Decemberist

Crikey - it's nearly Christmas already. Wot fun. Actully have done some Christmas shopping pretty early for once, but as i only have to buy stuff for Rach and the kids it's not too much of a problem. We've never really gone for buying each other pressies at christmas within my family, whichis a fine policy if you ask me. Rachel's birthday is 29th December which complicates matters somewhat, but I think I will cope. Jamie's easy to buy for (anything Transformers, Spider Man or Dr Who) but Holly is very difficult to get suitable stuff for. She's having a new bedroom installed at Liz's at the moment though (literally as half the upstairs of the house is being adapted for H with a new bathroom and a bigger bedroom on a two room first floor extension) so I can get her things for that. I think Liz is sending a list round - phew.

Not posted here for ages, but that's mainly because I now have one of them Facebook accounts and have been putting stuff on there. So if you have one of them facebook accounts then go look me up.

Seem to have been on a band-watching fest of late which has been excellent. Porcupine Tree coming up in Leeds this Sunday and I am still not cnvinced I like this outfit, as they are a bit to 'prog' for me. Still, I am sure they will be good live. Was a toss up between that and seeing Ian McNabb play Icicle Works stuff in the Cockpit - which would be great to be honest. Never mind. Mate Terry is coming up Sunday to see PT and stopping here so I guess I should go to the same gig as her!

Then next weekend is Bruce Springsteen in Belfast. His new album really is excellent and it should be a great weekend.

That's about as exciting as it gets to be honest.

The nights are drawing in...

Mid October already. Can you believe it? Time does, as they are heard to say, fly. The conkers have been and gone from the tree in the garden and it's almost time for lights on the bike on the way home - and on the way in if I get going quick enough.

So, what's been going on? Did the trio of Hip shows a couple of weeks ago which were all fantastic. The London one was preceeded the night before by Prince, and that should get a mention too. The little fella is amazing: never have I seen anyone look just so at home on a stage. In total control of the 20,000 of us in the (very impressive) O2 Arena; played loads of the hits and we all generally had a great time for a couple of hours. The aftershow was fun too, even if the purple maestro himself didn't show (half his band did). A 4am finish... how very rock and roll. Next night the Hip were playing the Astoria on Oxford Street and what a dump that place is. Awful sound too, but, hey - it was the Tragically Hip and we rocked for the whole gig from the froont of the balcony. Fabulous. I rocked so much that I'd lost my voice the next day.

A couple of days off and the it was over to Amsterdam for their two shows at the Paradiso Theatre. All I can say apout that place is that if you see a good band is playing there then just go. It's an old church and is such a cool little music venue with a great atmosphere. Right down by the museums at the south canals area of Amsterdam. The Hip gigs were just fantastic, and I am so glad I made the effort to see the in Amsterdam. The city itself is just a wonderful place to go and mooch about for a few days. Loads of art, culture, great food and good general wandering about to be had. The worst problem is avoiding getting run over by cyclists! We didn't bother with the Red Light area or 'brown' cafes. After wandering through that neck of the woods all that stag party stuff just seemed completely at odds with the rest of the things we'd been experiencing in the city so we gave it a miss, and returned to the quiet of the canal-side cafe culture.

I've had the kids at mine all this week, working (almost) full time and doing the school runs with them (round the ring road in the commuter traffic - yuck). It's been fine to be honest, but it's Friday now and I am wasted, as I just don't sleep as well when the kids are here. I've just got to amuse them for the weekend now! The finale of this weekend for me is seeing Rush in Manchester on Sunday night. Shouldn't have much issue staying awake for that one.

Next weekend Rach and I are off to the Lakes -Wasdale in particular, which I reckon is the best Lakes valley. It's just stunning. Stopping in the excellent Fell & Rock hut by the lake and there's loads of good hills and stuff round so fingers crossed for the weather. The reason we are going there in particular is to get to see the very wonderful Francis Dunnery on the Saturday in his home town of Workington (in the town hall!). Should be fun. Oh, and then I am off to Spain cycling for a week. Hurrah.

A weather post

September tomorrow, and therefore 'officially' it's autumn. The was the rainiest summer ever apparently. Ho hum. July was indeed, let's face it, shit. But it's been pretty Ok otherwise. It's not rained here for 3 weeks now which isn't too bad. Bike trails are all nice and dry anyhow - which is what counts.

Got to the Lakes at the weekend and did find some decent weather there. It's always great to get onto the top of mountains and get those views and Great Gable on Sunday was fabulous. Amazing spot from which to gawp at pretty much the whole of the rest of the Lakes. Been watching the "Mountain" series with Gryf Rhys Jones? Excellent stuff, and to see the Lakes in conditions as portrayed on these beautifully filmed TV programmes is always a treat.

Off up to Fort William next weekend. Mainly to see the Mountain Bike World Cup, but hopefully will get some hills in too. Target would be a decent mountain route up Ben Nevis, but as ever it's weather dependent. We did get up 'The Cobbler' (bottom end of Loch Lomond) the other week in half decent conditions, but Scottish expeditions this year have not been altogether too successful.

Adding to the concert list we have the wonderful Francis Dunnery in October. Can only make the show he's playing in his home town of Workington (west lakes), but it will be fun to see him there. Maybe we'll stop in Wasdale too. Again - always a treat. A Springsteen jolly in December may be on if I can tickets for Belfast. Tickets are a big ask, but it's easy (and cheap) to get over there from Liverpool on Easyjet, and the show is handily on a Saturday. We shall see. Prince is coming up soon too. Am going to his penultimate O2 arena show, in 3 weeks. Seems like he's been playing there for months. And, err, he has! Rush and the Hip too. And a trip to Spain cycling, all in the next couple of months. Bring it on.

Shouldn't complain

Time does not often drag but for some reason this week seems to be gong at a snail’s pace and I find myself wishing for the weekend to arrive. Probably a combination of the continuing bloody awful ‘summer’ weather or the fact I have a cough and a cold.

Still, shouldn’t complain as there’s always folk worse off than yourself, and this week’s main candidates for the worst off I feel are the residents of the flooded areas down south. Rivers are overflowing all over the place and in worst hit is Tewkesbury which is usually on, but is at present is in the River Severn. It has turned into an island community, accessible only by boat as it’s surrounded by 6 feet of water.
With fresh water supplies cut off and only heroic efforts by the authorities preventing electricty supplies going as well, they seem to have a real drama going on down there. Oxford and other towns nearby are due to have some serious problems today as the Severn looks like it’s going to overload. But, it’s amazing how us Brits do just ‘get on with it’ and I guess you would have to in such circumstances. It’s rained an awful lot and consequently there’s floods. Never mind - just crack on with it.

Shock news (not): there’s been doping in the Tour de France. One of the pre race favourites Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping after winning Saturday's time-trial stage. I am surprised that I am surprised at this news. After all the desperate efforts to try to clean this sport of the drug cheats prior to this year’s event here we go with the wrong type of headlines, yet again. The real shame is that le Tour is still such a great public sporting spectacle (witness 3 million people on the roads of London and Southern England for this year’s opening 2 stages) and once again it’s been horribly tainted. Makes me wonder just how the hell they are ever going to clean it up, if at all?

I now have an account on Facebook, a ‘social’ website. You make ‘friends’ and write notes on Walls; send fish to each other; join networks and generally join in with the fun of it all. It kind of smacks of being a short lived fad for the desperate to seem trendy, if you ask me. It is a tad pointless as there’s a million other ways of talking to your mates already on and (shock horror) off line (he says posting this on a Blog site!). As my friend Bryan stated in a Facebook message: he now comminucates online in the evening with the people he works with all day. Now that's progress for you eh?

Shiny and new....

The great advantage of not buying full suspension is that you get better value: seriously good kit on a great frame for your hard earned. This (a Specialised Stumpjumper HT Expert) is a seriously great bike. Plus, everyone knows that full suspension is for wimps.

Things booking up

Getting my leave requests in now for various events in the second half of the year. Lots of excellent things are on the cards...
Have got a day off to get down for the Hyde Park concert next weekend (a Rach Bishop Bristolian bbq event and then on to London) which should be great if it stops raining by then...
And then that's it for jollies until August as I have the kids every weekend in July. Hopefully I'll be able to get away with them too - maybe to my sister's in Guernsey. Otherwise it's a month of weekend day tripping events. We shall see.
In August so far there's one outing up to Scotland with 'my' Rach booked in for which the plan is to do some hills and a day at the Edinburgh festival. Rach is stopping up there for the whole second festival week. Maybe we'll hook up with Katy or Rich Eatough who will both be up there. Katy, obviously coz she lives there, and Rich is up for the festival.
September sees the mountain bike World Cup come to Fort William. I did that a couple of years ago when it was just the downhill and it was a fabulous weekend. This time they have the XC event too: the whole World Cup, so it is a really big event. It's around my birthday again too, so it will be great to get away for that one and we can hopefully get some of the Nevis range hills done while we are there when Rach gets bored of whatching cycling...
Also in September The Tragically Hip have announced some more Euro dates. London again (The Astoria for a change) and this time I am making the trip to Amsterdam for the two shows at the Paradiso (have been meaning to do this for a while now). Cheap midweek flights from Leeds/Bradford (99p flights tots up to about £150 for both of us return) means a 4 day city break and two Hip shows is quite affordable. Not quite sure how Rach will manage two Hip shows on the bounce, but hopefully she will cope.
I am actually feeling guilty about flying though what with the shit that these jets cough out into our fragile atmos. But I don't do it often, and maybe I can plant a tree to offset it.
Err, Jet2 are doing good business out of me this year as there's the other flights - to Spain in October. Off to somewhere near Malaga for a week of mountain biking in the Sierra Nevada with the FreerideSpain people, and the Reading bike crew (RichE, RichC and Annie). Have had rave reports of these trips so looking forward to and it will be a good late getaway as the winter sets in again. Of course I will need a new bike for that... and therein lies a story for another time.

The God Delusion

It's now out in paperback and it's an important book.
Richard Dawkins simply tells it how it is.
Buy, it, borrow it, blag it... read it.

Bloody weather

Global warming? Global cooling more like. It was effing freezing last weekend: almost liderally, mates. And now it's warm and sunny again. What's going on? I liked it back when it was predictable: when it was nice and cold in the winter with snow and stuff, and you had your parka on a lot; and then hot all summer when the plastic sandals came out and we went and swam in the Mersey off Harrison Drive.
Plastic sandals cannot have been good for your feet though. I'm surprised there's not a complete generation of folk these daus suffering from with paediatric deformities and chronic walking problems. I do notice however that there's now a new generation of 'plastic' footware which are considered trendy by grown ups which I find myself hankering after for no apparent reason and against all logic. This is a legacy of being a child of the seventies.
The swims in the Mersey I guess would have been even more dangerous to one's health back then than the endemic footware. Nowadays Liverpool's famous waterway is really rather clean and the area is noted for its beautiful sandy beaches. No - honest, it is.
Looking over the promenade wall at Wallasey these days you are no longer faced with a vista of endless (and stinking) mud flats at low tide. Now it's just miles and miles of clean sand. The council chalets have gone (see below), as has the Derby Pool. Due to the huge popularity of that area (in particular New Brighton) from the 50s onwards there there were two art deco open air swimming pools in Wallasey within a couple of miles of each other. The New Brighton baths was the biggest and had some seriously high diving boards into a 15 feet deep end. I loved them both, but with the decline of the area in the 80s they shut down, and it was a quite a shocker to go back there one year and find them demolished. The new promenade and sea defences which have gone up over the past 20 years or so do look great, and obviously work a treat holding all that sand. New Brighton these days, while not quite being the resort it once was, is looking pretty good now after an almost total facelift, and has emerged as a rather smart residential area with the obvious attraction of it's views of the Liverpool sea front across the river.
The water itself has changed colour too. Well, it must have. To be honest I cannot remember what colour it was, or maybe I've just blanked it out. Families, relatives and half our street (or so it seemed) would hire a beach chalet on Harrison Drive for what felt like all the summer holidays. Inside there was enough room for some deck chair and wind break storage, plus a gas cooker and grill which always produced stripey toast. Us kids would spend the summer on the beach. At low tide it was a case of making huge competition 'dams' against the prom steps to 'stop' the incoming tide. Then come high tide we'd be leaping from the promenade wall into the waves and end up splashing about in a mix of whatever was being pumped out into the river all along the Manchester Ship Canal. Oil, sewage, dead marine life, other floating, err, phenomena, and christ knows what else we would gulp down while attempting to regain a hold on the Harrison drive slipway wall to get back on for another jump. I can still remember gulping down water while fighting in the swell against the sea wall where there were bits of rope to climb back up. It's a real wonder we never went down with any stomach issues, not to mention tetanus from the endless scratches you'd end up with on your knees doing this.
Then there was the wandering off out to the sea, which was a long way off shore at low tide, and the race to get back and not to get cut off when it started coming in. Where were my parents when all this was going on? Sunbathing and drinking no doubt. It was bordering on neglect if you ask me.
Anyway, where was I? The weather's a bit changeable isn't it. Maybe t'was ever thus...

Dave Matthews Band

Haven't updated on here for ages. Well, I have been busy! But another gig calls for some more words of relative wisdom so here goes:

Dave Matthews Band , Wembley Arena 30th May 2007

First, a word about the Arena itself. God I used to hate this place as it was always a horrible old concrete bunker with lousy acoustics. But, it's neighbour the footy stadium has had a recent face lift so the kind people of Wembley have given little brother a facelift too, and by golly it's really rather good in there now. Modern, non-concrete and everythng inside which was a really pleasant surprise. It actually looks like the NEC Arena used to when that was new, but without the horrible colour scheme. The outside has had a switch round meaning that the main entrance and box office is now facing the stadium and there's a good sized new landcaped area between them with a bunch of water fountains to play in - if that's your bag.

The new Stadium looks stunning from the outside with that enormous roof arch. I am so glad they waited for that place until it was done properly, and just plain old got it right. I doubt I will ever go in there, but, hey, it's nice to look at.

We got tickets via DMB's "Warehouse", which is a sort of fan club: an internet subscription thing where you get advanced tickets warning and hopefully priority tickets. My mate Nick is a member and when saw Dave's acoustic show in Manchester the other month we had 3rd row from the front seats, so it works. Trouble is in the States I should imagine that half the crowd in a given DMB show will be Warehouse members so everyone will get priority. Anyhow, for this Wembley show we had standing seats, were told to get to the box office early and we'd be let in first and this proved to be exactly the case. Those of us who had been given blue wrist bands got let onto the floor area and we wandered down to the front to sit down and claim our patch about 10 feet from the barrier, front and centre. Marvellous. Of course I was aware that I was positioned right at the front of a crowd of maybe 5000 standing people and was therefore rather vulnerable to crushing and drunk idiots barging their way through at some point. But amazingly this never happened. Maybe the average DMB watcher has more sense than to go barging 'down the front' as soon as the band come on, maybe they just cannot be bothered. The result that was once we were stood up we retained our space and were pretty comfortable throughout the evening's procedings. So, well done Warehouse and congrats to a very well behaved crowd.

Support was from Ex Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello who was a bit crap really. Think Bruce Springsteen in full on blue collar acoustic mode but nowhere near as good In fact don't think about The Boss at all coz Tom isn't in his league. Still, he passed another 30 minutes before the main event, and he was that bloke from Rage and Audioslave so he deserved a bit of respect.

And then, quarter of an hour early, on to the huge stage casually sauntered the Dave Matthews Band. It was pinch myself time as after 10 years of waiting here I was , stood about 20 feet from them. Maybe the reason why Britain doesn't 'get' DMB (well, there are meany reasons, but here's one…) is that while most bands would pile in guns blazing for their opening number of their fist UK gig in a decade DMB start very quietly almost like an orchestra tuning up. Dave strums his acoustic a bit and hums something a bit melodic while the others join in gradually… nontiantly. The audience goes bonkers at first when they amble on stage but are soon quiet , watching and wondering what's going to happen. Not much really, and we are treated to a 5 minute piece of what would best be described as atmosphere before Carter Beauford gets his proper drumsticks out, counts them in and the band thunder into their opening number proper - the mighty Don't Drink the Water. And that is the escence of the Dave Matthews Band. They easily could play a whole evening of crowd pleasing up tempo showstoppers from their extensive back catalogue, but they choose not to. They do pepper the set with a few choice foot stompers: Louisiana Bayou, Stay, So Much to Say, Too Much all got an airing as well as the inevitable and fantastic Ants Marching. But just as much they will head off into a 15 minute jammed out Jimi Thing where everyone may get a solo. Noodling nonsense this may be to many but to actually watch them do this live is a treat - to see the interaction between them: the nods, glances, smiles and their cues to each other to head off on one, or bring the band back in together is great. I don't know of any other band who would get away with this in gigs of such a large scale, but this is what these guys do. And lets not forget that they do this on an even bigger scale in the States where they will fill the big (20 - 25,000 seater) ampitheatres effortlessly all summer. They are utterly unique, and I feel pretty privileged to have seen them actually.
They did nearly 3 hours for us and finally encored with a belting Two Step during which drummer Carter went paticularly bonkers, cutting loose round his enormous kit. It was a bloody fantastic gig and now I really see why these guys have the live reputation they do. Hopefully it won't be 10 years before they are back over here again.

But, gigs in London mean a road trip and it was half past 3 when I got home this morning. It was actually getting light by that time. Nick and I shared the driving and, fuelled by Red Bull and chewy mints, we did the long drag back up the M1 without nodding off which was an achievement.

So, that was it. Roll on the next gig, which is a big one: Peter Gabriel and Crowded House in Hyde Park in 3 weeks. I hope the weather improves as it was bloody awful this weekend….

First listens

Snakes and Arrows, Rush's 157th (approx.) studio album and their second original release in, err, 11 years, comes out next week. Having heard some snippets it does sound like they've gone for it again and we'll be pleasantly suprised that this trio of 50-odd year olds, 30 odd years on (is there another band who has been together for so long with the same line up?) can pull another gem of a cd out of their collective hat. Mind you, the last one (Vapour Trails in 2002) was a big suprise in that it was actually made at all, and then subsequently that it rocked like a bastard. Unfortunately VT has not 'matured' in the way many of their previous albums have. This is mainly to do with it's ProTools recording approach and the 'everything louder than everything else' mastering resulting, in it all just being way too loud and a bit harsh to listen to all the way through. Some great songs on it though. This new one sounds a belter so I am very much looking forward to my package from Play.com arriving Monday. Open CD; insert in stereo; play LOUD and sit back and enjoy whilst taking in meaningful artwork and intelligent lyrics. The first listen to a new Rush album is a rare and precious thing.

In other news it's been all go of late. 3 weekends on the trot with the kids, including a 6 day stint over Easter meant I didn't surface for the best part of a month, but I got a 'me' weekend the one just gone. Spent the Saturday being a tourist in Liverpool with Rach and Rich Eatough, who was up from Reading for the weekend. (He is currently hobbling boy having pranged his ankle at Easter coming off his bike.) It was a top day out going round the old town and Liverpool city is currently being massively transformed - almost beyond recognition. There's so much construction going on it's ridiclous. 2007: City of cranes.... 2008: City of European Culture. Still, the old pub haunts are still there, hidden round the corners from shiny office blocks and funky inner city living or huddled between enormous new retail opportunities and/or wine/coffee bars . It makes for great fun seeking out the old stuff in amongst all the new. It's all still there - if you know where to look and I do think that the old and the new are sitting alongside each other in the city really rather well to be honest, and it's all looking very, very good over there. Anyhow, we did both catherdrals and finished off with a trip on the ferry to make it a proper Liverpool day out.

Holly was 6 this week. SIX! Christ, time flies a bit like a mad whizzy flying thing, eh? I have been Rush 'fan' now for 28 years. Now THAT is scary.

Barenaked Ladies, Leeds University

I saw these guys live again this week - at Leeds University - and as ever they delivered a fantastic show. They remind me of Crowded House circa early 90's as they effortlessly deliver a set full of Steve Page and Ed Robinson's wonderful songs brilliantly played, and yet they don't take themselves very seriously at all. Much laughing on stage (mainly at each other) and some inspired comedy, including a delirious choreographed dance sequence by the whole band which cumulated in a 'fight' in the style of West Side Story.
On stage chat for the evening was mainly based round the twin burning subjects of the outrageous visibility of British plumbing and the seemingly endless variety of our crisp packet flavours.
Opening with One Week and The Old Apartment they hit the stage running and played a good mix of old and new material, with several choice offerings from their excellent latest album, Barenaked Ladies are Me (available in all reputable audio retailers now, folks). There was also a great little acoustic section where the banjo and mandolin were dusted off, also featuring drummer Tyler as lead bongo-lier. $100,000 made it's usual appearance as an encore and the evenings closer was the always incredibly poignant Call and Answer. It's easy to forget that these guys have been together for 15 years now and have a lot of songs to choose from.
Mention should also be made of their excellent (and now it seems regular) support act: comedian with guitar, Boothby Graffoe.
'Ladies newbie Rachel was highly impressed by the band, the show and the songs, and and I feel this was a good start to her Canadian musical education. Next up for her it's The Hip!

Dave Matthews

Dave Matthews. Who is he? Just know that he is an American and usually seen fronting the Dave Matthews Band. Never heard of them either? Good. Lets keep it that way.
I saw him and his mate Tim Reynolds play a two and a half hour acoustic show in Manchester last week which was one of the best live gigs I have ever seen. Whether it was the amazing songs, the wonderful delivery or the tangible air of nervous expectation from the sell out crowd (this man is a genuine American icon) I don’t know. But the combination of factors made this (for me anyhow) a quite extraordinary event to witness.
And I get to see the whole Dave Matthews band in London in May – the first time they’ve played the UK for over 10 years – and that will be a real treat.

House move looms

Apparently a house move is a very stressful event. I have to agree. I am only going next door and the whole thing seems to be weighing on my mind rather alarmingly.

Next door? Well, No.16 was being gutted and refurbished so I got first refusal on it a while back. Only renting still but a bit of a move up in the world from No.14 now it's all spangly and new. I'll still be able to deafen Jo at the back with my music (and vice versa) so no change at all really. IKEA here I come for furniture (is there anywhere else which sells house stuff?).

Only moving about 20 feet or so and yet I still I have to pack and box all my posessions to be carried round and dumped in the new place to be ritually unpacked again. I kind of thought that I didn't have that much, but think again monkey boy - looks like there's fucking tons of it. You can never have too many CDs. Ho hum. A busy week then.

The new place has a bike cellar. Hurrah. Just like the original Pudsey place we had there's a large cellar completely perfect for the storage and maintenance of bicycles. I'll also have a dishwasher AND tumble dryer which is dead posh, but neither of which will get that much use due to their extortionate running costs (he says).

In other news it seems to be the season for elderly parents (not mine I should add) to be in hospital with serious conditions. Some of these people deserve to get better more than others do, and we shall leave it at that.

Spring is sprunging with the daffs almost out in the parks, and I can just about get in and out of work now without the aid of lights. Can that be blamed on global warming? probably.

2007: year of music...

Bands touring for whom I already have a ticket:
Barenaked Ladies (Leeds, March)
Dave Matthews (solo) (Manchester, March)
Dave Matthews Band (Wembley, May)
Toto (Manchester, March)

Bands rumoured to be touring for whom I will get tickets (note the total Canadian bias of this section):
Rush ('autumn'... 'early 2008' ) New album due May. Produced by guy who has been doing the Foo fighters, so it should ROCK.
The Tragically Hip ('summer').

Bands reforming for whom I will get a ticket:
Crowded House. New album imminent. Ok, it won't quite be the same without Paul Hester, but those SONGS...

Bands reforming who I won't get a ticket for as I won't go to a football stadium/stand in a field:
Genesis. Shame - would like to see them again.

Bands probably/possibly reforming for whom I would give my right arm to see - in a football stadium or wherever:
Van Halen with Dave Lee Roth. Now definitely on: doing 40 dates in the States. I doubt they'll get over here though :-( .
Edit: This was definitely on (for about a week) but then postponed as EVH has gone into rehab. Phew: rock and roll.

The Police (looking likely now).
Edit: At £85 a ticket they can stick it.

Band for whom there are no rumours/announcements but who should just get over here and play anyway as they are (he is) overdue a visit:
Prince

Looks like we may get ZZ Top this summer. Excellent.

New Year

I saw out the end of 2006 in the fair city of Edinburgh, and it turned out to be a(nother) right good do. When I say that Edinburgh was "fair" this in no way refers to the weather, which was just appalling. So bad in fact that all the Hogmannay events in the city were called off. And, dammit, I so wanted to do a ceilidh.

... and I was going to write a whole thing on the weekend but can't be arsed as I am knackered. I'll just highlight a few salient points:
Rach, Dave and John.
Drive.
Katy.
Cats.
Brie toasties and whole garlic clove stuffed olives.
Air bed.
Bus.
Wind. Rain. Rain. Wind.
Coffee.
Castle.
Wind. rain.
Haggis, neaps and tatties.
Did I mention wind and rain?
Other people.
Deep fried Mars bar.
Rain.
Bus.
Bus.
Hurricane.
Pub.
Countdown.
Texting.
Fireworks (in London).
Streets full of people.
Wind and rain. Dammit.
Bus.
Air bed (properly blown up).
Goodbyes.
Drive. Drive. Drive.

So, you get the picture?

Thanks to Rachael, Katy, John and Dave.

Roll on 2007.