moosifer jones's lair & grouch – online home & blog of Mags L Halliday

I’ve not actually been quiet lately – I’ve been blogging over on the Exeter Twestival blog instead. The Twestival team started to form after the LikeMinds event in late February and, three weeks later, we’ve a music night on at one of the main live music venues in town – Mama Stone’s – with five bands and a top comedian hosting it.

That’s five acts for a fiver. A lovely bargain, and 100% of the money raised goes to Concern Worldwide‘s educational programme. So as well as being a good night out, it’s a good cause too. If you’re in Exeter, come along!

Right, I need to get back at it – I’ve a press release to write tonight…

Over the break, I was writing a story set in a West Country winter. One image I had in my head was of wild, bare trees tangling together, and I kept thinking I ought to go up to the ridgeway by my house to get some good photos. The story is done and in with an editor, and finally, yesterday, I walked up to the ridge.

It’s why I love living where I do. I’m in an urban area, all takeaways and Saturday night fights. But I can walk for ten minutes and be on the cusp of the countryside: the city sits in the Exe valley to the east, but to the west is farmland and high hills. The Exeter Green Circle is like this a lot of the way. This was up by Barley Valley Nature Reserve, about an hour before the winds started to pick up. And it’s just the sort of image I was trying to describe.

The day before what the Met Office officially described as “freak weather” over Ottery St Mary, I looked out of my office window to see this cloud drifting in from the east.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a square cloud before…and, yes, Ottery is to the east of Exeter.

Exeter Goes Pop! again at Tigga’s this coming Thursday night (11 Sept) and every second Thursday of the month until Christmas. It’s free, the bar is good value, the ExPoppers get to play music without the venue manager telling them to turn it down, and there’s now a dancefloor. The first night at Tigga’s was good, but I forgot to take any photos.

If you’re thinking “but what is ‘wonk folk’?” then you can take a listen to the sort of music Alistair plays tomorrow on phonic fm (106.8FM in the city, or streaming online) from 4pm till 6pm. Or you can take a listen to the mixtapes he posts to unpopular. I’m not sure what ‘wonk folk’ is either, BTW.

ETA: you can listen again to Sunday’s This is Pop! broadcast here.

(Terry, who has been DJing the excellent Collisions at Timepiece forEVAH, also does a slot on phonic.fm)

Being sneaky, I check my gmail at work during my lunchbreak. It’s OK, we’re allowed. Sorta. So I know that, as well as email discussions about girlies’ night(s) out (did I mention ExPop! starts at a new venue – Tigga’s – on Thursday 14 August? It’s free and fun, and there will be badges*), there are emails about the Vampire Curse which I need to answer sooner rather than later.

Naturally, gmail has chosen this moment to return a server error. Argh.

*facebook group (slightly out of date).

I made myself get up just after 7am, so I could cycle down to Starcross before the day really started. Naturally, my chain slipped off at one point (due to messing about with the gears) and I shall spend the rest of the weekend scrubbing bike oil out of my fingers.

As you pass the Turf Locks, you go from riding alongside the ship canal, fairly sheltered, to riding along a seawall with no protection from the wind. But that bit also brings the smell of salt air and the clack of cordage on masts, so you really feel you’re a long way from the city.

It took 90 minutes to cover the 9 mile route (nb – I actually start somewhere else in Exeter but I’m not going to pinpoint my house here). Around 2 miles were along the seawall – which is not a metalled path – that made me glad I still have my off-road tyres on. The train back? 9 minutes.

Getting back into the city, and the rain is threatening, so I’m going to settle down to watch Mark ‘the cock’ Cavendish take another Tour de France stage.