Went to Cardiff today to see U2. Met up with my friend Mark before going to the Millennium Stadium.
'Starsailor' were the first support band and were fabulous as usual!
'The Killers' followed, such a brilliant performance.
U2. They came, they played, they conquered. Superb.

29.06.05

Took my dog Bonnie for a walk in the local fields this morning. The view across the linseed was quite beautiful

though this crop is unusual because the flowers slowly close during the day and in the early evening the field is just completely green!

22.06.05

Met up with my friend Graham and travelled to Weston Super Mare for the T4 on the Beach gig. The weather was exceptionally hot so it was great to see huge signs over the entrance stating "No Bottles", so most people in the queue were quickly necking their drinks before they went in. I was armed with a two litre bottle of water and was prepared to fight to make sure I was allowed to take it in, but I had no problems because they actually meant no GLASS bottles. Derrrr! I hope the poor people who had to clear that part of the beach of the hundreds of discarded plastic bottles eventually see the funny side of the organisers utter stupidity.
It was an usual gig in that most acts got to play two numbers. Highlights were 'Athlete' and 'Doves'.
I have to give a special mention to the T4 website which stated that "you'd best get ready for some Rachel Stevens classics as well as some new material". I readied myself as best I could but nothing could prepare me for the enormous void of talent that Rachel Stevens is. She couldn't even mime with any conviction to the solitary "song" that she "performed".

19.06.05

My beautiful dog Lily passed away earlier this morning.
Last night she came for her early evening walk and then came upstairs to curl up in her bed as usual. It wasn't until I called her for her late night walk and she didn't want to come that I knew something was wrong. A rush to the vets confirmed she had a tumour and was losing blood rapidly. She died peacefully at around 7:30am. Her choice, in her time. No injections or operations. Her final hours with us had been spent doing the things that made her happy.



I'll miss her so much. The way she always wagged her tail when I was near. The way she sighed when she'd got comfortable and ready for a sleep. The way she stretched when she woke up. The way she loved to sit in the sunshine. The way she always managed to climb on me wherever I was sat so she could have a warm sleep. My beautiful dog. My friend, Lily.

16.06.05

A review of my time at the Isle Of Wight Festival will follow soon!

10.06.05

Our neighbour Ellie had offered to cut Gareth's hair for him so we met up tonight in our garden to get it done. The evening was helped along with some wine and both Gareth and I had our heads shaved!



 What happened after that is just a blur as the effects of the wine kicked in but our revelry ended sometime in the early hours! Ellies daughter Kelly gave Gareth a run for his money in the verbal filth department so it looks like they will be friends for life!



 

08.06.05

Gareth and our neighbour Ellie decided that they wanted to make meringues so they spent most of the morning creating the delicious delights below!



 

30.05.05

Spring is definitely with us! Whilst driving in Wiltshire today I passed by a wooded area full of bluebells, and luckily had my camera in the car!

25.05.05

Both Morgan and I are heading home today. I get the two hour flight and he gets the three hour rail trip! We both started our journey at the station in Göteborg where I had to get a picture of him and Håkan at the 'Kent' tram stop!

Whilst I was waiting at the airport I noticed 80's pop start 'Howard Jones' in the Departure Lounge so I had to say hello! A very nice guy.
 Again, the weather was perfect on the flight home so the views of the Göteborg archipelago

and the coast of Holland

were amazing!

14.05.05

The day of the gig!! Firstly Håkan and I headed into town to meet my best friend Morgan at the railway station. En route we noticed a sign advertising the special tram that was commissioned to transport fans to the concert,

to be numbered "747" after the bands most famous song! I love the way our reflections show up! After meeting up with Morgan we had a great barbeque in a park near to where Håkan lives and then we set off for the gig!
18,000 people crammed into a huge tent make for an amazing atmosphere! There were screens either side of the stage showing an electronic clock that was counting down to the start of the gig. During the last 10 seconds the crowd went mental and 'Kent' did not disappoint! They were absolutely superb. If you want to see some great professional photographs of the gig, click here

13.05.05

I travelled to Sweden today in preparation to see the band 'Kent' play in Göteborg tomorrow night. The flight from London was brilliant as the view was clear across the UK, Denmark & Sweden. As the plane descended into Göteborg I could see the huge tent in which 'Kent' will play tomorrow!
I met up with my good friend Håkan and we headed for his favourite bar. Strangely whilst we were there Håkan started to whisper something to me, but in Swedish! He realised his mistake and alerted me that two members of the band 'Kent' had just entered the bar. I was lucky enough to meet Martin Sköld (second from the right in the picture below) who was a really nice guy. A brilliant night!

A picture of 'Kent' stood in front of the tent in which they will play, published in the Göteborgs Posten.

12.05.05

Forget the General Election, 'cos today Gareth and I went to see Kylie play at Earls Court in London. She was absolutely fab!!

05.05.05

Gareth and I visited the Wildfowl & Wetlands trust site at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire today. I got to feed some Hawaiian Geese

and Gareth made sure the other birds got their fair share too!

01.05.05

Today I became the grand old age of 38!
I was expecting a fairly uneventful day as I had to go to a seminar at a Hilton hotel in London before rushing home to go to a gig.
Gareth had other ideas!
 When I got back from London I found him at my place, which he had decorated with banners and balloons! He'd spent most of the day cooking me a meal and also baking me a birthday cake. A perfect surprise, despite the fact I hate surprises!!
Ended the day by going to Reading to see 'Athlete' play a gig.
A great birthday!!

21.04.05

Gareth and I trekked up to London tonight to see a band close to my heart, 'ExileInside'. Despite being reliably informed that they would be on stage at 10pm they eventually came on at 11:15pm! We had to miss the encore to ensure we got the last tube back to the railway station at midnight! A very late night but definitely worth it!

16.04.05

Went to see the 'Manic Street Preachers' play in Southampton Guildhall tonight. I knew it was going to be a bit different when they played "A Design For Life" as the second song as it's usually saved for the encore. I managed to get quite close to Nicky Wire so it was a good job I'm not allergic to the feathers on the white boa he has draped on his microphone stand!

03.04.05

I drove to France today via the Channel Tunnel with Gareth and his sister Laura. I thought it best not to mention that I hadn't driven on the continent since 1998 until we had successfully reached the hotel! Hours of shopping followed including a great meal where I got to have my beloved escargots and moules! 

30.03.05

Gareth and I travelled to the beautiful city of Prague for a few days.



Amidst all the beautiful architecture and history we noted an interesting addition to the list of things that are forbidden in banks and post offices



thankfully we'd decided to leave our guns at home for once!
There are more pictures in the 'Travel' section of this site.

22.03.05

I drove over to Bristol tonight to see 'Erasure'. They were fantastic, and you could not have got more gay men in that room if Nigel Harman had been there giving his underwear away!
The band are recording every gig and within ten minutes of them leaving the stage you can purchase the recording at the venue or online. What a fab idea! Got my cd as a permanent reminder!

14.03.05

Went to Oxford tonight to see 'Thirteen Senses'. Brilliant band, both on cd and in concert. 

08.03.05

Gareth and I went to see 'Natasha Bedingfield' at the Southampton Guildhall. The sound guy must have been having a bad day 'cos apart from the bass it was hard to hear anything else. The keyboard player might as well have stayed at home in front of the telly. Really disappointing.

25.02.05

Travelled up to London today to see a matinee performance by the band 'The Killers' at the Brixton Academy. Absolutely fantastic gig despite the fact that they played for only 55 minutes, and that includes the encores!
 It felt very odd leaving a venue in daylight and to get home at a civilised hour!

19.02.05

Went to Portsmouth tonight to see a gig by the Belgian band 'Soulwax'. They were fab!

15.02.05

A sad day today as my sisters dog 'Chunkie' passed away in the early hours. He will be greatly missed.

14.02.05

Despite only having my new mobile phone for just two days, the number '6' has ceased to work. Have you ever tried to compose a text message without using the letters 'm', 'n' or 'o' ??!!!
A replacement phone is on it's way!

28.01.05

I may have gained a new qualification tonight!
In the post today I received my fortnightly offer to apply for a 'Capital One' Credit Card. Considering they turned me down for a card 18 months ago I find this junk mail quite insulting. Approximately every 6 months I telephone them and ask them to take me off their mailing lists, so tonight I called them yet again.
Their call centre monkey demanded to know why I didn't want to take up their offer so I had to point out that an APR of 29.9% and the need for a deposit of either £50 - £200 wasn't quite what I am getting from my current 9.9% card. The monkey continued to speak to me in a very rude manner so I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told I didn't need to speak to a supervisor so I asked "which part of the statement 'I'd like to speak to a supervisor' do you not understand?"
It was at this point that I may have gained my new qualification. The response I received was "Are you a professional arsehole?" and then the monkey hung up on me!
Not surprisingly I called back and this time did speak to a supervisor, so watch this space for updates!
If I accept my qualification as a 'Professional Arsehole' will I be able to make a charge for the service in future? Answers by e-mail please!

26.01.05

Travelled over to Cardiff again today, this time to meet up with my niece Jo and my mate Mark to go to the Tsunami Benefit Gig at the Millennium Stadium. As part of the 61,000 crowd the highlights had to be 'Keane' (obviously), 'Snow Patrol', 'Embrace' , 'Kelly Jones' and 'Manic Street Preachers'. I have to admit that I also thought that 'Charlotte Church' was brilliant too! I was amazed that 'Liberty X' had the gall to mime their set though!!
Driving home in the snow was a bit scary, especially when I overtook a huge lorry on the M4 and my car started sliding around in the fresh snow.

22.01.05

I became officially old tonight. After a day that involved a lot of driving I headed to Bristol to meet up with my mate Graham to go to see 'Keane'. As I arrived in plenty of time I decided to take a nap in the car whilst parked in an open air car park in the city centre. It was really refreshing to get 30 minutes 'shut eye' but it's a downward spiral when you need a sleep during the day!
I'd heard good things about the support band, 'Engineers', so we got to the gig early and they didn't disappoint, though I stand by my opinion that they would have been better received if the vocals were a bit clearer! 'Keane' were superb as always, and as Michael Eavis was at the gig there is a good chance they'll be playing Glastonbury again this year!

19.01.05

Travelled over to Cardiff tonight to meet up with my mate Mark. We went to see the Manic Street Preachers play their re-scheduled gig and for once we got to a gig early, as the support band were 'The Departure', a new band influenced by early 80's music. They were really good, but the Manics excelled!
It seemed that the best selling Manics t-shirt at the merchandise stands had the words 'Baby I'm Bored' written in large letters on the back. Sadly the kind of people who were drawn to wear it could maybe have replaced the word 'Bored' with alternatives such as 'Obese', 'Minging' or 'Only Let Out Once A Week When My Medication Has My 'Urges' Under Control'! 

11.01.05

The song "Being Boring" by the Pet Shop Boys opens with the line:
"I came across a cache of old photos"
which is something I did today, except in this digital age it was a cd of old photo's, most of which have found their way into the 'travel' section of this website.

09.01.05

My dogs fell asleep on the corner of my bed last night, lying back to back. It was difficult to see where one ended and the other began!



 

06.01.05

It appears that Radio 1 were a bit ahead of themselves when they announced the best selling album of 2004 on New Years Eve. It now transpires that on the last day of the year the Scissor Sisters album sold enough to knock Keane into second place by just 582 copies. 'Hopes & Fears' still managed to sell 1,593,677 though!

05.01.05

HAPPY
NEW
YEAR!

01.01.05