After spending the beautifully sunny afternoon with Gareth's parents I drove us to Bournemouth where we're seeing Girls Aloud later. As the sun was going down the reflection on the clouds and the sea was beautiful.



We walked to the International Centre and took our seats in the concert hall in readiness for the girls! The concert began with the girls suspended over the stage







and was non-stop fun from then on! I specifically loved "Call The Shots" and of course every move Kimberley made!

11.05.08

We got up extra early this morning so I could drive us to Oxford for a day of exploring and shopping. It was great to get there so early because the centre was really quiet. Once parked we found ourselves a 'Starbucks' for a breakfast coffee and muffin before setting off to explore the historic University city. One of the first "sights" I saw was Alex James, the bass player from the band 'Blur', using a cash machine!



The Radcliffe Camera



The Bridge Of Sighs



We climbed The Tower of the University Church of St.Mary The Virgin



with beautiful views across the city












 

03.05.08

We went to see the film 'Iron Man' tonight.



Despite some less than favourable reviews I really enjoyed it. Robert Downey Jnr. was superb in the title role.

01.05.08

We went to see 'Pam Ann' tonight at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke.



She was absolutely hilarious!! And I'll never ever believe that CSD stands for 'Cabin Services Director' ever again as Pam maintains it actually stands for 'C**t Standing at the Door'!
It was great to see my old boss Tim there, with his wife Frances. At least there was one straight man in the room!

27.04.08

Another birthday! I'm sure they come around quicker than they used to! Thank you to everyone who sent cards and texts!

I drove down to Portsmouth tonight to see 'Passenger' for the second time this month. They played brilliantly and it was a great final gig to their tour.

21.04.08

I was never a huge 'Lily Allen' fan but when I saw her perform at the 'Keane Curates For War Child' gig last year I thought she was both beautiful and amazing. I heard two new songs she's recording today via her 'myspace' page, "I Don't Know" and "I Could Say". Both absolutely brilliant! Go check them out!

Tonight I drove to Oxford to see 'James' play at the New Theatre. What a brilliant gig!



They are promoting their new album "Hey Ma" but also played some absolute classics including "Born Of Frustration", "Ring The Bells", "Come Home", "She's A Star", "Sound" and "Tomorrow".



During the encore they played "Say Something" and lead singer Tim Booth wandered into the audience,



walking across seats as he sang. He stopped just inches from me to sing the last chorus which was amazing!



They finished the gig with "Sometimes" which started one of the most amazing sing-a-longs I've ever been part of. A truly amazing gig!

19.04.08

I travelled down to Portsmouth tonight to see 'Jake Shillingford' play a gig at the The Cellars At Eastney. It took a bit of finding as I wasn't expecting a small corner pub, but once inside it became quite a magical gig.
Jake was on great form



 and the audience really loved the songs, a mixture of 'My Life Story', 'ExileInside' and his newer solo work, all represented on the acoustic album "Written Large".



It was particularly great when the crowd joined in the "Baa's" in "Strumpet" and got to see the legendary "Omnichord" being played!!



I got to catch up with Jake afterwards to get the news on the tour etc, always a pleasure!

31.03.08

The garden is looking beautiful at the moment,



 with daffodils popping up everywhere.

28.03.08

After the excitement of seeing a Wren in the garden the other day I was greeted by a Blackcap on the bird feeder this morning.



I'm sure I must be getting old when these kind of events make my day!

26.03.08

With all the travelling of the last few days I've been able to indulge in a bit of reading and have loved "A Quiet Belief In Angels"



by R.J.Ellory. Typically I bought it as an afterthought as I was buying another book (which I've yet to read!) and there was a 'Buy One Get One Half Price' offer on, so I literally just grabbed it off the shelf. So glad I did because it really was one of those books that you can't put down.

25.03.08

Although the day started bright enough, by the time I checked out of the hotel the snow had returned. My plan was to properly explore the centre of Malmö so I wandered the streets and saw various sights including the statue of King Karl X Gustav in Stortorget,
 


the Apoteket Lejonet Pharmacy dating from the 1890's,



and the City Hall



 but eventually the snowfall got so bad



that I took refuge in an Espresso House and sat in the warmth to read my book and indulge in a soya latte! It was soon time to get the train back over the Öresund Bridge to Copenhagen and my flight home.

24.03.08

I woke up to a beautifully sunny day. Yesterday Malmö had appeared to be quite a dull place but the appearance of the sun seemed to bring it to life. I got a bus which took me through beautiful suburbs that yesterday I would have thought were oppressed and miserable. My journey was to the beach suburb of Sibbarp to get a better view of the Öresund Bridge. Since I was a child I've always had a fascination with big bridges, fuelled by the beauty of the Severn Bridge and then the Second Severn Crossing. After the snow of yesterday I didn't imagine I'd be stood on a sandy beach in the sunshine with a clear view.





Although it was still bitterly cold



 I walked for over 3 hours until I was actually underneath the bridge.



 As the cloud overtook the sunshine I started my walk back to the bus stop and when eventually I was back in my hotel room I stood under the hot water of the shower just to thaw out. After so much walking it was only right to curl up with my book and relax until the time to get ready for the concert came.
Tonight the venue was less packed which allowed me free access to stand wherever I liked, so I got quite a few different views.

















The band were amazing and clearly seemed to enjoy the gig, probably as it's the last one for a few months!

23.03.08

An early start, and as I drove to the airport the sleet storm began. By the time I parked, other cars were already white with snow. I've flown from Stansted so often recently I was straight to the departure lounge with no hold ups. The plane had to be de-iced before take off which always makes me nervous and I regretted watching the movie "Airplane" last night before the power failed!
One of the disorientating things about flying is that as soon as the plane breaks through the clouds you are greeted by beautiful blue skies



 and I always assume the weather in my destination must therefore be good! Wrong! It was blizzard like at the airport station



 but I was soon on the beautifully heated train to Malmö. It takes the Öresund Link, first through a 4km tunnel under the sea, then across a small island and over the 8km long bridge.
Malmö turned out to be just as cold and as I was too early to check into the hotel I walked to the Western Harbour for a view of the Öresund Bridge but due to the bad weather I could hardly make it out and the only sight that made the very long walk worthwhile was the Espresso House coffee shop! Next was a walk around the 'Turning Torso', a residential and business building, rising 190m making it the tallest building in Sweden.



 Bizarrely there is no public access to enjoy the view so I only saw it from the ground up!
After checking in and resting I walked from the hotel the few hundred yards to the Baltiska Hallen to see the first of two concerts by 'Kent', the final concerts of their winter tour. They were absolutely amazing as usual, the place was packed and they were adored!!











After the gig I was glad the hotel was such a short distance from the venue as the temperature had dropped to -8°!

22.03.08

The TV and radio were all warning of Bank Holiday travel chaos with crowds everywhere and roads jammed to a standstill. After a well deserved lie in I ventured out to the gym and almost had the place to myself. Then I packed and set off for the hotel I'd booked near Stansted airport in readiness for my flight to Malmö early tomorrow morning. Considering my journey involved 3 different motorways I got there without any delays at all. An almost uneventful journey apart from the thunder and lightning whilst on the M25 around London. What I'd planned to be a relaxing evening in my room, surfing the internet and watching TV went a bit wrong! For some reason the electricity at the hotel kept failing and not just for a few minutes either, hence no TV and no Wi-Fi for my laptop. After playing a few games of cards on my laptop I decided to have a quick nap until the power came back on. Which it did. Only to go back off again, then back on, then back off again! By the time it was finally back on it was past 11pm and Wi-Fi wouldn't work anymore, so as I was getting up at 4:30pm it was pointless trying to resume my evening so back to sleep I went.

21.03.08

As the mornings get lighter I get to watch all the birds queueing in the back garden to get their breakfast from the various bird feeders we have hanging out there. This morning I even saw a Wren, a beautiful sight.
As I stepped out the front door one of the regular visitors to the garden, a Robin, landed on the fence a few feet away from me and gave me over a minute of song. An absolute joy as most of the time it was looking straight at me. Maybe the delivery of Robin food that I received yesterday had caught its eye and I was being thanked in advance!

I travelled up to Wembley Arena in London tonight to see 'The Cure' play their first UK gig in a long time. True to form they played for over 3 hours but unlike the previous few times I've seen them, tonight they played a set made up of lots of their hit singles including "Friday I'm In Love",



"Inbetween Days" and my favourite "Wrong Number" as well as classic album tracks "Plainsong", "Push" and "A Night Like This".



A great gig!

20.03.08

I met up with good friend Richard tonight to watch 'Gary Numan' play at the University in Southampton. It's not one of the greatest venues I've been to, and gets very very hot, but we eventually found a good spot to watch the gig near the door so at least we got some cool air. And what a gig! Gary is touring as if he is promoting his 1979 album "Replicas",



 so lots of old songs were played. Classics such as "Down In The Park" and "Are 'Friends' Electric?" were greeted with rapturous cheers from the crowd and I was thrilled to hear old favourites like "Do You Need The Service" and "We Are So Fragile".
It was great to catch up with Richard too, always a pleasure!

14.03.08

We welcomed our great friends Scott and Jon to our place for a weekend visit.



I decided to cook a Thai Red Curry and even if I did get quite drunk by the time I served it up I have to say that I didn't do a bad job!
Great fun as always!

08.03.08