"Go down to the record store and visit your friends"

I alluded to my love for vinyl in my last post after buying a few records over the weekend. The title of this post is a quote from one of my favourite films, Almost Famous (which deserves a whole admiration post all to itself).

This little area is probably my favourite part of my bedroom or is, at least, a close second to my bed. My record player was a birthday present from my ex and though it is a very basic version, it does the job pretty well. 

I have an ever-growing collection of records including some from my parents' personal collections- two of these are pictured above; Kate Bush 'The Whole Story' and Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' (which is one of my all-time favourite albums). Of course, I have also had handed down to me Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' single, which neither of my parents will admit to originally being theirs...Other records are the result of hours of thumbing through rows of records in vintage shops and market stalls or are my prize from several panicked ebay bidding wars. The Beatles' Red album is one such example; I won this for £2.70 and although some may be put off by the fact the sleeve is being held together ever so slightly with masking tape, I actually rather like it because it shows that someone really loved it once. While the vast majority of my collection is made up of records from the 60's, 70's and 80's, I also have Haim 'Days Are Gone' which, despite my normal insistence that buying modern records is silly due to them being ridiculously expensive, I am very happy to own.

I intend to keep my collection expanding, there's just something I love about the whole experience of listening to a record. Some of the sleeves are also useful for a spot of light entertainment- George Michael's perfect bouffant and cheesey grin on the sleeve of Wham's 'Make it big' is priceless. I consider myself to have a pretty varied music taste but my love for my records (and the fact the only radio station allowed in the kitchen is absolute 80's) does often lead me to think I was born in the wrong decade. Alas, at least now I can enjoy the classics while also being able to indulge my inner One Direction fan-girl every now and then..don't judge me. 

Are you a vinyl fan?

Rubber Soul

The past weekend has been one of the best I've had for a while.

My parents came down to Birmingham to visit me on Saturday. My dad doesn't really like to follow my mum and I round the shops (understandably) so we decided to drive off and see what we could find.
Our first stop was a small town called Bewdley. It's a very pretty place without a Starbucks in sight, just lots of independent local businesses. We stopped into a bakery called 'Kimmy loves Cake' where we bought some impressive-looking treats- I went for a s'mores slice which was basically some sort of biscuit stuffed with marshmallow and chocolate, needless to say it tasted great.
We also had a rummage round an antiques shop called The Park Royal Collection where I bought a silver trinket box and an old vintage camera still in it's case. I've yet to discover if it's useable; there doesn't seem to be a brand name anywhere on it, only a logo of a ship, which is making google searches quite difficult. The part where the film needs to go looks a little bigger than the standard 35mm film that my other camera takes so it might be a lost cause but I'm going to keep researching and see what I can find!
I also took a photo of a sign we saw in honour of the deceased town cat- I like the fact that the residents of Bewdley were clearly so fond of a local cat that they now have a memorial to it.

After a hot drink sat by the riverside, we got back in the car in search of somewhere else to wander round. We ended up in Ludlow, which we'd seen described as a York-esque town with small cobbled streets and old buildings. It hasn't quite replaced York in my heart, but it was certainly a nice place to explore. There's an excellent record shop there too- the records are organised by band, decade and genre, making searching through them a lot easier than some other places I've been. I bought both Prince's Purple Rain and The Beatles' Rubber Soul for less than a tenner- there's nothing I love more than a well-priced record shop.

On our way back to Birmingham, we stopped off again in Bewdley for tea at an italian restaurant called Piccolos. I had arancini (one of my favourite things ever) and a very cheesey pizza washed down with some white wine; all in all a good meal.

Once my parents had dropped me home and we'd said our goodbyes, I headed off into Birmingham city centre to meet my housemate who had a friend visiting. We went to The Lost and Found for cocktails- if you ever go there, please please please order a raspberry lemonade. If I could replace all the water in the world with something, it'd be that. I imagine it'd make getting things done a little harder due to it's vodka base, but I don't think anyone would mind much.

On Sunday morning I woke up to find the sun streaming into my bedroom. I tend to think of myself as someone who prefers winter to summer, mainly because I burn if I'm in the sun for more than half an hour and I've never been a beach lover, but something about the sun being out really does cheer me up. I decided it was too nice of a day to spend it indoors doing work (yes my dissertation deadline is next week..) so I asked my other work-avoiding friend to join me in a visit to the park. We bought a few cans of cider, and some plastic cups so as not to horrify the parents of the children playing a football game too much, and spent a few hours sitting in the sun. 

To say that it's nearing the end of my last semester of actually being taught at uni, my weekend was definitely too relaxed, but sometimes it's important to just do what you want to do instead of what you should do.

How was your weekend?