I'm from Barcelona

The aural equivalent of David Healy turning and volleying a dipping shot from the edge of the area over the head of the 6'7" Swedish keeper.




I saw them at Koko on Tuesday night and I can honestly say it was the best, happiest gig I have ever been to. I don't have the vocabulary to describe why you should go and see them. Just go.

David Healy

words fail me.

You don't get much for a coco in berlin

Guten Tag!

Ich bin just back from Berlin for my mate Peter's stag do.... Broke myself slightly, but had a great time... Managed to do pretty much 66%-33% split on piss up and culture, although the majority of the culture and sightseeing was done on my own yesterday after everyone else had gone home...

I found myself staring at this chap at checkpoint Charlie wondering who he was. An actor? An actual soldier? Is it a recent shot or was it taken when the wall was functioning? What is the point? Is it meant to be a representation of an "average" American just in case the East German's weren't sure what one looked like? I'm sure it's on Wikipedia somewhere but I can't be bothered looking it up - much more fun to ponder of an evening.



I'm sure the vast majority of you willnae give a monkeys about my pictures of the trip, but I've just forked out to upgrade my Flickr account so might as well make use of it. The last time I put some tourist snapshots on there I got a lovely comment in Polish about how I was a crap photographer, so maybe I'll get more constructive feedback later on. I also have a few videos of "the lads" serenading the pub with Northern Irish football songs on Saturday night.

All together now.... We're noooottttttt Brazil, we're Northern Ire-Lannnnd!!!

Photos from St Muzza's Day now online

The edited highlights (all 45 of them) from my photofest on Saturday are now on Flickr... a few of my favourites above, as ever, to whet your appetite.

Cameron William Thomas Townsend

Just a short post to say hello and welcome to the world to young Cameron Townsend, who as I write is nearing the end of his first day on the planet....

My sister popped him out just after 1am this morning in a home birth, with Nanny (i.e. my mum) present and sobbing her head off at the whole emotion of it.

Mother and son are doing well by all accounts, and Alex & Shannon slept through the whole thing, coming downstairs this morning to discover that the Stork is now doing out-of-office-hours deliveries and they had a new sibling to play with/torment in years to come.

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St Murray's Day

out at the weekend for Murray's birthday and St Paddy's day. I had a whale of a time and somehow took about 120 photos.... Ireland thrashed Italy at rugby, then we sat and watched as the dirty French snatched the 6 nations from under our noses. Got very very drunk and danced like a fanny, to the point where I got molested by the bar staff, who tried to pull my trousers off. I knew I was good, but I didn't realise the sheer sexual magnetism I obviously exude when strutting my stuff.

J certainly thought so, judging by the look of embarrassment/impending singledom that she had on her face.

Have been sorting through the photos, will post em tomorrow hopefully

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A grand

that is what the bastard tax man has deigned to take from my bonus. His mate National Insurance has shafted me for £500 as well.

All of which cuts my bonus in half. Almost makes me glad I don't earn this much every month.

Almost.

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Am I the only one who thinks this?

I happened to hear the new Avril Lavigne song on the radio this morning. It sounds awfully like a pop classic from a few years ago, but I'll leave it up to you to form your own conclusion. I won't tell you what the second video is, but listen to Avril (the top one) and try and guess what the second one is before playing it.....

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The gig was quite good on Sunday

Old Malenczuk is kind of a mix of blues and folk. Apparently most of his songs are political about the "Old Poland" but obviously I am taking that on the authority of those who were trying to translate for me.

The guy talks a lot and is apparently quite funny, at least judging by the raucous laughter from the 99% Polish audience. I think I may actually have been the only Brit in there. But that didn't matter as I feel quite at home amongst Poles; I stand by my belief that the Poles and the Irish are brethern on opposite sides of Europe - kind of a dark side of the moon thing.

Highlight of the night (almost) was the man himself choosing to come back to the Albert for a drink and some interviews. J was almost wetting herself with excitement. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come off, as he decided to head back to his hotel, but for a few brief minutes it seemed that the equivalent of, ummm, Billy Bragg meets Will Self? was going to join us.

As for the Telegraph... jesus. It's under new management and has been getting renovated. This much was obvious as we walked in to find light fittings unattached, wires hanging from the roof and the blokes toilet cubicles locked. Add to this the fact that the draught beer was off, they had run out of bottles of Budweiser (like I cared) but "someone had nipped next door to the shop to buy some more" and they had no clean glasses left for the wine.

Apparently Polish dude's first comment when he came on stage was to slag off the venue, the sound system, the lighting and the general organisation of the event. All in Polish, of course, so the whole crowd knew what he said but none of the staff did. Like it.

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Disgruntled sponsor #2

Met my friend Lorna last night for a few drinks - hadn't seen her for about a year and a half. It was very good to see her but she did raise the point that I had not yet thanked her for sponsoring me in the 10K.

Calm yer jets love - this is not it. I will wait and give you the tribute you deserve soon. I think Im might lamp me one if I don;t get to her first though.

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I think I have malaria

My hand has swollen somewhat since this morning and is now rather large and red and stingy. Me being me, I spent this morning researching malaria on the internet, after my unthinking mate Simon suggested that - given the beastie landed on me in Borough market - it might have stowed away in some exotic african produce and be a deadly killer mozzie. It was about twice the size of normal London ones to be fair. Anyway, apparently I have a few days before the full effects take hold so will do my best to write thank yous to my sponsors before then.

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1st mozzie bite of the year

The 2nd is on my thigh

Another beautiful day in old London town

which I spent watching the Rangers-Celtic game and then the England-France rugby game. We only bloody beat Celtic at Celtic Park! With our defender scoring an overhead kick!!

Very odd.

Andy popped round, made him watch the rugby as punishment for not being arsed to go out and take photos on such a glorious day like he said he would. If I didn't know him better I'd almost say he didn't absolutely hate it.

Off to see Malenczuk in an hour - just found out the only other non-Polish person that was going now has to sit in as they couldn't find a baby sitter... Ah well - will just have to keep my gob shut! Am actually really looking forward to it - it's like going abroad rather than up Brixton Hill. Just hope I don't spill any huge bloke's pint.

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Continuing our series

of girls with good accents and witty lyrics.....

I feel a bit like a dirty old man liking this for some reason, but apparently Lady Sovereign is "big in America" now so I suppose that makes it ok... I'm guessing she's not a Mouseketeer on the Disney Club. This was the highlight of my training playlist when I was running.... She was on my "South London mix". Just found out she's from Edmonton - the north London home of sofa muggings. Never mind.

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Kate Nash

Helen got me onto her - she was supporting Tilly(?) and the Wall when she went to see them with Lucy the other week. I love singers with accents and the lyrics to this are so sweet. I think the video is some amateur effort, so just listen to the song... Guarantee it will brighten your day.

http://www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

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Maleńczuk

This is the gentleman I'm going to see with the Polish massive on Sunday at the Telegraph...

Should be interesting.

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Spring is still here!

Ate my sandwiches in the sunshine in Embankment Gardens today for the first time this year.

It was nice.

Whoop! Whoop!

This is an artists impression of the sight that's greeted me on the way home the last two days...

It would appear that Operation Trident has stepped up a gear - yesterday I wandered past a group of guys being busted on Tulse Hill, having been stopped in their car by about 5 police cars and vans, then this evening there was a massive tailback through the Brix due to another car - this time empty by then with all its lights still on - having been stopped by another full shift of plods in the middle of Brixton Road.

Sum'hin goin dahnn, y'all

Spring has finally arrived

I left work today to see the daylight desperately clinging on for its dear life, as opposed to that lightweight winter light that buggers off home to play on its Xbox as soon as it thinks the boss isn't looking.

There's something about spring dusk that just makes you feel good. It's almost like the light is attached to something and is being sucked away by the opposite side of the earth but is refusing to let go, kind of like chewing gum on your shoe.

Springtime is like stepping in chewing gum. You heard it here first.

Just back from the Prince, catching up with Sarah. It's open mic night on a Wednesday and they have a very good funk band providing backing tracks. Sarah is a great singer so of course wanted to get up and have a crack. Ever the party animal, I wanted to go home as I was skint and tired. I thought she was leaving with me but when I looked round she was at the bar again ordering another pint and planning on staying for a while by herself. Think there might have been a sneaky text to Craig at some point though. I hope she gets to sing, just sorry I'm not there to witness it. Next time, definitely.

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Imogen is rightly pissed off

that she has still not got her thank you post for sponsoring me in the 10K.

And rightly so. I'll check through my list of sponsors and ensure that anyone I think will give a damn will get their tuppence worth. You deserve it. My main problem is that I don't have a picture of Im to post next to her tribute. It's weird, despite being friends for 10 years I've never had that many photos of her. Strange, given that she's one of the most photogenic people I know.

Just as an aside, I got a bulky letter from Fairbridge - the charity - the other day thanking me for my fundraising (yes, it took me until mid-February to send them the remainder of my sponsorship). They've obviously got me tagged as someone worth targeting for future endeavours. Which is nice.

Mind you, I did raise......

......wait for it......

....£1161 for them!

Pretty good for a tattie chomper

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Hard luck to Celtic

Who managed to make it to extra time against the mighty AC Milan in the Champions League before crashing out....

Guess all eyes are now on The Gers in the UEFA Cup then....

Ummmm.

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Just made the mistake of clicking the 'next blog' button at the top of the screen

A leap into the unknown. And a revelation....

There is some utter, utter pish festering on the internet. I wonder what the carbon footprint is of the amount of extra energy needed to run servers to support the drivel churned out via Blogger on a daily basis.

Obviously I am exempt from criticism and my blog should be on the national curriculum, but really.... Does anyone actually care about a guy in Kentucky who takes his dogs to agility training? And then blogs the full tail (like what I did there?) of each practice session, complete with diagrams?

Still, it's better than the guy who posts random words and phrases in English beside their Russian translation.

Great if there's any rhyme or reason to it.

There isn't.

Just words and phrases.

Like "Bay of Bengal".

Unless I find myself in Vladivostock looking for a Chicken Korma and therefore the nearest curry house, I very much doubt I will ever need to know that the translation is: "Бенгальский залив".

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Bumchunks

I used that today in an msn message to Lizzi. I quite like it as a term of annoyance - i.e. "awww bumchunks!" when one perhaps realises they have lost their student loan documentation.

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If you're wondering what that weird picture of the pint of Guinness is all about

it was Szymek's way of being funny when my back was turned in the Albert on Saturday night. I drank it anyway - I thought it was quite a nice way to be picked on by the bar staff... Almost counteracts the fact that the local paranoid schizophrenic spent the evening making throat slitting signs and the like at me across the bar.

Apparently he's taken exception to me because I said I was from Belfast. He's an ex-soldier so I don't know if there's some kind of post traumatic stress thing going on, but despite my attempts to explain that I wasn't actually from Belfast - it's just easier to say that sometimes - he wasn't having any of it.

I wasn't initally that bothered, and everyone tells me he's "harmless", so maybe it's just my fragile exhausted state that has me suddenly thinking the words "paranoid", "schizophrenic", "hates" and "me" are not four words I'm particularly happy about having in the same sentence.

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Remember Electrasy?

I love this song. Saw them live at Daft Friday in the GU back in 98 you know. The rest of their stuff was pish. Trust me, I bought the album whilst still pissed the next day.

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Tidied my room tonight in an attempt to get organised

and clear some room for J. Even though she might not be moving in after all.

I've managed to lose my student loan deferment forms and my invite to a school friend's wedding.

So, erm, Julie - just in case you've somehow stumbled across this blog, I'd love to come to your wedding reception - can you remind me when and where it is?

Same goes for Student Loans Co - trust me, if I earned more than £25K a year I would gladly pay you back my poxy loans. As it is, the 50 years old cut off all of a sudden doesn't seem quite as pathetic and laughable as it did when I graduated. Well, maybe still as pathetic.

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They came, they saw....

.....the got pretty steamin and a good time was had by all.

Yes, the weedgie posse hit south London last weekend, on a mission to get pished, And get pished we did, although for my liver's sake I'm glad I missed out on the "5 am in the dogstar" Friday night and i9nstead only made it to the "12 hours of boozing" on the Saturday.

We managed a bit of a mini pub crawl - they started in the Alex, had moved to the Falcon by the time I had rescued Craig from himself, drinking on his own in the Dog, moved to Arch 635, before finally ending up being stood on the veranda of the Albert watching the lunar eclipse. Lovely. Was nice to show "the boys" my local (and introduce them to my wonderful girlfriend) and I think they enjoyed themselves. Everyone was on good form, if by good form you mean taking the piss out of me for just about everything that I did and was (and secretly still am) 7 years ago. But I'm a big boy, I can take the chat about my cooking prowess extending to a jar of Chicken Tonight - purely because I have absolutely no choice in the matter. I'm still quite partial to a "French Chasseur" or a "Creamy Peppercorn" on occasion.

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Guinness cocktail

Gotta love the Albert bar staff. More to come...

5pm on a saturday

He's actually snoring in the pub

I may still be smoking

But it's a nice way to start the morning