Interesting Textures

I've been listening to a Leonard Cohen CD off and on the past couple of days. It began with me singing to myself a phrase from 'So long Marianne': "You know that I love to live with you, but you make me forget so very much; I forget to pray for the angels, then the angels forget to pray for us" until after a while I wanted to hear it sung properly. I like the interesting texture of Cohen's voice, and on the CD when he's joined by the female backing vocalists or the choir of children's voices, the contrast between his voice and theirs makes theirs seem particularly angelic.

Talking of interesting texture, the latest batch of yoghurt has some chewy bits in. I simmered the milk for a while as this reduces the oxygen (Lactobacillus grows better in milk that has lost most of its oxygen), but didn't strain off the skin. Knowing what they are, the chewy bits aren't a problem to me but I'll refrain from offering visitors a sample.

Not everyone likes the skin off home-made rice pudding, and I suspect that 'skinny latte' probably doesn't mean latte with a skin, does it?

Today I walked into town and withdrew the cash for Vic to buy his new motorbike tomorrow. The bank teller asked my birthday to verify my identity, which proved problematical when it turned out they had the wrong date on their records! I was invited to step into an interview room to correct the matter, which turned into a consumer survey and marketing exercise. When I saw the direction the interview had taken, I explained politely that I didn't really want to talk about travel insurance or breakdown cover at that point and left.

Tomorrow I go to London for a Training/Recruitment day for part-time work as a telephone interviewer, working from home, interviewing other mental-health service users in connection with a research project to determine the current level of discrimination/stigmatism experienced by those suffering mental illness. Should be interesting. As I type that, I tune in to Leonard Cohen to hear "Who shall I say is calling?". Who indeed.