on for me last night before we went out. To live with someone who not only tolerates my listening habits, but actively encourages them, oh!

I came late to the Carpenters. I knew some of their songs from childhood, but didn't really join up the dots and realise that they were all Carpenter songs, and until now I didn't own any of their records. But then last weekend I picked up their '69-'73 singles collections on vinyl from the Meanwood Community Shop for 25p, in one of those acts of synchronicity that made me wonder, 'would the record still have been there if I hadn't suddenly developed an obsession with the Carpenters?'

Of course it would have been there. They were a massively popular band in their day, and you could probably find one of their records in most charity shops that stock vinyl if you looked. I guess I just never noticed them until now.

My Swan D01 Teasmade

I now have my own teasmade. At quarter to seven tomorrow, it will make me a cup of coffee, which by seven will be cool enough to drink. I can then drink it in bed whilst reading about current affairs on the internet, or some of the zines I have under my pillow, or another story from the Ali Smith collection I bought from Meanwood Community Shop (my new favourite charity shop) at the weekend. Three stories in, I realised I maybe already own this one (The Whole Story) but it's not quite familiar enough to put down. 

 This teasmade came from Oxfam in Headingley, for a very reasonable £10. I later found that my friend has an identical model, bought from the same place, as she went into the shop earlier in the day than me when they had two for sale and bought one of them, leaving the second one (unknowingly) for me. I was especially glad to find this one, as only days previously I had bought a teasmade from the classifieds section at work, but when I switched it on it boiled continuously for half an hour, filling the room with steam. The same steam that needs to be captured and condensed into the teapot to make the tea, I think that's how they work. Well that one didn't work, and it didn't even have an alarm or a clock. It was clearly not the teasmade for me.

This one has an integral photo frame (!) and a removable tray on top. It will make up to two large mugs of coffee (or four cups of tea, but I find that idea far less appealing), although I have taken to only half filling it to avoid over-caffeination before breakfast (because for the time being I am still drinking my coffee in bed alone. As alone as a booklover can ever be, at any rate). I wish I had an actual photo of my one rather than this one, but it is exactly the same model so you get the picture.  

I remember when I first heard about teasmades, I thought they sounded too good to be true. An alarm clock that wakes you up with a hot drink! So now, to actually have my own seems like some kind of dream come true.