Happy New Year to all my readers (that’s about 5 of you then!)
Well, 2006 has been a bit of a strange one. However, I guess in many ways it was more straightforward than previous years as decisions were made and actions completed this time last year. Consequently I’ve been ‘on my own’ for the whole of the past 12 months. A Year! It was not exactly the long term battle plan to be marooned in a cheap rental place whilst forking out hand over fist for the other house, and also trying to do my best by the kids… But, hey ho, life is nothing if not unpredictable, eh?
Still, it’s been OK. Even if my Leeds social life has not taken off in the slightest I’m so glad of the opportunity to hook up again with the likes of Rachael (who has been a great friend), Rich Eatough and Sam. And I even got to see Bryan again! Scottie is next on the “catch up” list and hopefully we’ll remedy that in January. You never know I may even see Stef one of these days too... :-)
Other plusses from 2006:
- The kids seem to be dealing with the situation very well, and in many respects I’m dealing with them a lot better. The deal I made with myself was that when they are with me I am theirs and I am not allowed to be distracted. They come first, I concentrate on them 100%, and I’ve hopefully managed to stick to that particular rule. We’ve had some excellent weekends and hopefully next year I can organise some time ‘away’ with them: down south at least.
- The two cycle trips really were fabulous and there’s been some good weekends away for me. The 'free' time has been used wisely I reckon and I've not had many thumb twiddling bored weekend days.
- I’ve seen a few great concerts.
- My fitness seems to be at an all time high (as I have nothing else better to concentrate on!).
Minuses:
- It’s been rather lonely at times. But I have never been ‘down’ so to speak and still remain eternally optimistc.
- Money. Don’t speak to me about money.
2007. The plan:
As the All American Rejects so succinctly put it on their fine second album: “Move along“. I have events to do; bands to see; people to meet; places to go; finances to sort out.
I have to move house come February as (landlady) Fiona is selling up so that’s the first hurdle, and hopefully I can stay near where I am. Next door (it’s being done out to rent) would be ideal!
I want to enter a half Iron Man triathlon and see how that goes.
I’d like to do another bike trip and Spain is being discussed for May/June.
I should re-join the Leeds Mountaineering club and get out on their weekenders away.
Pack in drinking completely. (This may not happen - I'll likely just continue to drink minimally as I have been this year.)
See more live music.
Oh, and get some proper swim coaching from the tri club.
So, there you go. I supposed that is a New Year resolution or two. Good to get them down in black and white. Good to have aims. Move along.
Starting as I mean to go on as I am off to Edinburgh with Rachael and her mates for the Hogmanay at the weekend. It looks like a great (big) event. The weather forecast looks atrocious though so fingers crossed. I’ve never actually been to Edinburgh (as a grown up – see below) so it will be good to have a look around that city, as well as meet some new people and do the New Year in style.
I have been to Edinburgh. Once. On a train trip for the day from Liverpool with my dad, Uncle George and cousin Tim. I must have been in my teens I suppose. The only thing I can remember about the city is the castle being closed as the military tattoo was on, so we took a bus out to the Forth road bridge and walked across it to the middle. So my one great memory of my one and only previous Edinburgh trip is just how long it takes spit to get down to the river from the middle of the Forth road bridge. Who says us Liverpudlians aren’t cultured ...
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Status Quo freebie
I won tickets to see Quo in Nottingham. Not a band that I would say I would have ever bought tickets to see these days, but on a freebie they were quite an exciting prospect. I had seen them before, once, supporting Queen on that huge day in 1986 at Knebworth which sadly turned out to be Queen’s last show ever. Quo were just great and they are one of those bands which I think need to be seen live at least once in a music fan’s lifetime. The band seem to be getting some long overdue respect lately. It’s amazing what an appearance on Coronation Street will do for your career…
To win I had emailed into Planet Rock radio a flippant answer to a quiz question and amazingly I won a pair of tickets. For Nottingham Arena though – not exactly close to home, but never mind - it's a freebie.
So Tuesday night I (and mate Rich from work) chose to do some alleged technical support at the Sheffield office and drive down from there to make things a bit easier on the travel front. Once off the M1 we discovered that Nottingham is a rather big city centre with a nightmare onme way system and impossible to find car parks littered all over the place at the wrong end of one way streets. But we got in one eventually and fortunately found ourselves parked not too far from the arena.
Now, normally when there’s a concert on in a venue, come doors opening time there’s people milling about all over the place. I had expected to see an army of denim clad folk lining up to get in to the arena. But when we got there the place looked deserted which was most odd. We had a beer in a good but not too full pub next door and then walked to the arena entrance. And there were some people there, and amazingly the place looked like it was getting pretty full, but it was really quite strange the lack of people outside.
Once inside we found that our seats were great. Having previously checked the seating plan of the arena we were sure we’d be at the front of a block near the back of the arena floor. But we were at the front of the second block back from the stage i.e. good and close. Excellent.
We missed one of the support bands but the second one really were bloody awful. "The 27s" they were called and they were all the way from Australia. Why they’d actually bothered to come all this way I really don’t know. The Aussies may be good at cricket but they can keep their awful support bands. I’m not generally one for slagging off bands as most do have some redeeming qualities but this trio: no. A poor pub blues outfit is about the best I could decribe them as. Avoid at all costs - if you are ever in Australia. Luckily they weren’t on for long and the mighty Quo appeared at 9 pm.
The denim clad army of Quo fans of old has, inevitably, turned into a bunch of bearded, balding (some with pony tails...) middle aged blokes. People have grown old with this band, and that is quite an amazing thing. Just as I was part of the 'old' Rush followers at their shows in 2004 and felt such a part of the gigs because of my long history with the band, these folks were the same and I really felt the ... yes.. love ... from the audience when the band took to he stage. The front row were obviously the crowd who were following the tour and they got a good deal of recongnition from the band once they came on. There were lots of youngsters about too: kids of the old rockers. Dads and their favourite band showing junior just how it should be done.
Status Quo deliver exactly what you’d expect: great 12 bar Status Quo rock. Actually, it’s to their great credit that they’ve never become a caricature of themselves. They play loudly and look like they are having a lot of fun doing so. And (why should this suprise me?) it turns out that Francis Rossi is a very very good guitarist. This is the band don’t forget who can casually knock off the stunning trio of Down Down, Whatever You Want and Rockin’ All Over the World: amazing rock songs that you just KNOW (everyone knows) and cannot help but sing along to with a cheesy grin on your face. "Look - that's Status Quo up there...."
They played 2 hours of the boogie rock that they have made their own, with Rossi continuously mugging to the crowd whilst knocking off fabulous bluesy solos, or seriously noisy rhythm work while wandering all over the stage. And Rick Parfitt is his perfect stage foil, keeping out of the limelight and providing great rhythm work, and not to mention some of the most famous guitar intros ever.
All in all fabulous to see them in action, and best my ticket win of all time. I think to be honest it’s my second only ticket win of all time. The other I can remember was to see Bjork’s old band the Sugarcubes in Liverpool a long time a go.
A top night all round and it was about 90 mins back home up a for once deserted M1. Post gig ears ringing factor: 1 day.
So that's The Who and Status Quo both seen live in 2006. Look out: "old rocker" alert... I just need to grow that pony tail.
To win I had emailed into Planet Rock radio a flippant answer to a quiz question and amazingly I won a pair of tickets. For Nottingham Arena though – not exactly close to home, but never mind - it's a freebie.
So Tuesday night I (and mate Rich from work) chose to do some alleged technical support at the Sheffield office and drive down from there to make things a bit easier on the travel front. Once off the M1 we discovered that Nottingham is a rather big city centre with a nightmare onme way system and impossible to find car parks littered all over the place at the wrong end of one way streets. But we got in one eventually and fortunately found ourselves parked not too far from the arena.
Now, normally when there’s a concert on in a venue, come doors opening time there’s people milling about all over the place. I had expected to see an army of denim clad folk lining up to get in to the arena. But when we got there the place looked deserted which was most odd. We had a beer in a good but not too full pub next door and then walked to the arena entrance. And there were some people there, and amazingly the place looked like it was getting pretty full, but it was really quite strange the lack of people outside.
Once inside we found that our seats were great. Having previously checked the seating plan of the arena we were sure we’d be at the front of a block near the back of the arena floor. But we were at the front of the second block back from the stage i.e. good and close. Excellent.
We missed one of the support bands but the second one really were bloody awful. "The 27s" they were called and they were all the way from Australia. Why they’d actually bothered to come all this way I really don’t know. The Aussies may be good at cricket but they can keep their awful support bands. I’m not generally one for slagging off bands as most do have some redeeming qualities but this trio: no. A poor pub blues outfit is about the best I could decribe them as. Avoid at all costs - if you are ever in Australia. Luckily they weren’t on for long and the mighty Quo appeared at 9 pm.
The denim clad army of Quo fans of old has, inevitably, turned into a bunch of bearded, balding (some with pony tails...) middle aged blokes. People have grown old with this band, and that is quite an amazing thing. Just as I was part of the 'old' Rush followers at their shows in 2004 and felt such a part of the gigs because of my long history with the band, these folks were the same and I really felt the ... yes.. love ... from the audience when the band took to he stage. The front row were obviously the crowd who were following the tour and they got a good deal of recongnition from the band once they came on. There were lots of youngsters about too: kids of the old rockers. Dads and their favourite band showing junior just how it should be done.
Status Quo deliver exactly what you’d expect: great 12 bar Status Quo rock. Actually, it’s to their great credit that they’ve never become a caricature of themselves. They play loudly and look like they are having a lot of fun doing so. And (why should this suprise me?) it turns out that Francis Rossi is a very very good guitarist. This is the band don’t forget who can casually knock off the stunning trio of Down Down, Whatever You Want and Rockin’ All Over the World: amazing rock songs that you just KNOW (everyone knows) and cannot help but sing along to with a cheesy grin on your face. "Look - that's Status Quo up there...."
They played 2 hours of the boogie rock that they have made their own, with Rossi continuously mugging to the crowd whilst knocking off fabulous bluesy solos, or seriously noisy rhythm work while wandering all over the stage. And Rick Parfitt is his perfect stage foil, keeping out of the limelight and providing great rhythm work, and not to mention some of the most famous guitar intros ever.
All in all fabulous to see them in action, and best my ticket win of all time. I think to be honest it’s my second only ticket win of all time. The other I can remember was to see Bjork’s old band the Sugarcubes in Liverpool a long time a go.
A top night all round and it was about 90 mins back home up a for once deserted M1. Post gig ears ringing factor: 1 day.
So that's The Who and Status Quo both seen live in 2006. Look out: "old rocker" alert... I just need to grow that pony tail.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Volleyball, bikes and Brakes
Visitors this weekend. My old friend Rich from Reading. "Old friend" sounds like we go back many, many years. Well, I guess we do go back a few as we met whilst in the Cardiff Uni mountain bike club which was circa 1990. So that's 16 years ago, and I would think that qualifies us as being "old friends", although Rich would no doubt complain at the “old” label as he’s a mere slip of a lad. One important bond we have is that we are both graduates of not only Cardiff University but also of the "Ian Jeremiah Cardiff bike 'til you drop hard knock school of off road cycle training". Ian’s philosophy was a 30 miles of hills on a Saturday (and Sunday if you could make it to the museum steps for the meet up on a hangover) style of leadership with “everyone does everything” (ie no chickening on the downhills allowed) and absolutely no quarter was given for blowing up the other side of Caerphilly mountain. And blowing up the other side of Caerphilly was something that I personally did pretty much every Saturday for about 6 months until my legs got used to the, err, punishment. However, this experience I think gave us a really rather fabulous grounding in the high art of off road cyling, and we will always find ourselves grateful for Ian for his encouragement, leadership and, well, teaching.
Rich's girlfriend is the lovely Silvia who was playing volleyball with her team up north - one game in Manchester Saturday and the other at Leeds Uni today. They play at a high level and won both matches which was a great effort as they were the underdogs for each one. After the game Saturday I had a bit of a volleyball knock around with Rich (who also plays - the pair of them met up at their volleyball club) and I've not done any volleyball since I was at school - a LONG time ago! The result of this little knock about was a nice pair of bruised wrists and thumbs for yours truly, as digging a volleyball round with no proper technique proved to be a rather painful experience. One of those sports which looks so easy but ... it's not.
Rich and I had a look round Salford Quays down the road while the volleyball was going on in nearby Eccles. Now - on the subjest of LS Lowry. Personally I cannot really see what all the fuss is about with this guy and his silly matchstalk drawings. All very nice but not quite worthy of having a state of the art gallery (and not to mention a major retail outlet centre) built round them? But then again this is Manchester where there's not really all that much else to celebrate is there? So, only in Manchester would a bunch of any-child-could-do-better quality artwork end up being so extravagantly lauded.
Saturday night saw us back over the correct side of the Pennines in Leeds and out in town. Now Rich and I, when it comes to music, have a similar outlook in that we both like a diverse amount of stuff, but the overlap of our tastes could best be described as 'minimal'. Rich really likes his indie bands and I found out that one of these, indeed his current favourite, Brakes were playing at the Leeds Cockpit Saturday night. They did sound a bit weedy indie cack on CD but I have to say that live they were very very good, and post-gig their 2 cds 'make sense'. One of those facts of life is that bands only really come into full view after you’ve seen them live.
While Silvia was volleyballing again today Rich and I got on on the mountain bikes for a spin in the mud and wind. Yep – conditions were a bit harsh out on the trails it has to be said but Team Klein battled on manfully for a couple of hours round the Pudsey circuit and came back via the jetwash. Consequently Teams Klein’s bikes are now both spangly clean you’ll all be glad to hear.
So, now it’s Sunday evening and I was going to settle down and watch V is for Vendetta from the NTL “On Demand” service. However, it seems that I am short of a PIN number for such a service so, so much for that cunning plan. Best get on with the washing and ironing then….
Rich's girlfriend is the lovely Silvia who was playing volleyball with her team up north - one game in Manchester Saturday and the other at Leeds Uni today. They play at a high level and won both matches which was a great effort as they were the underdogs for each one. After the game Saturday I had a bit of a volleyball knock around with Rich (who also plays - the pair of them met up at their volleyball club) and I've not done any volleyball since I was at school - a LONG time ago! The result of this little knock about was a nice pair of bruised wrists and thumbs for yours truly, as digging a volleyball round with no proper technique proved to be a rather painful experience. One of those sports which looks so easy but ... it's not.
Rich and I had a look round Salford Quays down the road while the volleyball was going on in nearby Eccles. Now - on the subjest of LS Lowry. Personally I cannot really see what all the fuss is about with this guy and his silly matchstalk drawings. All very nice but not quite worthy of having a state of the art gallery (and not to mention a major retail outlet centre) built round them? But then again this is Manchester where there's not really all that much else to celebrate is there? So, only in Manchester would a bunch of any-child-could-do-better quality artwork end up being so extravagantly lauded.
Saturday night saw us back over the correct side of the Pennines in Leeds and out in town. Now Rich and I, when it comes to music, have a similar outlook in that we both like a diverse amount of stuff, but the overlap of our tastes could best be described as 'minimal'. Rich really likes his indie bands and I found out that one of these, indeed his current favourite, Brakes were playing at the Leeds Cockpit Saturday night. They did sound a bit weedy indie cack on CD but I have to say that live they were very very good, and post-gig their 2 cds 'make sense'. One of those facts of life is that bands only really come into full view after you’ve seen them live.
While Silvia was volleyballing again today Rich and I got on on the mountain bikes for a spin in the mud and wind. Yep – conditions were a bit harsh out on the trails it has to be said but Team Klein battled on manfully for a couple of hours round the Pudsey circuit and came back via the jetwash. Consequently Teams Klein’s bikes are now both spangly clean you’ll all be glad to hear.
So, now it’s Sunday evening and I was going to settle down and watch V is for Vendetta from the NTL “On Demand” service. However, it seems that I am short of a PIN number for such a service so, so much for that cunning plan. Best get on with the washing and ironing then….
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