SpaCeMonKeY UK

2012-01-19T17:40:00.002Z

Bleeble's now a week over. though he has engaged and is ready to come out (which is more than he was last Monday). Midwife came today to do a membrane sweep, though she couldn't do it properly since he was too far back. If he hasn't turned up by Monday afternoon she'll give it another go. And if that doesn't work I've been booked in for induction on Tuesday...

2012-01-15T18:54:00.001Z

Still no baby... 3 days late now. Ho hum.

2012-01-08T16:50:00.001Z

Look at that, it's David Bowie's 65th birthday. Well I never.

2012-01-04T10:34:00.002Z

Been ages since I last blogged, hasn't it? I started maternity leave on 12th December, seems odd not to be at work but I'm so exhausted and unable to move far that I'm glad I can hang around home now! Plus there have been family visits and Christmas things to do since I finished work, which has taken up lots of time. In a nice way.

We finished phase one of the baby room decorating, all papered, painted and carpeted now. Rob, John, Mum and Dad all joined in to do some of it, so a real team effort. I did a few bits, like painting shelves, doing some of the bottom edges, putting up a cork board, but I have been fairly useless. I feel like a giant blob creature now, hard to use the laptop since the keyboard part has to go so far away from me! Oh, and as well as doing the baby room stuff Rob put together a rather nice IKEA bookcase for the front room and we've moved the sofa bed down to the front room as well. John put a new IKEA cover on the sofa bed, so it's all coming together.

I think my brother John came up on 20th, he was very helpful and kept me company. 22nd December I was full term (37 weeks), though Bleeble still has 3 weeks from then to the due date. Was pretty horribly ill over Christmas - from the evening of the 23rd I kept being sick, couldn't keep anything down for 15 hours or so. Haven't been ill like that for a long time! So Mum and Dad's visit was delayed until Christmas Day. They did loads around the house and looked after me really well. Though Rob had been doing a good job with an unpleasant task. What with not sleeping much anyway and not eating much for several days I felt awful.

Christmas Day was fun, presents seemed to go ok. I bought Rob Skyrim so he's been playing that a lot. He bought me Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Not sure I'll finish it before the baby comes!

Boxing Day we had a scaled down Christmas dinner, which was nice. It was good having my family here. And Tuesday (I think!) we went to see Rob's parents. John went home in the evening.

Mum and Dad spent the rest of the week doing loads around the house, lots of proper cleaning and organising. Stuff I hadn't got round to and am now incapable of doing! Much appreciated.

29th December I was 38 weeks pregnant. The midwife came to see me, apparently my blood pressure's perfect and Bleeble's heartbeat is perfect, and he's in the right position. Just a matter of waiting, which is scary (not looking forward to labour!) and annoying since I hate not knowing when things could happen, or exactly what could happen when it does happen. If that makes sense!

Mum and Dad went back to Southend on New Year's Eve. Watched an hour or so of Jools Holland as per tradition. Someone at the back of our house had some extremely expensive New Year's fireworks.

I guess that's about it really. Have been trying to get various things done. Sorting out baby things (mainly doing laundry and sorting through what we've been given/have bought), finished knitting a panda, have been working on a box for Jonas's Christmas present (I know it's late).

It's quite possible that next time I blog I'll have a baby, since it takes me so long between posts...

2011-12-01T21:29:00.002Z

And another Album Project Update - 'The Rise and Fall' (1982). Pretty definite that you'll know 'Our House' on this one. And probably 'Tomorrow's Just Another Day'. There are still plenty of slightly sinister songs on here, despite the jollity of 'Our House'. I really like 'New Delhi', which is very strange. Perhaps a bit more experimental than previous Madness albums. :)

2011-12-01T21:20:00.003Z

Album Project update! Have now listened to 'Seven' (1981). I guess the song you're most likely to know from this album is 'Cardiac Arrest', a song about a man having a heart attack. And maybe 'Grey Day'. It's another pretty edgy album, when you listen to the words. For instance, 'Mrs Hutchinson' is a song about a misdiagnosed patient who meets a terrible end. Plus 'The Opium Eaters' is a great instrumental piece.

2011-12-01T21:08:00.002Z

Well I am now 34 weeks pregnant... quite round! Feeling increasingly tired. Plus have had a cough for 5 weeks or something stupid. Only have another week left at work, which is sad but also a relief. It's becoming hard to do a proper day's work. Plus I'm even more boiling than usual so am completely overheating at work.

Have been enjoying getting to know Jonas, who is still very small. He's had some trouble with feeding and temperature regulation but he seems to be a lot better now and is putting on weight. Hooray!

John and my parents have been up at different times to help decorate the baby room. It had some pretty awful plaster in places when we took the old paper off. John did prep work and mum and dad painted and put on new paper. Now we just have to finish it off. I ordered a carpet, so it does finally seem like things are getting sorted out.

Rob and I went to see Dave Gorman on 22nd. He was funny, which was a relief since I'd decided we should go. Rob listens to his podcasts though, so he did know the sort of thing to expect. I found the HTC stuff and the mistaken Jewish identity material pretty hilarious. :D

Extravagantly, we've also been (with my parents) to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - that was last night. Lots of old material but also a few new things. Their version of Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' was interesting! They were as good as always.

2011-11-06T19:05:00.003Z

Album Project Update! 'Absolutely' (1980). The Madness of this album is largely the same as their debut. Full of energy but surprisingly accomplished for their age. Everyone knows 'Baggy Trousers'. 'Embarrassment' is an interesting song since it deals with the rejection of Lee Thompson's sister, who's discovered to be pregnant with a black man's child. You'd hope that things have changed a lot in the 31 (yikes!) years since the song was written. Overall I don't think I like this album quite as much as their first... But it's still great!

2011-11-06T18:57:00.004Z

As the next stage in my Album Project I've decided to listen to all the Madness albums. It's a bit cheating maybe since I have listened to them all quite a few times before. But I thought it'd be good to listen to them again. Started with 'One Step Beyond...' (1979). You can tell the band's young and full of energy. It's hard to picture them like that really, if you're familiar with them now. It has a couple of songs that they didn't write (including 'One Step Beyond', the title track). It's a really strange mixture (I've always liked their version of 'Swan Lake') with lots of amusingly observed songs, most of which have a slight air of menace. One of my favourite Madness songs is on this album, namely 'Night Boat to Cairo'. It's a brilliant debut album.

2011-11-06T18:43:00.002Z

Well lots of things have happened since I last blogged, the most important of which is that our friends Ali and Mat had a baby! He was born three weeks early (27th October), he's very small. His name is Jonas. I guess I'm next!

On the pregnancy front I did go through quite a rough patch with horrible pain but things are a bit better now. Just have to try not to do too much round the house. I'm not very good at bossing Rob around though and he'd like to spend all his time playing Dark Souls. Oh well, I expect he'll get bored of it soon. ;)

On Saturday 29th October we went to Anglesey Abbey and Lode Mill, chosen because it was halfway between Southend and Leicester. Rob and I met up with my mum, dad and brother. It was a lovely day and very interesting, didn't get too worn out either which was good. Well worth a visit, lots to see.

Last we celebrated the destruction of terrorists in the traditional fashion, setting off a bunch of fireworks. What with it being November 5th on a Saturday pretty much everyone had their fireworks on the proper night - it was very smoggy!

Anyway, I think that's about it. :)

2011-10-16T20:17:00.004+01:00

So that's it for the David Bowie section of the Album Project. 23 albums listened to. And which is my favourite? That's such a hard question. Possibly 'Young Americans'. That's the album I'd be most likely to stick on, I think. Though obviously there are loads of great ones. I'd never listened to 'Outside' before doing this and that's a really interesting album. And some albums are perhaps less immediately accessible but are works of art, like 'Hunky Dory'. My least favourite would be one of the 80s albums, 'Tonight' or 'Never Let Me Down'. It's amazing how different Bowie's albums are. Really interesting to listen to them all!

2011-10-16T20:12:00.004+01:00

Album Project update! The last studio album, 'Reality' (2003). I can't believe that's nearly 10 years ago. 10 years with no new Bowie albums. Sad. I like this, hmm, but it's not my favourite. Not by a long chalk. It's hard to say what my favourite song on it is. Maybe 'Bring Me The Disco King'. I don't know really. It's a good album, though once again you're unlikely to have heard of any of the songs on it. So that's it for studio albums. 23 solo studio albums, all listened to...

2011-10-16T20:08:00.003+01:00

Album project update! 'Heathen' (2002). I think this was the first Bowie album I bought on its release. Looking on Wikipedia, there are two facts about the album that I didn't know. First of all, it deals with his impressions of the September 11th terrorist attack. Secondly, it has three cover versions on it. I hadn't realised either of those things. I really like the album. I guess if I hadn't I probably wouldn't have ended up buying all of his back catalogue! It's unlikely that you would have heard of the songs unless you're a fan, I think, but that's a real shame.

2011-10-16T20:00:00.002+01:00

Wow, haven't blogged for a while. The pregnancy seems to be going well, the worst thing I've had so far has been fairly excruciating hip pain, thankfully that's calmed down a bit. Just trying to work out what exactly makes it worse. It's hard, there's lots I want to do around the house and everything seems to make my bones hurt...

We went to Southend for my brother John's birthday, went on the Waverley Paddle Steamer, the last oceangoing paddle steamer in the world. It was fun, bit grey but it didn't rain. Definitely worth going on, if you get the chance. Sadly they need a lot of money to guarantee being able to run it next year.

We also went to Rayleigh Elim church for a harvest meal, which was yummy. :)

And bought a lot of second hand baby stuff from the daughter of someone we know down there. Getting more organised!

I can't think that we've done anything particularly exciting apart from visiting Southend. Sad!

2011-09-29T21:39:00.001+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Hours' (1999). This is a lot less 'angry' than 'Earthling'. It has some good songs on it, but I don't like it as much as the previous couple of records. It really is quite mellow, especially songs like 'Seven'. It's entirely possible that you won't have ever heard of any of the songs on here, which probably says something. Still, it's a lot better than certain 80s albums!

2011-09-21T11:20:00.001+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Earthling' (1997). Only three more albums after this one, then the David Bowie section of this project is complete! I love 'Little Wonder' and 'I'm Afraid of Americans'. This is a scary sounding album, slightly angry. I think that's why I like it! It's probably quite 90s in places but I don't think it's so bad (like the 80s albums) that it's horribly dated when you listen to it now.

2011-09-21T10:59:00.003+01:00

I'm getting very annoyed by my wireless connection (well, I guess it could actually be the internet connection generally), keeps dropping out. It's taking me ages to do anything. Ho hum.

I'm sitting at home trying to do a few productive things, though I'm not feeling brilliant. Been off work yesterday (and today) with some sort of virusey thing.

So what have I done since last blogging? Quite a lot, I think. Have been trying to sort out the MacBook. It's good, but have spent hours and hours now sorting out iTunes and am still being driven mad by it. Why isn't it able to read all the MP3 tags? Aargh...

Rob and I had our 7th wedding anniversary, so we went away to Leominster for the weekend. VIsited lots of cider places, because Rob likes cider. :)

Went to the dentist, which was fine - apparently my teeth didn't even need cleaning. A bit suspicious, that. But maybe I'm just amazing at cleaning my teeth. I have been being extra efficient since being pregnant.

Mum and Dad visited this weekend and helped us decorate the 'garden room'. Well, I say us, Rob didn't help at all. (How terrible!) Dad and I built a flatpack computer desk thing. Mum did a lot of painting. I did a bit. The idea is that we can move a lot of the stuff out of the soon to be baby room into the 'garden room', like Rob's computer. So might be able to do more baby room things now. Went to an NCT sale with Mum and Ali and bought a bunch of hooded towels, blankets, tiny clothes... Quite productive really!

2011-09-01T20:12:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! I have listened to this album quite a few times and would like to listen to it more, but I have to get to the end of the Bowie albums at some point, can't afford to get stuck. But I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on. I have no idea how you'd get it if you'd downloaded it and didn't even have the album sleeve. The album is 'Outside' (1995), subtitled 'The Ritual Art-Murder of Baby Grace Blue: A Non-Linear Gothic Drama Hyper-Cycle". It's a mad concept album! Brilliant! It's the story of Nathan Adler, who's investigating the murder of Baby Grace. If I had the time I would type out the liner notes, but that would take a while. Basically it's about murders committed as 'art'. It's really weird. And it has come great songs on it, like 'The Heart's Filthy Lesson' and 'Hallo Spaceboy'. It's all a bit Nine Inch Nails, which is interesting as according to Wikipedia Bowie had NIN as his tour partner for the 'Outside' tour. I guess NIN was influenced more by Bowie than I'd thought. Not that I've thought about it before. It probably explains why I like Bowie and NIN though..! Probably one of my favourite Bowie albums so far in the Project, if not my favourite.

2011-09-01T19:53:00.002+01:00

Been a while since I last blogged, and things have happened! First of all, I had my 20 week scan and Bleeble is doing fine - he was moving around so much the lady was finding it hard to describe what we were seeing and carry out the required measurements! And he is a he, so that grammatical problem is solved. I can feel him a lot now, I have no idea what he's doing. Somersaults, most likely. You can see scan pictures of Bleeble here.

Secondly, we bought a MacBook Pro, which is very expensive and so far a bit confusing. I used Macs when I was at Uni and liked them, but they were old Macs, not like this beast of a machine. So far I have been annoyed by the fact you can't easily set a reply to address in Mail, though you can set one in a complicated behind the scenes manner. Grr. Anyway, Lion (the OS) is interesting, lets you do lots of multi-touch gestures on the mousepad. Just have to get everything set up now. I hate getting things set up. I did quite like my desktop, though it was increasingly slow (probably nothing Rob couldn't have solved if he'd tried). Windows 7 is pretty good, all things considered. I suppose after Vista anything would seem amazing. ;)

From 19th-24th August we were at Momentum, which is a Christian event a bit like Spring Harvest (but for young people). It was billed as Students, 20s and 30s, but we all felt old. There were lots of seminars to go to and two big main meetings a day. The meetings were tremendously powerful, fills you with Christian fervour, but it's hard to maintain that level of passion when you get home! Rob and I both felt that God wanted us to do something, though we're not sure what. Will have to keep praying about it, I suppose. We had to camp, which wasn't too bad. We bought air beds. I don't think I would have coped with my pregnancy pains otherwise! It was fun camping with John, Mat and Ali. I'm not really a big fan of camping, but it was good.

23rd August our friends Danny and Megan had their baby, Ewan. Ewan's the first of a new bunch of church babies - it'll be Ali next and then me. Things didn't go so well for Megan but they're all at home now, getting used to each other. Ewan's pretty cute..!

Hmm, what else... the Belgian GP was exciting, lots of overtaking. Shame the result doesn't really reflect the excitement. It's hard to see anyone beating Vettel for the championship.

Think that's about it!

2011-08-16T19:38:00.002+01:00

My parents are visiting at the moment. They came up (as did my brother) on the occasion of my 32nd birthday! Which was on Sunday. :)

Present haul was pretty good. Rob gave me an iPod dock thing I'd wanted for ages - a Sony one with a DAB radio. Thought it would come in handy to put in the front room. Nowhere near as good sound quality as my CD player with proper speakers, etc, but surprisingly good considering. Other presents included Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (I know it sounds silly with the zombies but any additional Red Dead is well worth it), a Batman graphic novel called The Bat and the Beast, two more Chaos Space Marine bikes and a Demon Prince.

We've also done lots of fun things. Friday night we went to the 50s American Diner, where I had an Elvis Presley burger and a cinnamon caramel cruch biscuit milkshake. Nice. Saturday we went to watch the Leicester Lions vs. the Scunthorpe Scorpions (that's speedway, if you didn't know). Leicester are firmly at the bottom of the league table so it was a surprisingly close match. Could have gone either way right up until the end of the evening. And Sunday I had people round for a birthday tea. So, lots of fun!

2011-08-16T19:30:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! Ok, so in 1989 and 1991 Bowie released two 'Tin Machine' albums, but in 1993 he was back as a solo artist with 'Black Tie White Noise'. I can't say this is an amazing album. You probably won't have heard any of the songs on it before. But it's better than the previous two 80's albums! It just seems more like a David Bowie album, what with its instrumental opener 'The Wedding'. Hooray!

2011-08-11T19:13:00.003+01:00

So there was a little 'rioting', but not much. Personally I don't think it counted as rioting. Smashing stuff, maybe some looting, but not rioting. As Wikipedia says, "Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent." I suppose it does say 'often'. But the people out there didn't have a particular grievance in mind, they were just out to do some damage. I mean, I saw the damage on Granby Street in Leicester - they'd just smashed random things, like the tanning shop window (because you'd want a quick tan if you were busy rioting all night and unable to get out in the sun during the day) and, oddly, Poundstretcher! Only in Leicester would anyone try to loot Poundstretcher. :)

The police vans were parked in the city centre when I came home, so it looks like they're still on high alert for troublemakers. I can't see an easy solution to the problem. In these problematic economic times the people who are the poorest and worst educated are the ones who are going to find it hardest to get jobs. Without hope, perhaps the most fun you can have on a weekday night is a bit of looting. I don't know.

Personally I know whatever happens to me I have my faith in God to fall back on. So I do have hope. But there are a lot of hopeless people out there. Stopping their benefits isn't going to make them less likely to cause trouble - it'll only make the problem worse! If the welfare state stops supporting those who need it most, when they're already buckling under the strain of things, how is that going to help?

How can we fix this? Sensible economic policy? Less austerity, more common sense? More, well, hope?

2011-08-09T22:25:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Tonight' (1984) and 'Never Let Me Down' (1987). I am grouping these together because they're both scarily 80s. I'm not sure I like them a lot. It's quite heavily produced, synths, etc... just doesn't sound very real. 'Tonight' is memorable to me for 'God Only Knows', which you will probably recognise as a cover. The weird thing is, it sounds like someone doing a really mad David Bowie impression. It's almost laughable! Very odd. 'Never Let Me Down' seems somehow less daft, and has a bit of the old Bowie craziness in the form of 'Glass Spider'. I don't think you'd recognise any of the songs on these albums, though. Probably not a Bowie high point...

2011-08-09T22:20:00.003+01:00

What to say...?

Pregnancy seems to be going ok, have been feeling a bit more cheerful.

Rob's become obsessed by cycling, kept pestering me until I let him buy a bike. It's a Claud Butler mountain bike called a Shaman (apparently a special edition not for sale on the internet). So hopefully he'll be happy for more than five minutes!

Obviously the riots are going on, though hopefully Leicester is sensible enough for nothing to happen here. Heard the police helicopter a minute ago but that often seems to be buzzing around.

Last Tuesday we went to Blaby Golf Centre to play Adventure Golf, which was sort of fun. It's always a bit more luck than judgement!

Went to see the new Studio Ghibli film 'Arriety' at the Phoenix Arts Centre. From the name you might guess that it's their taken on The Borrowers. I really enjoyed it, very well done. But most Ghibli is, I suppose.

Can't think of much else. It's entirely possible I've forgotten some really obvious stuff. But it can't have been that exciting, if I've forgotten it. :)

2011-08-01T21:29:00.003+01:00

Doesn't seem that there's a lot to say. Don't want to keep on about baby related things but that is the thing that's most on my mind at the moment! On the baby front, things aren't too bad but last week I was pretty depressed. Annoying, because for the first trimester I was unusually happy. I thought I was just back to normal (I have a bit of a depression issue) but last week was ridiculous. I hate it when people ask why I'm depressed - there's no reason for it, that's what makes it so irritating. Oh well. I expect it's being made worse by hormones (that seems to be the answer to why everything's happening), so hopefully it'll settle down again...

In other news, I suppose the most annoying thing to happen lately is F1 going to Sky Sports next year. It was probably inevitable - the BBC couldn't afford to pay what Bernie wanted - but it's still annoying. At least we'll still get 10 races live, and extended highlights, and it'll be on the radio. I really can't justify paying £30 a month to get Sky Sports. Maybe if I liked 'sports' it'd be worth it, but I only really like motorsports, and the only thing I HAVE to watch is F1. D'oh!

Incidentally, the Hungarian GP was brilliant! Action packed. And Jenson won his 200th GP. Hooray!

I did this day in the life of 400 archaeologists thing on Friday. Basically wrote down what I did for the day. I'm not sure my job sounds that interesting, but I like it. :)

2011-08-01T19:22:00.002+01:00

And another Album Project Update - 'Let's Dance' (1983). This is album 15 out of 25. Hmm. Hang on, I think I've been miscounting all this time, I think there are 23 studio albums (if we don't include Tin Machine). So, 8 to go! I really like this album. It doesn't have many tracks, when you look at it - only 8 - but 'Let's Dance' and 'China Girl' are both fanastic. 'China Girl' in particular is brilliantly constructed. It has so many layers, including a bass line that the song just wouldn't work without. And of course there's some excellent saxophone. ;) Great stuff.

2011-07-26T19:36:00.002+01:00

And another Album Project Update... 'Scary Monsters' (1980). This album's likely to have some songs you've heard on it, most notably 'Ashes to Ashes' and 'Fashion'. It definitely has a more commercial sound to it, appealing to a wider audience. It's still not my favourite though! 'Ashes to Ashes', of course, references Major Tom from 'Space Oddity' (1969). There are some bleak lyrics on this album. Probably sounds a lot more cheerful if you listen to it without thought rather than if you listen to it carefully...

2011-07-26T19:33:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Lodger' (1979). No weird instrumentals on this but still not exactly a straightfoward album. My favourite track is 'Yassassin' (apparently Turkish for Long Live). I also found 'Boys Keep Swinging' interesting, due to its apparent similiarity to 'M.O.R' by Blur. I wonder if they copied it? Chords are very similar, some lyrical similarities... I thought it was interesting, anyway.

[Just checked Wikipedia and this is what it says..."Blur's 1997 track "M.O.R." heavily borrowed the rhythm and harmonic structure of the song, and after legal intervention, was credited to "Blur/Bowie/Eno"." So there you go!]

2011-07-26T19:23:00.003+01:00

Thought I should do some blogging! Am now 15 weeks pregnant, just had my second midwife appointment. All my test results were good, I'm fairly boring and commonplace, so that makes things easier. Heard the baby's heartbeat - at the moment it's hard to fully grasp the fact there's someone inside me moving around. Maybe when I can feel it it'll be more believable.

2011-07-17T11:21:00.004+01:00

Haven't blogged about this because I wasn't really sure how to, so I guess I'll just go ahead and type some words. :) I'm 14 weeks pregnant! It's very scary. I'm already getting rounder. So far it hasn't been too terrible. Earlier on I was getting morning sickness all day, whenever I got a bit hungry, but that's passed now. I have some weird joint pain, especially in my hips. And I've been getting more headaches. And stitch when I walk. But I'm generally ok. I guess I'm in the bit that's supposed to be the easiest part of pregnancy, before I get really round... The first baby scan (12 weeks) was fine, he/she was moving about a bit (saw his/her arm moving). Next scan is at the end of August.

It's still hard to believe there's a tiny person inside me. I stuck a scan picture on the partition in front of me at work so I could try and make it sink in a bit!

2011-07-11T22:13:00.002+01:00

Ok, well, Album Project Update! 'Heroes' (1977). The beginning of the album has lots of songs with, well, words. But then it goes all experimental and instrumental again. (You can probably tell I'm less keen on the instrumental tracks!) They're very atmospheric and interesting, but I kind of like songs with lyrics. Like 'Heroes', the title track and probably the most well known song on the album.

2011-06-26T16:04:00.003+01:00

And another Album Project Update! 'Low' (1977). This is an experimental and largely instrumental album. It's a bit weird. Interesting, and at times beautiful and haunting, but I don't think I want instrumentals when I buy a David Bowie album. At least it has some eerie saxophone on it played by Bowie himself...

2011-06-26T16:00:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Station to Station' (1976). That's the 10th David Bowie album out of 25. This is a strange kind of album. It's often said to mark a change in Bowie's musical style. You may well have heard 'Golden Years', but this isn't an album of catchy singles. Indeed, it only has 6 tracks. I like it, but you can see things are heading in a strange direction...

2011-06-14T20:56:00.002+01:00

And another Album Project Update! 'Young Americans' (1975). I have to say, the thing about this album that stands out for me is the excellent saxophone. I was interested to read that it was David Sanborn - we have one of his sax albums, 'Hearsay'. The sax on here is really outstanding, particularly interestingly on the track 'Fascination', where it's hard to tell whether it's guitar or sax. It seems silly to say that, but when you listen to it you'll see what I mean. Growly. :) I guess the most well known songs are 'Young Americans' and 'Fame'. This album is just so well executed.

2011-06-14T20:52:00.003+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Diamond Dogs' (1974). This is a strange album. I'd really love to hear the backstory behind it all, but sadly I haven't found it anywhere on the internet. And it's not in the booklet with the album. It's basically some sort of dystopian future, bit Blade Runner, bit 1984, bit Brave New World... You get the idea. It has a definite air of menace when you listen to it. The most well known song on the album is 'Rebel Rebel', but somehow that seems quite out of place. I like the album because it's unsettling. I wonder if there was something particularly bleak about the mid 1970s? It was when The Kinks released 'Preservation', after all. Stranger and stranger...

2011-06-14T20:49:00.002+01:00

Wow, the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday was amazing! The two hour wait was worth it in the end (they red flagged the race because of the rain) - Jenson Button had the drive of his life. What a brilliant race. It seemed odd that they had to run behind the safety car for so long at the restart (they all switched to intermediate tyres as soon as it came in and they were allowed). And there was some awful marshalling all weekend. Could have resulted in some terrible injuries. At the very least it held up the racing! But the end of the race, with Michael Schumacher mixing it at the top end, and Jenson's last minute overtake to win the GP... Wow. Great stuff!

2011-06-05T17:38:00.003+01:00

I guess I should blog about our epic coach holiday to Austria!

Day 1: Left St Margaret's Bus Station, Leicester at about 8am. We went with Skills on a month old luxurious supercoach! Drove to Folkestone and caught the train to France. It was a very tight fit to get the coach into the train. I've only been a passenger on the train, never driven on, so that was interesting. Then we drove through France, Belgium, the Netherlands and into Germany. I hadn't realised there were so many windfarms around. One of the first things we saw in Germany was the karting centre Michael Schumacher built for his village. And we went past the Nurburgring, too. Stopped the night at a Mercure hotel in Bonn.

Day 2: Drove through Germany, went past Hockenheim, and into Austria. Went through some really long tunnels - some were over 10km I think. The mountains are amazing the first time you see them. Giant snow covered things. After many hours we reached our holiday hotel, the Hotel Kajetansbrucke. It's 2km outside the village of Pfunds. We were supposed to be staying at another hotel but that one had closed since the manager was ill. So this hotel had especially opened to take our coach party and one other that had been there before us. It had an authentic Tirolean atmosphere, by which I think it meant lots of dead animals on the walls. Anyway, the room was very cosy and it had a balcony looking out over some people's back gardens (with cows!).

Day 3: Trip to the Bernina Express! Woo! We drove through Switzerland, stopping briefly at St Moritz, then into Italy, to Tirano. We had a little while there to get lunch (yummy Pancetta panini and spagnola ice cream. Yum yum yum. Then we caught the Bernina Express. It's a special train with panoramic carriages, with lots of glass so you can see the spectacular scenery. We travelled through the snowy mountaintops, seeing beautiful lakes, quaint villages, even a glacier! It's an amazing train ride if you ever get the chance to go there. Then the coach took us back to the hotel...

Day 4: Today we went back into Italy. Lots of fruit and vineyards everywhere! First stop was a flooded village. The onyl thing left when the reservoir was created was a medieval clock tower. Then we stopped at Merano, which was a bit of pointless stop, but pleasant enough. Bought some cold pizza at some sort of bakery. It was very hot weather. Then we went to Vipiteno to look at the shops, though unfortunately we arrived when they were closed for their long lunch. We found one shop open that had interesting bits and I bought a Murano glass bracelet. Thought I should get some sort of souvenir. And it was a very pretty place to walk around. We bought some pasta to bring home, too, since it seemed like a good thing to do when in Italy. On the way back to the hotel we had a photo stop at the Brenner Bridge, and went past Innsbruck where I recognised the ski jump from a cake on 'Ace of Cakes'. That's terrible, isn't it?

Day 5: Had a tour around Pfunds, with an English lady who'd lived there 45 years. It was most interesting since you learnt about about how people lived there, rather than just seeing old houses and things. She led some of us up to see Mini Fundus, which is a model village. Not many people did that part of the tour. Then we went to one of the supermarkets and bought random things. Ate lunch at the hotel. Didn't do much else really. We had been intending to walk around more but Rob's hayfever had reached terrible proportions and all he was doing was sneezing. In the evening there was a 'peasant style' buffet dinner, which was tasty. And also entertainment, though we ran away from the yodelling accordion man. :)

Day 6: Start of our journey back to England. Back into Germany, where we stayed at a Mercure hotel at Koln.

Day 7: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France again. We stopped in Belgium at a chocolate factory that seems to be a favourite stopping place for English coaches! We had to stop because the wing mirror fell off the coach and he needed to fit his spare. Took quite a while. He had a few problems over the trip, it could have gone a lot smoother... Oh, we went past another motor racing track - Spa. At Calais we looked round the terminal a bit before catching the train. In England the traffic was terrible, so it took ages to get back to Leicester.

All in all I enjoyed it, saw lots of interesting things, visited lots of countries. And it was very cheap. The coach was comfy, had films to watch and hot and cold drinks served by a hostess. Both she and the driver were really friendly and entertaining. The driver was called Winny, if you've ever travelled with him on a trip you'll know just how entertaining he is! Oh, and we won a bottle of wine for answering three questions. I'm really good at winning wine in competitions, maybe it's because I don't really want the wine. Who knows? :)

There are some photos on my Facebook: here.

2011-05-30T20:59:00.003+01:00

Holiday news soon (just back from a coach trip across Europe!) but first of all... Album Project News! 'Pin Ups' (1973), 7 of 25. This, interestingly, is an album of cover versions. I have to admit I hasn't heard many of them, though the last track is 'Where Have All The Good Times Gone' by Ray Davies! Hooray!

2011-05-13T21:19:00.002+01:00

Oops, was a bit behind with this... Album Project Update! 6 of 25. 'Aladdin Sane' (1973). I really like this album. Lots of saxophone on it. Some of which was played by David Bowie himself. I guess you might not have heard many of the songs on it, though you should know 'Panic in Detroit' and 'The Jean Genie'. Even though it's not packed with hits it's a very satisfying collection of songs.

2011-05-13T21:14:00.003+01:00

Album Project Update! 5 of 25, 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars' (1972). This is a very strange album, very strange story behind it. Basically Earth has five years left, aliens come and inhabit Ziggy, he becomes a massive rock and roll star, at the end the aliens rip him apart on stage. I think that's about it. Very, very strange. A brilliant album though. Songs you'd know from here include 'Starman', 'Moonage Daydream', 'Suffragette City'... Great stuff. Surreal but brilliantly so!

2011-05-13T21:08:00.002+01:00

Lots has happened since I last blogged. Nothing I voted for in the four elections came to pass, so that was a bit rubbish. I wonder about democracy sometimes. I was sitting behind a girl on the bus who sounded like she'd voted for the first time. She was telling her friend how she'd seen a man called Barry White on the ballot paper and found his name so hilarious she'd voted for him. Hmmm...

Mum and Dad came to visit for a few days. They did loads of work in the garden, it looks amazing! Lots of cutting back plants. I think Dad did 11 trips to the tip in the end with it all. Just have to finish digging the end of the garden then we can put the little plants in. Hooray! I had Monday off and we looked round an auction house. Mum went to the auction the next day and won a dinner service and a pair of Russian binoculars for us. :)

What else... My friend Ali is pregnant. Scary! But great. Little Squig should be with us in about 6 months time.

Went out with the Christian Fellowship at work last night. Due to a mishearing by my colleagues I now refer to its as the 'Equestrian Group'. They seem to think we run around in a Pythonesque way with coconuts. :)

Anyway, I think that's about it.

2011-05-03T21:27:00.004+01:00

Album Project Update! No. 4 out of 25 - 'Hunky Dory' (1971). This is a great album. My favourite so far by a long way. I don't think there's a bad song on here. Obviously there are songs everyone knows, like 'Changes' and 'Life on Mars'. But I really like 'Kooks'. What a charming song about parenthood! David Bowie wrote it due to the arrival of his new son, Duncan Jones (or Zowie Bowie, hehe). All in all, a brilliant album. :)

2011-05-03T21:19:00.002+01:00

Looks like Smile (well, the Co-operative Bank) is sorting out my credit card problem. After not having much help from Smile they told me to phone the stolen card line, which is kind of a Co-op thing (I know Smile is too but it's sort of separate) and they've logged the disputed charges I discovered, cancelled my card and are issuing a new one. Not sure what the Smile man I talked to on Friday was talking about really! Ah well. It looks like it'll be ok now. Wish I knew where they'd got my card details though. I will wait for the Fraud department to contact me...

In other news, I did watch the Royal Wedding and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It was a very moving service, good mix of modern and traditional. And it's always impressive to see all the soldiers and carriages and such like. I think I am a bit of a Royalist at heart. I don't really see why people want to get rid of the Royal family. They do a lot of diplomatic stuff that the prime minister doesn't have time for. Anyway...

Not looking forward to voting on Thursday, though I feel I ought to. I have to vote in the referendum (like everyone else in the country) to say whether I want AV instead of First Past the Post. But I also have to elect local councillors, a new MP and a mayor! D'oh... Too many decisions.

This weekend was fun, what with it being another long weekend (Royal Wedding bank holiday and May Day). My brother John came to visit so we did a few things together, like going for lunch with Rob's parents and sister (and her man) and going to Everdon to look at bluebells. He's gone home now though. Boo.

2011-04-29T16:43:00.002+01:00

Have checked all my credit card statements that are still online and have discovered more rogue charges:
28/10/2010 O2 PREPAY SLOUGH GB £15.00+
29/10/2010 O2 PREPAY SLOUGH GB £15.00+
13/11/2010 WWW.HDOFFICE.NET LONDON NW4 GB £13.99+
15/11/2010 AUGUSTIA.COM 210-5389336 £23.71+ ##0321 36.77 USD @ 1.5508

I feel like such an idiot for not spotting this sooner! That's £114.34 in total that's been stolen from me and I have no idea if it was going on for longer since I can't check the statements...

2011-04-27T21:26:00.003+01:00

Album Project Update - David Bowie album 3 out of 25 - 'The Man Who Sold The World' (1970). Not my favourite Bowie album. A lot of it basically sounds like 70's Rock. Like, hm, The Who, people like that. Not that that's a bad thing. But it's not why I like David Bowie. The exception is the one track that people will definitely know from this album, the title track. 'The Man Who Sold The World' is a great song, no doubt about it. :)

2011-04-27T21:18:00.004+01:00

Had a pretty busy weekend long (yay, four days off!), though now I'm working again (the three day week between bank holidays!) and bemoaning the fact that someone seems to have been using my credit card. I checked my statements because of the PSN hack and discovered two transactions that I have no idea about:

09/03/2011 CCBill.com *Alpha Relia 888-5969279 £23.52+ ##1070 36.77 USD @ 1.5634

08/04/2011 CCBill.com *Alpha Relia 888-5969279 £23.12+ ##1101 36.77 USD @ 1.5904

Clearly these are about a month apart for a similar sum, but what *are* they? I might not have noticed if it hadn't been for Sony's problems. In situations like this I worry that I did buy something and I've forgotten, but I don't buy much from America and when I do it's via eBay and that goes through Paypal.

A bit of googling turns up this Alpha Reliance website, which is suspicious due to its rubbishness and the fact it's in Ghana. I mean, would you ask a web company with a website that looked like that to design anything for you?

Maybe they have nothing to do with it. Hmm. Anyway, I've messaged Smile and will see what they say. I wish they would reply faster. Hmmmm.

In other news, what did I do over the Easter Weekend? Friday we did lots of tidying and things round the house. Saturday we had a hanami party - we went to Aylestone Hall Gardens and admired the cherry blossoms. Sunday Rob and Mat went to do some bowls on the green in the aforementioned gardens. Monday Rob did some excellent gardening work and we bought three more tiny fish. I think that's about it. Oh, and I did a thousand piece jigsaw. I get a bit obsessed when I start jigsaws, find it hard to stop doing them...

2011-04-20T19:23:00.003+01:00

I didn't say, but on 11th April we went to see Spamalot at De Montfort Hall. It was good, though I was feeling quite ill and didn't enjoy it as much as I probably should have. Phil Jupitus was Arthur, which is odd casting but worked surprisingly well. It was remarkable what they did with just 12 (I think) actors. It was all worked out so cleverly - chopping off limbs, etc. And the actress who played Guinevere was very good at singing in different styles. Looking at the website, I presume she was Jessica Martin. It was a good mix of old favourites (African or European Swallow, etc) and new stuff. No-where near as good as 'Monty Python and The Holy Grail' but a good tribute to the film. :)

This weekend we had a BBQ Saturday, making the most of the hot weather, then on Sunday we went to see BTCC at Donington Park for Rachel's birthday. It was very hot but I managed to avoid sunburn by applying copious amounts of lotion! Brilliant. The racing was quite fun - we were in a good position to see things like Jason Plato's dramatic crash. Remarkably they managed to fix his car for the next race. Also, saw other things like Formula Renault (with Josh Hill, Damon's son) and Renault Clio racing with Nick Hamilton, Lewis's brother. A good day out!

2011-04-20T19:13:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Space Oddity' (1969). The first track on this album is one that everyone knows, the title track of the album. The story of a space man sent to the moon whose space craft breaks leaving him marooned. Ok, so perhaps it is about drug use, but seeing as the moon landing took place on 20th July 1969 and the album was released 4th November 1969 it's easy to just see it as a story about space exploration. Well, I think so anyway. It's probably the best use of Stylophone in a song ever! The track is very different to the other songs on the album, which are a mixed bunch including an orchestral song with fairly inexplicable lyrics ('Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud'), songs about everyday life like the shoplifting old lady ('God Knows I'm Good') and the trippy 'Memory Of A Free Festival' (which I remember from Dario G's 1998 hit 'Sunmachine'). 'Space Oddity' really is a great song. Hooray!

2011-04-18T21:05:00.004+01:00

The next phase of the Album Project is to listen to all David Bowie's studio albums - that's 25 albums! And so I started with 'David Bowie' (1967), which was a very odd album. When he released his debut album he was 20 years old. Apparently at this early stage of his career he was influenced by various people including The Kinks. I guess the crazy story songs (like 'Uncle Arthur') fit with that. It's an odd album really. I can't say I like all the songs, but some are great. 'Little Bombadier' is very sad.

2011-04-14T21:58:00.005+01:00

Have been kind of ill for the past couple of weeks, resulting in 2 1/2 days off work this week and general death-cold grimness. Today, back at work, I wrote 'Benedictine monkeys' instead of monks. I kind of hope there weren't other mistakes like that that I've failed to spot!

Still, I have managed to finish the Blur section of the Album Project! Yes, I have now listened to their last (so far) studio album, no. 7 - 'Think Tank' (2003). This has all sorts of experimental sounds - squeaky doors and the like - and various World Music influences. It's completely mad in places, but it works together really really well. I think that if you like the Gorillaz, this is the Blur album that you're most likely to like. (There were a lot of 'likes' in that sentence.) And when this album ended they all went off to run for Parliament, make cheese, form animated music groups - that sort of thing. :)

So, which were my most and least favourite Blur albums? I think 'The Great Escape' is my least favourite. When you listen to all the albums, it's the one that stands out as being quite different. It's just a bit too silly for me. My favourite album, wow, that's hard. It's either 'Modern Life is Rubbish' or 'Parklife', I think. Ok, well, I'll go with 'Parklife'. Hooray! Now it's time to embark on a trip that may well send me mad. Listening to all 25 of David Bowie's studio albums..!!! Yikes!

2011-04-10T21:57:00.002+01:00

Album Project update! Blur's sixth album, '13' (1999). More and more serious! 'Tender' is a brilliant song. It and 'No Distance Left To Run' were inspired by Damon's breakup with the Elastica singer Justine Frischmann. And 'Coffee and TV' is a great Graham Coxon song with a notable video. Well worth a look if you've never seen it, it's bound to be on Youtube somewhere. It's a fairly mellow album on the whole. Cool. :)

2011-04-07T18:33:00.003+01:00

Had a nice long weekend in Southend - went home for Dad's birthday and Mothers Day. It was hard coming back to work after having the weekend plus Monday and Tuesday off!

Saturday we went to Basildon for lunch in a cafe near where my brother John works. (Ok, so Basildon's the last place you'd think someone would look forward to going to for lunch, but hey.) They do giant fried breakfasts and things and it's fast, cheap and yummy. Yay! After that we went to Wat Tyler Country Park, which has changed a lot since I last went there. It has lots of new trails and a new visitor centre. The trails include an Explosives one, since it was the site of Alfred Nobel's Pitsea Explosives Factory. (Perhaps it was just me, I had no idea he made his money in Explosives!)

Sunday Rob and I cooked a roast and in the afternoon Rob, John and I went for a walk over the fields. (Mum and Dad's house is on the edge of town, so the fields are only just over the road.)

Monday John had to go to work but Rob, Mum and Dad and I went to Hadleigh Castle. From the castle you can see the Olympic Mountain Bike track. We also went to the tea rooms run by the Salvation Army as part of the Hadleigh Farm Colony. This was originally set up by William Booth in 1891, to help people who were in trouble (workhouses etc). Today there are various things run for people with 'special needs or circumstances'. It would be hard to find a cleaner or more friendly cafe to eat in! In the evening we went to the Halfway House on the seafront for a carvery, which was fine but they tried to kill my mum (gave her normal coke instead of diet coke, and since she's diabetic she was up all night until her blood sugar settled down).

Tuesday I spent a bit of quality time with Mum and Dad, and after dinner Rob drove me home...

So that's my long weekend!

2011-04-07T18:28:00.003+01:00

Album Project Update! 'Blur' (1997). This is the re-invention of Blur - gone are the silly songs of 'The Great Escape'. There are songs on this that are far more like their earlier albums. It's likely that you would know 'Song 2', which is annoyingly the only song that gets onto Rock Band's playlist! But hey. I really like 'Strange News From Another Star'. It's grown up. It's a new direction for the band. Hooray!

2011-03-31T19:08:00.002+01:00

Album Project update! Have re-listened to one of the first albums I owned (well, I owned it back when I didn't have a wall covered in CDs, so it was fairly early on!). Yes, 'The Great Escape' (1995). This was Blur at the height of their powers, or at least, the height of their fame. And at the most intense period of Britpop rivalry between Blur and their enemies Oasis... I was a Blur girl, and having bought this album I bought their earlier albums and then their later albums, when they came out. And also Blur-related albums like the 'The Good, the Bad & the Queen' album, Damon Albarn's 'Mali Music' and, of course, all the Gorillaz stuff (including lovely limited edition mad releases). Blur are one of my favourite bands, and this album is where it started. Ironic, then, that this is now one of my least favourite Blur albums! It's all a bit too silly for me. And I've heard 'Country House' so many times that I can barely bring myself to listen to it any more. Strange but true... It's a great album, it sold a lot of copies, but it's definitely not my favourite Blur album. Not any more.

2011-03-30T21:52:00.002+01:00

The F1 (Australian GP, opening race of the year) was fairly exciting but not the most exciting race ever. It was a bit of a foregone conclusion that Vettel would win (unless he did something stupid). Nice surprise to see Petrov in the Lotus-Renault in third though. And the Saubers were brilliant, shame they were disqualified!

Went to see Danny and Megan Sunday afternoon, which was fun. John had to go home Sunday evening. But we'll see him again this weekend since we're going to Southend for my Dad's birthday. Hooray!

Haven't done an awful lot this week, mainly work, boring stuff... The weather's still sort of coldish and grey compared to last week's sunshine. Ah well.

2011-03-30T18:51:00.002+01:00

Album Project Update! Blur's third album, 'Parklife' (1994), is where Blur really hit the big time. Who hasn't heard 'Girls and Boys'? Or, indeed, the title track 'Parklife'? It's beautifully observed stuff and a brilliant album. It's albums like this that made my Dad recommend the Kinks to me. You can really see the similarities between Damon Albarn's writing and Ray Davies's. Great stuff.

2011-03-26T18:31:00.003Z

Album Project Update! Have now listened to Blur's second album, 'Modern Life is Rubbish' (1993). This is very different to 'Leisure' and has some great tracks that (almost) everyone should know - 'For Tomorrow' and 'Chemical World' spring to mind. The writing is cleverer, the sound is clean and jaunty... all in all it's the sound that made them one of the biggest bands of the 90s. The album also features a couple of slightly silly musical interludes. I really like this album. :)

2011-03-26T18:05:00.003Z

The weather's been lovely this week (sadly not today though, when I actually got to go out rather than being stuck in the office!). Wednesday I walked home along the canal, from Frog Island to Aylestone Locks. Part of the route was congested by students - DeMontfort and Leicester universities were having a rowing match! Although I like walking along the canal it can be a bit scary (weird men sitting on benches drinking beer have been known to be unpleasant) and it's sad how much litter there is everywhere...

John came to visit this weekend, to watch the Australian GP with me. Hooray for the return of Formula One! Since he was here we (me, Rob, Ali and John) went to Rutland Water today. The weather was pretty cold and windy, so it was back on with the winter coats and hats. We've definitely been spoilt this week, it was hot enough for summer tops and jackets. Various trees are starting to bloom and the daffodils are all coming out. Ah well, it can't be nice weather all the time.

The F1 qualifying was interesting, not really sure about the DRS (Drag Reduction System) and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) but perhaps it'll make things more exciting. I don't know really. Last year was so exciting anyway it seems odd that they have to keep inventing new things. Interesting that Sebastian Vettel wasn't using KERS and still managed to way out-qualify everyone else! D'oh. Will get up early in the morning and see what happens. (Shame it's clocks moving foward tonight - unfortunate timing!)

I think that's about it for now. :)

2011-03-22T18:06:00.002Z

Next stage of the album project - Blur! I've listened to all these albums loads, not like some of the Kinks albums. I love Blur. Blur are one of my favourite bands. And they were really influenced by The Kinks, so there you go. :) Their first album, 'Leisure' (1991) is quite different to their later work. It's, hmm, grungy? I guess the most well known song from the album is 'There's no other way'. A brilliant debut, even if not as great as their later stuff..!

2011-03-21T17:54:00.004Z

So that was all 23 studio albums by The Kinks. Favourite album? I think 'Preservation Acts 1 & 2'. Which is interesting, since I thought 'Village Green Preservation Society' was my favourite before I started this. And my least favourite? 'Muswell Hillbillies', what with it being the start of their odd pub blues phase. Next... Blur!

2011-03-21T17:47:00.003Z

The final Kinks album! 'Phobia' (1993). With bigger and bigger gaps between albums, it was perhaps obvious that it wouldn't last much longer. They disbanded three years after this, in 1996. I can't help but wonder whether 'Hatred' (one of my favourite songs on the album) was a bit of a sign, especially as a duet between Ray and Dave. I guess things are better now between them, but all those years of working together seemed to be taking their toll. I particularly like 'Did Ya', since it heavily references 'Sunny Afternoon'. Wikipedia says this was only on the Japanese version of the slbum, which is interesting. Maybe I have that. Or maybe Wikipedia is wrong! Hm. It was a fitting end to the Kinks, anyway...

2011-03-21T17:45:00.002Z

So, the 22nd Kinks album, 'UK Jive' (1989). Apparently it was one of the most poorly received Kinks albums. It sounds very 80s. And it has a load of different musical styles. Even if it was poorly received, it's by no means my least favourite Kinks album.

2011-03-14T20:27:00.002Z

Have now listened to 'Think Visual' (1986). By this point the Kinks are becoming less popular. 'Think Visual' sounds very much like a Ray Davies solo album, much less like a Kinks album. I do like it (I like his solo albums!) but it's not as good as some of their earlier work...

2011-03-13T18:58:00.003Z

Album Project update! Have now listened to 'Word of Mouth' (1984). (BTW, you may be pleased to hear that 'Think Visual' has now turned up!) The thing that makes this album a little unusual is the two songs with lead singing by Dave Davies. 'Living on a Thin Line' is a good song.

This album was made in a time of crisis. Dave Davies could no longer stand working with the drummer Mick Avory, so Mick was fired. Dave and Ray's relationship was deteriorating. Ray's relationship with the Pretenders lead singer, Chrissie Hynde, was breaking up. So this is an uncomfortable sort of album. Good, but uncomfortable. I guess it was only a matter of time before things fell apart forever...

2011-03-13T18:53:00.003Z

Have been watching a lot of Japanese news over the weekend (we get NHK World via Sky). Not much you can say really, is there? For a long time now Rob has wanted to move to Japan, and what with that and a general interest for various reasons I feel I have a special liking for the place. One day we'll visit, even if Rob never gets a tranfer. But to see the devastation...

2011-03-07T21:29:00.002Z

Album Project update... Nearing the end of the Kinks, though I hope 'Think Visual' turns up soon - managed to find someone in Germany who had a very rare copy of the CD to complete my collection! Anyway, have now listened to 'State of Confusion' (1983). This has two songs on it that I really like, both of which are about dancing. The first is 'Come Dancing' and the second is 'Don't Forget to Dance'. :)

2011-03-07T20:55:00.003Z

Have been very busy this weekend! First of all, Rob and I took the day off on Friday and went to Sussex to visit the largest saxophone shop in the world! Rob wanted to get a soprano saxophone (he has a tenor, alto and a vintage 'C' but he's trying to sell the tenor). After about an hour of playing various ones, he settled on a Yanigasawa saxophone (they're the best soprano saxes, apparently). Oddly, the man in charge of Yanigasawa in the UK was visiting so Rob was personally congratulated on his purchase. :)

After that we spent the night in a B&B at Crowborough, where they thought we were odd for coming all that way to buy a saxophone. It was very pleasant, had a curry at the Birothi Indian Restaurant (yum, managed to avoid evil coriander, yay). And the next day we went to Broadwater Warren RSPB reserve. And came back to Leicester!

Sunday we went to the Belvoir Brewery for Mat's birthday. I don't drink alcohol (don't like the taste) but I still found it interesting. Ate lots of yummy Sunday roast food and felt like I was going to explode.

So, all in all, a fairly busy weekend!

2011-03-03T17:49:00.002Z

Album Project update! I have now listened to 'Give The People What They Want' (1981). So, suddenly, the Kinks were back in the mainstream. 'Low Budget' had made them popular again. According to Wikipedia, 'Give The People What They Want' reached #15 in the charts. And this is a pretty solid album, a bit retrospective in places with tracks like 'Destroyer'. 'Destroyer' has 'All day and all of the night' underlying it, and then there's the obvious mention of a girl called Lola. Of all the songs on the album, you're most likely to have heard 'Better Things'.

2011-02-28T18:46:00.004Z

Ok, me again... Album Project Update! Have now listened to 'Low Budget' (1979) by the Kinks. This has a particular resonance at the moment, I think! Lots of songs about hard times and having no money. And it's a very stripped down band. It's just Ray Davies, Dave Davies, Mick Avory on drums and a new bass player - Jim Rodford. Oh, and a saxophonist on two tracks. :) I particularly like 'Catch me now I'm falling' (which is a song about America in recession), though possibly '(Wish I could fly like) Superman' is one of the better known tracks from the album. This album is a real band piece, all working together to produce something that feels solidly made. From the themes on the album you can see that though in Britain they were thought of as little more than a nostalgia band (mainly due to Punk), they were making it big in America...

2011-02-24T21:23:00.002Z

And another Album Project update - 'Misfits' (1978). I have to say there are some songs on here that are I've really loved listening to, both for their catchy tunes and their social comment. For instance, 'Black Messiah'. It's a song about British race relations, with a ska beat. And 'Out of the Wardrobe' is about a transvestite. I guess the songs are sort of about people who don't quite fit in, hence the title 'Misfits'. But it's a loose collection, rather than a tight concept album. Another album that shows off the individual talents of each of the band members, including a song called 'Trust Your Heart' on which Dave Davies sings lead vocals...

2011-02-24T21:19:00.002Z

Album Project update! 'Sleepwalker' (1977). It's the 15th studio album by the Kinks, and the first with their new record label Arista. It's a return to their roots, in some ways. No more concept stuff. Just rock that's both edgy and humorous. When I listened to it for the first time I was struck by how the bass on 'Mr. Big Man' doesn't seem quite the same as on the other tracks. This is because I am sad and pathetic, I guess! Or I like bass guitar too much. Anyway, I was interested to find out that that is the only track on this album that was played by the new Kinks bass player, Andy Pyle. John Dalton left during the recording of the album. It's a very slick piece of work, this album, showing off all their talents. I liked it. :)

2011-02-24T19:29:00.001Z

Haven't been feeling well lately, the doctor thinks it's nothing that won't go away by itself, and I have to try and relax. Well, that's easy to say and less easy to do! I do feel a lot better today though, so hopefully things are on the mend. :)

2011-02-17T21:23:00.004Z

So, Album Project update, the 14th Studio Album by the Kinks, 'Schoolboys in Disgrace' (1976). It's the last of the Kinks formal concept albums, and the prequel to 'Preservation'. Basically, it's the story of Mr Flash when he's at school. How he ends up hating authority. How he ends up being, well, evil. The album sounds much more like the Kinks, not just Ray Davies with a bunch of musicians. The song 'No More Looking Back' is a wonderful song, with a great bassline, great guitar played by Dave Davies, and great (not overly theatrical) singing. Yes, I did like this album. And though I haven't enjoyed every moment of Ray Davies's strange concept album creations, there have been some moments of true genius.

2011-02-16T17:46:00.003Z

So... my WoW account was hacked! I haven't played in ages but it still feels like someone's tried to steal something I put a lot of time and effort into. And I have no idea how they even did it. It can't have been a key logger or anything like that because I haven't played it for a couple of years. How did they know my username and password? Anyway, first I knew about it was when I had an e-mail saying my WoW account had been merged with a Battle.net account. Since I hadn't done that, I contacted Blizzard, and now they've merged it with a new Battle.net account created by me. I think they might reset it. Or they might have done that already. I guess the only way I'd know for sure if everything's ok is if I log into WoW, and I don't really want to do that. I just didn't want someone else to steal my characters! And I want to know how they stole my account. Ho hum... Blizzard were very quick to respond though. Hooray!

2011-02-16T17:36:00.002Z

Ok, so 'Soap Opera' (1975) - after the heights of 'Preservation' it's a bit of a let down. It's ok, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. It's basically an album about celebrity and fame - an ordinary man called Norman who wants to be a rock star. The rest of the Kinks didn't really like it much, I think, but Ray Davies had an idea and they supported him in it - best to let him get it out of his system! Mick Avory (the drummer) said they viewed it as a separate project that Ray wanted to do. So there you go. :)

2011-02-10T15:16:00.004Z

Album Project update - I've listened to 'Preservation Act 1' (1973) and 'Preservation Act 2' (1974). I've listened to them quite a few times, once with the CD inlays to try and understand exactly what's going on! The thing about these albums, you see, is that they're basically one very long rock opera. Ray Davies wrote it to create a musical extravaganza with some of the same themes as 'Village Green', though it's much darker. It was originally supposed to be released as a double album but due to various problems it was released in two 'Acts', one of which (the second) contains most of the storyline. Without knowing who's singing the songs and what the scene is, some of it doesn't make sense. It would be brilliant to see the whole thing performed. But due to its length, they never played all the songs in concert, just a cut down version. I'd have loved to have seen them in costume as Mr Flash and his cronies, though.

I will try to explain what's going on...

1. Morning Song (CHORUS) - an opening with no words.
2. Daylight (CHORUS) - sets the scene - there's the village green, the sun rising, everyone getting up and going to work...
3. Sweet Lady Genevieve (TRAMP) - a drunken tramp full of regret longs for his Genevieve.
4. There's A Change In The Weather (WORKING CLASS MAN, MIDDLE CLASS MAN, UPPER CLASS MAN) - some sort of change is on the way - will it be a change for the better or a terrible calamity?
5. Where Are They Now? (TRAMP) - a song about change, basically.
6. One Of The Survivors (JOHNNY THUNDER & CHORUS) - one of the characters from 'Village Green', he stays the same though the world changes around him.
7. Cricket (THE VICAR) - we see the traditional sermonising of the vicar, old fashioned and somewhat comforting.
8. Money & Corruption/I Am Your Man (CHORUS & MR BLACK) - there's unrest as people grow fed up of crooked politicians. Mr Black steps in and says he can put things right.
9. Here Comes Flash (CHORUS & SCARED HOUSEWIVES) - oh no, the evil Mr Flash is on the way! He is the personification of the evil that Mr Black is so against...
10. Sitting In The Midday Sun (TRAMP) - still cheerful, the Tramp sings that things aren't so bad as long as you can sit in the sunshine.
11. Demolition (FLASH & HIS CRONIES) - they're knocking everything down and building cheap houses to line their pockets. Boo!
12. Announcement - Mr Black has formed a People's Army to overthrow Mr Flash.
13. Introduction to Solution (TRAMP) - Mr Black is waiting for the right moment to strike, Mr Flash is in his den drinking. A battle is looming!
14. When A Solution Comes (MR BLACK) - in his attic, Mr Black bides his time. He plans to change the world!
15. Money Talks (FLASH, FLOOSIES & SPIVS) - Mr Flash sings about how you can corrupt anyone with money.
16. Announcement - Mr Black is to address the people.
17. Shepherds Of The Nation (MR BLACK & THE DO-GOODERS) - Mr Black tells the people of the puritanical moral standards that are needed to fix things.
18. Scum Of The Earth (FLASH, FLOOSIES & SPIVS) - Mr Flash sings about how he's only human... Good and evil exist in all of us.
19. Secondhand Car Spiv (FLASH, FLOOSIES & SPIVS) - Mr Flash came up from the gutter and now he's in charge of the country.
20. He's Evil (MR BLACK & FOLLOWERS) - a party political broadcast about how Mr Flash is evil!
21. Mirror Of Love (BELLE) - a song by Flash's special floosie. She loves him even though he's cruel.
22. Announcement - Mr Black and the People's Army have won a major victory.
23. Nobody Gives (TRAMP) - the normally cheerful tramp despairs. People never give unless they get something in return.
24. Oh Where Oh Where Is Love? (TRAMP & THE DO-GOODERS) - what happened to love, hope, sympathy and trust, faith, joy in simplicity, regard and respect? Why's the world become so BAD?
25. Flash's Dream (FLASH) - after a hard day campaigning, with Mr Black and his army closing in on him, Flash dreams that he is visited by his soul. It warns him that his end is nigh...
26. Flash's Confession (FLASH) - following the dream, Flash confesses all the evil he's done, all his cruelty, ego and conceit.
27. Nothing Lasts Forever (FLASH & BELLE) - on the run, Flash turns to Belle for help. They agree to go their separate ways.
28. Announcement - Mr Flash is captured by Mr Black and the People's Army!
29. Artificial Man (FLASH, MR BLACK & MAD SCIENTIST) - Mr Flash is taken to a secret hideout to have his brain cleansed and his mind conditioned. If the only way to make the world perfect is to mess with everyone's minds then it doesn't sound like such a perfect world...
30. Scrapheap City (BELLE & THE FLOOSIES) - Mr Black's new world is featureless and, ultimately, less appealing than Mr Flash's corrupt old world.
31. Announcement - a state of emergency is declared, with curfews, rationing, the closure of places of public entertainment, TV and radio stations.
32. Salvation Road (EVERYBODY) - the people got what they wanted. There's an end to corruption. Everyone's the same. But there's no freedom, only fear...

So there you go. I haven't done it justice in this brief summary. The basis of the story is that to start with you think Flash is evil, Mr Black is good. But gradually you see that Mr Black is more evil than Flash was! It probably would have worked a bit better if it hadn't been released as two Acts, since it is fairly disjointed, but, well, it's amazing. :)

2011-02-10T15:13:00.002Z

Well this week has been a busy week! Mum and Dad came on Friday and we've been decorating the living room ever since. It was complicated by Mum and Dad both being fairly ill at times. I don't seem to have caught anything..! Anyway, after days of solidly decorating, all that's left now is to have a new carpet fitted tomorrow and put everything back. And get a new CD/DVD storage unit of some sort. I wasn't really expecting them to say they'd fit the carpet tomorrow. I've had to ask for an extra day off work! What a nice way to spend my holiday. :)

2011-02-03T22:15:00.001Z

Oh look, it's Dave Davies's birthday today. :)

2011-02-01T19:21:00.003Z

I have done something a bit interesting, while I think about it, I went to a talk by the historian Michael Wood last night. It was about his Kibworth TV programme. He was very good! :)

Oh, and we had a good laugh about the canteen's menu this week. It seemed to feature soups such as 'Vegan & Parsnip Soup with Basil Croutons', 'Vegan & Broccoli & Stilton Soup' and 'Vegan & Leek & Bacon Soup'. It seems a bit mean to eat Vegans with meat. I mean, cheese is bad enough, but bacon? That's just being ultra mean.

2011-02-01T19:04:00.005Z

Hmm, I have to admit I have hit upon a section of The Kinks that I like a lot less... Since I last blogged I have listened to 'Muswell Hillbillies' (1971) and 'Everybody's in Showbiz' (1972).

'Muswell Hillbillies' is the first album The Kinks made with their new record label RCA (they had formerly been with Pye). They set out to make an album that had no obvious singles on it, since Pye had been promoting singles to the detriment of the albums... I think the reason I like it less is the 'pub jazz' flavour bought to it by the Mike Cotton Sound (who stayed with The Kinks for many years). Still, it has some interesting songs, some of which are very dark.

'Everybody's in Showbiz' has the same sort of sound as 'Muswell Hillbillies', still featuring the Mike Cotton Sound. But it has a couple of songs I love, like 'Celluloid Heroes'. And it was a double album, with a second disc - a live show recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1972. For four years of their early career The Kinks had been banned from touring America, and now they were in and (apparently) big hits. 'Everybody's in Showbiz' (and indeed 'Muswell Hillbillies') do have a certain American flavour to them. Perhaps that was where the band wanted to make it big. I don't know. Apparently The Kinks had often had a bit too much to drink when they performed live, resulting in often shambolic performances. The live album does seem to reflect this!

2011-01-29T11:24:00.002Z

I have now listened to 'Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One' (1970). I guess you'd have to have been living under a rock not to know the song 'Lola'. But in many ways it doesn't fit with the theme of the album. There are some great songs on here about the music industry, including one that unflatteringly mentions some of the Kinks managers. I think 'Denmark Street' is one of my favourite tracks on the album - a song about getting a record deal. The mix of styles on here, including the scariness of Dave Davies' songs, makes it have even greater depth than it would have done. And yet it all works together in one album! :)

There never was a Part Two, if you were wondering. They were planning one but ended up making 'Muswell Hillbillies' instead...

2011-01-27T19:01:00.003Z

Meant to go swimming but I have a headache. Getting them quite a bit lately. Ho hum. Anyway, that means I can blog while my bath is running!

I will do an Album Project update! (Big surprise!) Today I listened to the seventh studio album by The Kinks - 'Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire' (1969). This is a marvellous album full of all sorts of things that give the British their identity (including the hope of a new life emigrating to the colonies!). It's an album full of songs about the working man, war, class, hopes and dreams and everyday life. It's an album full of emotion. It's brilliant stuff, even though you may not have heard any of the songs on it before. Perhaps you've heard 'Victoria'. But chances are it would all be new to you.

The album was written for a TV project, though Granada pulled out and in the end it was only released as an album. The project featured a man called Arthur. The original story of Arthur (from the album cover) is as follows:

Arthur? Oh, of course, England and knights and round tables. Excailbre, Camelot. "So all day long the noise of battle roll'd among the mountains by the winter sea". Sorry, no. This is Arthur Morgan, who lives in a London suburb in a house called Shangri-La, with a garden and a car and a wife called Rose and a son called Derek. Derek who's married to Liz, and they have these two very nice kids, Terry and Marilyn. Derek and Liz and Terry and Marilyn are emigrating to Australia. Arthur did have another son, called Eddie. He was named for Arthur's brother, who was killed in the battle of the Somme. Arthur's Eddie was killed, too - in Korea. His son, Ronnie, is a student and he thinks the world's got to change one hell of a lot before it's going to be good enough for him. Derek thinks it's changed a bloody sight too much - he can't stick England any more, all these bloody bureaucrats everywhere, bloody hell, he's getting out. Ronnie and Derek don't exactly get on. Arthur wasn't named for Arthur of Camelot and all that, he was called after Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, 1st Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex, because Arthur's parents knew their place, and children ought to be named in honour of Queen Victoria's children, and Prince Arthur, you know, he was her third and married... Arthur has spent most of his life on his knees, laying carpets. Oh, and he had his plans, he was thinking very seriously indeed about setting up on his own, only he hadn't much in the way of savings and there was this Hitler and... it all seemed a bit risky. There were the children to think of, weren't there? Arthur doesn't like risks, he never has. He bought a car instead, and took the kids out on Sundays. Things aren't exactly easy now he's retired, but he owns his own house, and most of his car. You've got to be careful. But you don't want to worry too much about the world, the way Ronnie does, or complain all the time like Derek, you're not going to get anywhere like that, you know. You want to take things as they come.

Things have been coming at Arthur all his life. Arthur's life, and the life of millions of English people like him, is shown through the songs Ray Davies has written. The Granada TV story in which they're set all takes place on Derek and Liz's last day in England. Nothing happens very much - everyone has Sunday dinner together, then Ronnie turns up and the men go to the pub where Ronnie gets all worked up about The System, while Liz and Rose talk about the past, and then Arthur takes them all to the boat, and they have a picnic on the way, and all the time Arthur's remembering his life and... It's been a sad day for Arthur, seeing them off. People haven't been nearly as nice to Arthur as he's been to them, and... What's it all about, then? Is this what he's lived for? He's got the house, hasn't he? And the car? It's been a good life, hasn't it? Well, hasn't it?

(By Julian Mitchell)

2011-01-26T22:01:00.004Z

Ok, there we go, watched some TV and ate dinner then listened to the 15 track version of 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society' on CD, rather than the odd 15 track mono/stereo mix I seemed to have on my iPod! Feel much better now.

I remembered one thing that has happened to us recently - Rob and I are no longer church homegroup leaders... It was our last homegroup meeting last night. It was a fun evening, lots of lovely food and entertaining company. It won't be the same being in another group. It wasn't like it was our idea to stop, but it is probably a good idea. Ho hum.

2011-01-26T19:23:00.003Z

Well, not much has happened to me of any interest. Feeling kind of bleugh, but I have the evening to myself now so I shall go and do some interesting things in a minute. :)

I have now listened to one of the best albums of all time - 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society' (1968). The only downside to this album (in the form I listened to it in) is that is has some rather odd stereo treatments. But, well, what can I say that hasn't already been said about this album? When you work in the 'heritage sector' it's still very relevant. Trying to save the old when everyone wants the new. It's an album full of reminiscences about the way things used to be. And the weird thing is that you probably won't recognise any of the songs unless you're a big Kinks fan. Listen to it in its entirety and it's a wonderful concept album. And I think it's the first Kinks album I bought. Must be 10 years ago now. Hooray!

Ah, when I say you are unlikely to recognise any of the songs, you might recognise 'Picture Book' since Hewlett-Packard used it in one of their adverts. Amazing.

2011-01-25T18:26:00.002Z

The Album Project continues... I have now listened to 'Something Else by The Kinks' (1967). I didn't enjoy this quite as much as 'Face to Face', though it ends with the iconic (is that the right word?) song 'Waterloo Sunset'. Possibly one of the best songs ever written. :)

2011-01-24T19:38:00.002Z

So, I have now listened to The Kinks' fourth album, 'Face to Face' (1966). It was a joy to listen to - lots of wonderfully crafted songs full of social comment. And some fantastic harpsichord, too. :) Song you're most likely to recognise? 'Sunny Afternoon', I think. (Probably worth mentioning that 'Dedicated Follow of Fashion' was only released as a single, it wasn't on an album...)

2011-01-23T16:42:00.003Z

Today, as part of my Album Project, I listened to 'The Kink Kontroversy' (1965). I first started listening to The Kinks because my Dad said that, like Blur, they wrote songs to tell stories. This is the first Kinks album that has story-telling songs on it, like 'The World Keeps Going Round' and 'I'm on an Island'. It's also the first Kinks album to have keyboards. The song you're most likely to recognise on it is 'Till the End of the Day'.

2011-01-22T12:22:00.002Z

Album project update! (That needs a catchier name.) I have now listened to 'Kinda Kinks' (1965). There's no harmonica. No Beatles-esque harmonies. This is an album that sounds like The Kinks. Hooray! It's likely, however, that the only track you'd recognise is 'Tired of Waiting for You'. And also the cover of 'Dancing in the Street', which is a little messy compared to the rest of the album...

2011-01-20T19:26:00.004Z

I decided I'd have a project this year. A fun project, but still a bit of a sad, geeky one. I was thinking about all the CDs I have, and I thought that it's a shame I don't really listen to albums any more. I tend to just hit shuffle on my iPod. I used to lie in bed with a CD player and headphones and focus all my attention on the music... Ah, those were the days...

Anyway, so, here's my plan: I'll listen to all the studio albums by various artists in chronological order. (Perhaps it's just a sneaky way for me to justify filling the gaps in what I own - I couldn't possibly comment.) Where possible I'll listen to them properly, though I expect I will listen to some on the bus. But the main rule is that I have to listen to the whole album in a day, with no shuffling. (So if I don't manage to finish an album on the way to work I'm allowed to finish it later. And I'm listening to reconstructed versions of the original releases (a lot of the CD re-releases have extra tracks).

The first band I have chosen is The Kinks. I was very excited to find out that they re-issued a lot of their albums last year, so I could finally get my hands on them. Sadly, they haven't re-released their last three, Think Visual (1986), UK Jive (1989) and Phobia (1993). I guess I am let off listening to those, since I can't get them at the moment. (Perhaps if I became obsessed I could get a record player and look on eBay, but...) This leaves me with, I think, 20 Kinks albums to listen to. (Hooray!)

And so, I started this musical adventure by listening to their self titled album, released in 1964. The stand out song on this album, and indeed the only track most people would recognise as being by The Kinks, is 'You Really Got Me'. It's fairly different to the other tracks, a lot of which weren't written by The Kinks. The album really sounds like the 60s - lots of Beatles-esque harmonies and rockin' harmonica. The album doesn't include their other big 1964 hit - 'All Day and All of the Night' - which was only released as a single. ('You Really Got Me' went to #1 in the UK, whereas 'All Day and All of the Night' only reached #2.)

So, that's the first thing I've listened to following this mad idea. I'm really looking forward to listening to things I haven't heard for ages. (And the new things I've bought to fill the gaps!) I'm thinking David Bowie, Blur, The Police, Muse, Billy Joel, hmm, there are so many things to listen to! Maybe there are some other people out there who will join me in this quest.

Incidentally, I don't think it's just me who's become a little saddened by the almost disposable nature of a lot of music these days. Albums are finely crafted works of art, not things where you pick out the couple of tracks you like and ignore the rest. When I make mix tapes (I say tapes, CDs?) for friends I spend ages figuring out what order to put the tracks in. I was heartened to see this article on the BBC website: Are record clubs the new book clubs?. I'm not going so far as to buy £12,000 speakers, but what a great idea! :D

2011-01-18T18:55:00.002Z

Salt that tastes of things other than salt? Who could THINK of such a thing?! Salt that tastes of chicken? The STANDARD seasoning at takeaways? WHAT?!!??!? Australians!!!!!

And don't even get me started on BACON SALT!!!! Americans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-13T12:40:00.002Z

Today the catering department is serving 'Nut Roast With Accompliment' - almost makes me want to go down there and see what that is exactly. Either they've mispelled Accompaniment or they're giving people Compliments. I like to think the latter. :)

2011-01-12T22:16:00.001Z

Just spend over 2 hours making .txt files of all my old Stargate fanfic so I could put it on Rob's Kindle. Do you think he'll notice? Mwahahaha...

2011-01-05T22:51:00.002Z

Spent hours this evening sorting out my iTunes library. It was a mixture of bad tags, iTunes being stupid and a mix of aac and mp3 files that were the problem... It was much easier in the old days, just had to keep my CDs alphabetical. Though I suppose the 10,000 songs are slightly more portable on an iPod. ;)

I synced it all to the external hard drive and everything. Now I can put my new Christmas CDs onto the computer! I did just order a bunch more Kinks CDs as well, don't tell Rob. I'm filling up the house with CDs. How terrible. I'm sure a lot of the Kinks one were unavailable last time I looked - perhaps they've been re-issuing them. Hooray!

2011-01-03T21:22:00.003Z

I will blog in the vain hope that I will manage more blog posts this year - terrible that I haven't blogged since September! I kept meaning to but then more and more things happened and I couldn't be bothered to write the masses it would need to cover it all. Now I've forgotten so much of it that I figure it's safe to post. :)

Last year some pretty rubbish things happened, some of which I've managed to get over, some I haven't (not completely, anyway). I had my first tooth filled. I guess I'm 31 so that was going to happen at some point. But hey. It was overly sensitive and I went back a few times. It still pains me, but I don't want to have to spend ages getting it re-filled. It seems to only be worth if it the pain's unbearable. I know I'm not alone in hating dentists... Other rubbish things, well, I hurt my back, and the second time it happened (whilst making tea!) I ended up being driven home from work and having to take a few days off. The physiotherapist gave me stretches to do and I've now been discharged, so hopefully it won't happen again. Sitting at a computer all day is, apparently, bad for you. Who'd have thought?

As Leicestershire's HER officer, I was asked to send some data to the team making Michael Wood's Story of England, and it was interesting to see the end result on the TV. I also went to a Time Team dig, the second one I've been to, so that was kind of cool. As an archaeologist we all like to make out that we hate Time Team, but it's a sort of love/hate thing. We love it for the brief moment of publicity it gives us. And in the current climate, we need all the help we can get. 2010 was also the year we found out our small team of ecology/archaeology/historic buildings specialists would be cut by 80%. Scary. No way of knowing how many of us will be left by the end of 2011...

The Formula One was very exciting - I was cheering for Mark Webber but Sebastian Vettel probably did deserve it in the end. Hopefully this year will be as good!

We just had our front room (dining room) totally replastered and decorated. It's looking very posh. The carpet should arrive tomorrow, following two previous attempts to get it put in. It's the first major thing we've had done to the house since we moved in and it was a lot more work than we thought it'd be. It was more work than the builder thought it would be, I think! 3/4 of a tonne of plaster fell off the ceiling. Wow!

I suppose a major thing that happened in 2010 was us getting a new Fiat 500. I think Rob is still happy with it. I've driven it, hmm, twice maybe? I know, I should drive it more. Hmm.

I've bought a lot of Batman graphic novels, and some other interesting ones like FreakAngels. Rob is trying to convert me to a Kindle but I'm not going to be easily convinced. Besides, graphic novels need to be in colour. I still buy my music on CD, there's no way I want an e-reader!

Christmas was good, my Mum and Dad and brother John all came to Leicester to visit. John's only just gone back to Southend this evening. I'm having a nice long break, using up some of my holiday. Don't have to go to work until Friday. Hooray! I think I may play quite a bit of Assassins Creed Brotherhood tomorrow, since it's the only day I have of my holiday where I'll be alone. Yay! Yay for the shiny black PS3!

Ah, whilst thinking of games, I should mention my favourite game of 2010 was Red Dead Redemption. Brilliant storyline! Very sad. And my least favourite game, or at least the most disappointing, was Fallout New Vegas. I have never played a buggier game on the PS3, and I'm actually now scared to play it since it crashes fairly regularly. So it's not just the annoying bugs like people getting stuck running into mountains, etc, it's crashes that could be hurting my PS3! How they took Fallout 3 and made such a buggy game out of it, I do not know.

Other favourites, hmm, Castle has been a must see. And Sherlock was brilliant.

There were probably loads more things I've enjoyed about 2010 but, well, I'll leave it here.

Wow I have a lot of episodes of Neighbours to catch up on... *sigh*

2010-09-09T18:15:00.003+01:00

Aargh a whole month since I last blogged... kept leaving it since I thought there was an increasing amount to blog about, but I guess I've forgotten enough now to make it a bit shorter. ;)

August was a month of birthdays. First of all it was Rob's dad's birthday and his sister's, then it was mine... I am now 31! My annual trip to the dentist resulted in me having to have my first filling, which was not fun (I'm terrified of dentists) but the lady was really nice to me. I guess when you're as old as I am stuff just starts to wear out. Heheh.

For my birthday I had a few friends round on the Saturday and we played games and ate jacket potatoes. Then, on the Sunday, Mum, Dad and John, Rob and I went to Santa Pod for Mini in the Park. Yay for minis! It was fun watching the new minis facing off the old minis on the drag strip. :)

I think it was on the 7th that we bought our new hamster, who is called Hugo. To begin with he was completely terrified of everyone and everything, scarily bouncing off all the surfaces in the cage when he was spooked. He seems a lot better now, which is good, I didn't really know what to do if he didn't get better. Are there hamster psychiatrists?

I went to various leaving dos for my friend Lucy, who has now left to move to Istanbul (not Constantinople). I will miss her a lot, ho hum. At least she managed to have lots of parties before she left, and there may be more to come!

Went to see The Expendables, which made me laugh. Good old fashioned action film, less computer generated special effects, more 80s heroes. Woo!

We had a church fun day on the 22nd, photos of which you can see here. The weather was good and the gladiator pole was certainly very popular...

The bank holiday weekend was interesting since we went to North 2010. It was camping, and during packing for camping I managed to pull a muscle in my side/back. It hurt so much... The first night camping I kept waking up and crying. (Sorry Rob!) We went out and bought heat patches, painkillers and a hot water bottle and things got a bit easier. The weekend was odd, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It had church style meetings with everyone, with singing and talks, and seminars. It also had a terrible gale at one point, when various people's tents broke in the wind! Lots of extra pegs were used, and guy ropes, etc.

We had a reply from the complaint we sent to Ansa, where they (basically) said they hadn't done anything wrong. The incorrect exhaust mounting was their supplier's fault, not theirs (never mind they should have been able to tell it wasn't right when fitting it). And so on. Ho hum. I'm almost more annoyed than if I just hadn't bothered complaining. They offered us a free MOT but I wanted an apology, not free stuff. Boo.

Hmm... the last thing I will mention is my wedding anniversary. Rob and I have now been married for 6 years! (Wow, how did that happen.) Entertainingly, Rob had agreed to go camping with my brother, having forgotten what date our anniversary was. But they had a good time. And we went out for a slightly disappointing chinese meal when he'd returned. :)

So, that's about it.

2010-07-31T09:43:00.003+01:00

I'd just like to mention two things: Woolworths and the poor treatment of our Mini at the hands of Ansa (continued). To expand upon these things...

On holiday I was very excited when we went to Dorchester because we went to Wellworths! I had seen news items when they opened the store - when Woolworths went bankrupt the old Woolworths store manager set it up, and it was opened by Chris Evans. It was brilliant! Just like the old Woolworths, but before it got quite so tatty. I bought some Dorset Knob Biscuits (no sniggering) and a Fratellis CD for £2.99. Yay!

The second thing I want to say is to continue the tale of our Mini's poor treatment at the hands of Ansa. It seems people were increasingly correct when they said that being a Christian business doesn't make them good mechanics. A few months back they fixed our exhaust. I thought it looked a bit odd, and now John has it he decided to see why. Apparently they'd used the wrong mounting (a Cooper S mounting), so it was much too low. Fixing it turned into a bit of a nightmare since the bolts broke, which wasn't Ansa's fault, but they probably should have a) ordered the right part in the first place or b) not continued putting the wrong part on when they realised it wasn't right. D'oh...

2010-07-29T20:09:00.003+01:00

Ok, so, since I blogged last I have been on holiday for a week! I went to a place near Dorchester with my husband Rob, brother John, and my mum and dad. We stayed in a self catering cottage - Badger Cottage. (We did see a badger so it was probably allowed to be called that.)

We did lots of things, as always (not good at staying still when on holiday):

Sat 17th - travelled down to Dorset by driving all along the Fosse Way. Had lunch at an interesting pub with a railway carriage parked out the back (we ate inside the carriage). Once we'd unpacked etc in the evening we went for a walk. A lady shouted at us for not knowing which way the footpath went; the sign was inside a giant plant. If she was that annoyed about people going the wrong way in her farmyard she could have cleared away the giant plant! For crying out loud.

Sun 18th - went to a steam fair near Portland Bill, then Rob, John and I went west to Abbotsbury. Walked around and ended up on the Chesil Beach. Rob tried to bury John under lots of stones. Saw a sheep in a pillbox. Ended up quite sunburnt (in an odd way, too, since it was cold enough with the wind to keep my jacket on).

Mon 19th - went to a car boot sale/market at Bowleaze Cove, then looked at Jordan Hill Roman temple, then went on to Athelhampton House. The house was very interesting, with lots of old pictures of Parliament. And the formal gardens were impressive.

Tues 20th - spent most of the day at the Bovington Tank Museum, visiting a small ciden museum on the way back. The surprising thing about the cider museum was that there was also a collection of long case clocks (grandfather clocks). I don't think I've ever seen such a nice collection of clocks!

Wed 21st - went to Cerne Abbas, saw the giant, looked around the village (was followed around the abbey by a cat). The village was lovely, if a bit spookily deserted... Had a walk round the nearby Minterne Garden. Then late in the afternoon we found Eggardon Hill Fort, where it was very, very, windy.

Thurs 22nd - visited Dorchester. The Dorset County Museum was the best, had a vast collection of quite random things. Learnt about the aqueduct, saw lots of mosaics (and walked on them), and there was a lot of Maiden Castle stuff. The Tutankhamun and Mummies exhibitions weren't so exciting, though the 'recreated scenes' in the Tutankhamun place were good. There should have been more of those.

Fri 23rd - went to a craft place then to the Blue Pool, where we had cream teas prepared by some lovely old ladies. :) Would have been more enjoyable if we hadn't been afraid of being eaten by giant killer ants if we stood still. Hehe. Visited Maiden Castle in the evening.

Sat 24th - sadly time to go home... Took ages, due to general weight of traffic, accidents, etc. Ah well.

All in all, good weather and lots of things to see. Though now I wish I had been to the Royal Signals Museum, since I'm trying to write about Beaumanor Hall for something. D'oh!

If you want to see some photos I put some on Facebook.

Since the holiday not much has happened. John took the Mini back to Southend, so it's gone away now forever. Boo. I miss it, which is silly I know, but I liked that car. I'd always wanted one of those things. And now it has gone. :(

Maybe we'll get our new car soon, it's supposed to finally be ready tomorrow. But I want my Mini back!

Aargh.

2010-07-14T21:39:00.003+01:00

So, what have I been up to since I last blogged... Well, work has been pretty hectic. There always seem to be lots of meetings to go to in July - the sort that are national meetings held once or twice a year. They're usually very interesting, and it's fun to go to places (when I can get to them easily on trains so I don't worry too much!).

Yesterday I went to Northampton for a meeting in the morning (got a lift with someone) and then on to a pub for lunch and a site visit wandering around Stanford Hall. The site visit was fascinating though we were very wet by the end of it! We were looking at all the bits of parkland that are being done up as part of a Higher Level Stewardship farm scheme. And we almost got trampled by horses, which was exciting.

We finally managed to get our Mini fixed - took it to another garage and they did it within a few days (we were waiting weeks for Ansa to do it, kind of got fed up with them - we only have one car so it was very inconvenient having it off the road). It was only the clutch in the end, not the flywheel, but it still cost £509. (D'oh!) At least now we can sell a working car to John! I will miss that car, I am very fond of Minis. Even if they are new BMW Minis. :)

The British GP was exciting, in the end the Brits did well (Hamilton was second and Button came from 14th up to 4th, impressively), and Mark Webber won (hooray!). I wished I was there. It's so expensive though, I haven't been for years. Maybe I will go again at some point. Hmm...

We bought a new hamster cage. I went a bit mad buying stuff online. We've needed a few things for a while now and hadn't gotten round to ordering them, like a mattress. And I figured we should finally get a summer duvet, which is a bit late considering we've had a lot of hot weather so it'll probably keep raining now for the rest of the year! (This is exciting, isn't it?) Keep buying stuff via this Top CashBack website. It's a good deal, I'm making some money back (woo!).

My brother John's coming tonight, travelling up from Southend. We're all going on holiday together soon. The idea was that if he came up on the train he could go home in his new Mini. And then we'll be without a car for a few days until we can have our new Fiat 500. Oooh.

Anyway, that's about it. :)

2010-06-29T18:01:00.002+01:00

Since I last blogged a few rubbishy things have happened. The first thing (and the most recent) is that our hamster Heidi died on Sunday. She hadn't been very well for a while so it was good that she didn't keep hanging around, but still... she was a funny hamster. The most vocal hamster I've ever had, squeaking really loudly when she wanted things (mainly for Rob to feed her). She ended up pretty enormous. Not fat, just enormous. :)

The other thing, which was particularly rubbish, was that when I was walking back from Morrisons along Saffron Lane, in broad daylight (about 5.30) one evening, a couple of men came up to me. I thought they were going to ask me for directions but one of them said, "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" and things went downhill from there. I kept walking but there's nowhere to run to along that embanked bit of Saffron Lane. So I talked to them, I didn't want to make them annoyed. There were two of them, I wouldn't be able to do much if they got annoyed.

It was weird, one of them did most of the talking and the other one just laughed at how funny he was. I kept insisting that I didn't want to go into the bushes or back to his flat, but they wouldn't leave me alone. The guy was being fairly explicit. He kept trying to hold my hand and he touched my shoulder at one point, pushing my bra strap up (it had fallen down a bit). Really horrible. The worst thing is that somehow I feel that it must have been my fault - like I could have done something to make them go away. I talked to the police about it, they took a statement etc, and they said I'd done the right thing. Apparently it's pretty unusual for things like that to happen. I'm a bit paranoid about walking around now, which is annoying since I like walking home from work. :(

Anyway, I've walked around since then and nothing has happened. And I've lived in this bit of Leicester for nearly 10 years and it's the first time anything like that has happened, so...

In other news, my Dad has now retired. He took early retirement (he's only 61). His job was making him ill (at least, he seemed better when he was off work).

Can't think what else has happened. We're without a car since it broke and the parts are on order (it has been a while now, makes life difficult at times!). We have to get it fixed so we can sell it to John - our new car will arrive before too long. Rob's quite excited about that. :)

So, that's about it. RIP Heidi, who is now sleeping with Hovis at the bottom of the garden... If there is a hamster heaven I hope it's got a lot of monkey nuts.

2010-06-06T13:02:00.005+01:00

Reading James's blog I realise that I never blogged about Eurovision!

Personally I think the strongest songs were:

Satellite by Lena, the eventual winner. Graham Norton described her as a cross between Lily Allen and Bjork - I couldn't see how that was possible, but she IS! I think it can only be a good thing if the winner actually does reflect the tastes of Europe. :)

We Could Be The Same by manGa. I hadn't heard of these guys, though apparently they won some sort of MTV Europe Music Award? They sound quite like Linkin Park. (Who I have to admit I do like, so...) They came 2nd, which is possibly the best place to finish for a successful band - not a disgrace but not a cheesy Eurovision win!

Me And My Guitar by Tom Dice. A nice quiet ballad, simple, well performed. And Graham Norton was right when he said Tom sounded like Tracy Chapman! Weird but true. I don't think it's a bad thing to sound like her, though obviously Tom is a man and she is... a woman. Ho hum. He finished 6th.

Having said all that, the song I almost voted for was Lost And Forgotten by Russia. Let's face it, judging by the booing Russia were never going to win. And this is a weird Eurovision song. I think I liked it because it's sort of 70s. And I liked the crying at the badly drawn portrait. Amusingly theatrical. They finished 11th.

I wondered who let Greece sing about setting fire to stuff, etc, since that's what they've actually been doing that in Greece lately. I'd rather they didn't destroy all the old things they have, though it does bolster our argument for keeping the Elgin Marbles. ;)

As for the UK entry, That Sounds Good To Me by Josh Dubovie - well, I think whoever said it sounded like a rejected Jason Donovan song from the 80s was right. For crying out loud! I'd rather we went back to choosing the song and the singer rather than just the singer. (Shame on you Pete Waterman.) Not that that always works. I mean, why didn't we vote for Justin Hawkins (from The Darkness) and Beverlei Brown to be our entry in 2007? LOL, they rocked... But the general public chose Scooch. Honestly.