The Ravings Of An Antmagnet

How’s about a bit of a round up then.

2011-12-26T21:48:00.011Z

So twenty-eleven draws to a close I thought it would be an ideal time to do a roundup of the CDs that I thought were rather spiffing these last 12 months.

2011 has, contrary to popular myth, been a pretty good year for music. Festivals seem to have been popular despite our shoddy British weather and the naysayers pronouncing their death.

Bands still seem excited about making records, certainly in the field of Rock & Metal which I prefer to listen to, and Michael Jackson is still dead. So all in all a positive year I’d say.

In no particular order here are my top 10 albums of 2011. If I was forced to choose a favourite it would have to be the Vintage Trouble CD.

Black Spiders – Sons Of the North

Black Spiders have been building up a solid reputation on the live circuit for a couple of years now but in 2011 they seemed to accelerate into the stratosphere with the release of their debut album in February and appearances at both Sonisphere and High Voltage festivals. The album builds on the previous EPs that the band have released since 2009 and is in the same traditional hard, bluesy rock vein. The songs on this album are powerhouses with catchy chunky riffs and must sing-a-long choruses. Tracks like the opener "Stay Down", with its crowd pleasing line "fuck you and this one horse town", "Just Like A Woman" and the set closing anthem "St Peter" will have you singing at the top of your voice and only when the song ends you realise that you are on the top deck of the bus and not your local sweaty gig emporium. My favourite track on the album has to be the tongue-so-far-in-cheek "KISS Tried To Kill Me" with its proclamations that it was Gene not Paul and wasn't Ace's fault. A fantastic album and if you could get to see them in 2012 get me a ticket and I'll rock out with ya.

Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl

Actually Joe could have been in my top albums 3 times this year as he has been possibly the most prolific guitarist on the planet with this album, The second Black Country Communion album and a Collaboration with Beth Hart called Don't Explain that is a collection of classic soul and blues covers. I decided that, whilst I applaud Mr B's prolific output I can not have him dominating this list. Whilst the BCC2 album and the Beth Hart collaboration are both particularly good albums, I have chosen Dust Bowl as the one to feature in the list as it has elements of Rockabilly in it :-) (Yes I am that shallow). The title track has some classic, easy laid back Joe playing with a rolling groove that will have you humming it all day. John Hiatt lends his hillbilly style to his own "Tennessee Plates" that would not sound out of place on a Dave Edmunds or Brian Setzer album. The rest of the album has plenty of styles too, from the upbeat R&B of "You'd Better Watch Yourself" to the American folk styles of "Black Lung Heartache". Vince Gill, Glenn Hughes and Beth Hart also lend their vocal talents to make this one of Joe's most accomplished albums to date. With the promise of a new solo album and a new BCC one in 2012 we have much more to look forward to.

Skindred - Union Black

I am quite a new convert to the Skindred cause having only become aware of them at the Sonisphere festival in 2010 where they held court to about 5000 metal heads at 3pm and tore the fucking stage a new one and had everyone of the punters there well and truly on their side. This year saw the release of their 4th studio album and probably their finest (to date). Blending metal & punk with heavy doses of dub, reggae and hipedy hopedy they come up with a sound that is totally and unquestionably Skindred. The album has classic tracks that will certainly have you bopping and bouncing at your local sweat pit. "Cut Dem", "Own You" and "Game Over" will probably become Skindred classics and Gun Dem could have slid right off of Sandinista (if Sandinista tapes had been mixed in with Led Zep II)

Urban Voodoo Machine - In Black N Red

UVM are starting to make more of a noise this year. Tipped as leaders in the new British rockabilly revival? I do not see it personally, to me they have more of a Romany, burlesque sound to them more than rockabilly. Think Gogol Bordello mixed with The Pogues with a hint of Ennio Morricone and you'll probably be nowhere near them.... In Black N Red is their 2nd album and picks up exactly where the first one, 2009s Bourbon Soaked Gypsy Blues Bop'n'Stroll, left off. Disc opener "Go East" sounds like it could slip nicely into an Alex Cox western and has a fairly upbeat lilt to the lyrics this rapidly starts to go down hill with songs like "I'd Rather You Shot Me Down" and "Heroin (Put My Brothers In The Ground)" and "Alone In The City" all have a pretty grim and realistic view of inner cities in 2011 UK.

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Wasting Light is the Foo Fighters best album since "The Colour & The Shape" FACT. Agree or disagree you are either right or wrong. The Foo's have written some great songs over the years and their live shows have always been amazing but their albums have always failed to impress this listeners ears since their sophomore effort of 1997. This may be because one Pat Smear is now back as a full time member of the band and hasn't been so since TCATS or maybe Dave Grohl has just remembered how to write great rock songs. I could go on at length about the best songs on the album but to be honest all 11 tracks are fantastic. The album has poppy/catchy songs (Bridges Burning, Rope) slow/ballady songs (I should have known) and heads down/nose bleeding out and out screamers (White Limo). Basically buy it now mofo's.

Alestorm - Back Through Time

Ahh Viking/Battle/Pirate metal call it what you want, I love it. Songs about Norse Gods, battles, drinking wenches and whoring ales are always fun. There have been a few really good Viking Metal albums out this year: Korpiklaani, Turisas and Amon Amarth all released mighty fine albums but I have to say I love Alestorm's latest album. Hailing from Scotland these boys sing exclusively about Pirates all with a bit of fun. The title track "Back Through Time" pokes a little fun at our Scandinavian brothers in metal telling the story of a band of pirates that travel back in time to kick the shit out of the Vikings. Lyrics like "You put your faith in Odin and Thor, we put ours in cannons and whores" certainly tell you the theme of the album. Songs like "Rum" and "Buckfast Powersmash" tell tales of high drinking and debauchery whilst the two bonus cuts on the special edition are high octane covers of The Wurzels "Oi Am A Cider Drinker" and Lazy Town's "You Are A Pirate" that are a must for a drinking and dancing METAL party.

Vintage Trouble - The Bomb Shelter Sessions

This band hail from Los Angeles CA and play rocky/bluesy/souly type stuff, rather well actually. Their debut album The Bomb Shelter Sessions features 10 blinding tracks from the infectious upbeat bounce of opener "Blues Hand Me Down" to the mellow shuffle of "Nancy Lee" and the soulful Stax sound of "Not Alright By Me". The album sends you on an roller-coaster of a ride that doesn't stop pounding your emotions until the final notes of "Run Outta You" which as a set closer is quite spectacular, with the band leaving the stage one at a time until only the drummer is left. An old trick but still effective.

Five Finger Death Punch - American Capitalist

Fuck me, this band snuck under the Magoo radar for far too long. Their third album, released in October this year, is an absolute blinder. Crunchy riffs in a Pantera style and growly vocals that are not too aggressive to make you not want to listen any more. The title song has a catchy chorus that will have any metal head shouting along at a festival, "Under and Over It" has an almost rapping style to it but not quite giving it an instant pull on the ear. Token ballad "Remember Everything" is not too sentimental to make it redundant on this album but still has enough saccharin in it that you can squeeze your best gal or guy and not look a cock. For fans of Slipknot and Avenged, definitely, but Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance fans may also be sucked into the FFDP family.

Black Stone Cherry - Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

Third official album by Kentucky's finest (The Live At The Astoria album was strictly Ltd edition from Concert Live so doesn't really count). It has been two years since "Folklore & Superstition" and the boys needed to really impress for the difficult third album. And boy did they. Album openers "White Trash Millionaire" and "Killing Floor" are both dirty southern rockers. Won't Let You Go" could be pure Skynrd and the so-popular live favourite "Blame It On The Boom Boom" has every member of the audience shouting at the top of their voices in the chorus. The band played The Waterfront in Norwich earlier this year and ripped the place a new one. An impressive feat when the support bands were The Treatment and The Black Spiders, both of whom have albums in this top ten.

The Treatment - This Might Hurt

Bringing back "traditional" Heavy Metal to the UK. The Treatment's debut album, that has been released twice this year, is a stonking heads down metal album and that is metal spelt METAAAALLLLLL!!! Tracks like "Departed" and "The Doctor" get your fists in the air giving it large just like you did to Saxon or Maiden in 1982. They have an element of Kiss to their swagger but without the make up or extreme capitalist attitude. There isn't really a ballad on this album so your better half better have their rocking boots on, "Just tell Me Why" gets the closest but if you are looking for that Bon Jovi - lighter in the air moment, get the hell outta here and grow a pair. "Nothing To Lose But Our Minds" will be an anthem in the future or there is no justice in the world. This band are here to Rock your socks off... They will be bigger in 2012.

A special mention to The Adrenaline Mob's debut EP and to Mad Dog's Album Sampler that did make me listen and salivate about what is to come when the full albums come out this year.

Also I would like to have included Blast Tyrent by Clutch and the deluxe edition of the Slash album but they are reissues.

There are far more albums that could have made the top ten if only I'd actually listened to them more:

King Blues - Punk n Poetry

Machine Head - Unto The Locust

Mastodon - The Hunter

Rival Sons - Pressure & Time

Within Temptation - The Unforgiving

Social Distortion - Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes

So for 2012 I am going to make an effort to listen to more music that I have not listened to that much. Next year you may even get two lists: A list of best albums released in 2012 and a list of albums most listened to in 2012.

All the best for the new year

Eams

Happy Birthday Heavy Metal

2010-02-15T12:59:00.005Z

Well folks it was 40 years ago last Saturday (13^th Feb) that the world was first introduced to the debut album by a bunch of noisy oiks from the black country. Yes Black Sabbath’s debut album was unleashed on the world on 13^th of Feb 1970 and in my humble opinion was the first ever heavy metal album. Yes Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin had albums out by Feb 13^th 1970 but Zeppelin were really a blues band and Purple were really a pop band in Feb 1970.

If you have never heard the original Black Sabbath album then where have you been? It is definitely the first heavy metal album Doom laden lyrics about Death, the Devil and Evil Women. It has riffs that are heavier than the Statue Of Liberty after a cake binge and Ozzy’s trademark brummie vocals all culminated in 7 slices of damn fine heavy metal. Sabbath, much like the genre they inspired, have been through some rough patches (spandex anyone) but if you own the album dig it out and bung it on, if you have Lastfm or Spotify accounts give it a listen and if you are old school get off your arse and buy it, your ears will say thank you (once they’ve recovered that is).

Music music MUSIC

2010-01-13T22:09:00.003Z

So I am doing some compilation Cd's for my local drinking establishment and am constantly being surprised by what is on my hard drive to put on them.
Tonight I am sifting through the sixties; easy I hear you say. Well yes but I am avoiding the big guns of this decade of music for the moment. So there are No Beatles (nearly) No Stones, Kinks, The Who or The Hollies (definitely) even the Small Faces, one of the most underrated bands of the 60's are being put on the back burner for the moment that is. These prominent exponents of great music from that decade will come later. For now I am trying to find some hidden gems, and boy am I getting them, so I thought I'd share five of them with you. Here are some songs recorded (I believe between 1960 to 1969 and that you may have not heard of before, or if you have heard of them you've forgotten them, or if you remembered them you didn't know they were from between 1960 and 1969 or............

1. Creation - Makin' Time
Now this song sounds so much like The Who should have recorded it is scary. A fantastic mod classic.

2. The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind
This song may ring bells with people but I am including it because it is bloody good and also because The Easybeats were an Australian band that featured George Young on vocals who also happens to be the older sibling to Messrs Malcolm and Angus of AC/DC.

3. The Sorrows - A Little Heart
Now I know pretty much nothing about this band or this song but it is on at least two compilations I have of the sixties and features a groovy (see I can be hip) drum intro that introduces a nice little bass line run that then builds into some staccato guitar with some nice 60's "inspired" lyrics over it that forms a fantastic little song.
(edit: I have just found out that the lead singer of The Sorrows was Don Fardon who had a hit with "Indian Reservation" that was also covered by the punk band 999 and is one of my favourite songs from my youth)

4. Episode Six - Love Hate Revenge
This song was not a hit in the UK only in New Zealand and not even by this band. A local NZ band called The Avengers took it into the charts there. So why should we care about this then? Well Episode Six featured Mr Ian Gillan and Mr Roger Glover who went on to join Deep Purple in 1969 when the band split up (Episode Six, not Deep Purple) and helped move Deep Purple's move from 60's psychedelia to 70's Hard Rock.

5. The Smoke - My Friend Jack
He eats sugarlumps apparently. A great example of dumb sixties pop lyrics over a simple, but catchy, beat. The Smoke were from York but seemed to only have "hits" in Germany. My Friend Jack was covered by Boney M as well: The highest form of tribute in late 1970's Germany apparently :-)

I was going to include Jonathan King's "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" as it has some great early psychedelic lyrics in it but he is a fat dirty paedo fucker and can drown in a bath of rancid crocodile shit for all I care.

So not necessarily the best of the sixties but 5 songs that may not be that well known these days, unless Mr Tarantino or Rodriguez get them into one of their films, but maybe deserve to be.

Til next time
Be Seeing You.

A Week Of Ipod Roulette

2009-11-04T12:29:00.003Z

last week I played Ipod Roulette,. In which whatever album cover is displayed on the front screen of my Ipod (I have a 160Gb Ipod classic) when I turned it on got played.

Here are the results
Monday
Olias Of Sunhillow - Jon Anderson
The short warbly one from Yes's first solo effort is a massively over complicated concept album. However, if you ignore all of that and just listen to the music and not try and follow the story then it is a pretty good effort.
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
Jimi's last studio album before his untimely death shows him experimenting more so than his previous two albums but still retaining his blues roots
Tuesday
The Colour & The Shape - Foo Fighters
Man Dave Grohl and co's second album is a blast. I haven't listened to this in an age and had forgotten how good it was a real "Pow - Right in the kisser" moment.
Framing Armageddon - Iced Earth
Iced Earth are an American heavy metal band. that is all there is to describe them really but they do heavy metal and they do it damn well. This is the first of their Something Wicked series.
Out Of Myself - Riverside
Riverside? I hear you say. A Polish Prog band? you titter under your breath. Well yes, but if you like porcupine tree or any of the neo-prog bands of the last ten years then this is a band you must listen to. This is their first album and is part one of their Reality Dream trilogy. You just gotta love Prog for the pomp :-)
Wednesday
The Who By Numbers - The Who
Not regarded as one of their better albums, it is sandwiched between the superb Quadrophenia and the average Who Are You ..By Numbers contains some of Townsend's most personal songs dealing with problems such as his alcoholism and increasing paranoia with fame.
Live Cream Volume II - Cream
6 tracks from messrs Clapton, Bruce and Baker recorded in California in 1968. I had never listened to this and was surprised by how heavy they sounded. A great album that will get a more frequent outing, along with volume 1, in the future
Thursday
The Works By Queen
The last great Queen album. the Miracle and Innuendo were a bit patchy to say the least. Everyone knows the singles (Radio GaGa, Hard Life, I Want to Break Free and Hammer To Fall) but there are other gems on this album (tear It Up and Man On The Prowl especially) that make this THE Queen album worth listening to from their 80's output.
Genesis by Genesis
Released immediately prior to their Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance albums (which were RUBBISH) this is not a bad album but it's no Wind and the Wuthering or Selling England by the Pound.
Friday
Electric Warrior - T-Rex
If their previous album, T Rex, introduced the world to a Marc Bolan with electricity running through his veins then Electric Warrior taught the world how to sing. This album contained the massive hit singles Jeepster and Get It On as well as Cosmic Dancer that Billy Elliot would twinkle his toes to many years later.
Issue 30 CD - Fish
Now, I was going to exclude live albums and compilations but this fan club only Fish CD recorded live in his home town of Haddington has possibly the best version of A Plague Of Ghosts ever committed to digital tape therefore it is in and i love it.

An eclectic mix of albums that barely scratched the surface of the collection on the Ipod. Some albums I had not heard in a very long time and one that I had never heard made for an interesting week.

now what to do next.........

fame at last

2009-11-04T12:11:00.000Z

Click here link to Wall

From Swedish Death Metal to texas Blues in one easy step.

2009-10-30T15:41:00.007Z

A bit like six degrees of separation only completely different I have found myself attending 4 gigs in the last week, all with relatively different musical styles.
The first was Black Stone Cherry at the Norwich UEA: BSC are a southern rock band that sound a bit like Lynyrd Skynyrd with Motorhead shoved up their arses. The support band for them was Duff McKagan's Loaded. They were quite punky and not anything like Mr Duff's other bands GnR and Velvet Revolver. I liked them but Mrs M did not. BSC came on and did rock the house; they did feel the need to spoil their set with an effing drum solo that went on for about 10 - 15 mins that knocks them down a few notches in my book, and the singers mic was too low in the mix making it difficult to hear his between song banter.
On Saturday we went to Londinium to see the mighty Green Day. After a very traumatic journey down where we listened to the traffic news and avoided so called accident blackspots. Letting Eddie Izzard and his stupid tom tom voice desperately try and get us back on the roads we were avoiding we finally got to London, called the hotel to get directions to be told by the receptionist to "get back on the main road and turn left instead of right" now in London this may be considered a little vague.
We did find the hotel, and very nice it was too but we had no time to basque in it's splendor as we had to get to the O2. A quick (expensive) boat trip up the Thames and we were there. We met up with our good friends Jay & Christine and wandered into the auditorium at about ten to eight as we had heard they would be on at eight.
True to the rumour Green Day appeared at about 8:15 and played for about 2hrs 45mins cramming most of the stuff that you would expect from them. A great set from a band that always put on a damn good show.
On Tuesday I then popped off to the Waterfront to see a band called Amon Amarth who are Swedish and play "melodic viking death metal" apparently. well what ever you call it it was pretty good and only a little growly for my tastes.
Wednesday was the big one. ZZ Top at Wembley Arena, these Tres Hombres play good old fashioned dirty blues and no mistake. 90 mins of a "best of" set that had me singing till I was sore. lubrication in the bar afterwards had me drinking till I was sore as well :-) Upon leaving the venue I and my Friend Chris were accosted by a chap with a camera to say a few words about the gig. My cringe-worthy effort is posted on this site for you to all laugh at me but If you wish to see more visit www.winkball.com

So that's about it a week of gigs all different and all bloody good and back to reality now, well until Magnum at the waterfront that is.

TTFN

Nothing to add

2009-04-15T13:16:00.001Z

Seoul Tripper

2009-03-01T09:35:00.010Z

Up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport for a relatively early flight (09.30). It was interesting to see Sydney wake up, the odd cross over of early workers and retiring hookers made for an eclectic picture. The airport hopper we were on seemed to take an age getting to the actual airport, this was possibly because half of the pick-ups were not at their hotels when the bus arrived and the Eastern European driver then decided to go back and check for them before actually heading off out to the airport. We took breakfast in Sydney airport so you can imagine how healthy that was.
Sydney also has an amazing choice of duty free, including a massive 4.5 litre bottle of Jack Daniels that comes with it's own cradle to sit in and two fantastic "jugs" of Jim Beam (one black and one regular) that would have looked cool in my house.
Unfortunately Asiana / Korean authorities, I'm not sure which, deem that even if you are transferring airplanes you still can not take more than 100ml of liquids onto the planes. We saw some people have to give up their perfumes on the way over. We left the delights of the duty free and boarded our flight, another 10hr flight that was pretty normal and boring, and later we touched down in S Korea.

It was cold in Seoul. Very cold. We caught the bus into the city as Incheon airport is about 50km outside the city. It is a vast sprawling city that has a massive 24 million people in it now that it has absorbed some of the outlying suburbs (10 million people live in the "old" city itself) and took us about an hour to get to where we needed to get off the bus. It then took another 10 minutes to get the driver to actually agree to stop the bus so we were at least another stop down the road. This would be the first of our first of numerous language barriers that we would face in the capital of South Korea.

We finally got off the bus and decided to walk back to the stop we were supposed to alight from to get our bearings. The lady at the airport had basically said "get off the bus when you hear this word and the hotel is 5 minutes from the stop", now which direction was not specified and she had lost interest in us by that point and moved on to someone she could communicate with. So there we are stood in the middle of the "business" district of Seoul at about 19.30 at night with no one understanding a word we were saying or being able to read anything we put under their noses. Now, my friends, here is a tip for you: If you decide to go to a South East Asian country or more specifically, city that does not speak your native tongue, try if you can to take vital pieces of information (Your hotel name. The address of your hotel. A note that says "I am a poor traveller who is not worth killing, robbing and dumping in the river" type of thing) actually written in both English and the local language as most Asians, especially in Korea it seems, can not read English at all. Nor should they need to really but in hindsight this would have helped us find the hotel a lot quicker.
I digress though. So, as I said there we are stood like two beacons of helplessness in the middle of the business district - this is local business though not international "I can speak English" business - if we wanted a big assed bag of dried fish or some puppy kebabs we would have been as happy as little Fido right up to the point the pot is put in front of him. We asked in a jewellers but they did not understand a word and then saw a beacon of western decadence, a Starbucks, now they must have someone that speaks English as everyone that works in Starbucks is a student. In we go and order two coffees (well one coffee and one tea as Paula had not learned from Japan and Thailand that tea is not the same out here but she will learn - eventually) and asked very slowly and calmly "do you know where this hotel is?" Not a glimmer of understanding but a bit of hand gesturing and our very helpful host running off to the Internet in the back and we had a little map with lines drawn on it that had the word hotel written in a Korean/English hybrid but that did not matter it was apparently only 3 minutes walk away and off we went.

Well it turned out to be the wrong hotel but the 'vertically challenged' chap that came out and his equally strange chappie companion seemed to know where the hotel was and would take us there, brilliant, sort of. Off we went following this chap who spoke very little English. He took us down this little alleyway that was not looking like it would lead anywhere but to a trip to the bottom of the river. He tried to calm us by pointing to a sign of our hotel and it did indeed look close but also unattainable. Well round the next corner we went and there it was. Hurrah! A big thank you to Starbucks boy, Crazy Dwarf man and our guide as we would never have reached the hotel without them.

The next morning we rose, went to breakfast and hit the streets of Seoul all by 08.15 (OK so I got the time wrong and was an hour out but we only had one day in the place). We became very touristy visiting the royal palace, the traditional village and basically walked the length and breadth of Seoul looking at everything and anything that looked interesting, punctuated by lots of visits to coffee shops as it was still very cold. Pictures will hopefully follow in the next few days as I haven't sorted them out at the moment.

We finally got back to the hotel after a pretty long day and watched the news of a Turkish Airlines jet crashing at Schipol(sp!) airport, not the sort of thing I wanted to see just prior to a 12hr flight. Paula then fell asleep and I watched Enter The Dragon which was good and Catwoman which was not.

A nice leisurely train ride to Incheon airport taking in the sights and we are off to the plane. Airports are quite boring so there was nothing much to add here except that there was a heavily tattooed man in the lounge drinking and being far too loud for my liking - my fears were proved right later on. We sat on the plane and looked around the cabin as we were sitting on a row of three which was full and half of the cabin was empty. A quick word in the Stewies shell like and we were moved into an empty row. Take off completed and a quick whisky and coke (or three) later and I was happily dozing listening to Cream (the Eric Clapton fronted 60’s band not the dance pap). A couple more and I really needed a pee so off I go and when I get back said tattooed Italian is lying on the cabin floor with stewards and passengers lying on him. It turns out that this chappie had “befriended” an English bloke and they had been drinking steadily/heavily from Australia and had had a bit of a disagreement that resulted in a couple of punches being thrown and the Englishman departing to the back of the cabin whilst the Italian (who was by far the more aggressive) needing to be restrained in a seat. This caused mucho chaos in the cabin as people had to be moved so that the prick could be restricted in a clear area. The captain came up to try and reason with the belligerent man and when he would not cooperate basically thumped him to calm him down. Once he had been cuffed and tied, a wishy washy, do-gooder, social worker, stick my nose in where it is not wanted came up from the back of the plane asking why the man was being restrained and that she (in her "expert" opinion) didn’t think he needed to be tied up. It was explained to her by the captain and some passengers that her opinion was not needed and she could promptly fuck off. The next two hours, this had taken about 1.5 – 2hrs to get this far by the way, were a constant barrage of obscenities aimed equally at 1) the English chap whose name was Byron apparently, 2) the Korean crew and 3) other passengers that just happened to be on the plane. Therefore for a full 12hr flight I managed to get NO sleep at all with maybe 20 mins dozing at the start. Once we landed at Heathrow we had to then wait for the police to escort our annoying little friend off of the plane.

So landed, back in blighty and off to the hotel to meet a couple of Paula’s friends and then a good nights sleep.

Holiday over and all back to normal again.

Rock This Town

2009-02-26T02:47:00.004Z

So we spent the last day in Sydney wandering around the suburbs and then caught the train up to Newtown for the Stray Cats, I was a little wary on our way up there as there were no hoards of rockabilly cats on the train and even when we got off the train there was not the mass of 50's style outfits that I am used to when seeing Mr Setzer and co. We hit a pub, the second as the first did not take CC's for food only beer (Crazy assed Ausies)! We had a nice meal and I partook of some dark "old" ale - this is different from the old we have in the UK but was still palatable. My Setzer 2005 Nashvillians tour shirt stirred a bit of interest with a few people, amongst them a lady who had seen them six times in Oz on this tour but was still jealous and interested in someone who had seen previous tours.

We wandered over to the theatre and picked up the tickets, I must say I was very impressed that they were there as they were booked about a year ago and I had visions of "Sorry sir you needed to pick them up six months ago" We entered the theatre and I performed my usual ritual of "queueing for merch". We passed on into the main hall, it was an old theatre that had a very 1950's feel to it, which was perfect for the type of music that was going to be performed tonight. The band came on and proceeded to rip the place up. The set list was pretty much what they played in London in September with a few minor changes and Mr Slim Jim kept well away from the edge of the stage at the end of the show :-) So we left for home I was happy that I had seen them but was disappointed that I would be leaving Oz tomorrow and on the last leg of our journey.

last call for Sydney

2009-02-23T02:59:00.003Z

So it is our final day in Sydney and tonight we are off to see the Stray Cats (I am well excited about this - Paula is not as excited as me!)

Yesterday we went up the Sydney Sky Tower that gave us some fantastic views over the city and the harbour. We then caught a ferry over to Watsons Bay that was truly spectacular. The ferry gave us a great view of the Opera House and, to be honest, it looks a lot better in the sunlight. At Watsons Bay we ate some "world famous" fish and chips (what makes them that world famous I did not know and no one seemed to want to tell me - they were pretty good though). We then took the boat back to the main ferry terminal through the very crowded Sydney Harbour and took a walk back to the hotel. We did not do much in the evening as Paula wanted to get up at 2.00am to watch Everton play Newcastle United. The game was a bit dull (BIT!!!) and poor old Arteta being sent off is not good for them. Neither is Liverpool not defeating Man City either. I really think that United have the upper hand now and will win the title....Bastards :-)

Today we have walked for miles, again, and been to the Powerhouse museum which, apart from having a cool Star Wars Exhibition, contains a history of the modernisation of Australia. It was not too bad but I have been to better engineering museums in the UK. I did design a fountain though that was 'formidable' according to the virtual designer on the screen so I rule at designing as well.

There have been a couple of things that I have forgotten to mention in the blog so here goes: On our first night in Sydney we were walking through Hyde Park (I kid you not) and we looked up to see swarms of bats that live in the park flying around, it was way cool and looked just like something out of a Batman film. Now Sydney was not founded by Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark or anyone else with a cool name (Arthur Phillip may disagree and think his name is mighty cool but I would have to say NO) but to have bats flying around the centre is pretty cool. Oh, did I mention that the area of Sydney we are staying in is pretty gay, that means there are lots of bars that I have not been in and also "specialist" shops that Paula won't let me go in, this is a shame as there is one with a discount on all leather wear and I think I would look quite snazzy in lederhosen :-)

Well ta ta for now kiddie winkies - I shall hope to blog in Seoul and tell you all about the Stray Cats.

It's Sydney time

2009-02-21T23:30:00.002Z

We spent the last two days in Melbourne doing the usual touristy things; went up the Rialto Tower, both during the day and at night. Melbourne is a beautiful city at night all lit up like a Christmas tree. That's if you believe in Christmas, well even if you don't believe in Christmas you must believe in trees. We also went to the Melbourne Aquarium which had penguins and they were cute. On our last morning we got up early and went to the airport and the sky was the greyest that I have seen pretty much ever, even in the UK.
We landed in Sydney and it was thunder and lightning time. The tannoy on the aircraft advised that because of the bad weather the tarmac was closed and we had an indefinite wait for our luggage. Now, over 24hrs later, I am still wondering what was sooo scary that they had to close the tarmac to ground staff but not scary enough that planes could not land or that we could not disembark on to this frightening lump of grey matter? The lady in our row suggested that it must be lightning, I suggested that they were lightweight Aussie poofters but Paula told me to be quiet. Lightning my arse, if it were lightning then why was the plane allowed to land? also have they never heard of Lightning conductors over here, I could make a killing if not.

We spent the remaining of our first day wandering around Sydney saw the harbour bridge and the opera house (both smaller and less impressive than I had expected) and went to a pub/brew house called the Lord Nelson (http://www.lordnelsonbrewery.com/lnbh_joomla/) this was very nice and they brew a particularly nice pale ale: Pauly B can vouch for this as I felt the need to txt him this info at 5.30am his time (sorry Paul) Oh and I hope Paul, Howard and Belinda had a good tri-birthday celebration last night. We also popped into an Irish bar that wasn't.

So here it is, Sunday and a national day of mourning in Australia for the victims of the Victoria bush fires. It is also bright and sunny again, all praise to the god of Australia Paul Hogan who has smiled down upon us and blessed us with this wonderful weather again. we are off up a tower and to see the sea and hopefully some more beer with maybe some footy thrown in (that's real footy not this "crazy like a fox" sport that is becoming more and more watchable the longer we are here.

See ya soon kiddie winkies

ɹǝpun uʍop ɯoɹɟ sƃuıʇǝǝɹƃ

2009-02-18T01:02:00.002Z

Hello,

Well it has been along time since I rocked and rolled as Led Zep once said but since leaving Norwich on Sunday (15th) at 11 am I have been travelling all the way to Melbourne in Australia. Now that is a distance of 10,417 miles as the crow flies but I am not a crow so it was probably even further. We got to Heathrow without too much of a hassle; went to the wrong Holiday Inn to park the car but that was all. Checked in with Asiana Airlines with far too much ease. We went up to the desk handed bags over picked up boarding cards and bang that was it. The flight to Seoul was fairly event free as you would hope on a large intercontinental flight really. I watched City Of Ember on the very small screen and listened to a Marillion Concert from 1984 and slept for most of the journey only to wake up for food and drinks :-).
We landed in Seoul at about 16.00 rocal time and it was -2 outside. Now I have not packed that much in the way of winter clothes so the trip back could be fun as we have two days here.

As we had 3hrs in the airport we decided to hit the concourse running as it were, looked for somewhere to eat and pass the time. Starbucks looked promising so in we went: two coffee's prease and a chocorate muffin...... rittle to the reft...... rittle more...... We were enjoying the coffee and in walked two American students, well I say they were students that is the only excuse I can offer for their complete lack of anything vaguely associated with a brain. One was most upset that they did not do "Double chocolate frappachino's" and thought that as it was a franchise the menu would be the same all over the world..... rittle to the reft.

Seoul to Sydney was much of the same but much more crowded, I guess that Australia is a more popular destination than S Korea. On the approach to Sydney I was given my first shock of the trip. It was cloudy and raining! Fucking Crocodile Dundee and his Australian Tourist Information films had lied to me. It wasn't hot and sunny ALL the time, I want my money back. The check in at Sydney was a little more laborious as it was not run by the ever efficient South Koreans and too many people trying to get a sheep on as hand luggage. A quick hop over to Melbourne from Sydney was by far the shortest part of the journey but the most harrowing. Having a window seat meant I could easily see the devastation caused by the recent fires and the pockets of fires still burning. This really brought home the magnitude of the disaster as the areas of scorched earth were huge, very sombering.

We checked into our hotel and decided to get out and about as we would be fast asleep if we just laid there. So off we went. Melbourne is an great city, like London it mixes the old Victorian buildings with modern high tech offices and apartments. We took a wander, saw some shops and found a bar that was also a brew pub. James Squires who apparently opened Australia's first brewery and was a convict so good for him a man after my own heart. The beers were very palatable and the kangaroo filled cobbler was also good value. (this is a meal not some local drunk) Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep in a real bed, you will not believe just how welcome a real bed is until you spend over 36 hours away from one being forced to sleep in a seat upright.

Today is our first real day in Australia and we are currently in St Kilda which is a suburb of Melbourne. I'll post about our adventures there later and put some photo's up when we arrive back in Merry old England as we have not brought the cable over here with us. D'oh. (we had to buy a memory card as we left that in Norwich as well)

One piece of vaguely interesting news about Melbourne that I have discovered is that it was founded by a Mr John Batman. How cool is that? I wish I had a name like that, mine seems so mundane now. Read all about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman

See ya later kiddie winkies - until next time toodle pip.

Epic

2009-01-12T12:21:00.003Z

I can not think of anything interesting to write at the moment so here is the first of what I hope to be a regular series of list postings, just for fun mind you.

So here we go my (current) top five Epic songs.

1. Grendel - Marillion
2. Poet & The Pendulum - Nightwish
3. Heart Of The Sunrise - Yes
4. The Bringer Of Dreams - Pallas
5. 7th Son of a 7th Son - Iron Maiden

but there are so many that could be on the list that it will probably be out of date before it is posted

Another year over (almost)

2008-12-30T12:18:00.004Z

As John Lennon once said "So this is Christmas and what have we done, another year over and a new one just begun" 2008 draws it's velvety curtains and 2009 wakes bleary eyed........... Hang on a minute I can not let this go past. John, me old mucker; Mr Lennon sir? Exactly when did you celebrate Christmas then?
If it is, as you state in your lyrics, Christmas then the date is Dec 25th so the new year has not yet begun as we have another 6 days to go. If the new year has "just begun" then it is not Christmas as that has been and gone. This sort of sloppy thinking with regards to linear time is probably what led to you being shot in the first place: Did you say to your security team "I'll be down at three" and then not turn up until seven when they had all gone home so Mark Chapman had a clear shot. Bad form Mr L......... But I digress.........

2008 can, for some people, quite happily shut up it's doors and fuck right off. I know of a few close personal friends of mine that this would probably apply to and to them I wish that 2009 is so much better for them and that all of their hopes and dreams come true.

For others they had a wonderful 2008 and probably do not want to face global economic turmoil and uncertainty. Well to these people I wish that 2009 is equally as good as 2008 has been and that their good fortunes continue for another 12 months at least.

For those of you like me, and why you would want to be like me is beyond me, that had a regular normal pretty uneventful 2008 then if that's what you want from 2009 then go daddy-o.

Basically, like another Beatle, I wish you all Peace and Love but unlike Mr Starkey I will respond to any correspondence that I receive - eventually :-)

I also will try and update this monster of a blog on a more regular basis in 2009 but as I have a boring ass life there is very little to talk about. I do however listen to a lot of music and watch a fair amount of TV related shows(!) so I may get down and funky with you all in 2009 and give you my thoughts on these subjects.

To kick this off here are some things that have impressed me in 2008:

Planet Rock Radio - faced with the axe early in 2008 this station was saved because it is basically cool as fuck. They basically have a telepathic link into my brain that knows what I want to hear and then some.

Porcupine Tree - prog band that released their highly acclaimed Fear Of A Blank Planet LP in 2008 but I have only just jumped on their bandwagon and have to say they are fan-bloody-tastic

German Heavy Metal - they really know what they are doing over there in der fazerland loud, fast and melodic - fantastic

Mock the Week - probably been going on for years but I have just discovered this TV gem and am loving it every time.

So there you go my lovelies, take care and stay safe.

PS - Liverpool for the title

Just a Quick Note:

2008-10-26T21:22:00.002Z

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	9	3	1	0	7	4	4	1	0	7	2	8	23
2	Chelsea	9	2	2	1	8	3	4	0	0	11	1	15	20
3	Hull	9	2	1	1	5	8	4	1	0	9	3	3	20
4	Arsenal	9	3	0	1	8	3	3	1	1	10	3	12	19

5	Aston Villa	9	2	2	0	6	3	3	0	2	10	7	6	17

6	Man Utd	8	2	1	0	7	1	2	2	1	6	4	8	15
7	Portsmouth	9	3	1	1	7	4	1	1	2	3	10	-4	14
8	Man City	9	3	0	2	15	6	1	1	2	8	8	9	13
9	Sunderland	9	2	1	2	5	6	1	2	1	4	4	-1	12
10	West Ham	9	3	0	2	10	8	1	0	3	4	8	-2	12
11	Blackburn	9	1	2	2	3	8	2	1	1	6	7	-6	12
12	Middlesbrough	9	2	0	2	4	8	1	1	3	4	7	-7	10
13	West Brom	9	2	0	3	6	9	1	1	2	1	5	-7	10
14	Everton	9	0	2	3	5	11	2	1	1	8	8	-6	9
15	Wigan	9	1	1	3	3	8	1	1	2	8	5	-2	8
16	Fulham	8	2	1	1	4	3	0	1	3	2	5	-2	8
17	Bolton	9	1	2	1	4	4	1	0	4	4	8	-4	8

18	Stoke	9	2	0	2	7	8	0	1	4	3	10	-8	7
19	Newcastle	9	1	1	2	5	6	0	2	3	5	11	-7	6
20	Tottenham	9	1	1	3	4	5	0	1	3	3	7	-5	5

It Is A Silly Place

2008-10-13T12:11:00.002Z

And

Well...

2008-09-18T22:00:00.002Z

So It's been a couple of weeks and things pass so i feel I should let eee all know about them.

Where to start? Well I went to London to see the Stray Cats for their farewell concert at the Brixton Academy which was great. We all set off at about 16.30 from Norwich myself, Graeme from work, Marters and the lovely Howard sisters Donna & Tracey. The trip down was pretty un eventful really, Graeme and I realised pretty quickly that Tracey wasn't going to like too much on our I-pods and we settled for some Classic Judas Priest that got the girls making noise and some Stray cats to get us in the mood. Parking at Cockfosters and tubing to Brixton was a laugh....not but better than the journey home (more on that later) It always surprises me how old Brixton looks. We ate, we went into the venue, I spent money on stuff and we bought some beers waiting for the three cool cats to make their way onto the stage. this they did and proceeded to rock our little world for over 90 minutes. It was a pretty fair greatest hits set that did not leave much out that people wanted to hear. The encores included a couple of songs with the legendary Dave Edmunds including The Race Is On that I really had a tear in my eye for. The only downside is that Slim Jim Phantom, the drummer, fell off of the stage and broke his arm at the end so I really felt sorry for the people who could not see them in Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin... Maybe they'll come back for those dates.

On the way home we had to negotiate Brixton tube station being closed, getting the bus to Trafalgar Square (It's a Big Willy) driven by the most miserable bastard in the world and forgoing greasy spoon fair at Red Lodge because the exit to the M11 was closed (Grrrr). Still we got home (between 3.00 and 5.00 depending where people lived) and some of us even made it to work on time........

What came next dear listener is for another tale tomorrow (or Saturday)

TTFN

Ow

2008-08-14T12:17:00.002Z

So I am cycling in today and bang...... a grey Ford Orion isn't where I thought it should be and I was quite clearly not where she thought I should be. So I picked myself up. dusted down and carried on a sad and wiser man. Oh my knee and elbow and wrist hurt.

See ya soon, unless you are a driver of a grey ford Orion in which case Please see me first..

Who Is On First?

2008-07-27T12:37:00.002Z

In my opinion the funniest comedy sketch ever written. Here are a couple of takes on the classic sketch.

These Typography skits seem quite popular at YouTube However this take is very funny indeed

Enjoy

Waxing Lyrical

2008-07-25T15:38:00.004Z

So Wax.......wax, wax, wax....... Good for Candles, not so good for laptops. This might not come as a big surprise to most of you and the few that are sitting there going "REALLLLLY" aren't borrowing anything electrical off of me ever :-)

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time (two weeks ago) there was a beautiful princess (my wife) who worked for a fine and generous leader of men (my wife's boss) and he lived in a beautiful castle (his house). The leader of men did issue a proclamation that a great feast should take place at the castle and all were sent royal decrees stating time and day. I was to provide some taxing entertainment in the form of a competition pertaining to the popular music of the last 30 years or so. So I sit down and do a "bits and pieces" type round - remember that Radio 1 fans? and a cover versions round. These were duly completed and off we jolly well trotted. The afternoon was a great success (thanks must be given to Tim for the food and hospitality). After much merrymaking (well bouncing on a trampoline and eating dead animal) we had the quiz. This went down well but it was getting quite dark. As I needed to see to unlock the laptop, and being daft, thought the candle will provide light. Indeed it did but it also provided hot wax that dripped onto the keyboard and instantly went hard. This then resulted in me spending the next hour or so prying off keys and carefully scraping off hardened wax. All the keys finally went on except the Page Down key but I figured that I never (well hardly ever) use that key so what the hey. Luckily my friend at work managed to get the key back on so all's well as they say......

London Calling

2008-07-14T18:02:00.003Z

So, three trips to London inside a week, two for bands and one for pleasure (not that the bands weren't pleasurable that is). We headed off to London with a hangover. Well I had a hangover but it was a nice day and bacon and sausage has a way of beating off the demons that pray on the weak and recently drunk.. We arrived in London and headed up west - well I am assuming that it was Up and West but we ended up at the top of Charing cross road only to find that the cool little shop that used to be there that sold button down shirts that were of bands/films etc was no longer there. As the sex shop that now seems to be in it's place was not an option I was dragged kicking and screaming to Leicester Square where we were to try and get half price tickets at the half price ticket booth (can you see our logic?) (Un)fortunately the shows on offer were rubbish so we went for another wander/shop and then headed off to get some food before the train home. We had Japanese food that eve. and it was...er....interesting. The sushi is nothing like the sushi you may get in M&S it really is raw fish.. I loved it, plus the miso soup and beef something that I had as well. All very nice and I even managed chopsticks for the entire meal as well. Although my Keith Moon impressions were not appreciated by the owners, obviously Stones fans.
Back to London for the Wednesday and Hyde Park was "calling" Jack Johnson was bringing his particular brand of laid back surfer dude music to London and by golly we were going to have some of it. A rather damp and uneventful day in London led to us hitting a Fullers Pub for tea that was very good (both beer and food) We managed to watch a bit of Andy Murray get blasted by Nedal(sp) and headed off to the Park. JJ was a complete gent and waited for us to get there before he came on. It has to be said he was fantastic but I have a problem with Hyde Park in so much that I spend a lot of the time watching the planes going over and I was psyched about my third trip to London so he did not get my full attention. He did play for a pretty long time (about 2hrs 20mins) but did not play my fave (Mudfootball) BASTARD :-)

On the Thursday we had been invited to a SFX house to see some of the masks and models that have been made for a film that we have put some money into. This was fascinating and being a fan of Sci Fi and Horror I was very pleased to see for real what I had watched on the making of's on many a DVD. The film is called Doghouse and the web site is http://www.doghousethemovie.co.uk/ it, in my opinion looks like it could be fun, and hopefully will take off and make us loads of cash :-)

Well then.... Saturday comes around and that basically means one thing. IRON FUCKIN MAIDEN at Twickenham stadium. Chris and I get a train down at about 10.00 and end up sitting next to a guy who's son works on the lighting and had a nice chat with him. Trekking across London we met up with James and his posse in Richmond and made our way to Twickers. Apart from queuing for nearly an hour for T shirts this has got to be event of the year so far Support bands were good (Within temptation were particularly good) and MAIDEN were fantastic 2hrs of metal as it is meant to be played and 50,000 punters pounding there fists in the air in unison with the band. it was like Nuremberg but without the genocidal overtones.

So a busy week I'm sure you'll agree. Stay tuned for more updates including my impending trip up to the in laws to see my niece(in-law) Oh and the hilarious story (not) of how I managed to spill wax in my laptop AAAaarrrrgggghhhhhhh

So that's about all for now
TaTa

Isn't medical science wonderful

2008-06-20T16:16:00.005Z

Well it has been a while and no mistake. I apologise for my lack of blogging over the past few months and it is not because I haven't had anything to say. A lot has happened in my life since I last spoke to you all. I have been to New York with my lovely wife and a bunch of friends to celebrate a plethora of marked birthdays (40's, 50's and a 60) as well as my favourite radio station being under the hammer and being threatened with closure and there is a new series of Dr Who to rant about. Plus I have just been into hospital for an eye op that could be a life changing experience...then again it could not :-)

Well on to a brief catch up of things important (to me at least)

Planet Rock Radio: Has been saved by a consortium led by a millionaire entrepreneur who is a Rock fan. They've bought the station and have promised to change nothing. Take that Cool Jazz, nobody gives a fuck about your freeform noodlings :-)
Dr Who: The fourth season (or thirtieth if you are old) is nearly over and I have to say it has not been as bad as I thought. There are many places on the net where you can read all about how brilliant Catherine Tate is, well she aint... She aint shite either, she is just annoying, the same way she is in her absolutely godawful comedy show. Mr T has been as good as ever but the "I am clever, oh so clever" remarks are getting a bit thin. Roll on the specials next year and then Mr Moffett's "reign of terror" as it were. I for one cannot wait. I will hopefully post a bit more on the new series when it is finished.
Euro 2008: Well England, and more importantly Ireland were not there (as were all of the home nations absent) so I have not watched as much as I would normally. My sweep stake team, Switzerland, bombed out after a mere 4 days so I am stealing someone else's and gunning for the crazy Dutch as I got engaged in Amsterdam.
New York: Went to NYC as it was mine, PB's & Darren's 40th, Howard's 50th and Paul Shingfield's 60th over the last few months and most of us had never been to the Big Apple. A good friend of ours had emigrated out there 18 years ago (is it really that long?) so we all fucked off to the States to say hello, have a few beers, see a few sights and generally have a good time. This happened with a few minor hiccups (selfishly he states that Paula and I had no problems with tickets, travel, baggage, accommodation or any of the inconveniences the good Lord sent down on us to try and blight the holiday. I hope everyone that suffered these didn't let them bring them down too much. I enjoyed it after an initial scepticism (long story) and the weather was good to us as were the native New Yorkers . They eat a lot there, my kind of people.
Hospital: And to my last point, I have just been into hospital to have an operation to straighten the right eye so it looks more or less straight ahead now. As most of you that have actually seen me know my right eye sticks out in a Yarmouth way making it difficult for people to know If I am talking to them or looking in the complete opposite direction. Well now, thanks to medical science and the machine that goes PING, when the swelling goes down I should be looking at you with both my eyes so prepare to feel the stare of Amon Ra.

Well that's an update. Hopefully I'll be online a bit more and can keep you up to date with me more often.

Ta Ta

Rick Roll Forever or should that be Kissroll?

2008-05-15T14:18:00.002Z

I am a Viking

2008-03-07T21:31:00.002Z

Thursday night I went to the Waterfront in Norwich to spend some quality time with long haired crazy viking wannabies. The Finnish band Turisas were in town and had brought some of their friends with them. Scottish band Alestorm (http://www.myspace.com/alestorm) were first on the bill and even though we got there just as they went off stage I have their album and it rocks. Turisas' Finnish brothers were next up. They were pretty much above average Thrash metal: Not really my cup of tea but the chap I went with lapped them up. Next up the mighty Metal Vikings hit the stage dressed in full battle face paint and wearing what looked like half a deer skin each they romped through a set that included tracks from both of their studio albums but concentrating heavier on the The Vargarian Way album. Of course the highlight for me was the immense cover of Boney M's Rasputin The Waterfront was jumping like a mass of hair and sweat. I left the place with a feeling of elation and disappointment that I was on call and could not quaff ale with the feel of the music. A great night all round

It's been a long time since I rock and rolled...

2008-03-04T12:05:00.003Z

Well it has been a long time since I was at a gig but 2008 seems to be shaping up to be a monster year for "music wot I like" apart form the disappointment of misplacing our Dropkick Murphy's tickets we have seen Sum 41 this year and have Turisas, Down, Matchbox Twenty, John Jacks...er Jack Johnson, IRON MAIDEN, The Reverend Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy, The BossHoss and the mighty mighty Stray Cats all lined up and it is only March. Too whet your appetites my people, here are some funky sounds of some of the bands I shall be hopefully being entertained by this year. God I love music

Enjoy yourselves my hard rockin amigo's

E

I've been told I am to celebrate Christmas more

2007-12-27T15:13:00.000Z

From Eamonn McGrath ("the wishor") to you ("the wishee") Please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

I wish you a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008 but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms that:

* This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal.

* This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged. This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes.

* This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor.

* This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.

The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor. Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.

Eamonn McGrath

When a Star is a Fan

2007-10-29T16:35:00.000Z

I was looking at Ross Halfin's site today. http://www.rosshalfin.co.uk/home/intro.php

For those that do not know Ross is ROCK photographer extraordinaire. He has been doing it for an age and a half and has photographed some of the most famous photos of Rock Stars about. He writes a blog that is always honest and fresh He certainly states when he does not like somebody (Check out the Dogs D'amour page to see what I mean).

The reason I feel the need to impart this information on to you lovely readers is I saw this picture:

(photo copyright Ross Halfin)

Where you can quite clearly see how chuffed Mr Wire is at meeting Rush. Apparently they are major fans and were there to interview the band, for why I do not know. Now the reason I like this photo is twofold:

1) I love it when rock stars are as geeky as me about their heroes as I am (whoever they may be) it makes me feel less of a sad wanker

2) This is a big "middle finger in the air" to all of the people that laugh at me for loving Prog rock or 70's dinosaur bands. "The Manic Fuckin' Street Preachers are big fans of them too motherfuckers" so they can't be that sad. It takes all sorts even if you are Coldplay fans (I jest)

I am now back off to the shed to listen to another 20 minute piece of genius by some half German Hobbits using the works of Noddy as inspiration and playing only organically grown instruments made exclusively by Vietnamese one armed lesbians that have speech impediments. MARVELOUS

Check out Snakes and Arrows You may be surprised.

Oh How I laughed

2007-10-25T20:57:00.000Z

This is very funny.

The woes of the glittering Virgin - A Microsoft tragedy

2007-09-27T09:07:00.000Z

Last weekend we went over from the dark side back to the righteous and just Jedi order by kicking Mr Murdoch firmly in the nads and snuggling up to Mr Branson (spoons anyone) by this I mean we dumped Sky and went to Virgin Media for all of our entertainment needs. TV, Phone and very fast Broadband.

The install was arranged between 08.00 and 13.00 and true to form at 12.55 they turned up, Drilled holes laid wires, drank tea and basically installed all that was necessary. Fine I thought, the TV works OK and the V+ box is very sexy but the broadband well that was another matter.

The chap left and I bounded up the stairs with the installation CD in my sweaty hands, put it in the tray, followed the onscreen instructions and......... received an error message. Bugger! bugger, bugger bugger no Ethernet card, I was surprised at this as I had plugged the Ethernet cable in and therefore assumed I had a card - oh what a fool I am this is a network port and not the same! News to me boyo but off I trot up to Maplins to purchase an Ethernet card, install it and away we go. Or so you would think. this would be the end of the story if I had not also decided to re-install Windows at the same time.

Now I was running XP Pro with slightly shady, back alley, nudge nudge - say no more origins and therefore not able to upgrade certain MS components and applications. So I decide, in my infinite wisdom, that I shall take this opportunity to re install the genuine copy of Windows XP Home that came with the machine as the differences between the two are now pretty negligible (remember this word it is important)

re formatting a hard drive and installing Windows can take a long time with nothing much really happening so we trundled off out whilst it did it's thang. All seemed OK the MS updates all went through pretty quickly and the apps seemed to update correctly but wait, what's this I can not read my secondary hard drive. Oh Mr Gates, how I hate you.

So the negligible differences between XP Home and Pro are:
1. a number of networky tasks
2. XP Pro can handle Dynamic and basic style of discs XP Home Can not. (Guess what type of disc mine is)

So another weekend ahead in front of the PC putting Pro back on, transferring data and then whipping it off and putting Home on.

Oh went to see Fish (ex Marillion) last night - Fucking Marvelous

Can someone loan me 25 cents

2007-09-11T13:53:00.000Z

I see that the UK has “won” the right to remain imperial. Well hoo-fucking-ray is all I can say to that. If the people of this country gave as much of a damn to the social problems we seem to be facing on an increasing scale (gun crime, binge drinking, gang culture etc) then this country would not be in such a mess as it is. It's a number.....It doesn't really matter in the scale of things. If my dozen apples are weighed in pounds or kilo's what's the difference I still have a dozen apples. It would mean people having to think though and that seems to be a thing of the past for the British public. Remain force fed on what is in the national press and slink back into obscurity. Great Britain: I salute you. A nation that jumps straight to their feet demanding that I be allowed to still drink a pint of beer but slinks back into it’s comfy chair muttering about how it’s disgusting that you can not walk the streets in broad daylight slurping on a can of Stella that is measured in millilitres.

I think Homer Simpson Summed it up best
“When will people realise that democracy doesn’t work”

Apologies for the rant and the V review will appear soon, I promise.

GP action

2007-07-23T15:07:00.000Z

Anyone following the Formula 1 Grand Prix season will have to agree what a breath of fresh air Lewis Hamilton is this year. (It also helps that he is British) Also how amusing it was watching all of the cars pile up in the makeshift car park that was the gravel trap just off of turn one.

This got me to thinking about the quirky weather that seams to affect the Nurburg Ring and was reading up on the history of this splendid circuit on Wikipedia when I had an urge to see Niki Lauda's horrific crash there in 1976 that left him horribly scarred.

Now I am not an overly morbid person but do admit to having a fascination with seeing things go horribly wrong (let's face it most of us secretly wish for a spectacular and un-fatal crash when watching F1) and was fascinated by the following two clips found on You-Tube which show to me that modern F1 Cars are amazingly strong and can withstand such great impact with relatively little impact being transferred to the driver.

I post these for you to enjoy in the spirit that they were viewed by me: Marvel at the mechanical genius of the cars and witness men indulging in their passion even when it doesn't necessarily go to plan.

Here's hoping that Lewis can win the Championship this season and keep interest in this, sometimes, exciting sport amongst the masses.

You Can Prove Anything With Facts

2007-07-16T15:02:00.000Z

As the saying goes......

Bugger

2007-06-06T18:39:00.000Z

Well it was fun getting home tonight to find that we had been broken into. The bastards got in through our bathroom window forcing it. All they bloody well stole was an original xbox a camera and a moneybox with 5p's in it. they did not go anywhere near the DVD's or CD's that were scattered about the place or upstairs. I hate some people so much.

Super cock smoking fish breathing tampon smelling muthafukkas AAAAARGH.

Sick Spam

2007-05-23T06:13:00.000Z

I have just received in my inbox a Mail entitled "Madelaine please pass on". It has been forwarded by a friend of mine that whilst done in the best of intentions serves no purpose whatsoever. Now before you all bombard me with heartless bastard comments let me explain. This mail purports to be from Madeleine's uncle (note that he does not know how to spell her name correctly) and that we must help to get this story across Europe as quickly as possible. This is oh so very obviously a spamming device aimed at clogging up the mail servers and in-boxes across the world. It also seams to be a free advert for Live.com as they have a link neatly tucked away at the foot of the page.

Now I sincerely hope that Madeleine is found safe and reunited with her parents but,people please. Our police force and the forces of modern western Europe do NOT post and email saying "have you heard so-and-so has gone missing" a quick look at Reuters or any other European news agency will see that this story is one of the top five in Europe and this mail is just plucking at the heartstrings of the good people such as you and I.

It really make me sick that there are low life scum out there that use heartbreak stories like this, or even made up stories like "this boy/girl has only months to live if you sign this mail and pass it on they'll get a prize" type thing, to basically waste everybody's time.

The best way people in the UK can help Madeleine that have not been to the resort where she was abducted is to do nothing but keep her in your thoughts. Pray, if that is your thing, light a candle and let the professionals across Europe do their job. Whatever you do though do NOT pass these mails on.

If you have any information that you may feel is important then contact your local police station. In this modern age they can contact any other force in the world immediately.

Sabbath Rules

2007-05-20T14:06:00.000Z

Just found this on the net and am still chuckling

Enjoy

Keyboardtastic

2007-05-20T09:14:00.000Z

On Wednesday this week I went to see Rick Wakeman at the Waterfront In Norwich. What an amazing gig it was as well. It was his only UK appearance this year and he did not dissapoint. Playing "hits from his most famous solo works: Catherine Parr, excerpts from King Arthur as well as a couple of Yes tunes. A jolly good time was had by all.

Just in case you are thinking Old Hippy and naff playing take a look at this clip of Rick from the 80's

Back From The Dead

2007-05-08T07:54:00.000Z

Well I am back. The quarantine has been lifted and the lurgi has been banished. I feel like an old (new) man as every time I eat or drink I feel weak. Beer is only just starting to taste palatable again. I hate being ill. Whilst I was ill though I had Planet Rock digital radio on for most of the time and managed to hear about 8 songs off of the new Rush CD. I was very impressed. I also listened, well sort of listened, to the Liverpool Chelsea game last week. I was too weak to cheer or even watch red and blue men run around a green pitch would have turned my stomach.

Since I last spoke with you I have been to London twice. Once on what was to be a piss up with my mate Jon and others to see Jon's sister (his thoughts betrayed her) but as I was still recovering I did not drink. I did have a good time and went into some rather pleasant pubs/bars and one rubbish bar but was showing He-man on a big screen so that sort of made up for it (lemonade tastes the same in most places anyway folks)

The second trip was to see the very first performance of the Lord Of The Rings Musical that has just opened in the west end. It was pretty good (very visual) and a more detailed review will appear here soon.

Not much else to say really so Ta Ta and I shall check back soon.

Corporate Whore

2007-04-26T14:14:00.000Z

Yes I admit it I have succumbed to the advertising and bought an i-pod but I have not just banded on the jumpwagon there are reasons for this.

1) it was cheaper abroad than in the UK
2) it has a large capacity to store every facet of my eclectic musical mood-swings
3) it offers gap less playback for mp3 tracks

So this is one step on the rocky road to Diesel jeans and Oakley shirts.

Damn I feel dirty

My Children Need Wine

2007-04-24T10:14:00.000Z

So here we are another week down the line and I have come up with a cunning plan to beat the blues that have set in. I have been reading with mild disinterest the events surrounding the current general election in France and have struck upon this: If I can prove that I am distantly related to the monarchy of France I could claim the throne as my own. I could be King Eamonn the First. Kings have fun don't they? If that fails, and I don't see how it can, I shall look to other European states who eliminated their monarchy's some time in the last 1000 years of political upheaval that makes up the smorgasbord that is modern Europe. So on with the cat Skin Coat and pointy hat and it's yes your majesty and no your majesty from now on. Of course I will not forget all of my chums and chumettes and if someone has been particularly nasty too you I shall declare economic sanctions against them on your behalf.

here is a picture of what I would look like as king

Normal Service has been resumed HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Apathy rules OK

2007-04-20T10:39:00.000Z

So here I am. A new series of Dr Who is on the box (and very good it is too) I have been to Cambridge to see a band (and very good they were too) and have been up to Leicester to watch NCFC play, and win a game of football (and very good that was also)
So why dear reader can I not think of anything to write about, My thoughts and musing s have been very dark and depressing of late and I have not felt the urge to pass this sense of doom and failure on to you dear reader.

Still Who is good. I have a weekend ahead of me where I can listen to Heavy Metal At ludicrously loud volumes and the sun has just poked it's head through the clouds.

Next time I shall offer a reasoned account as to why things happen. Until then be different.

Your comments count

2007-03-30T12:34:00.000Z

Just a quick note to say you can now post a comment without needing to be a member of the blogiverse. Anyone caught making negative comments about me will be hunted down and forced to buy me alcohol until I forget.

"White Rose, White Rose"...

2007-03-26T11:03:00.000Z

...."Yorkshire, Yorkshire" and "We are Leeds, We are Leeds, We are, We are, We are Leeds"

Yes this last weekend folks have been spent in the fair county of Yorkshire, right on the Lancashire border. Well to be precise here

and a very entertaining weekend it was too. The week for me finished at 3.00 pm on Friday when I waved goodbye to my (admittedly jealous) work colleagues and boarded a train to Ipswich. Now this may seem a strange first point of call but Paula was teaching there so I had to get there to pick up my lift. Off we set at about 16.10 and for the next 4.5 hrs we were motoring up the A1, M62 and various other highways of our fair land we came upon the Old Hill Inn. This was about 200 yards up the road but we would have never found the muddy track in the dark. This did, however, prompt us to sample the local Ale: Black Sheep, I'm not sure how locally it is brewed but it was lovely and compare everything in the pub to the Slaughtered Lamb from "An American Werewolf In London". We thought it was funny but I am not sure the locals were as impressed.

We then retired back to the cottage for more ales and a rather drunken game of Articulate in which, I feel I must point out in the spirit of detailing all that happened, the boys kicked serious girly bottom. Once the "hilarity" of this had subsided some people drifted off to bed so Gin and Floyd were the order of the wee small hours with small talk and large measures going on until about 4am.

"Saturday, Saturday, Saturday , Saturday , Saturday , Saturday , Saturday , Saturday, Saturday " as Elton John sang back in the early seventies. A time when song lyrics were more profound than today's shallow, two dimensional attempts to glean money out of pubescent boys and girls i'm sure you'll agree. Anyway another lyric from Sir Elton's masterpiece is " It's seven o'clock and I want to rock; Want to get a belly full of beer". This was quite an accurate description of the days events, although it was closer to 10 o'clock before I started drinking you get the jist.

We set off for a short walk into the village to meet up with Shelly's parents and have a swift pint or three. Now I'm not averse to a bit of walking but when I am told it will be a "short" walk I do not expect to be walking for 2.5 to 3 hrs (Paula here - slight exaggeration by the bearded one, the walk was just under 2 hours!). Still it was a nice day and the conversation was spirited and jocular with one of our party being goaded into more and more outlandish bets that always ended with the clause "with your trousers round your ankles and a semi on" thankfully the bets were not taken up and the sheep looked on intrigued but un-molested. The village of Ingleton has two (or three) pubs and the one we camped in was called "The Wheatsheafe" more Black Sheep was drunk and some of the party went off to the dark side as they had heard that the barmaid in this pub was a bit of "trashy totty" It turns out that trashy more than sums up this "lady" and the pub as well. A taxi back to the house was ordered as General Conscientious had joined our party and demanded that no more walking was to be done.

Once back at the ranch we put the radio on to listen to the football and chill for a few hours until the evenings entertainment. Unfortunately the football was dull so a game of cricket was suggested. Now I firmly believe, dear reader, that playing at the Somme in 1916 would have given us a flatter surface to play on but we bravely (read drunkenly) carried on. it was not, at least, going to be the stupidest thing attempted that evening. Rules were adapted for the playing conditions and "capability" of the players and with the exception of yours truly falling quite spectacularly on my bottom and ending up like a trapped turtle a very enjoyable time was had. Bad light stopped play (oh how I titter at this with hindsight) and someone won by scoring more runs than anyone else.

We returned to the Pavilion for more Ale and the start of "Never mind The Bromcocks". This was Darren's version of Never Mind The Buzzcocks but with a twist. it was played by a bunch of drunks with only a passing knowledge of popular music; come to think of it it was quite like the real thing. I have come to the following conclusions whilst playing this

1) Vic Reeves Pub Singing is REALLY difficult when you are pissed
2) The intro's round is MUCH harder than it seems on the TV (I have new found respect for the guessers and mimers now)

Much Hilarity and ale followed as we stumbled through the various rounds. Most of which was captured on video and may be released to the general public if the courts approve.

Once this had wound down to an enjoyable close someone, The actual perpetrator is lost in the alcoholic Haze that has stolen most of my memory, suggested that we finish the cricket game. Now bear in mind that it is now getting on for midnight and pitch black so it was decided ( I can not clarify how much debate or contemplation went on in this decision) that car headlights would suffice, luckily we were on private land because blood alcohol limits were well over the recommended legal limit.

We started with the cars next to each other but that was just plain silly(!) so we moved one car at an angle in the opposite direction. the exact angle was calculated with great care and precision with a shout of "Stop, you'll hit the house" and suddenly we could see (of sorts).
Once we had lost both tennis balls an onion was liberated from the kitchen to substitute. This lasted for about three balls before it disintegrated and much hilarity ensued.

We then retired into the house again for poker. I did not partake in this as I was busy trying to please all of the people all of the time by playing their selected songs on the CD player and ensuring that people didn't have to wait too long for their particular track. I did have a friendly verbal agreement with another non player that one of our party was going to win and lo and behold within, what seemed to me, a short space of time they had significantly more chips than any other person on the table. I was by now getting tired from standing at the CD player and bored with changing CD's every song so I sat down with the last CD still in there (Thin Lizzy - quel surprise) and finished my beer before retiring to bed.

Sunday morning was relatively(!) event free we had a mighty breakfast again and hit the road for the long drive down to Norwich. This was pretty much traffic clear and we made it back to the trafford Arms for a couple of ales at about 16.30

All in all a great weekend full of laughs and surprises, the full extent of which probably does not effectively come across in my pathetic storytelling. Thanks to DB for providing the accommodation and the purpose, Caz for being his very able PA, DB and Simz for the great breakfasts and everyone else for their great company.

"Do you remember chalk hearts melting on a playground wall
Do you remember dawn escapes from moon washed college halls
Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair"

Music Music music I Love It

2007-03-18T12:13:00.000Z

I have just entered a competition to win a really funky DAB radio at planet rock's website http://www.planetrock.com/Article.asp?id=344100&spid= and to do so I had to give 4 songs that I played to death when I was a youth. I thought I'd share my results and reasoning with you.

I have picked songs from the era when I was at my most impressionable and just beginning to develop my own musical tastes and appreciations. Before this I was basically listening to whatever my mum and dad were playing around the house or what ever was on daytime radio but at around 1982-1983 I was discovering loud guitars and drums and music that could really excite me. These are by no means my favourite songs ever but set the foundations of what my wife now calls an obsession

Total Eclipse - Iron Maiden: The first Maiden Single (if not the first ever single) I bought was Run to the Hills but I always seemed to put the b side on as I thought it was as good as if not better than anything on the Number of the Beast album.

To Heaven From Hell
- Diamond Head: Borrowed time was possibly the first metal album I bought, bought on the strength of the cover alone (I had not heard anything by them) and this was the first song on side 1. as there were no CD players you had to be linear in your listening pleasures and I always put this on before I went to school and only really ever heard the first song before we had to leave. A fantastic album by a fantastic band

Don’t Talk to Strangers - Dio: Ahhh… Ronnie James Dio what a voice I must have destroyed three vinyl versions of this album through just constant over playing. The first Dio album opened my eyes to the vocal talents of this man and strangely the musical genius that was Black Sabbath as I had not really heard anything by them and sought out the Dio albums before the Ozzy ones.

Bad Reputation - Thin Lizzy: The Live version from “Lizzy Killers Live” EP as this is the one I heard in about 1980/1 that made me sit up and think I could actually like this “heavy” music that people are warning me about. Brian Downey’s powerful drumming and Lynott’s lyrics and vocals are what made me collect everything Lizzy

There you have it four songs that I played to death when I was a younger impressionable youth.

Hooray for Hollywood

2007-03-06T12:32:00.000Z

Well we are on the last leg of our journey. After an 11 hour flight from Aukland we arrived at LAX and then jetted off to the Holiday Inn in Hollywood for a couple of hours kip before hitting the "sights" of Hollywood. Hollywood is crass, tacky and shallow. If I were a mean man then I would say it is pretty indicative of the whole of the USA, but I am not....am I?

Another point that could put me in the mean camp is the question Are Americans Arrogant? Well far be it from me to suggest this but they are the only country on the planet that I am aware of where their coinage does not have any numbers on it. They just have words but not simple words like "twenty five cents" Oh no.. They have "nickel" or "dime" written on them - very small - this then implies that a) everybody that visits America and needs to use their currency must speak English and b) everybody that visits America must know the names and denominations of all of their currency under a dollar. Is this Arrogance? You decide.

We did the usual things in Hollywood, visited the Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre, strolled along Sunset, ate really badly and laughed at their quite terrible spelling. I know mine is bad but if I was going to put a sign on public display in my Airport I would probably spell it right, but that's just me. LA was quite annoying in so far as it was bloody hot during the day and farking freezing at night meaning you have to go back to your hotel to change when the sun goes down as you will freeze.

Still we will soon be on our way back to good old blighty and will have to see what the weather brings us there.

Well I was standing on this bridge you see and.....

2007-03-01T05:55:00.000Z

.....I sort of fell off, what a plonker! all of a sudden I was there and then I was hurtling towards terminal velocity. Still luckily I had a large piece of rubber between my legs and attached to my ankles.

It was a strange experience. I have to say I have not attempted anything like it before and the thrill is indeed exhilarating. As I was standing on the ledge I was torn between absolute terror (I am very afraid of heights you know) and conscious of not making myself look a fool. The thing is there are so many things going through your mind at that time you really do almost forget where you are. The guy that you have entrusted your life to gives you a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Bungy countdown and you go....Into the unknown, well not exactly unknown because if you are like me you have spent a full half an hour three days previous looking at people jump and then had to go back to actually do it. When I look back on that I feel that watching the
actual jump is more nerve racking than actually being there. when you jump you do not really have time to think about "Oh hang on a minute I am falling" when you have reached the apex and are bouncing back up.
You do not really have the time to realise what you are doing. A lot of people say that they are glad that they did it but they will never do it again. Well I certainly would do it again. From a greater height if possible.

As if that was not adrenaline enough for me we then went to the Shotover Jet in skippers canyon. www.shotoverjet.co.nz if anyone wants to check it out but don't worry we have lots of photo's & video footage of the bungy to bore you with as well as some pictures of the Shotover Jet.

We are back in Christchurch for one night and then off to LA tomorrow (via Aukland but we do not leave the airport). More soon people.

Oh by the way did I mention that I jumped off of a bridge?

PS we drove for 1090Km on the South Island from Greymouth, down the west coast to Wanaka and over to Queenstown past Mount Cook and were about 50km out of Christchurch before we encountered our first traffic light. How cool is that?

Bridge, Me, falling......

Queenstown 43 England 13

2007-02-26T08:10:00.000Z

Well I feel I must start off with that. What a game? I did not get to see it live as it was on at 0630 and we were staying in the middle of nowhere on the road between Greymouth and Wanaka. A lovely little isolated spot but not good for rooms with TV's to watch the Rugby. We headed out of nowheresville and sped off to Wanaka where there is a lake (Lake Wanaka!) and a place called puzzling world that was two things "puzzling" and "world": I jest. It had a maze and a set of illusion rooms. The maze was fun and involved you having to find the four coloured corners and then the way out. This took us about 45 mins and did not result in one argument. Fantastic. The illusion rooms were freaky with there being a perspective room where one corner you appear to be very small and the other one you are very tall. Interesting as it showed off one of the tricks that Peter Jackson used in the Lord of the Rings to make the wee Hobbits appear wee. Another of the rooms involved a large row of faces that appeared to follow you around as you traversed the room. This room was very disorientating and left me feeling quite dizzy.

We then left the puzzlement of puzzling world and headed off to Queenstown which seems to be the capitol of stupid stunts in all of New Zealand. Bungee was invented here and they think nothing of jumping off of the mountains on all sides to provide adrenalin thrills. We were casually walking around town when I looked into a bar and saw that they were showing the Ireland England Rugby match from earlier that day. It had only just started and the score was 3-3. There were a few Irishmen watching the game along with a lone Scott desperate to borrow a passport. Well if you saw the game you will know what happened I was very happy in more ways than one as 5 pints of Guinness on top of a very empty stomach can make even the hardiest Irishman (plastic or otherwise) wobbly. we dove into a pizza house for tea where a couple of the Monteiths Summer brew finished me off home to bed and another day.

Today (Monday 26th) we were off on our Lord Of The Rings location flight that was to take us to Rohan and over the river Anduin. The plane was very small and the winds were very high. We were to fly with a lovely couple from Dublin on their honeymoon. They were to do a longer flight but the winds prevented them going down the island any further. The flight was bumpy to say the least but we got up there OK and Nathen , our pilot and guide, was very helpful and informative and we managed to see where the Urakhai dragged Merry and Pippen over the plains of Rohan and towards Isengard with Aragorn, Legolas & Gimli in Hot pursuit "They're taking the Hobbits to Isenguard" . We also saw where the Rohan village was overrun by the hill men that Saruman sends out to destroy all the villages. All good stuff.

Once we were back in Queenstown we then decided that being buffeted around in a very light aircraft was not enough we would head off up the cable cars to the top of one of the many mountains that surround the town to look accross the lake. Great views but a little too much altitude for me for one day.

Well that is about all for now my friends. I hope you are all keeping well back in the Northern Hemisphere and we shall see you soon.

Rain, Rain Bloody Rain

2007-02-23T06:55:00.000Z

Well I suppose we should not complain we have been out of the UK for 12 days and this is the first sign of rain that we have encountered but, as the old saying goes, when it rains IT POURS. It has done nothing today but tip it down. This has meant that we have done nothing really apart from read & do the laundry. So in the absence of any new travelling news here are some random thoughts about Aoteroa

1. They are Rugby MAD - this is not really that shocking a revelation when you think about it but when I say mad I mean MENTAL for it. They love rugby and everything associated with it. They even have a satellite channel dedicated to it, The Rugby Channel. Oh and they sincerely believe that they will win the Rugby World Cup & unlike most other nations they are probably right.

2. Food - over here they do not have what you would call an indigenous food style as such. You know how the Italians have pasta and the Chinese have, well Chinese food really but you get my point; well the New Zealand food culture is basically MEAT and preferably as badly cooked as possible. Pies are BIG down here as is steak and of course lamb. Let's face it if you are a vegetarian (and it would serve you right if you were) do not come down here because you will starve

3. Locals - The local New Zealanders are amongst the friendliest people I have ever met. This may be because I love the bad food that they dish up for breakfast, lunch and dinner or it may be because they are genuinely starved of outside conversation. listen folks this place is out on a limb. Check it out in your atlas' kiddies it is miles from anywhere. It's nearest neighbour is the antarctic and that is uninhabited, well except for some Americans who have laid claim to it and a lot of penguins. This leads me on to:

4. Indigenous population - If, like me, you thought the Maori's were indigenous to New Zealand then, like me, you would be wrong. The Polynesians set forth originally from Taiwan about 800 years ago and populated most of the islands between there and Hawaii (with the notable exception of Australia) The Maori have, however, become completely absorbed into New Zealand culture in a truly equal way. Or at least this is how it has appeared to me so far. Unlike the Native American or Aboriginal tribes who have been all but wiped out in their respective homelands the Maori have a vital and positive role in modern New Zealand.

5. Landscape - This is what you would call hilly at least. Basically New Zealand is the product and rests upon a series of volcanoes that have a habit of reminding the locals just who was there a helluva lot longer than them by erupting at regular intervals. This could explain why the New Zealanders are hell bend on throwing themselves off of and into everything. If your own country is likely to open up and swallow you whole at a moments notice what is there left to be afraid of.

So there you have it some random thoughts about this beautiful country that I have the privilege to be able to spend another week in.

Oh and by the way There is really not that much difference between English people and New Zealanders. A point to reinforce this is they now firmly believe that they will win the Cricket World Cup now that they have beaten Australia in a one-day series 3-0. Still with Australia's Brett Lee out of the cup and the Black Caps first game against England who can say. Ireland have Zimbabwe, Pakistan and the West Indies to contend with..... I think I'll pin my hopes on the rugby world cup later in the year, Oh hang on it is in France and the All Blacks are playing. Oh well Drinking and fighting it is then..

Till next time people C-ya!

And now some photo's

2007-02-22T04:31:00.000Z

At last a place that can receive the pictures we have taken, here are some for your enjoyment.

This is us playing at being Hobbits in Matamata.

Maori dancers at the Wairaki terraces

Mount Ngaruhoe (or Mount Doom Or Orodruin) in the NZ National Park

A home from home for Martin.

We are currently holed up in Christchurch for a couple of days and we then take the tranzalpine train journey to Greymouth so we should have lots to tell 'Ee when we next check in.

In A Hole In The Ground There Lived A Hobbit!

2007-02-19T21:15:00.000Z

But more on that later..... The blog has been quiet for a few days as we have been in the back of beyond and the interweb has not really made it out here. We are now in Wellington and are back online...Hoorah

The flight from Tokyo was fairly uneventful with the exception of a German tourist that was hell bent on getting his seat to recline all the way back. Regardless of the fact that A) the seat would not go that far and B) Paula's legs were occupying that space at that time. Still as the flight was of a fairly north-south, and not east-west, direction we managed to arrive with no jet-lag.

Auckland was hot. It is a smallish city at the north end of the north island and is famous for some things I am sure.
We met up with Andrew Graveling to deposit a Norwich City away top and drink some beer.
We also did some sightseeing as well as there were plenty of sights to see.

Firstly we went up to Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic centre. That, basically, has a reconstruction of "Scott's endeavour" (I'm not sure if it is the first or second one) and some sealife: Mainly penguins, stingrays and a few sharks. I shall try and post a couple of shots of these in the next blog. We also went to the Skytower, a completely pointless building that sticks up in the air for 328 metres and performs no purpose other than to offer grand views of the surrounding scenery and scare the shit out of people with vertigo. If you are mad enough you can also jump off of the thing in a controlled sky jump. What is it about this country and jumping off of things?

Once we had sent Andrew off to bed with a belly full of beer and caught up with what he has been up to the last few months we headed south, remember I said it was at the north end of the island so there is not much to do that way. We headed out to Matamata and the location of the Hobbiton set from the LOTR films.

Matamata is basically hicksville with one street that has fast food joints and bars on it, kids cruising in their rods (mostly crappy Honda's with no exhaust) and squealing piggies! Picture prince Of Wales Road with no charm. However the Hobbiton set was worth the interrupted nights sleep when the supermarket across the road was ram-raided at midnight setting off the alarms and waking us up. The Hobbiton set is the only actual location set that still partially exists as New Line destroyed all of the sets for secrecy, however when they started to destroy Hobbiton the weather stepped in and the machinery could not get up to the sets to continue as it was too muddy. The owner of the farm that the set was on had already had enquiries from people wanting to visit the set and entered into negotiations to keep what was left. New Line agreed as long as they did not change it from how it looked when they left it. The tour was fantastic and even if it hadn't of included the LOTR set the visit and the views were superb. Unfortunately the cafe here will not let me actually upload any pictures so I can not let you see how wonderful the views were.

Once we left Matamata we headed south again to Taupo, which is on the shore of Lake Taupo (handy that) and that evening we went out to a Maori culture show and meal. This was most enlightening and entertaining and the only (minor) disappointment was the meal afterwards that did not feel traditional but more like a meal at a wedding. Still the History and traditions of the Maori people was fascinating and the Haka was truly terrifying to see up close. You can see how it must fire up the All Blacks when they take the pitch for their games. Perhaps the English & Irish teams should develop one. It may not have the cultural and historical relevance of the NZ one but could be pretty scary :-)

From Lake Taupo we went south again and did a circle of the New Zealand National Park. This basically is a vast piece of land in the centre of the North Island that has two bloody great mountains in it, one of which (Mt Ngaruhoe) was used as the "location" of Mount Doom. It still looks pretty impressive even without Mr Jackson's special effects on it. The Other one (Mt Ruapehu) was used for a lot of the Mordor Scenes itself as this place looks pretty imposing in the summer months. In the winter it is a ski resort.

We left the National Park and headed down to Levin which, again, is a nowhere town on the way to Wellington.

I shall endeavor to amend this post or update a new one with some pictures before we head over to the South Island on Thursday.

PS. Happy Birthday Mr Barrett I hope you had a good one.

Is There Any Tea On This Spaceship?

2007-02-13T18:15:00.000Z

!!!!!Mammoth Blog Alert!!!!!

Day two in Tokyo and we have had a busy one. Firstly though Japan does not do tea.... Well not in the traditional sense that we, normal individuals view the idea of a nice cuppa. I felt like Arthur Dent exploring the wonders of the universe without the sustenance of a nice cup of char to set me on my way. Coffee they do, and do well, chocolate; not a problem but tea: Forget it, you have as much chance of defending yourself against the ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal with a towel than getting a good cup of tea here. Even the Twinings shop either did no milk or all milk options. I don`t know.......Still rant over

Today we got up relatively early as we had decided to take the bullet train out to ShinFuji station, going on the logic that here would be the famous mountain. Off we trotted to the station and requested two tickets for the train. At this point I must say how very helpful and understanding the Japanese are when dealing with western people they explain what it says on the ticket and even point out clauses that you will not be aware of. We embarked the train at 9.04 and took our seats. The bullet trains are amazingly clean and, bearing in mind that the Japanese are quite little, have enough leg room and aisle space to accommodate Andre the Giant (how we miss you).

Mt Fuji is about 150km out of Tokyo and the journey took about 1hr the ride was very quiet and very smooth. Unfortunately we did not have the rotating seats in our car that we had been told about but that was a small aside as the whole experience was very pleasant. We pulled into ShinFuji station and looked around. This was not what we expected; to be honest I had expected to be deposited at the bottom of the mountain on a platform only station with lots of little Japanese men in straw hats and robes offering to take me up the mountain on a yak for tuppence ha`penny. Living with these rose tinted notions about the world makes every journey an experience for me, I truly expect to see people in bowler hats and pin stripes every time I go to London. ShinFuji is a very industrial town that seems to survive on very large factory complexes belching out white smoke into the atmosphere with the mountain dominating the horizon. I originally thought they were brick or concrete factories, either that or they had chosen a new Pope and had forgotten to tell the Vatican. As it was such a nice day we decided to take a look around the town and see if we could get a good shot of the mountain which is quite away from the town (about 10-15km). we did a small circuit that involved factories, a small school, a large railway terminus with very slooooow trains and back to the bullet train station for the return journey. ShinFuji dos not seem to have a "direct" link with Tokyo station so the bullet train has to stop at all of the stations in between and doesn't really get up to it:s full speed. (if you go to Osaka that has a direct Tokyo-Osaka link and can get right up to take off speed)

Back in Tokyo we had a walk around the Ginza district that is a "shopping" area of Tokyo. Here we went into an electronics discount warehouse type place that was a cross of BB Adams and Richer Sounds but on four floors that also sold Booze and golf clubs as well as the latest in your electrical needs, yes I said needs - I NEED everything in there :-) Especially a 103" TV from Panasonic and a Blu-ray DVD player that would set me back approx 25000 Gbp for the TV alone. Seriously though the picture quality through this TV from a Blu Ray disc was phenomenal. It is hard to grasp the scale of a 103" TV so here is a picture to help you.

Once I had been dragged kicking and screaming from this house of pleasure We walked for a VERY LONG TIME. This was partly due to the distance to the Hobgoblin pub from the big Electronics boutique that i want everything in (did I mention that at all) and partly due to Paula not having a clue where north actually is on a map. Still we got there in the end. We did pass by the imperial palace gardens (we wanted to pass through them but they stopped halfway! and through the Japanese government sector where they have named the buildings "Government building number two" and the like. Very helpful for a passing terrorist. A bright idea if you ask me, you wouldn`t have a clue where to attack. Oh, the National Diet Centre is properly named but I assume no-one wants to blow that up.

The Hobgoblin (or Hobgoberin) pub was a welcome release from 9hrs of almost constant walking (and viewing bloody big TV`s showing LOTR) and we sat down for a well earned rest and recuperation. The Hobgoblin on draft was very palletable but not as dark and rich as we are used to back home I switched to bottles of Black Wych Stout that was very nice and sat there wondering I had travelled 6000 miles to sit in an English pub drinking English beer. Still I stopped short of having fish and chips or pie and mash.....just.

As it was getting late we hopped on the underground and headed back to the hotel for some traditional Japanese nosh and bed. We were going to go up to the top of the hotel to see the observation port but fell asleep.

Tomorrow is our last day in Japan and we are going to see the Rainbow bridge and take a train over to the island that this bridge connects to the mainland. The bridge was built because so many people were being killed in ferry disasters as they were crossing one of Japan`s busiest commercial shipping lanes.

Japan Baby

2007-02-12T15:46:00.000Z

Well here we are in Tokyo, it is ten to one in the morning and we are sitting in the internet cafe in our hotel as after a marathon time with no sleep, probably about 27 hours, we succomed to the very comfortable beds in our hotel.

This was probably not the wisest thing to do but we were completely banjaxed and could not keep awake any longer.

The flight was pretty uneventful. No unexpected appearences of Rodan and I pretty much spent the time eating cheese and biscuits and watching the telly in the back of the seat in front of. I would probably not recomend watching the following on a plane as you will annoy the rest of the passengers; Jackass no. 2, The Mighty Boosh or The IT crowd. Tomorrow (or later today to be exact) we are going to get the bullet train to Mount Fuji and go and see the Rainbow bridge and take a visit to electronics town.

When you are the moon, the best form you can be is a full moon. And then the half moon... he's all right. But the full moon is the famous moon. And then three-quarters, eh, no one gives a shit about him. When does he come, two days in, to the calendar month? He's useless. Full moon. The moon. The main moon.

High Ho

2007-02-07T13:57:00.000Z

It's Off around the world we go. As some of you may know Myself and my fantastic lady wife Paula are off to Tokyo, New Zealand and Los Angeles for the next month so we shall definately be updating the Blog over the next month or so. First of all I will post my expectations now and we shall see if the experience matches them.

Tokyo:

The Japanese Documentary Akira has wetted my appetite for this city and I fully expect to see kids on bikes being chased by security men after little girls with special powers - roaming monsters are also the norm according to Japanese TV so this should make Tokyo a challenge and exiting experience.

New Zealand:

Basically walking trees and dragons flying about
here is the norm, isn't it? That's what I've been led to believe anyway also scantilly clad leather wearing warrior Princess' that hang around
every street corner should make this beautiful country
a true eye opener.

I have packed my shakram so should be safe!

Los Angeles:

This had better look like Blade Runner or there will be trouble. I fully expect to have to haggle with the sidewalk sushi vendor whilst dodging near naked exotic dancers that are horribly shot in the back only to find out that they are not real but replicants. I think I will lose my snake scale and hide in a big empty building not talking to the strange blond man on the roof with the doves.

So there you have it. I do not think I am being unreasonable in my expectations...........What do you mean it is not real: I have seen it on the magic talky box in my room. It never lies....Does it?

Hello - I'm still alive

2006-08-01T19:33:00.000Z

Well the hot weather has finally lifted in East Anglia and I for one am bloody relieved. I hate the hot weather I much rather prefer the nice cold crispness of winter.

All this shite about the weather is all very well I hear you say but what has been happening in the world of the Antmagnet over the last god knows how many months it has been since you last bothered to post.

Well my little acolytes….A lot has happened since I last spake unto thee. I have been far and wide. Trips to Budapest, for my brother’s stag do and Morocco, on Holiday, Not to mention an interesting weekend up in Scotland for T in the Park. This along with all of the crazy-world-of-Arthur-Brown like shenanigans that go on here in Norwich it has been an entertaining year so far.

First off Budapest. My Lil’ Bruv Liam decided that he was going to get married so a stag do was duly organised by the best man, Craig and we all packed our bags and set off for Budapest. Now Budapest is the capital city of Hungary for those of you that are as crap at geography as me and is a very charming city. Like most Eastern, former Soviet Union, capitals it is very imperial and everywhere you look the spectre of communism is spying on you from around the corner. The weekend was the usual mix of alcohol and activities that were both entertaining and surreal. I found myself on a Saturday night drinking Charles Welles Bombardier in an English bar listening to REM and watching Premiership football and began to wonder if I had indeed travelled to one of the most historic cities in Europe or had just taken some dodgy acid and slipped off to the local. Luckily one look out of the window at the river Danube and impressive castle soon brought me back to reality. Alcohol is a major ingredient of stag do’s and this one is no exception. Not much of interest there though, just the usual – went to a bar ordered drinks and got drunk. The main alcohol story that relates to yours truly is of me trying to get the Norwich v Burnley Game on the TV in the local bar. I am ashamed to admit that I resorted to the typical Brit-abroad approach of talking very VERY slowly and LOUDLY just repeating the words N O R W I C H, B U R N L E Y over and over again. Oh the shame…..

The highlight of the weekend, for me at least, was the shooting that Craig organised. This took me by surprise because it was not, at all, what I was expecting. Picture this, dear reader, Awake in a foreign city after a night on the bier, packed into a mini bus and told “we are off shooting” Now I should probably mention that My Brother is Ex-Army Officer – most of the Stag party was either Ex or Current Army Officers. Well back on the bus all the chat is jovial banter, speculating on what is going to happen, reliving some of Liam’s more embarrassing moments in history and we look out of the window and the city is slowly dissipating and we are entering what can only be termed as Budapest’s less salubrious areas; think ganglands and you are getting there. We stop and get out, look around no one is there, our guide assures us that all is ok and a “dodgy” geezer exits from a door way towards us. We dear reader, into a heavily insulated corrugated iron building where there are literally boxes and boxes of ammunition. The “dodgy” geezer then proceeds to give us a “safety” lesson. “point the gun at the target at all times and don’t die” – that was about it. We were then allowed to shoot a 9mm berretta a larger gun that I can not remember it’s name and a Clint Eastwood 44 magnum. FUCK that was fun BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG fucking hell I thought my arms were going to drop off. The thing is lady and gentleman: THE THING BLOODY WELL IS……Nobody tells you about the flame burst that shoots out the sides of the magnum. I squeeze the trigger like I have been told and BOOOOOOOM firstly I’m deaf – that’s with ear defenders on - secondly I’m blind because of the flame that explodes out of this cannon. Oh the exhilaration. I have to say I felt very manly that day.

The rest of the weekend passed pretty much in an alcoholic blur as you can imagine.

A musical Night & Some Info

2006-01-07T00:04:00.000Z

Hello all you Spaceheads,

I have just finished watching two interesting documentaries on TV that have put me in a very musical mind. One was an interesting Doc about Ronnie Lane one time member of the Small Faces and later Faces as well as a solo artist in his own right who passed away due to the very un-rock’n’roll disease MS. With Steve Marriott he co-wrote some of the sixties best loved “pop“ songs including Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park. Indeed Marriott-Lane was almost as big a song writing partnership as Jagger-Richards or Lennon-McCartney, not as prolific or as well known but easily as respected.

The other Doc was the latest Classic Album that this time focused on Queens 4^th Album A Night At The Opera – The one with Bohemian Rhapsody on it for all of you that think Queen only made Three Albums, Greatest Hits 1, 2 & 3. To be honest I find this album a little strange as I own it on Vinyl, Cassette and DVD-Audio and yet when ever I listen to it I find it so fresh it is like I am hearing it for the first time. There is always something that sneaks in, sure I know how wonderful I’m in Love With My Car is but I forget that Sweet Lady is on it with it’s breathtaking guitar. It is an album I heartily recommend.

Tonight also saw the start of MOJO radio’s Thin Lizzy weekend so I have a 2hr documentary on them to listen to as well including all new interviews with Scott Gorham…I can’t wait.

So to give you all a little insight into me I shall give you a random list of bands and artists that I like. It is not a top ten as that would constantly change on a daily basis; there would be some constants in there of course but would Thin Lizzy be number one two days on the trott or would Brian Setzer or the Stray Cats sneak in there. Who knows (and there is another great band) Ahem I digress I fear.

Hear we go the first of a semi regular into the second biggest thing in my life – Music (the first obviously being my Lovely wife)

Bands I like:

Thin Lizzy – As you all know A great band fronted by a great frontman Phil Lynott could sing about a street gang punch up on one song and the tenderness of missing one’s mother when away from home the next and you could relate to them both.

The Who – Those ‘orrible little boys from Shepherds Bush that were mods and then rockers and no one cared. They had arguably the greatest rock and roll drummer the world has ever seen and a total lunatic to boot

Iron Maiden – A band from my youth that I phased out of for a while and then returned to with a vengeance a few years ago. Steve Harris has the skill to write an epic song that tells a whole story in 4 minutes and with Bruce Dickinson there is a singer that can do them justice.

T-Rex - Ahh Marc Bolan, if ever there was a man born to be a pop star Marc was it. Talk about a Jekyll and Hyde career you have the glammy, poppy glitter of the singles (Metal Guru, Telegram Sam Jeepster etc) and the complex song writing imagery that adorned the albums of the seventies (Slider, Tanx, Futuristic Dragon etc) He is now being acknowledged as the genius that he was

The Pogues – being a Pogues fan does not mean getting blind drunk and dancing till you puke (although that is fun) but listening to the songs and appreciating the lyricism of Shane MacGowan. Sure he is not the greatest singer in the world but here is a man that can make a romantic song out of everyday scenarios it’s not flowers and fluffy bunnies because most of life is not like that. It’s waking up with no money is a shop door way covered in blood and piss because you’ve been mugged but still look on the night before fondly because of the girl or boy you met.

There are many more and I shall share some thoughts some long and rambling some short and sweet about these and others at another time so for now here are five songs I feel are worthy of a listen that you may not have heard.

Spaceball Richocet by T-Rex
Portrait of a Man by Screaming Jay Hawkins
The Poacher by Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance
The Way to Mandalay by Blackmore’s Night
Ride On by AC/DC

Slanth

Phil Lynott RIP & Leslie Crowther - I'm glad you're Dead you malodorous Prick

2006-01-04T22:35:00.000Z

Hello everybody-peeps, here we are in 2006 and the 4th of January is around on us again. This year it marks the 20th Anniversary of the passing of the great Phil Lynott anmd to mark this day I am once again listening to some rare Lizzy treats and live shows. But why the hatred for old leslie "The Price Is Righr" Crowther? Well my dear reader the reason for this is simple. Phil and Caroline Crowhter were married; They had two daughters; Leslie did not like the fact that his pride and joy was married to a black rock star and did his best to seperate them. this happened and Caroline moved out, Phil lost himself in Drink and Drugs and Died. So thank you Leslie, thank you so very fucking much for that I HATE YOU. If you weren't dead I would hate you more

No I am not saying that he was a perfect saint but from what I have gathered he did not deserve the treatment that good ole unkle Leslie heaped upon him. Still who has the bigger legacy then Leslie? Did they erect a statue of you in your home town? I think not. The best we could hope for is a picture at the bottom of a public toilet so we can shit on you for evermore. Now breathe............ People who read this and do not know me must thinkl I am quite a vitriolic person but this is not the case there are very few people that invoke my wrath and, unfortunately, both of them have enraged me this year.

Still enough of this negativity and hatred. A Happy New Year to you all I hope you all had great christmas' and Satan Claus delivered all of your wishes in stockings :-)

I have just returned from Prague and apart from a slight misunderstanding in a sex shop all was very hunky dory It is a beautiful city and they drink mulled wine eat copious amounts of Sausasges in Buns. What more can you ask for.

I hope you are all prepared for 2006 so kick back, put some Lizzy on the CD player and raise a glass to Philo.

Slanth.

Hello Ozzy Fuck you Sharon

2005-08-27T18:03:00.000Z

One of my favourite bands, Iron Maiden, have just finished a tour of the USA on the current Ozzfest bill, second to Black Sabbath. Now word has it back across the Pond is that Maiden have been blowing Sabbath off the stage every night. Now I love Sabbath and Ozzy - I used to think that he was the quintessential metal front man; but the years have not been kind to him. One to many episodes of the Osborne’s have reduced him to a cartoon character. It appears that Bruce Dickinson, singer with Maiden, agrees with this statement and being an honest northerner he has been voicing it most nights. This has apparently pissed off Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy's wife and manager, who decided to "get" Maiden by pelting them with eggs and cutting their sound during two of their songs. Well that's a mature attitude to take in no mistake. Did she stick her tongue out and wiggle her fingers when she was doing it? Sharon has always been an excellent manager for Ozzy but has always, always been the most childish person in Rock. if anyone voices an opinion against her husband she throws all of her toys out of the pram. I will not go too much into the stuff that has gone on. The metal interweb is flooded with posts, mostly supporting Maiden. Shall I still listen to Ozzy? Yes. Shall I ever bother to go and see him again? No, like Shane MacGowan he has past his sell by date.

Ok on to a semi regular feature that I intend to post "Bands you should check out. This week FLOGGING MOLLY. http://www.floggingmolly.com/ A band of ex pat Irishmen that play traditional folk fuelled punk rock. Check them out

See Ya Ant fans till next time

A brief update

2005-08-23T07:02:00.000Z

Well A lot has happened since I started the Blog both personally and professionally that I need to catch up before starting to make regular updates.

1. I went to Glasgow to see Brian Setzer. A Rock N Roll guitarist formally with a band called the Stray Cats and a personal hero of mine. The 9hr train journey both there and back was exhausting but it gave me time to catch up on the latest Harry Potter adventure (more of that later). Brian was fantastic, a two hour set that was mainly composed of his new album with some old favourites thrown in. Glasgow is a place with friendly people and many great bars that make me want to go back again.

2. Our team at work had a BBQ and Rounders event which was very funny and there was soo much food it was amazing A big hearty thanks to Emma who organised it all and got the food with Ali: Chris & Lucy who basically cooked and fed us all and to Paul who paid for the Beer.. All in all a good night was had by all (well nearly all)

3. It was Lucy's Birthday so we (Paula, Lucy, Chris, Grant, Mel, myself and some of Lucy's friends I do not know) went to a place called Extreeme Adventure (http://www.extreemeadventure.co.uk/) that is basically climbing and swinging through trees. Well I hate heights but I also hate not doing things so I am up for it. The baby training area is fun, off the ground but fun. Then we go to the big boys area. 20ft off the ground but it may as well be 200ft for me as I am not HP about this. The marshal says that the hardest part is getting up there. He may be right but he's planted firmly on the ground. BASTARD.
The rope ladder that gets you up to the top is high and wobbly and sucks like a sucky thing in the trees. Chris and Grant were pro's and helped me get to the top (I had decided to go last as to not hold anybody up) He was right you know that bastardy bastard of a marshal the hardest part was indeed getting up there. Oh and navigating around the many, and I do mean MANY seemingly unsafe bridges and stages. The worst for me was a collection of vertical logs suspended from ropes that you had to navigate from one to the other using your arms and legs. Easy I hear you cry, well yes but when you are carrying at least 3 stone more than everyone else it becomes less so.
Once I had attempted this and failed I through in the towel and watched from the relatively safe haven of the ground whilst the guys and gals went around the 40ft area Chris and Grant took it very much in their stride and I am insanely jealous of there cavalier attitude but kudos to them.
Once they had got too the end there was a Big zip slide to come down that looked hella fun and I was gutted I couldn't do it. I did however, do the 3G swing which basically puts your harness in a metal bar, raises you up about 30-40ft and drops you like a bollock. WOW that was fun even though I may never have kids now :-)

4. We went ten pin bowling that night as it was another friends birthday (check me out 2 friends) that was a bit of a come d0wn to be honest as my arms were not the same length as when I woke up that morning. I was particularly bad that night but had a ball anyway.

5. My friend Simon (another one, who is this guy Mr Friendly or what) decided to have a pop quiz so we all piled round theirs for Beer and BBQ and music. My red team won by a long mile but that is not important as it was a great afternoon anyway for all concerned.

6. I am changing jobs on Tuesday (It is a Bank Holiday on Monday) and I am nervous as hell about my new role. I know all of the people in my new team but am not sure of the extra expectancy that will be placed upon me. more on this probably next week when I am in the new role.

That's about it for this post.
See ya soon Ant Fans and Stay The Way You Are - Unless you are a complete wanker then change for the better you goit.

Peace

Hello & Welcome

2005-08-09T23:44:00.000Z

To the Antmagnet's new Blog. I shall update over recent events in due course