And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I'll hold it....

"Oh, bless her. That cat really loves bags"

Minou has indeed shown a real love of luggage in the 2 weeks since she adopted us. There's a hard-shelled wheely bag on the landing outside the bedroom that has just enough give on it that she loves to sleep on it. There's also C's work bag that is often lying around near the kitchen and that she loves to rub up against. So perhaps it wasn't all that surprising to see the cat padding and pawing at my football bag, which was sat in the little alcove off from the kitchen.

....and then I realised that I recognised that facial expression: that look of mild distaste with the ears slightly pressed back from the head..... the cat was peeing on my bag. Not 2m from her litter tray, she was pissing on my bag.

*sigh*

That's how my day started.

How was your friday?

Earworms of the Week.

> "November Rain" - Guns N' Roses

Ridiculous, but what can you do?

> "Hole in the Head" - Sugababes

Pop perfection?

> "Always the Sun" - The Stranglers

I have absolutely no idea where this one came from - the iPod probably. I've always had something of a softspot for the Stranglers. "Golden Brown" is a decent record, but for me it's always been about "No More Heroes". I bought the best of the Stranglers for 99p from Our Price once upon a time, you know.

> "S'il Vous Plait" - Fantastic Plastic Machine

From the "Spaced" soundtrack.

di di do, di-di-di-di didi do, di-di-di-di didi do, di-di-di-di didi do. S'il vous plait!

etc.

> "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley

My friend Deneal does the most uncanny impersonation of Elvis Presley that you are ever likely to hear. He's so good at it, and it is so much his party piece, that he even performed this song at his own wedding.

Hmm.

"We can't go on together
With suspicious minds
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds"

Appropriate? You decide.

> "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" - The Eels

They're not happy lyrics, but somehow this is a very happy and life-affirming song.

Go figure.

> "I've Been Everywhere" - Johnny Cash

I played Johnny Cash to our tour guide -- Ivan -- when we were driving around Ecuador in March this year. He absolutely loved him. Earlier this week I was making a Cash compilation CD to send out to him in Otavalo, and of all the 20-odd classic songs I managed to squeeze onto that CD, this is the one that stuck in my head.

Good song too.

Legend.

> "Heinrich Maneuvre" - Interpol

Goodness. What to say about the new Interpol album? Reading the horrible hatchet job of an album review on Stylus only made me want to like the album more... and on a few listens it seems pretty good.

This is the track that immediately grabbed me. Yeah some of the lyrics could be better ("You wear those shoes like a dove"? eh?), but in general the whole album sounds pretty good to me, if perhaps not quite as good as their debut.

Mind you, could the bassline on this record sound any more like Peter Hook from New Order if it tried?

> "America" - West Side Story OST

So there I was, innocently having a conversation with a colleague about songs that get stuck in your head, when he began to sing the chorus of this song.

Damn, but it's catchy.

You just try shifting this one from your head.

"Everything free in America....."

It's an über-Earworm. No question.

> "People Love The People" - Cherry Ghost

Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant.

What a voice.

What a sentiment.

Great song.

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Have a great weekend y'all.