This will make your bus journeys disappear.

Jonathan Ross, commenting on Stephen Fry's Twitter activity, asked him why he was doing such an incredible amount of walking. Stephen Fry replied that he did so to keep fit. He didn't say 'to keep fit', he's Stephen Fry. What he said is this:

'I have a hopelessly overweight figure and walking is the only thing I can do with pleasure and there's one reason I can walk with pleasure [...] and that's audiobooks.'

I immediately went ahead and bought Wuthering Heights on iTunes and set off on a 2-hour expedition (on foot) to the not-so-local supermarket and the even-less-local butcher's. I realised after half an hour that I hadn't been listening to the story at all, that I couldn't name one character, couldn't even tell who was telling the story. What I was doing instead was singing 'Wuthering Heights' (if you and I have ever been to a karaoke joint together, you will know how good I am at this), thinking about the lady's accent, wondering if she was an actress, trying to picture what she looked like, making a mental list of groceries and thinking about Stephen Fry. Audiobooks don't do it for me.



What works for me is this. Radiolab is the name of a show on New York public radio. Podcasts are available and they're the best thing on radio since Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan. Here's how they describe it:

'Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Each episode is an investigation – a patchwork of people. sounds, stories all centered around one big idea. Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world. Where sounds illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. Big questions are investigated, tinkered with, and encouraged to grow. Bring your curiosity, and we'll feed it with possibilities.'

They are all so well-made, so quick-paced, so fascinating that you will find yourself listening to the same episode over and over again instead of switching back to music. They are great for walking, even better for bus journeys. Start with the episode on deception and laughter, they are excellent.

My amazing leaving week

A couple of people who still work at Albion and myself have decided that I officially had the best leaving week in the history of Albion. Some people even mentioned the fact that I could probably compete for Best Leaving Week in the History of Work.

Each day came with its own treat. There was a budget put aside for my leaving festival and tasks were distributed.

On Monday, I had a tea party with expensive chocolates.
On Tuesday, I was treated to the ultimate complimentary plate of spaghetti arrabiata from Franco's in Rivington street (the best in town) by Teddy and Jonny.
On Wednesday, I was taken for another complimentary lunch; this time at the much more exclusive Rivington Bar and Grill.
On Thursday, I had a mani. And a children's party. With cheap pop, sweets and a piñata!

Have a look at the very nice post on the Albion blog.

Now all I have to do is find another job.

Look, the Venice Biennale.

We also stopped in Venice to meet up with my mum and visit the Biennale. Here are a few of my personal faves:

El Anatsui beautiful woven bottle tops draped over the Palazzo Fortuny. Inside the palazzo was an amazing curio cabinet with elephants' ears, stone age sculptures and taxidermy freaks mixed with the odd Picasso. I couldn't take pictures of that but it was definitely the highlight of our stay in Venice.


This is the Jan Fabre show in a beautiful palace by the Canal. The view was dreamy.






These were hilarious, they're the skeletons of Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny made by a Korean Artist called Lee Hyungkoo.






This was put together by a group of Brazilian children called the Morrinho Project. It was great because it was right by the café and it had children playing in it and birds living in it.




This is a wall covered in dart boards in the Nordic Pavillion. Fun!



And of course Nikos Alexiou (see previous post)


And this is where we stayed.






Quite nice.

Look, Nikos Alexiou

I saw this in the Greek Pavillion of the Venice Biennale.
Here are a few of his prints.