ATMO1'S BLOG

26.05.06

It's been a long wait but the day has finally arrived! Tonight I saw the reunion of one of my favourite bands, "My Life Story" at the Mean Fiddler in London. You couldn't have crammed any more people in there if you tried and the band made the most of it, playing a superb set highlighting tracks from the new compilation CD 'Sex & Violins' (available by clicking here).
A huge thank you to Jake Shillingford for putting all this together, and for the after show party pass too!

26.05.06

22.05.06

Today we went to Earls Court to see the 'Bodies' exhibition.

It's the same thing I first saw when I started this journal in 2002. It exhibits 22 whole-body specimens and more than 260 organs and partial body specimens. Fascinating, particularly for Gareth as he studies Nursing. If you want to see more information click on the picture above.

22.05.06

19.05.06

Gareth and I went to see 'The Da Vinci Code' today. As the film officially opens in the UK today, our nearest cinema decided to have a screening at one minute past midnight. It seemed a really good idea when I booked the tickets, but leaving the house at 11:15pm last night to drive to the cinema wasn't easy!

At two and a half hours in length it was hard going, especially the second hour! Having read and enjoyed the book, the film was a fair representation, but I can't say I was that impressed, but maybe that was due to the time I saw it!

19.05.06

16.05.06

I drove all the way to Wolverhampton tonight to see 'Radiohead'. I haven't been such a fan in recent years as I feel their sound has veered towards what I like to refer to as 'muso wank'. A bit too clever and lacking in tunes I can whistle! The majority of their set tonight confirmed the 'lack of tune' theory but I was rewarded with "Street Spirit", "Karma Police" and "Planet Telex".

16.05.06

09.05.06

I went to my works Conference today. It was held at 'Butlins Holiday Camp' in Bognor Regis. The last time I set foot there was on an Easter holiday in 1974 and to be honest it hasn't improved. At least I now know the correct collective term for an area full of very common people.
Butlins.
Trust me, it was like a living Elizabeth Duke catalogue (for those reading this outside the UK, Elizabeth Duke is a high street catalogue stores jewellery department, where anyone who has never done a days work aspires to buy their 'bling' from)!!
Afterwards I drove to Southampton to see 'The Charlatans'. A great gig when they played their classics, though I'm not too sure about their latest reggae influenced songs!

09.05.06

04.05.06

Gareth and I went to see 'Mission Impossible III' tonight.

We both really enjoyed it, but I did shudder when certain scenes involved great heights. In fact I found myself rising up and back into my seat as if to get away from the edge!! I remember once watching the film 'Entrapment' with Catherine Zeta Jones and Sean Connery and did exactly the same when a scene involved heights, except on that occasion I was watching it as an in-flight movie and was actually thousands of feet in the air myself!!

04.05.06

02.05.06

Gareth finally got his own car today!!
He drove me to Portsmouth and dropped me off at the Wedgewood Rooms so I could see 'Kubb'. Listening to the play "Chemical" reminded me why I fell in love with their music in the first place!
Then there was the luxury of being picked up and driven home afterwards! Thanks Gareth!

02.05.06

26.04.06

Gareth and I travelled by Eurostar to spend the day in Paris. First stop was Tour Montparnasse so Gareth could see the amazing views across the city

before we went to the Champs Elysée, where I got to eat some Moules!

Next to Place De La Concorde,

and then relaxed in a café on the banks of the Seine where I got to eat my beloved escargot!

before walking to Notre Dame to enjoy Paris in the springtime!

26.04.06

21.04.06

Today is my 39th Birthday! Thank you to everyone for the cards, e-mails and SMS messages!! My favourite has to be the picture I received by e-mail of my great niece Ella and her brother Louie!

Gareth and I travelled over to Cardiff where we met up with my old friends Mandy & Pascal and had a lovely meal in the city centre. Then Gareth and I went to see Charlotte Church in concert at the St.Davids Hall. She was absolutely brilliant! A huge thank you to Gareth for getting the tickets.

21.04.06

19.04.06

Back up to London tonight to see 'Erasure' play an acoustic gig, again at the Shepherds Bush Empire. This time I took more care parking away from trees!
The gig was awful. Really awful. I had hoped that the term 'acoustic' would ideally mean Andy on vocals and Vince on acoustic guitar. Sadly it also meant a band including a slide guitar player, and on some songs, a banjo. Classic Erasure songs were played in a style somewhere between country music and line dancing. Andy looked like he hadn't slept for weeks, and when he opened his hooded top to expose his chest, it also exposed a bloated belly hanging over his trousers. Not a pretty sight. The worst gig I've been to in years.

19.04.06

18.04.06

I travelled up to London tonight to see 'Embrace' play at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
A triumphant gig!! The band were on top form, despite the fact that lead singer Danny was having terrible problems with his voice, so the crowd helped out with the singing at every opportunity!
I parked my car a few streets away from the venue, not noticing it was underneath the branches of a large tree. When I got back to my car after the gig it was almost a different colour. Let's just say that there is a very ill bird somewhere in the Shepherds Bush area!

18.04.06

15.04.06

I got written confirmation today that I am finally debt free.

I think I've had credit cards since I was 18, and then got loans to pay them off, then spent on them again, then extended the loans to pay them off, then spent.... you get the idea?
When I met Gareth at the end of 2003 I decided I needed to sort my finances out if we wanted a better future together. He introduced me to the computer software Microsoft Money, which allows you to monitor every penny you spend. Thanks to Gareth and that software I now have no credit card balance and I've just paid off my loan, eighteen months before it was due to finish. I've even managed to save some money, a concept that has been out of my financial reach for 20 years!

15.04.06

13.04.06

I got the train to London after work to go to see 'Starsailor' play at Dingwalls in Camden Town.
The gig was billed as "A Show Of Two Halves" and true to its word it began with lead singer James Walsh playing a short acoustic set, firstly alone and then being joined by his bandmates. After a short interval the band played a storming electric set! As the venue only holds 550 it was a really intimate atmosphere and everyone was loving it. A brilliant gig!

13.04.06

08.04.06

One of my memories from Junior School was our headmaster, Mr Perry, and his delight in quoting the following poem...

"Spring is sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where de birdies is?
Some say de bird is on the wing,
But that's absurd!
The wing is on de bird!!"

Well Spring has definitely sprung around here! My Grape Hyacinths are just starting to bloom alongside my Daffodils.

08.04.06

04.04.06

Gareth and I spent the day in London today. We started by wandering the shops of Camden Town before heading to the Natural History Museum. There is currently an exhibition entitled "Wildlife Photographer Of The Year" which is brilliant. Two of my favourites I've copied here from their website. The first was taken by Jean-Pierre Zwaenepoel of a Hanuman langur surveying Jodhpur, in Rajasthan, India

and the second was taken by Bene Máté of the Bihari Hills in Romania

If you want to see more of the winning pictures, click here

04.04.06

03.04.06

I met up with my good mate Robert today and we lunched in Muswell Hill near his home. Great to catch up!
Then I headed back into central London to meet Gareth, who has come up today so we can explore London together tomorrow.
Soon it was time to set off for Wembley again, for the final night of this leg of the Depeche Mode tour.

A superb gig where I spotted Daniel Miller, the founder of Depeche Mode's UK record label.

03.04.06

02.04.06

Travelled up to London on the train. I settled down to read my latest book which is the story of how a man became homeless and the effect on his mental health. With this is mind I was a bit wary when the well dressed man sat in the seat behind seemed to be suffering from posh tourettes! Sporadically he just shouted random words, my particular favourite being "France!". I tried to ignore him and looked around to see what other passengers were doing. Two seats in front and sat facing me was without doubt the least convincing transvestite I have ever seen! Thankfully I had my book to concentrate on as I couldn't help but stare!

After checking in at the hotel I set off for Wembley Arena to see Depeche Mode. The Arena was re-opening tonight after a major refurbishment, though as far as I could see it has just had a paint job and some brighter light bulbs!

For once the crowd were really good tonight (a rarity in London) and the band were on top form.

02.04.06

01.04.06

After a few hours sleep I was up to meet the RAC again just after 7am. Nothing they could do except recommend the car be towed to a garage for a proper repair. Then had to stay awake even longer until the courtesy car was delivered.
During last nights long wait in the car I read the majority of another book and finished it today. I have to recommend it to everyone. It is called "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" by John Boyne and it was absolutely brilliant. I can't describe the plot as it would give too much away, but trust me on this, the build up at the end was heart wrenching.
Ended the day by going to see the film "Ice Age 2" which was absolutely brilliant!

01.04.06