A trip to the doctor

“Excuse me doctor I can’t stop being a miserable git and I keep listening to songs about death and crying”

“Right ok, just a few questions. Do you wear mostly black clothes and a studded belt?”

“ Why yes I do”

“Interesting. Is you profile picture on your social networking site of choice a photo of you miserable little face taken by yourself looking upwards at your camera phone?”

“ Um no, it’s me on a swing”

“ Maybe things aren’t as bad as I thought. Have you been listening to My Chemical Romance?”

“ Well yes actually, especially Helena”

“ Do you talk about death quite a lot?”

“Normally only when I have had a few but I’m trying to stop that. I just talk about it anytime now”

“Goodness, well it appears Ms Howells that you are suffering from an acute case of emoitus. I think you should delete MCR from you MP3 player and go for a run once a day, preferably before a meal to disperse the melancholic gloom”

“Oh dear, I thought I was too old to get emoitus, I don’t even own any skull printed clothing, are you sure? And should I also delete Paramore?”

“ Emoitus can strike at any age. It is especially prevalent in miserable gits like yourself. And yes you should delete Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory and Funeral for a Friend”

“ Right you are doc, I’ll just listen to Rage Against the Machine instead. Thinking about it I have been wearing more skinny fit jeans recently, oh my god, I’ve got emoitus!”

“The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, I think we are already getting there”

Frozen fun.

On Tuesday Bob and I nipped to the Civic in Wolverhampton to see Sigur Ros. I haven’t been too well recently and had been suffering big time with snot and headaches etc…Anyway I felt ok on Tuesday evening and so off we went. The gig has got to have one of the most diverse audiences I have ever seen. Loads of kooky people ranging from 16 to about 70. It was nice, I felt like I belonged which I have to say I don’t really feel at most gigs anymore due to the little wipper snappers with far too much attitude.

First the support band, For a minor reflection, they are a 4 piece also form Iceland. They took the stage and played just the most beautiful instrumental atmospheric melodies, after the first ‘song’ the lead guitarist said they had only ever played to about 20 people before so it was very special for them. The entire place just erupted into cheering and applause because they had blown us away and nobody quite believed they had never done a bigger gig before. (they actually played airwaves in Reykjavik but that doesn’t count). The set carried on with crazy soaring tunes with quite hard rocky guitars. I’ve since found out that the guitarist is actually one of the dudes from Sigur Ros’s little brother. There must be something in the water in their village, (probably some nasty volcanic substance)

Then after much waiting around in the interlude Sigur Ros took to the stage. The lighting was really cool giving the impression that the band were playing their gig on the sea bed, this made even more realistic by the strange Whale type noises that accompany most of their tunes. They were fabulous and very experimental as ever, (I have never seen anyone sing into their guitar before, or play it with a strange bow type thing). We got snowed on at several points throughout the evening just to make the little monkeys feel at home. I felt at home too, I’m sure I have mentioned this before but I left a piece of me in Iceland, (and I don’t mean a toe nail, that was in Austria). I felt at home there more so than I have felt anywhere before. I love my home and I really do believe that Britain is beautiful but I fitted in Iceland. Bob says I couldn’t live there because the darkness in the winter would send me nuts but I think that is what is supposed to happen. Anyway, enough of this longing for my frozen Isle of fire and ice. Sigur Ros were great and so were For a minor reflection.

Guitar Heroes and Heroines. Rock Gods and Goddesses.

This is pretty self-explanatory and is a continuation of a conversation myself, Bob and Spex had a couple of months ago. There are two halls of fame. One for Guitar Heroes and Heroines the other for Rock Gods and Goddesses, you can appear in both lists but you have to be pretty special. I’ve tried to be unbiased and not let my personal taste in music influence the lists.

Guitar Heroes and Heroines, (in no particular order)
1. Matthew Bellamy (well he would have to be first)
2. Jimmy Hendrix
3. Charlotte Hatherley
4. Angus Young, (purely for the insane continuing riff through Thunderstruck)
5. Jimmy Page
6. Slash
7. Jennifer Batten, (I’ll even excuse the hair)
8. Brian May
9. Dave Grohl
10. Pete Townsend
11. Keith Richards
12. Jeff Beck
13. Tom Morrello
14. Joni Mitchell
15. Joan Jett
16. Dave Davis
17. Graham Coxon
18. Chuck Berry
19. BB King

Rock Gods and Goddesses
1. David Bowie
2. Freddie Mercury
3. Mick Jagger
4. Dave Grohl, (ohh there you go first to appear in both)
5. Kurt Cobain
6. Roger Daltrey
7. Matthew Bellamy, (that’s the second)
8. Debbie Harry
9. James Hepffield
10. Ozzy Osbourne
11. John Lennon
12. Axl Rose
13. Courtney Love, (I’m not sure about her, she’s an amazing front woman which I s’pose makes her a rock goddess)
14. Jeff Buckley
15. Stephen Tyler
16. Siouxsie Sioux

Additions?

Fake rabbit, real snake!!

I’m still buzzing from last night. You’ll have to excuse the blog it is very self indulgent, but it’s my blog so I don’t care.

Bob and I nipped in to Hereford after work and had some dinner. Then we had a bit of a wander down by the Wye. There is a new floodwall being built down there, which is quite exciting, (sad geek). Then we went to the Barrels, which I haven’t been in for years. It’s still the same, thank God. I started to get home sick. This pub means a lot to a lot of people. To me it was my haven when I was a teenager in Hereford. Most of the other pubs were filled with the townie brigade with the guys in their checked Ben Sherman shirts and the chicks in their little skirts leaving nothing to the imagination. I used to go here and it didn’t matter what you were wearing or who you were you were always greeted with open arms and a very large glass of Wye Valley. It’s been done up quite a lot but it still has the same heart I can tell. There was a band playing upstairs and people dressed as pirates on the terrace, (they didn’t have a terrace when I used to go there!) There was quite a posh looking couple with a dog talking to a very scruffy guy who had drunk too much cider. There was a small child dressed as a cat and a dude with the biggest beard in the world. I want to be able to go here every weekend! Bob actually knows a guy who lives with a chick who wants to move but he won’t as he won’t be able to go to the Barrels anymore.

After a couple of little drinkies we wandered down to the Jailhouse, this place has a bit of a story too and it involves the whole club scene in Hereford. I probably shouldn’t go into it now. But I will. The Jailhouse was the only indie club in Hereford and it’s tiny. It got quite a rep for its drum and base nights and then it got sold and became a generic meat market club called DV8. The drum and base night, (the lock-up) moved to Saturday nights at the Crystal Rooms, (The Rooms). The Rooms was a very old club which at that time had the longest running dance music night in the country, (Naughty but Nice). When I was younger I had seen all sorts of famous dance DJs, which was silly as I didn’t really like dance music that much but still there isn’t much else to do in the mighty Hereford so I went to see Judge Jules, Tall Paul, Boy George etc….Anyway the downturn in dance music happened and Friday nights became less popular. Saturdays on the other hand became very busy. So cue a big Dutch businessman buying the Rooms and closing it!!! He bought most of the street actually and has done a lot for redevelopment in Hereford but he didn’t need to close it!!! This left Hereford with only generic meat market clubs. This was until the guy who had sold the Jailhouse bought it back, changed the name back re-established it’s indie roots and everything was hunky dory.

Sooooo I was flicking through the Hereford Times at my parents a couple of weeks ago and saw a pic of one of my favourite bands, The Young Knives were playing the Jailhouse, I had seen them a couple of months ago, (see the blog) but one of my fav bands playing my home town, this wasn’t ever going to happen again. I won’t go into why I love them so much as I did this in the previous blog about them but going to see a band that dresses in tweed jackets, shirt and tie. Who’s names are Henry, Charles, (House of Lords) and Oliver and who do NOT try to be cool is just sooo fabulously cool in my eyes. Geeks who rock, bring it on!!

So in we wandered and I suddenly remembered how small it was. It must have a capacity of about 150 and only about half of them will be able to fit in the main room. Bob and I went and found a nice seat under the stairs and were chatting whilst listening to the support. Bob nudges me suddenly, it was the House of Lords going up the stairs, I shouted but he didn’t hear. I was quite sad as I think he’s great. He looks so un rock and roll god like in his think rimmed glasses and pink rosy cheeks, like a taller slightly bigger version of Bob. Then a couple of minutes later Henry the lead singer walked up the stairs, he turned around half way up to talk to someone and saw me smiling up at him. He waved at me and I waved back and told him I thought he was fabulous. He told me I was too to which I responded “but you’ve never seen me live” which made him giggle.

Then the House of Lords came back down the stairs and sat behind us at the t-shirt stand. By now he had changed into his stage get-up, cords a shirt and tie!! I wanted a t-shirt anyway so went up and shook his hand. He looks constantly terrified of any attention so I didn’t chat to him too much. I finally got an “I am the Prince of Wales” T-shirt. Then Henry came down the stairs with Oliver too and they all sat on the table next to us. Henry inherited the charm in that family. I had a little chat but I didn’t want to be seen as a sad groupie so really didn’t want to bother them too much. I got an autograph from Henry and the House of Lords and spoke to Oliver too, (I think he was secretly chuffed that someone recognised him). Then Bob and I went and saw the final support band. Brandon Steep. They were quite funky and I would definitely see them again. I’m amazed they managed to fit on the stage with 3 guitarists a drummer and keyboard player. When they went off we went to the front to get a good spot for the main event. There were these two girls, which I can only describe as sluts dancing to the tunes the DJ was playing. The band was clearing their stuff away and one of the guys happened to bend over, oh my god the one chick flew forward and grabbed his arse screaming yessssss!!! nice arse!!! The guy looked horrified, these must be proper groupies. I then thought of my behaviour earlier as very restrained. Actually, they weren’t groupies, they were just trying to bag themselves a guy who was in a band as they will prove in a bit. The band came on and there was the big surge forward. There was no gap at all between the stage and the band so it was all very intense. Henry introduced the House of Lords to everyone; the little sluts were suddenly behind me their arms squeezing through towards the stage trying to grab at him. I got cross for several reasons. They were trying to squeeze their way through to the front which wasn’t going to happen, also the House of Lords looked terrified, he had no where to go the stage was too small for him to move out of the way, I swear he looked down at me with a sort of pleading look in his face. So I did what any true fan would, I screamed yahhh fuck off and pushed them away with my more than ample arse. The chick next to me who had also been waiting patiently at the front also shouted elbows at me as she got one of the little sluts in the ribs. And off they went to stand in front of Henry instead who is more than capable of coping with the attention.

I know there are good things about being in a band and a lot of guys would think this is one of them but I think it’s awful. I went to a gig once to see Bob’s mates band play, (Cantaloop). They really aren’t that famous but they have a very loyal following. We saw them at a tiny venue in Leominster with Emily, (who went to school with Bob) who is the drummers Fiancée. After they had finished Randle, (the drummer) came up to chat with us and some little cow pushed Emily from Randles arm and said I realllllyyy LOoove you. Randle took a swig of his beer and just said well you’re only human. I certainly wouldn’t be able to deal with being a band member’s other half. It’s like they are public property or something.

Anyway the gig was amazing; I can barely speak today which is always a good sign. The acoustics weren’t that good but that’s because we were stood in front of the speakers as there wasn’t enough room for them on the stage. As mentioned there was no gap between the band and the crowd so the crowd surfers kept getting dumped on the stage as there was no where else for them to go. Also the mosh pit collapsed at one point and I got squashed against a speaker. I have a bruise on my hand and on my back, but it’s all good fun. We were just out of the crazy moshing bit which was good as I’m too old and small to mosh. One more little self indulgent moment happened. During the tune Turn Tail, Henry looked over at me and gave me a little wink and a smile before launching into the first line. I told Bob after expecting him not to believe me but he’d seen in too. Yay!!!

The Jailhouse also has Forward Russia, Hot Chip, Does it Offend You Yeah booked in the next few weeks so long may this continue

Muse at Wembley: The return

Last night Bob and I met up with Dev and KP and toootled off to the Vue cinema to watch the realease of HAARP, (High Frequency Active Aural Research Program) which is the live DVD of the Muse Wembley gig. It is the footage of the Sunday night and also features the entire setlist of the Saturday night. We were atthe Saturday gig whilst Dev was there on the Sunday.

Anyway we sat at the back next to guy who was just soooo happy to be there, he was on his own but just had the biggest smile on his face for the entire gig. It was cool seeing the gig on a massive screen and actually seeing what Muse were up to on the stage as I couldn’t see much whilst at the gig. It was quite difficult keeping still with all the rocking tunes, I did do a bit of chair wiggling but managed to remain quite calm. I had my two little moments when they played Invicible, (mine and Bobs first dance at our wedding) and Unintended, (well it’s just our song).

I must also have a small rant about people still comparing Muse to Radiohead, it only seems to be done by people of a certain age now. Well people that are my age really, and who haven’t moved on musically. Radiohead are great and I do love them but you just can’t compare them. Matt Bellamy is classically trained pianist who has an incredible vocal range as well as being able to play the guitar like some sort of guitar god. He also exudes pure energy whilst he is on the stage leaping around skidding on his knees like a child at wedding, no wonder they keep winning awards for their live performances. In comparison, Thom Yorke is melancholy dude standing there having to have his backing track played through an ear peice because he can’t sing it right otherwise. So my advice is stop comparing them coz they just aren’t similar.

Belated Muse

This is a blog that I wrote ages ago about going to see Muse. It appeared on my Myspace and Facebook so I thought given the circumstances I would put it on here, (it’ll all become clear).

Well what can I say?
On Saturday morning me and Fat Bob made our way down to London. We got to Paddington Station about 11:30, after a nightmare tube journey, (why is it always the tube you need that is having engineering work done??). We arrived at Gary and Dannys place in Balham about 1 O’clock threw our bags down and shot off to meet Spex at Waterloo. From there we ventured back north across Das Kapital until we reached Wembley Park Station. We got off the tube and walked towards the start of Wembley Way. We were greeted by that freaking massive arch, I have only seen it from a distance before but it is very impressive. Anyway we plodded along Wembley Way avoiding the touts and started queuing. Now unfortunately the weather was not smiling on us, there was a massive storm with big fat rain, (that’s a technical term). Me and the fat one had our big waterproofs with us but still got wet legs, Spex got soaked, literally wringing wet. Never mind it added to the occasion, as we discussed it was better it came on the Saturday than the Sunday when My Chemical Romance were playing and all the emo kids eye/guy liner would have run and caused a massive eye liner slick. We would have to call Greenpeace.

We got into the stadium and lurked around in the bar area for a bit, it was rather pricey but hey you only live once. Then we decided to wander to the pitch which is where we would be standing for the next 7 hours or so. Nothing can quite prepare you for the feeling you get when you come out of the tunnel. We were at ground height but Wembley is in a bit of a hole so we entered the stands at about half way up, into bright sunshine. It is just immense. All I could manage to say was F**king hell look at that!! There was a big case of goose bumps all around. The Stewards were desperately trying to encourage people to walk down the steps onto the pitch and not loiter at the top fumbling for their phones to take a pic. I did point out later on that we did pay for this stadium so I thought we should at least have a brief moment to marvel at it. Anyway we finally descended onto the pitch and wandered around looking upwards at the stands open mouthed for a while. Then I rang my dad to tell him where I was.

Zane Lowe appeared on the stage for a bit and spun some tunes, we drank some more booze. Then it was time for Rodrigo y Gabriella, (or Rodger and Gabby). I hadn’t heard much of their stuff before but they were really good. Just lots of mellow Spanish guitar music. Zane played some more tunes then on came Dirty Pretty Things. I was looking forward to them but to be honest they were rubbish. There was just no rapport between the crowd and the band.
Spex’s flatmate Jim somehow managed to find us in the crowd. Off we all went for a quick pie break and then it was time for the Streets. Despite Fat Bobs comments all the way through about how shit they were I really enjoyed them. I still do admit that it was an odd choice for a Muse gig but hey ho.

After some more Zane the moment arrived. Matt, Dom and Chris levitated up through the middle of the pitch and were really close to us. Then they played Knights of Cydonia, very cool. Their set was amazing. There was quite a comical moment towards the end, they had just come on for their second encore when Spex mentioned they should play Unintended, which is my favourite Muse track and has quite a lot of history as far as myself and Bob are concerned. I said I would truly love it if they did play it but I hadn’t heard them play it live since the first time I ever saw them which was over 6 years ago. Just as I finished the sentence I heard the familiar starting chords of Unintended. OH MY GOD!!! Had they somehow managed to hear me even though I was about 100 metres away from the stage. Once again all I could do was swear much to the amusement of everybody around me who had listen to me say they would never play it. Anyway I sang every word of it, and by this point I had almost lost my voice so I have no doubt it sounded crap so I apologise to the fans around me. But I could now die happy.

Most of the way through the gig I had said it is going to be the last time I see my beloved Muse and I think I still stand by that. As I mentioned above we were about 100 metres away from the stage. When I did catch glimpses of them on the stage they looked like little lego men. It is certainly a lot different to the first time I saw them at the academy in brum which wasn’t even full. In the queue to that gig Matt, Dom and Chris actually walked out of the front door to the academy and got in a taxi which drove down the road slightly before stopping right in front of us, the door opened and Matt leaned out shouting at someone to hurry up and some chap came running down the pavement and jumped in the taxi. There were murmurings in the queue and amongst us we finally decided yes it probably was them, we didn’t even know what they freaking looked like. Anyway I digress. I don’t want to see them in such a large venue as Wembley again and as they are not likely to play small venues it means that’s it. Although seeing them abroad is another option, in Berlin they played quite a small venue.

I’ll stop digressing now, we started to shuffle out of the stadium, as we got out and managed to get onto Wembley Way I had images of us still being there 3 hours later. However, even though there must have been 75 thousand people all heading towards the same tube station it was remarkably incident free. We walked along for a bit then slowed down as we went past a row of about 6 mounted police across the path. We then walked again and slowed down as we got to a second row, then the same again but as we got to the third row there was announcement that they needed to stop people getting onto the platform for a bit. The horses all turned 90 degrees blocking our way. It was so impressive, they were literally right in front of us. I had never realised before how effective mounted police were, the horses sort of pacify because everyone is like oh look at those beautiful horses and also everyone is really concerned about spooking them so is just quiet and well behaved. And they are so well trained, everyone was patting their noses and stroking them as we went past and they didn’t seem to care at all. The horses moved and we went on our way, we said goodbye to Spex and Jim and walked straight onto a tube. It took us less than half an hour from leaving the stadium to getting on a tube. Well done Met Police and Tube people.

We got back to Balham in about an hour, we were a mess. We shouldn’t still be gigging at our age. Bob’s knees hurt and my ankles were just rubbish. We went to bed.
Next morning we went for breakfast with Gaz and Danny and then left for Paddington. Obviously our train was delayed because it was broken. Then finally off we went home. We stopped for pizza on the way back which was a nice end to the weekend.
Oh well, its my graduation on Friday so got that to look forward to.
Lv BIMBO

I am the Prince of Wales

So last night Bob and I went to see the Young Knives at Gloucester Guildhall. I must start by saying what a fabulous venue. It seems to be a ballroom within the Guildhall and had a very elaborately decorated ceiling and an oak dance floor. It is the smallest venue I have been to see a decent band. Very cosy.

The support were called Johnny Foreigner, they started atrociously I have to say but things soon picked up. It turned out the lead guitarist was very poorly and shouldn’t have really been playing at all but he soldiered on, ahh bless. They quite an odd set up, I’m not sure if this is because the stage was so small they had to just squeeze in around the YK equipment or whether this was just their way. The drummer was near the front of the stage he only had about 3 drums and a keyboard and the drums were really low down so it seemed he was reaching over to bash them the whole time. Then the lady bassist, who also had a good old voice on her was at the one side and the lead guitarist and singer the other. It just looked odd. Their last couple of tunes were great though.

We waited for the Young Knives, I got a bit cross with tall people standing in front of me, (why do they do that?! And it’s always the TALLEST person in the whole place) Anyway we ended up right at the front, ha!! try and stand in front of that solid steel bar you talleys. We were one back from the front and there some tiny ladies in front of me so I could see perfectly. They came on and immediately had me giggling. The lead singer Henry came on in his checked tweed style shirt tucked into his chinos, with a lovely tie. Then the House of Lords with a plain white shirt and tie and his monster thick specs. Then Oliver the drummer who was sporting an amazing beard. They don’t try to be cool in the slightest and most importantly they don’t try to be uncool. They just are horrendously uncool and I LOVE IT!!!!!! The gaps in between the songs were as fabulous as the songs themselves with lots of witty comments being thrown at each other. Henry had a bit of a rant about the NME not liking their new album, (out on Monday), I screamed what do they know and he responded by talking about one trendy twat of a journo not liking them because they were uncool. That was it I went mad cheering and everyone joined in. Then Henry remarked that we did look very unfashionable and asked for a cheer from the untrendy people YAY!!! We knows it!. The little ladies in front of us didn’t seem to like being called uncool but hey who cares, they’ll get over themselves one day.

The tunes were great and for an uncool crowd we rocked too. I ended up on the fringes of the mosh pit which was great, if not a little terrifying, I had to help several people up off the floor and stopped one of the tiny ladies from being thrown into the metal bar at the front. I haven’t done that for a while and I screamed Terra Ferma at the top of my lungs. The crowd were mostly older people too, just like me. The young uns did seem to enjoy it though.

It is the best gig I have been to for a long time and most definitely in the top 3 ever!!!

Tide stopped play

I’ve had a most enjoyable weekend. Let me tell you about it.
On Friday evening Dev and KP turned up to pick us up and take us down to Portsmouth to see Spex. Off we toddled down the various motorways southwards. There were a couple of rather hairy moments. I think it is safe to say that Dev should not eat crisps while driving as he seems to get the packet stuck on his hand and whilst trying to remove it tends to leave the lane he is driving in. We got there nice and quick and without any wrong turns, well ok one but that was my fault telling Dev to turn into the road before Spex estate. We arrived at the executive penthouse apartment, (which is stunningly similar to a top floor flat) at about 7.30. It seemed rude not to start on the vino. So we sat gossiping and catching up whilst marvelling at the stupidly large TV in Spex front room. 42 inches apparently. It is such a boys flat, they have a 42 inch TV and no curtains! Anyway, what was supposed to be an early night didn’t happen but never mind. We popped up to thier ‘local’. The George, which aint that local but is the closest decent pub. Everyone moaned about the walk but as I hadn’t bean for my Friday evening run I felt quite energetic. We were all up bright and early, (maybe due to the lack of curtains) and Spex knocked us up some tasty bacon sarnies. Then we played the shower game, which unfortunately isn’t as dirty as it sounds. It involves taking advantage of Spex and Jims, (Spex flat mate) ridiculously expensive sound system installed in the flat. Basically you can turn speakers on in any room and play music or the TV or whatever through them and as the controls for the bathroom speakers are on the outside when you are in the shower you are at the complete mercy of whoever is joyously torturing you. Jim has some awful CDs so I was forced to listen to James Blunt followed by the Ordinary Boys, yuk! Bob got some cheesy pop off a Now That’s What I call Music album. We made Spex listen to Celine Dion very loudly. Whilst we were all bustleing around getting ready to leave Spex accidently tripped over his own jeans and fell over the back of the sofa rolling dramatically onto the floor. I think I was the only one that noticed but it made me titter somewhat.

After the shower game we headed off to Hayling Island to play beach cricket. It was just such a stunning day. We found a nice empty bit of beach and the cricket ensued. Unfortunately as the sea made up the entire southern border of the wicket it was always going to be an interesting game. Especially as Bob is left handed and had to fight the natural urge to wallop the ball into the sea. But still it happened a number of times, we had to keep using the bat to rescue the ball from the waves. That, as well as fending off the dogs that were very interested in our cricket ball. Oh and all of this going on whilst the tide was coming in. It was just a bit British we weren’t going to let a little thing like the English Channel slowly creeping up on us stop out little game. Spex even went as far as building some informal sea defences when he was into bat. Unfortunately these filled up with water at one point and he ended up stamping in the small retention pond he had constructed soaking his foot and missing the ball. Then one time Dev was into bat, Bob bowled a sneaky little ball which bowled Dev out and the sea promptly engulfed the wicket and attempted to carry the stumps out to sea, (as well as Dev). We managed to rescue them though but tide most definitely stopped play.

We went to a nice pub up the road overlooking the sea, (The Ferry Boat Inn, I am informed) and had some lunch. Everybody was very sleepy after the exertions and the sea air, (not to mention last nights booze) so off we toddled back to the executive penthouse apartment to watch Wales beat Scotland in the rugby, (yay!!) and various bits of football on the silly amount of sports channels that you find come with boys flats. We all had a bit of a chill out, talked some absolute nonsense before getting ready for the main event. The oddest convesation of the whole weekend came when we weren’t even drunk. KP announced that there was a place in Canada that had less gravity than any where else on Earth. We did various impressions of what it would be like with too much or too little gravity before deciding it was time we left.

Off we all went into Pompey for a nice drinky before going to the Wedgewood Rooms. I’ve never been to the Wedgewood Rooms before but I think I could possibly get them on trades description. There is only one room really, (unless you count the bogs as an extra one). It is a nice size venue with the obligatory sticky floor, I have a new theory about sticky floors/carpets. I think the floors are deliberately not cleaned and the alcohol etc left to fester to get the nice sticky finish as it helps people remain standing after they have had a couple of drinks. There was a band called Condition on first, they had just been on tour with Paramore. They were rather good, we had a some booze and then watched ‘You me at six’ They were good too but a bit full of themselves, probably as they were about 16 and were just sooo cool with there stupid fringes. Then New Found Glory, now they were excellent. I had only heard a couple of their tunes before but they most definitely ROCKED and I had a little bit of a bop. We then swarmed out of the pub and went to a nice bar. We were all a bit tiddly by this point and ended up arguing about music. Not that this is specifically a drunk thing we do. As I said the next day we could all class our taste in music as Indie/alternative but it is such a huge genre we are never likely to agree on much. We all did agree theta New Found Glory had been very good though. The drunkenness also lead to some extreme sweeping statements in the taxi on the way home too. Mostly about women not being able to do comedy, and sing punk. I disagree as women can do comedy, Jo Brand being an example as far as I’m concerned. And as for punk, well nobody can really sing punk as it is more about the expression in you voice. There are very few examples of proper female punk singers anyway, I think as it doesn’t normally appeal to them as a genre. Siouxie Sioux being the obviously exception. The random statements and heated debates continued for a while and then we went to sleep.

Next day more bacon sarnies and then off into Pompey again to go up the Spinnaker Tower. There is great view from the top and one of those crazy glass floors you can walk on. We then did a spot of shopping before going to a Mexican restaurant and embarrassing Bob by asking for a balloon for him, as it was his birthday tomorrow. Well along came a whole bunch of balloons, which got tied to his chair. KP and I took a balloon each and wandered back to the car with them blowing crazily around behind us and hitting people in the face. Off back to the executive penthouse apartment to watch the end of the rugby and then we went home. It was an enjoyable weekend but I am still rather sleepy from the excerptions. I really am getting too old to go to gigs.