Hungary - Part 1

Well, it was pure Spinal Tap but everyone came back alive - just. Poor old Mr me got blood poisoning (due to sliding across a stage and cutting his leg open) and had to be brought back on the plane in a wheel chair! He is now an invalid for a short time as he cant walk and is feverish and I am his nurse. Hmmmm.

I think its best told in pictures.

27 and a half hours to get there (5 men, 1 woman - me!) in a Mercedes Sprinter..This is waiting for the ferry at Dover.

Where we stayed was fab. And £150 for 11 days! Between 5 of us! Some of the entourage (which got to be a very BIG entourage by the end of it. That's me in the red pants!).

Just to prove they did actually DO some gigs...

There are more but I need to find where I have hidden them on the other computer. More anon.....

Cake

:-)

Happy Halloween!

Random stuff

I have been a bit busy lately, although its difficult to say doing what exactly! The boss has been away so I have been pretending to be him (bit hard when I havent got a beard!), and working some late hours. Although it was from home, with red wine and music so it didnt FEEL like work :-)
Only 5 days to go before I leave for Hungary in the back of a van with 5 men. I cant believe we are driving there, although there is no other way, what with equipment and things. I am not packed or anything, but thats not the issue. The issue is my camera. Obviously I will be taking shed loads of photos, and I do not want to take the digital one because then I will have to take the laptop and I dont want to trawl that round Europe for 10 days because I KNOW something will happen to it. I cant not take the latop if the camera goes because I dont have enough memory cards and I will have to empty out the camera every day onto the laptop. So, tomorrow I am going out to buy an old skool real camera so I can do the film thing. It will be quite strange, actually having to think about the structure and lighting of a photo rather than just taking loads and deleting the ones I dont like, but I was quite good with a real camera so hopefully I wont have forgotten any of it. I also have to get the cats their provisions for their stay at the in-laws (I havent told them they are going yet). You would think after all these years I would be a bit less "last minute" about it all but obviously I am not.

Currently getting into Depech Mode for some reason. I have never disliked them but I have never really listened to anything from around the 1990s and now I have I love it.

Must dash - am knitting a friend an Eeyore for Christmas :-)

Last/Lost Weekend

Blimey, it was a good 'un! Friday was a DC/79 gig, and in the afternoon two friends came over from Bristol, although they are Hungarian, not Bristolian, and we met them at the gig, the Moses Gate in Bolton. Great gig. Much beer was taken, and I was on sound duties again. Apres gig, said Hungarians were dispatched to the drummers house, and the following afternoon they repaired chez Rock Towers, where the festivities commenced in the local pub. Dinner was lovingly prepared by Czilla, and we had paprika and dumpling sausage stew and Tokai wine, and then got down to the more English pursuits of drinking Fosters and watching Match of the Day.....
Sunday lunch was spent in yet another hostelry, where fish pie, shicken caeser salad, steak and a tuna melt was taken. This time only I was still drinking.....
There was a gig on the Sunday evening in Holywell, North Wales, but it was cancelled because the PA provided by the venue was virtually non-existant. More drink was taken, and I moved onto red wine this time. The journey back to England was spent attempting to speak in disjointed Hungarian (me) and very good English (by the Hungarians). And it rained and rained as well.
Monday morning was a little bleugh as I had to be up for work, but all in all an excellent weekend. For once, the cats deigned to speak to our vistors, and roamed around various ankles, getting in the way and demanding food and being spoken to in Hungarian, which they responded to MUCH better than they have to anything I have said in English EVER.
I could have done with a nice early night on Monday, but Leeds was underwater (or at least part of my route home was, as Armley gyratory flooded yet again) so I didnt get back till 8pm and missed the Archers and everything.
Tonight me and him indoors went out to the pub for our tea. They dont serve food after 8pm, whihc we didnt know, so we went to another and this one didnt either. So it was chips for him, and the end of a sausage for me. Having said that, due to lack of food, I can now go in the bath and eat cheese without feeling guilty! :-)
My life seems to revolve around music,reading, food and drinking. Maybe not such a bad thing in these gloomy days of knife culture, anti social behaviour and impending cultural meltdown. When I go to Hungary, I may not come back (assuming I can get the cats passports)....

Only joking , mum!

Supergrass - Mary

Not a big fan really but I love this video. I REALLY love it.:-)

Mercury Rev - The Dark is Rising

I LOVE this! Enjoy.

The Hungarian trip...

...Is on! The last 10 days of my October will be spent in Hungary.Somewhere.

And my passport hasnt come back from the passport place yet. Fingers crossed that it does.

The cats are having a little holiday of their own - they are going to my mother in laws for the duration, as they are too old for a cattery and I dont fancy the idea of getting someone in each day to feed them, as they might not LIKE the person, and they like my mother in law.

I made fish pie last night. What a faff about that was! Boil this, whisk that, combine the other. And it called for nutmeg. I didnt put any in as I cannot abide nutmeg. Its got this kind of burnt stagnant wood thing going on with it that really puts me off. I am told its nice on an Irish coffee, but I wont be trying that any time soon.

Off to Doncaster shortly for a DC/79 gig. Its hot and muggy and stuffy so I may need a medicinal cold cider or two :-)

Harry Potter and more

Yes, I like Harry Potter. Well, I like the books, and the films, and I have just finished reading the new one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I dont actually like Harry himself. I dont detest him or anything, but I cant warm to his character somehow, and the older he got the more I didnt like him. I liked Hermione and Ron from the word go. I saw the first film before I read any of the books, so I can't NOT like Professor Snape, as he is played by Alan Rickman, the world's finest actor. But Harry just leaves me cold. Which is a shame as there would be no books without him!
Anyway, I loved the book and I await the new film.
In other business, there is a very good chance I am off to Hungary at the end of October, which is very exciting except I dont know what to do with the cats! They are too old to go in a cattery and I can't get anyone to take a week out of their lives and stay with them. What to do???

Newton Music Festival

I was there. In the rain and the cold last night, taking photos, drinking brandy out of a plastic glass and pinching other people's chips. DC/79 have a new singer at last, and it was his unveiling last night.

It was GREAT. I even managed to finally REALLY sell my old bass amp, so now I am on the look out for a new cab, as I have exploded mine somehow :-)

A kind friend gave me a case for my bass head, so the fins on the back can no longer attack me and hack lumps of flesh out of anything that goes within two feet of it.

In other news, I have discovered I really REALLY like jalapeno poppers, which are jalapeno chillies filled with cream cheese and covered in breadcrumbs. I think you are supposed to deep fry them but I just stick 'em in the oven.

In fact, that's made me hungry so I will go and have some.

Here is a picture of the fair from the festival last night, from the wrong side of the tracks as it were.

Food

My dad is under the impression that I go out to eat a lot. So to prove him right,
: Yesterday we went to Ashton and I had lasagne and a pint and him indoors had fish and chips and a pint (in a Wetherspoons pub)for our lunch , and I must admit I did appreciate the non-smoking atmos.
Today we trolled off to the Trafford Centre and we ate here http://www.iguanas.co.uk/ and it was very lovely indeed. Chilaquile as a starter for me, crayfish for him, and then a chicken wrap for me and peri-peri chicken for him, San Miguels all round. We sat at the window and there was a massive thunder storm, complete with torrential rain and lightening and stuff - quite fantastic.
I got myself Saw on dvd for £3, a Goonies tshirt, and he got everything by the Pythons on film ever, in one big box set.
Back to my Dad. Yes, we do eat out quite a bit, but they tend to be budget outfits and we choose wisely and try not to repeat our outings. We aren't McDonalds freaks, and we very rarely get chip shop chips. Most of our culinary adventures are in back street cafes or out of the way places that cater to the non-English pallette. I dont get around to posting about a lot of them, like the melt in the mouth shami kebab we had one time that came with yoghurt on a paper plate and cost 50p and was sublime, or the chicken tikka on naan bread that could have powered a trip to the moon, such was its fieryness, but we like our food and we like to eat out (cheaply!) and we will try new things as often as we can.
So yes Dad, we eat out a lot. And its not just sausage egg and chips :-)
Some of my best memories of childhood centre around food. Sausage and chips featured large in my life, it being my dad's favourite meal of choice when we were out and about. We used to go to a cafe in Llanwrst (sp?) and they used to make their own shortbread biscuits and without exception every time we went there on our annual jaunt its what I used to have. I can actually taste it now as I think about it.
And my mum used to do us what we called "bits and pieces" teas. This was a small chocolate bar, crisps, cheese, some bread, a glass of milk, all served on a tray and it could be eaten on your knee listening to music (we didnt really DO eating in front of the telly) or at the table, reading something. Reading and eating are intrinsically linked in my mind.
Its funny, I seem to remember what I ate and what I read in relation to what happened in my life more than any other reminder of things past.

Campbell's Pork And Beans

I want to live like this. I really do.

Cookery

Last night I made paneer pakora and yoghurt chicken, and I would like to say I have had its equal in an Indian resteraunt. I can officially cook Indian food. Well, 2 recipes at least :-)
Paneer pakora is Indian cheese deep fried in batter. Whilst this all sounds horrifically artery clogging, it isnt. Paneer is basically cottage cheese squashed together. The batter was made from chickpea flour and water and a little sunflower oil. Ok, the deep frying part isnt good but its not like I eat it all the time!
We have no chip pan, and havent had since we lived in Whalley Range in 1992, so I had to improvise with the wok and a slotted spoon.
It worked nicely, if a little on the heavy side. Not enough water I think. Tonight him indoors is going to have a crack at cauliflower pakora.
The yoghurt chicken thing is basically chicken cooked in yoghurt with a ginger, chillies and onion paste (which I made in the food processor which I found when I cleared the bottom kitchen cupboard out last week.Its one of those cupboards where you throw things in and they sort of back up against a far wall and hide behind the pans and you forget about them for years....). So that redresses the healthy balance. Except for the large amount of cider I followed it with :-)
I turned the kitchen table round today, as it was a bit of an ordeal eating at it - both of us facing the wall and nowhere to put the paper...and underneath the back bit was a lovely pile of cat furballs, cleverly positioned so they couldnt be seen by the human eye unless the table was moved....
Its been raining all day and the cats have been like fractious children, unable to go out but a little bored. Unlike children they chose to go to sleep. In really impractical places like the top of the stairs, across a doorway, up against the fridge (well you never know when the door will open and that beef thats in there will magically leap out and into your open cat mouth...)

Back soon ^.^

Voodoo, a birthday and some stuff

We, BornIdle, played at Voodoo in Manchester last Friday. Last time we played it was packed. This time it was not very busy at all. Hey ho. Dont think it was anything to do with us - I hope not anyway! As ever we were brilliant and I wore my Peter Grimm cowboy hat. There are photos on people's phones and cameras and if I ever get my hands on them I will shove them up here.
What else? Oh yes, had a steak fajita in Henry J Beans (the last time I was in one of them was in South Kensington in 1989 and I got thrown out. Actually, I got refused entry in the first place . I can't remember why but it was in my lost year living in London and I was a little wild shall we say...). I made paneer tikka and it was GORGEOUS. I watched Wolf Creek and loved it - excellent serial killer and apparently based on true events. I dont really believe that for one moment but it makes for a scarier film.
Him indoors was 21 again on Friday so I made chicken fajitas (ooo a theme is developing) and we drank fizzy wine and watched rubbish on the telly while he played computer games.
Today we went to Warrington (where I was born and lived till I was 21, and for which I have a 50/50 loathe it/love it feeling), and had a drink in the pub we went to for our first date. It hadnt changed a lot (although the bear in a cage had gone - not a real bear!), and here we are 18 years later.
Shared a chicken and bacon and mozzerella pannini, then went to see the ma in law to collect birthday pressies and show off my new car as she hadnt seen it yet.
And thats about it really. Tomorrow DC79 audition a new singer. I am going along, but I am taking myself off into the fields at the back of the studio to take photos and mess about with my camera. I suppose a beer or two will happen :-)

Random phone pictures

My phone is full of rubbish so I am clearing it out. Its not a great camera (I use my phone to SPEAK to people mostly!) but here are some random images.

This is a view from Mr Thomas's Chop House in Manchester. On my birthday.

This was me in Frankie and Benny's a little later on :-)This is a record/cd/dvd stall in Manchester that's been there for EVER and everything is so tightly packed together its a nightmare to browse through it all. Quality sign :-)

And finally, my laptop as of, well, right now. Listening to the Archers and doing the shaping for the yellow thing. Front and back done. Just the arms to go!

Middle age

I am getting distinctly middle aged. I am not quite there yet but not far off. Its more of an attitude. I get it off my dad I think. I get so CROSS about things these days. Little things. Not the huge things, like why Tony Blair is an idiot, why George Bush is a BAD thing - you know the kind of thing I mean. I am cross because Morrisons card machines keep breaking and you have to sign for things and have another method of ID to prove who you are. Ok, I wear jeans and a leather jacket and I am a bit... scruffy... but I dont shoplift or have a stolen debit card so why make things hard for me?? I am cross that the man in the petrol station does NOT turn the pump on for about 5 minutes when you stand there with the thing in your hand trying to put petrol in your car and he is on his mobile phone - and I am sure you aren't supposed to use mobiles in petrol stations anyway. I am cross because PowerGen are incapable of taking my meter reading that I submit on line and just bill me random, mad amounts. I am cross because every other call I get at home is stupid sales people trying to flog me mobiles and conservatories and I am supposedly registered with that thing thats supposed to STOP those calls. I am cross because of flies that come in when you have the back door open so your old cats can wander in and out and then just die on the windowsill and fall behind things and you find little decayed corpses three weeks later. I am cross because I HATE housework and I have to clean my kitchen now when I would rather be knitting and drinking wine and watching a horror film. GAH.

You can never leave....

Yesterday was a DC/79 gig at the Hotel California in Birkenhead. They should have been on at 2am (!!!!!) but re-negotiated to 10.15pm due to singer having to be in Wales by 2am.
Its a smashing place. Its here:
http://www.thehotelcalifornia.co.uk/home.php?page=latest.
Well, I watched a band or two in the outside bit and I ate a sirloin steak burger with onions in the outside barbecue and I chatted with mates and I drank Castlemaine XXXX and I drank Jaegermeister (or how ever you spell it) shots delivered by women dressed up as german frauleins and i danced about a bit to DC/79 and took some dodgy photos and I had a laugh and went to bed in the hotel room reserved for the band upstairs at about 3am...
It was fun :-)
This morning I was a little tired. To revive myself I had to buy a ham and cheeses sandwich from the garage and get reminded by a policeman that there was no News of The World today because its Monday - it doesnt FEEL like a Monday!!!!!
ANyway, had the now traditional 2 pints the day after a gig, and here I am. I should be knitting. But I bet I fall asleep soon.
Oooo, watched Pan's Labyrinth on Saturday night. Fantastic film. Can't recommend it highly enough. Go and see it if you can.

And the band played on

I have a new car. I dont really want to go on about it as look what happened last time I did! Anyway, she is called Sheena and she is a red Hyundai Accent 3.1SI. She isnt new but she is new to me so thats the important thing.
The claim rolls on although it looks like I am not going to get an argument from the other side because they admitted liability yesterday so that's good. I am feeling a bit hypocritical about the whole thing. Sort of. Then I remember what happened and I get cross again. It genuinely WASNT my fault so think I am due back the money I have lost because of it.
My birthday day/night out was a good one. We went into town and had a few pints and bought some video...er...dvd nasties and some second hand horror novels and had some more drinks and went to Frankie and Bennys and had a "shared platter" (I HATE that word platter) and then met some friends and drank a bit more and then went back to our house and watched old videos of my band at various gigs and the next day I felt fine, which is surprising for a woman of my now advanced age!

Happy birthday to ME :-)

Insurance companies

Well, I have sacked Direct Line's insurance people re my crash and gone with my mate's company for the whole of the claim. An assessor will come and view the damage this week. Meanwhile I am in week 2 of the hire car, who I have named Claire.
Hopefully I will be purchasing a semi-aged car at the weekend and then the long wait for the money to come in starts. I hope I get enough to cover everything - its been a right hassle and my neck is killing me today...whinge whinge whinge etc.
I am thinking a blue or a black car would be nice.

Feeling better

Yes I do. I am not relishing the insurance company nightmare ahead but in myself I feel a lot better. Physically I am not too bad at all and mentally - well I have stopped being avenging angel style angry with the other party in the accident. Sooo, last weekend I got taken out for Sunday lunch (and oh dear I couldnt drive could I, so may as well have a drink) and today we went out for dinner (ok it was KFC but still...) and a leisurely pint on the way home.

Its been so damn WARM this weekend I will be forced to mow the lawn shortly and I have washed EVERYTHING we own so the pile of stuff to put away is immense. I dont mind washing clothes or drying them or even ironing them! but I hate putting them away. Its second only to changing the duvet cover in the evilness of housework stakes.

The cats have a love/hate relationship with nice weather. They love it because they are old and like to lie in the sun and keep warm, but they HATE it because they get TOO hot and are too lazy to move/get a drink and just lie then and shout at you until one of us picks them up and moves them/shovels food and drink into them/makes a fuss. Then they go and lie somewhere cooler until they feel like annoying us again and shift back into a hot spot and start the shouting again.....

Think before you post

The last post was NOT the last post about cars. My car, Jezebel, is dead, and I wasnt far from being that myself on Monday evening.
Coming out of work I was driving along a road, 40 limit but I always do 20 because sometimes lorries come out of a side road and they cant stop in time at the give way - its a really quiet road. So there I am doing 20 and out of the side road where the give way is shoots this IDIOT WOMAN doing about 50 and I cant stop in time so I just smash straight into her.
Thats the end of my car. Wrecked. Totalled. A write-off - however you describe it. I am a bit retentive about wearing a seatbelt so I didnt go through the windscreen or anything, but I didnt half hurt my shoulder and my neck and my collar bone.
The IDIOT WOMAN stopped her car and ran back to see if I was ok (she carried on up the road - I was in a steaming, smoking wreck in the middle of the road still) and I wrenched my door open and started running up the road to do dreadfull things to her - only my legs gave way and I had to sit in the road. The IDIOT WOMAN obviously thought I was dead and she got out of her car to come back and check on me, and her car started rolling backwards, her open driver's door getting torn off by a lampost and her friend in the back jumping out and running for cover.....
Anyway, the police came, I got breathalysed (negative naturally!), a garage came and towed my car away and my boss took me home.
Then the fun started. I am only 3rd party f and t on my car, so I had to pay for the car to be towed back to a garage, then towed back OUT again the next day and taken to storage - which I have to also pay for. I had 3 days off work and I had to walk to the doctors to get diagnosed as having a duff shoulder and whiplash. And I have to go to work ON THE COACH on Tuesday and then hire a car while I wait to get the money for mine. Which will be a fifth of the amount of finance I owe on it, so I will be paying for a car for 2 years that I dont HAVE anymore.
The IDIOT WOMAN was in a work's car so they will just have given her another one and she can go about her business as if nothing had happened, whilst I am injured, shaken up and out of pocket - and it wasnt my fault!
Yes I am still alive and not badly damaged, but I am as mad as hell about the whole thing.....
I am obviously physically tougher than I thought as I am not so bad now, but mentally I was a mess this week. I used to think people who got flashbacks and couldnt sleep and stuff like that were a little bit feeble - but those things and more have been happening to ME this week so I have had a rethink on that one. Lessons learned? Dont buy a car on finance. Dont have third party insurance. Things to be glad about? I am a good, careful driver and I can survive things.
Hey ho. Back to the "knitting as therapy" cure. And cider :-)
Be careful out there folks.

Hopefully the last post about cars for a bit

Jezebel got a service and passed her MOT so thats that for now. Just got the new hub caps to put on and I may treat her to a steering wheel cover to go with the fluffy dice.
I have STARTED PAINTING THE HALL PROPERLY. Actually I am doing the landing and its bloody hard work. Its a really tall landing and I cant for the life of me think how I painted the bits at the top last time, because I just cant reach, and I dont think I have shrunk....
Also spent a lot of time with a scrubbing brush removing cat hair from the bathroom carpet.
Now that we have definately decided to move I want to get the place in a semi non-squalid state or only mental cases will want to buy it.
Last night was another DC/79 gig. The hard drinking Hungarian was standing in again, which was good fun. I didnt fall off anything, break anything or do anything embarrasing and it wasnt even silly o clock when we got in for once.
Went to the local yesterday to find it had been taken over by new landlords! Again!! Thats about 7 in the last 7 years.
It looks pretty much the same as it always has - may amble down there later and investigate properly. Purely for research purposes you understand!
I am knitting a shrug, which is a cardi with no back, or something like that. Its looking really weird at the moment - I cant imagine how its going to go together. Still, it will fit the cat if I dont like it.

How I learned to stop worrying about *insert your favourite stressy thing here" and shouted a lot instead

Right. I fixed the electric prob in my car. I got SO annoyed and stressed out about it, especially as how the garage said it would need an autoelectrician to fix it, at about £8million a second, that I hit the internet. In my job, I am a professional geek. First thing to do when something goes wrong is reboot it. So I (well, him indoors but I helped, wearing pyjamas and big socks in the middle of the night in the middle of our street) disconnected the battery and reconnected it. And its fixed.


Sold some stuff on Ebay. UNsold my old bass amp. Must try harder.

Jezebel (that's my car's official name) got a valet and is clean for the first time in a year. New tyres and brakes as well. Now I can STOP.


Watched 5 minutes of a film called Ultraviolet. Ultraboring is my verdict. Switched it off and watched an Aerosmith bootleg instead.


Finished the stripey jumper. Here is him indoors modelling it VERY WEIRDLY.

Taught myself to knit on a circular needle. Thanks for the help mum - I am now knitting left handed again :-)

A week on Friday Jezebel goes for her MOT at the same place she got her electrics condemned as unfixable by mere mortals. I am going to enjoy telling them all about it........

The hall remains unpainted. Who wants to paint when there is red wine in the world?

The shouting? I shouted at just about anyone in earshot this last week. I do feel better!

Rock on girls and boys )0(

More bills

Well, car number 1 has been in for its MOT and it failed. Dodgy suspension something or other and a couple of iffy tyres. £239 put that right. Ace.
Car number 2 (mine) has no speedo and no rev counter and no fuel guage, due to an electrical fault, and the garage at the bottom of the road can't fix it so its got to go to an auto electrician or something similar. In the mean time, I don't know how fast I am going, how much fuel is in my car- and the damn trip is still working so its not even free miles! I have discovered its NOT an MOT fail (my MOT is due at the end of the month), so I will have to live with it for a short time. I did buy new wheel trims, new wiper blades and some "things" which you attach trims to the side of your car with. Mine fell off over a year ago and its only now I am getting round to putting it back ON. I say putting it back on, I mean all the new stuff is in my boot WAITING to be attached to the car. I have lost the will to live where cars are concerned.
The drummer in my band sent me a text today. On Thursday night after rehearsal, he was going home and his car set on fire. Just like that! He is ok. I dont think his car is. Will find out more tomorrow.
Due to all the expenditure and hassle, we went to the KFC for dinner and had a couple of pints on the way back, where we sat in the pub and did the Daily Mail cryptic crossword. I can't believe the Daily Mail is in my house. Its a wonder it didn't spontaneously combust as it went over the threshold. Good free DVD though - Alice in Wonderland. That one with Miranda Richardson in it. And Whoopi Goldberg is the Cheshire Cat.
I have finally started painting the hall. It will take 2 coats I have discovered, so thats twice the depression about it. My DIY tip - never paint your hall dark pink because its a bugger to paint over unless you are going darker, and I am not. I am going "desert". Thats like a creamy magnolia. I dont know, it was cheap in Focus so I bought it.
The great Ebay selling frenzy starts now as well. I have got a new bass head (in my defence I sold my old one first!), but we are potless, so if its not moved for a month, its on Ebay. That'll be the cats then. I don't think they have moved in a year.
Him indoors is parting with one of his beloved Marshall speakers. Ok, he has a LOT of them, and this one hasnt moved out of the upstairs "studio" for over a year, but its still very brave of him to sell anything music related. I suspect he may be considering buying something. Something EXPENSIVE.
Till next time chitlings... x

Why I hate my STREET part 1

Well, I don't actually hate it - I like it at night when no one is about. I like it on weekdays (not that I am there that much at that time) when there is no-one about. I like the neighbours. I do NOT like the neighbour's children. This is going to sound SOOO old lady, but I cannot stand kids playing out in the street. I realise thats a very unpopular view these days, what with a pervert in every bush and all that, but screeching hoards (well, three or four of them) running around all over the show, especially at silly o clock on a Sunday morning, really cheeses me off.
And the bloody house itself - duff chimney, no fire, Victorian boiler, rattling windows, dog eared carpets (cat eared actually), the toilet flush with the temperament of Lily Allen, the ghost ; I am fed up of it all.
And then FINALLY him indoors decides we can move! Three cheers etc.
Then I find out how much the bank will lend us, how much it will all cost, what I can GET for that pittance, how worthless my house actually IS, and it looks like moving wont be that much of an option after all.
I have now turned into one of those people who pin their hopes on winning the lottery. Except I wont.
And its all bills this month as well. The AA cards are due, phone bill, credit card, 2 cars needing work prior to MOTs, car tax, electric bill - you name it and I have a bill for it this month.
Bleughhhhh. That's how I feel.

Out of the habit

There has been no gig this weekend, which is WEIRD. Last Saturday it was the Floral Halls in Southport at a biker do, and it was awesome. Its a lovely building on the inside, all art deco doors and an beautiful glass ceiling thing in the main room. Not that the sound guy was very keen on it :-)
After this little sojourn, it was 6.30am before we got in. There was no dancing on tables from me but I did enjoy myself.
So, this weekend and we stayed in on Friday and we stayed in on Saturday as well. Well, during Saturday DAY we went to Oldham and had a burger and a couple of pints in some Wetherspoons dive. Then I got IT and Salem's Lot on dvd and him indoors got a book about Charlie Chaplin, but only because it had pictures of Stan Laurel in it.
Last night we watched Hostel, which I was deeply disappointed in. Silly story, awful acting and as for the gore- where was it?? Ok, there were a couple of good bits of proper horror ,but only a couple, which I wouldnt mind so much if it hadnt been billed as the goriest thing ever. It wasn't.
Dont get me wrong- Night of the Demon is my favourite horror film ever, and I am on the edge of me seat watching the old Dennis Wheatley Hammer films - there is far more to the horror genre than blood and guts. But if it SAYS its full of blood and guts then I expect it to be just that, and Hostel wasnt.
On another note, I am finishing off the stripey jumper, so that should be wearable just about when the weather gets warmer.

Manchester City Council are mad

Not content with celebrating getting the uber-casino job next to City's ground, the increasingly mad council have given us new street lights. Before, we had kindly glowing orange ones, encased in pebbledashed posts, thrusting their 1960's heads up through the pot holed pavements of yore.
NOW we have steel monstrosities that appeared Invasion of the Body Snatchers stylee overnight. Ominously they appeared NEXT to the old ones and operated in tandem for a few days. Now the old ones have mysteriously gone, and their gentle orange glow has been replaced by what I can only describe as a parody of the lights on the grandstands in the opening titles of Match of the Day. Down my way, we are in a minority, being just the two of us surrounded by the very old (who are very nice and I approve of them all) and those that are trying to break the land speed record for breeding hoardes of children as quickly as possible. So, at 6am on a Sunday morning when we are returning post-gig, there aren't many people about. Previously , the orange glow was a comforting reminder of the soft bed that awaited us (in which we are rudely woken up when the first of the junior cast of The Lord of the Flies emerges onto the street at about 10.30am and starts SCREECHING). NOW we turn the corner in the van and are greeted by Blackpool bloody illuminations. I cannot believe how BRIGHT these stupid new lights are. I dont have a light right outside the window but the people across the road do and I bet they dont need to put their lights on at all in their house.
We still havent had the alley way done up yet either. The council put gates up at each end and then said they would tarmac over it to make it all nice. That was a year ago. We got a "memo" from them saying they couldn't do this because people would insist on leaving their wheelie bins out there. On a Tuesday. Which is BIN DAY. Where are we supposed to PUT the bins? The bin men wont come within 50 miles of your front gate so you HAVE to leave them at the end of the alleyway or your bin stays full forever.
Not to mention the diversion signs they put up last week, sending drivers down a cul-de-sac you cant get out of.

I am a grown up

I am getting a pension. That's weird. I can't get my head round the fact that I can drive a car and don't have to ask my dad to drive me somewhere, and I refuse to accept I have a mortgage. Now I have a pension.
I have no idea how any of this grown up stuff happened.
Still, I like the fact I am old enough to go in pubs and nightclubs without having to have false ID. Which I never had. Ever. Honest. Parents - look away now.
It'll be anti-wrinkle cream next. And one of those big slippers that you get two feet in at once.
Still, this Saturday will see me back on a stool, dancing.
Last Saturday I didn't get in till 5.30am, having spent the evening drinking whiskey with a Hungarian. So its not all bad!

Another late night

Saturday saw me dancing on a tall bar stool in 4 inch heels at a DC/79 gig. Yes, I fell off. Fortunatley there were lots of people to break my fall :-)
Got in a 5am. Had to drive a mate home the next afternoon. Yuk yuk yuk.

The wavy gloves are nearly finished so pictures soon.

Oooo and I have bought the paint to paint the hall. The hall that extends into the landing and has some VERY high ceilings. I am SO looking forward to that.

Everything I own is now plastered in Hello Kitty stickers, that I bought off Ebay.

I got some shoelaces with skulls on them.

... reading the above I must admit I seem a bit odd sometimes....

Why I dont like my house. Reason number 1.

Yesterday it snowed. It is January and its to be expected, even in these days of "global warming". And what did my boiler do last night? Pack up and DIE. We have gas central heating and a gas fire. Ok, so we have the fire. Oh no we dont - the chimney isnt safe and awaits the new fire and some structural repairs that we cant afford. So we are cold. VERY cold.
Never mind, there is an immersion switch on the water tank in the airing cupboard so at least we will have hot water. Nope - its gone native and joined the Boiler Party and wont work either.
Cue cold evening spent boiling kettles for hot water.
This morning I got the immersion thing working by changing the fuse and shouting at it.
Now all we need is a spanner and a universal thermocoupler ( Scotty off Star Trek should have one) and a lot of shouting. This evening should be interesting.

Lucky Day

Today was a lucky day. I went shopping and went to give someone a pound for their trolley, and the woman said "Don't worry about it", smiled and walked off! Coming out of the shop I bought a scratchcard with that pound and won a £1!
THEN, and this is the spooky bit, when I went back to my car, there was a metal wine rack abandoned right next to my driver's door. Now, last week we had been talking about getting a wine rack (right - like wine hangs around long enough in our house to actually LIVE in a wine rack) but they were a bit dear, and here is one, brand new almost, just sitting there next to my car!
There is one bottle of wine in it now :-)
AND I am knitting a pair of fingerless gloves in some weird wavy rib pattern thats all "yon/unravel to last row/stand on your head whilst singing the national anthem" and the pattern is working!
Got to go - making crab cakes.

DC79

Another gig, this time the Thatched House in Stockport. There is a photo of me in my band on the wall in there, so its officially a GOOD place. Last night it was the other band's turn to do a gig. Did all the usual silly stuff and had a blast. I took my Christmas Jack Daniels hip flask with me and didn't drink any! Well, hardly.
Tired now. Really really tired. I have sewed up a bit more of the skirt, and the last bit of the last sleeve of the jumper is glaring at me , saying FINISH ME DAMN YOU. I am ignoring it.
And I have joined Punk Rock Knitters! Be nice and go and have a look :-)

Bak 2 Skool

As I have said before, I like my job, so I didn't mind going back after the break. I do feel slightly cheated though because much as I like having a break, I dont get that real WOOOOO I AM OUT OF THAT HORRIBLE PLACE FOR X DAYS I HOPE IT BURNS TO THE GROUND WHILE I AM NOT THERE feeling. I like not being there but I dont mind being there if you see what I mean.
Anyway, we went to Nawab on Wednesday and ate the world's most delicious curries. Again. In a pathetic attempt at healthiness, I had a curry based on yoghurt rather than cream and oil. Then I had two pints and a poppadom :-)
And today I made half a skirt! An A line skirt out of an old pair of curtains that I THINK were given to me by mum but I can't remember. They are pink and flowery anyway and I think they are late 50s/60s judging by material and style. They are now a knee length A line skirt. With a ZIP in it. That I did myself! I have never put a zip in anything apart from makeup bags and various "something that goes in a straight line and no one will care if it doesnt fit in right" types of thing. AND I pressed the hems before sewing it up, so I am obviously destined to give up the job I like and go and be Stella Mcartney or someone like that....
Actually I dont think I will. Its taken me three hours to make the pattern, cut the material out, sew in the zip, iron it, realise its two sizes too big because I was working in centimeters and I dont understand them, resize it, sew up the sides, re-hem it because its also too damn LONG, shout at the sewing machine because it ate the thing that the underneath cotton lives in (NO idea what its called but if you have a sewing machine you will know the bit I mean) , re-iron it, re-hem the bottom, realise I am sewing a pink skirt with black cotton, ignore that last realisation, forget about skirt for today and go and have a drink....
I sneaked back in and tried it on and it fits and once I have sewed in all the loose bits and tidied up the zip, I do believe it will be wearable. I will look like I am wearing one of Nora Batty's aprons (sorry to anyone who doesnt watch Last of The Summer Wine) but I dont care. It will clash with the HAT but sew what :-)

Happy New.. Hat

The hat is done.

Currently on the needles, a stripey jumper. Only one sleeve to go!

Oh yeah, happy new year everyone!