Thoughts After RuskinWomen reminded him of lilies and roses.
Me they remind rather of blood and soap,
Armed with a warm rag, assaulting noses,
Ears, neck, mouth and all the secret places:
Armed with a sharp knife, cutting up liver,
Holding hearts to bleed under a running tap,
Gutting and stuffing, pickling and preserving,
Scalding, blanching, broiling, pulverising,
- All the terrible chemistry of their kitchens.
Their distant husbands lean across mahogany
And delicately manipulate the market,
While safe at home, the tender and the gentle
Are killing tiny mice, dead snap by the neck,
Asphyxiating flies, evicting spiders,
Scrubbing, scouring aloud, disturbing cupboards,
Committing things to dustbins, twisting, wringing,
Wrists red and knuckles white and fingers puckered,
Pulpy, tepid. Steering screaming cleaners
Around the snags of furniture, they straighten
And haul out sheets from under the incontinent
And heavy old, stoop to importunate young,
Tugging, folding, tucking, zipping, buttoning,
Spooning in food, encouraging excretion,
Mopping up vomit, stabbing cloth with needles,
Contorting wool around their knitting needles,
Creating snug and comfy on their needles.
Their huge hands! their everywhere eyes! their voices
Raised to convey across the hullabaloo,
Their massive thighs and breasts dispensing comfort,
Their bloody passages and hairy crannies,
Their wombs that pocket a man upside down!
And when all's over, off with overalls,
Quickly consulting clocks, they go upstairs,
Sit and sigh a little, brushing hair,
And somehow find, in mirrors, colours, odours,
Their essences of lilies and of roses.
by Elma Mitchell
Rachael's further adventures with release dates- Another thing I was looking forward to in February was the release of the second book of Zodiac Starforce, a comic I quite enjoyed. Enjoyed enough to know I'd want to buy the trade paperback, so there was no point buying individual issues just to throw them away. I went and looked in the big comic book shop in Leeds on February 28th, the day it was supposed to be released, and couldn't find it. But I wasn't desperate for things to read, and I assumed maybe it was just a slightly niche title, and I could always buy it on Amazon. I looked for it another time in the shop after that, but couldn't see it. And then at some point I went to check on that page on Amazon, and realised the release date had been moved to 31st July. Which is something Amazon definitely did not say on, say, 27th February. World, I don't know why you were so determined for February to be a shit month, but if there could at least be some notice of release dates changing, that would be great.
- I went to get the Justice League DVD last Tuesday, as part of my 'week of things happening'. I went into HMV and couldn't see it anywhere. I know it wasn't a popular film, but it wasn't that unpopular. I hung around the store for a little while, looking, and then went in to work and looked it up on the computer when I had a spare minute. The release date has been delayed to 26th March.
- I went into Leeds on Wednesday, just on a whim, and ended up in a shop where I saw that Far Cry 5 statue I was wanting. It was a day early, but that wasn't exactly a problem. But the shop I was in only had one, and it was in a locked glass case, on a shelf just above eye level, and I wasn't sure of the paint job just looking at it - they don't always look like they do online - so I figured I'd want to see it up close before I bought it, and I couldn't be bothered asking them to get it out of a locked case before potentially not buying it. So I went down to Game, where it had been advertised as releasing anyway. It wasn't there. But it was a day before the official release date, so I figured okay. I went back the next day. Nothing. I asked a guy on the desk, and he spent about five minutes looking in the back, and then said they had a credit note for the statue, it was coming in, but he thought it was March 23rd. I knew for a fact it said March 22nd on Amazon, but I figured, they don't have it, okay. I came back the next day. Nothing. I was buying something else at that point, but I asked again, and they said 'communication has been terrible', but they were pretty sure they'd have them on Monday.
Yesterday I decided to have a look around town and in the Game at a retail park near where I live, in case it was just the one shop. I went into a local game store, looked around, nothing. I went into my local game store, where I know the guys, looked around, nothing. I asked at the desk, and he said 'oh, I know the one you mean - where he's shirtless and holding up a gun?'. He said they were getting them on Monday, because the people supplying the statues said 'no-one will want to buy it without the game, anyway, so you may as well hold off until nearer when it releases'. I wanted it without the game. I did. Anyway, I assume that's what happened with the Game store/s as well - and who knows about the other shop in Leeds, but it was part of a chain that's close to shutting down now. So I'm going back into town tomorrow, to my local games shop, to finally look at the statue and be able to fucking buy it.
Also it turns out that the collector's edition Game said was exclusive to them, which was the only reason I pre-ordered it with them anyway, is actually not an exclusive, and my local games shop is getting them in anyway. I could have pre-ordered it there. I could have cancelled my pre-order at Game and gotten it there, a twenty-minute walk from my house. Instead no. Damn it.
- I was planning to see Proud Mary this weekend. Some of you may remember that. Earlier in the week I decided to look up the cinema times, for when I'd want to go ideally yesterday. There were no times for Proud Mary at my local cinema. "Oh, has the RELEASE DATE BEEN DELAYED?" I thought, but no. It still released on March 23rd. It just didn't release anywhere near me. The only local showing I could find was in Leeds, which I'd already been to five times that week for work, at quarter to five in the afternoon. So I did not go see Proud Mary, and probably won't. I can't imagine why they're not just showing it everywhere, but I guess it is a slightly smaller film starring a black woman, even if she is an Oscar nominee - although maybe the less-than-stellar reviews that are coming out aren't helping it either.
- akfsdjjksafndckj
My dad is still acting like he is probably not taking me to Leeds at midnight to get the game I want LITERALLY ON THE FIRST MINUTE OF MY BIRTHDAY. There's a chance he probably won't. Hmph.
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