Shoe Gazing

I had to wait in again for most of the day as the assured call from the hire company did not materialise (see yesterday's blip). It does seem rather odd that their hire car, worth about £25K, has been sitting outside my house for four days as nobody seems to want it back!. So I had to phone them yet again. I told them I wasn't happy as I'd waited in for a day and a half and they hadn't made the call they'd promised. Eventually a driver did call to say that he was on his way to collect it but he still didn't arrive until after 3 pm.
So today's shot is fairly representative of my day - I wasn't able to go out as I didn't know when they were going to arrive and I'd done everything else I could think of (cooking, cleaning, tidying. watching telly, reading). I was getting pretty bored of my own company just waiting around so I almost felt like I'd ended up staring at my own feet!
I must admit I thought shoe gazing meant being bored or where you are at a loss at what to do with yourself but then I remembered there was also a genre of music with the same name so why not make it into the subject of a blip!
Shoegazing (or shoegaze as it now more readily known) is a sub genre of indie or alternative rock characterised by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion, feedback and other effects at overwhelming volume.
It emerged in Ireland and the U.K in the late 80's and early 90's, among neo-psychodelic groups (such as My Bloody Valentine) who usually stood motionless during live performances in what appeared to be a detached non-confrontational state. The name comes from the band members' tendency to stare at their feet - or guitar effects pedals - whilst seemingly lost in concentration.
It was used as a negative term by the English music press who considered prominent shoegaze bands such as Slowdive, Ride, Lush, Pale Saints, Ariel and Chapterhouse as ineffectual or that the wall of guitars overwhelmed the vocals and melodies. Over time it has gained a more positive reputation with a member of one band's take on in his group's presentation style being that they didn't want to use the stage as a platform for ego and they were representing themselves as a band who wanted their fans to think they could do that too.