The Wedding

The wedding was good. We got there to find out we were in a different hotel to the actual wedding, due to some kind of mix up, and there was another wedding going on at our hotel. People kept asking us to pose for pictures , and we kept having to point out it was another wedding we were going to. I wore a pale grey skirt suit and a black velvet lace up top and faux snakeskin round toed stilletoes and black tights. Tacky! Him indoors wore the black suit, a blue shirt, a bootlace tie (redneck chic) and his brothel creepers. (Shoes, mother!)
It was a nice wedding and they did a Native American Indian blessing at the end which was a lovely touch. The sit down meal thing was nice, and then we cleared off back to our hotel for a change of clothing (yay - back in jeans again!) and then returned for buffet/bad disco/chat with drunken friends.
Had every intention of packing in at 10.30pm but 1.30am saw us sitting in our hotel bar drinking brandy with a gay millionaire, whilst admiring the lovely old windows and fireplaces and talking to a Pomeranian dog called Mrs Barbara.
Then I had to drive home the next day...
It was a posh hotel. And the breakfast was not a patch on any of the millions of B and Bs we have stayed in. The whole thing was "sir" and "madam" this, and very impersonal. Not to mention bloody expensive! Still it was worth it.
Lovely time.

Pre Wedding Jitters

...and its not even MY wedding. Next Saturday our friends' son is getting married (that makes me feel ancient. I remember one time they came round to party the night away and had to bring him with them - he was 12 - because he had done some evil child thing and couldnt be left alone, and he sulked all night and here he is, a post grad, 22 and getting married..)
ANYWAY, it's a posh do and I have no posh clothes. I don't have to wear a suit or formal gear for work so I don't have posh people clothes. And neither does him indoors, unless you count his 1980s Ben Elton suit. And even Ben Elton wouldn't wear it anymore. So off we go to Asda and this is how it goes....
Him (within 5 seconds of entering the shop) - there's a black suit, in my size. I'll get that.
Me - (after 3 years of solid browsing) - everything's horrible or old-lady, the wrong size, no shoes will go with that, why dont they have that in a NICE colour, go and read the magazines while I kill myself....
I didn't get anything.
Tomorrow is round two in the clothing war. Normally, clothes shopping for me involves "does it have a picture of a band I like on it/is it denim/will that go with my suede high heeled boots/that looks sturdy and unfazed by beer spillage". NOW I have to buy real grown up people's clothing for once and I can't cope.

I'm Miss World. Somebody kill me.

Post number two of the evening. And this one is about Courtney Love.I like her. A lot. I like the way she looks, I like her music, I like her attitude (although her voice grates a bit) . And I am a bit fed up of everyone slagging her off for being a bit chunky at present. So WHAT? So she has put on a bit of weight. Its all part of the build em up knock em down look at the freak culture that seems to exist in our media. Ok, so you could argue that she courts the publicity, that she sets out to be notorious, that she actively seeks the negative attention, but attacking her for looking a bit iffy (which incidentally I don't think she does - the woman is 41 for insert your deity here's sake) is not particularly constructive or helpful, and is just a bit sad really. Ok, we are all guilty of going "oh look at the state of so and so" expecially if its someone we dont like, but in Courtney's case I think people do it because they WANT to see her fail, see her down, watch the descent into hell of this month's favourite freak.What I most like about her is the fact that she doesnt seem to care what anyone thinks. Neither do I. My own is the only approval I need.Courtney for Queen i say. (oh, no I dont, I dont believe in a monarchical system. Damn.)

Updates

Hi guys. Last Sunday saw DC79, and by default ME, at the ACDC Convention in Wrexham, Wales. It was a last minute thing (another band dropped out and they were asked to play) - it was three days of ACDC tribute bands, workshops, stalls and things, and they were on at 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon. No rehearsal with the new singer at all. No soundcheck, just 1234 and into Riff Raff. It was brilliant! I (well its MY website, not theirs, so I am going to talk about ME) met loads of nice people, had loads of free beer and food, danced about a bit, took some photos and generally had a whale of a time.
Its http://www.acdcconvention.co.uk if you want to go and have a look at what happened.

I always knew.....

Which Rock Chick Are You?

The Attic

Today we bought a big ladder and went in the loft. Let my clarify. We bought a big ladder. Only one of us went in the attic, and it wasnt me.
We have lived here for 6 years, and this is the first time we have been up there. Its a very old house, the loft is very high up and the hole to get in there is very small. So him indoors goes up there (in his old mechanic overalls circa mid 80s - he is very pleased to note they more or less fit) and what does he find? The water tank that is overfilling (the reason for the journey up there in the first place), some old Christmas decorations which "you wouldnt like" so they didnt make it down. But then he finds some bags and boxes of stuff that isnt ours and down it all comes. Into the bath, as its all covered in layers of black dust, and what have we found? Someone's entire life, in cards and mementos. Well not their whole life but lots of cards and some Christmas wrapping paper from the 70s, and a pink plastic rosary, some Miners make up from the early 80s ; loads of things really. I think they belonged to the people we bought the house off but I dont know where they moved to so I can't contact them, and I assume (sadly) that they either forgot this stuff or didn't want it anymore.
When I can get near my scanner I will scan in some cracking 70s Christmas cards, and an amazing Avon "points" catalogue for Avon ladies from the early 80s. Yes, I have kept anything keepable and in decent condition. More to follow.
In fact, I will post them here http://www.faerywings.co.uk/Cards/attic.htm as there are lots of them. Here are a few to start with.

Those pictures I promised

Here is the dinosaur and the table legs from that club in Bolton.

Those were the days

Ok guys, my mum found this. Its me and him indoors circa 1991. He's the blonde. Hehehehehe.
The doggy is Monty, the parent's everlasting pom.

New Office

The new office at work is a portacabin in the middle of a building site. Its actually quite cosy. Very hot though. I have a hard hat. It looked a bit plain so its now got ACDC written on it in blue marker pen. And it says "Sam's Hat" on it as well. Its amazing what people will nick if you don't write your name on things.
What have I been up to? I watched the tribute band audition a new singer (watch this space), and I went to a Beefeater (not at the same time!). A Beefeater is a steak and chips type pub, only they seem to have gone up in the world since I last went in one as it has a seperate "dining area" and it wasnt that cheap. I had steak with stilton and red wine and bacon sauce, and chips, and him indoors had steak and onion rings and salad. Not very inventive but mucho 70s I thought.
Last night I went out playing sound engineer for the tribute band, and it was a good night, but a very late night, and I didnt get in till almost 6am. And today I had to ferry the stand in singer back to Wales where he lives, which I don't mind at all but I was VERY VERY TIRED and I still am.
Stopped for a Wimpy on the way home. I had forgotten that you could get a hot dog in bun meal thingy - I have never had one and it didn't look very appetising so I was boring and had a cheesburger.
I am too tired to think, so this is all for now folks. I did take some photos of the club from last night which I will post when I get them off the other pc. They had a dinosaur in the garden, and the table legs were ...erm... legs with stockings and suspenders on!

In my spare time....

Please go here:
http://www.faerywings.co.uk/
and click on the "vintage lounge" button. Its a work in progress.
See, I have hobbies....

Couldnt resist...

:-)
Me and my ma









And you know that film Total Recall? Where Kuato turns out to be that guy in the other guy's chest? Apparently I was the model for him.....

Memory Lane part deux

My mum and dad sent me a load of slides to scan in and convert to jpegs. I have done a few and here is a lo-res one for your delight. Its me and my mum in 1968. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL? If I was them I would have taken me back.
To make it fair, here's my dad (in improbable wellies) and me in the snow circa 1968.

Memory Lane

Today the builders cut all the cables to our office. It was a NIGHTMARE but a very boring technical nightmare to everyone NOT in our office, so instead here is a picture of my street in 1963.
The door above the smallest kid's head is my front door. I wasn't even alive then!
Apart from the lack of cars, and that nice lamp, its pretty much the same. Only its in colour these days.

Deconstruction

The building in which I work is a three story "managed business centre", which means there are loads of different businesses in there, and they have a shared reception and post people and a cafe and all that kind of jazz. Except it isn't now as the owners are turning it into flats and have turfed everyone out. Except US.
My company has firm links with the management and we provide services for lots of their OTHER businesses as well, so they deemed it prudent to keep us where they knew where we were, ie in the building. We are moving to the ground floor in August, into a new office (the ground floor is going to be us, their accounts department and a cafe/bar thing). In the mean time though the building is being demolished around me and as we are on floor one and floors two and three barely have WALLS anymore, its a risky business.
See this? See that black hole at the end? My office is beyond there....

See this? This was painted on the wall outside my office on Monday morning. To keep the builders from trying to smash it down apparently, but I must admit I came over all "The Village" when I saw it....

Snak Attack

I have managed to get through a whole day forgetting to buy cat food. This NEVER usually happens. Before I go any further, the cats had chicken breast for breakfast, and smoked ham and cat biscuits and a bit of tuna for tea, but I was anxious that there was nothing for their supper. And for some unknown reason, I forgot right up until 9.50pm and the shop shuts at 10.00pm and I had a glass of cider so I couldn't drive.Ok, its only round the corner, BUT I had just come out of the bath and was mid way through an MSN messenger chat with my ma, and I had to rustle up some clothes and quick. The result? Bag lady from planet grebo-hell. Rob Zombie would have run away from me.
1 x Rancid zip up hoodie, four sizes too big for me. 1 x pair of brown pants, three sizes too long for me. 1 x pair denim, backless slip on gardening shoes. Hair? Scrunched back on top of the head and held up with a cable tie...Oh, and one eye full of mascara, the other all clean ( I am fair and dont HAVE visible eyelashes normally).
Anyway, I made the shop and the pretty Asian eleven year girl old serving didn't bat an eye lid, not even when I spotted the Mexican Cheese and Chilli flavour potato skins. Mmmmmmmm. 10 bags of THOSE thankyou very much.
On the way home a man crossed the road to avoid me. Result!!!!

Evenin' All

My rear light is broken. I noticed it in Cost Co's car park, where we went today. For those of you who dont know what Cost Co IS, its a members only "buy loads of stuff in bulk like Mayonnaise in buckets" place. I have sellotaped it up but I dont know how it happened. Mr next door but one works for a scrapyard so he is going to look out for a replacement for me.
Last night we went to the pictures to see The League of Gentlemen film, and it was very dark, very weird and very funny. There were only about 6 people in the whole place and we had a really good time. I would be interested to know what (if anything) you American people people make of The League fo Gentlemen. Do you get it over there?
http://www.leagueofgentlemen.co.uk/newopen.shtml
I got a new pc chez Faery Towers and its very very very good. Natch, I got it through work, and therefore cheaporama, but I cannot describe how mega brilliant it is.
Bit of a drought on the gigging front at the moment, and no football now the season has finished, so I am hoping for some interesting weekends. Not this weekend though. The white van man's van developed a dead starter motor so that had to be replaced, at stupid cost. I don't mind though. I am a happy camper simply messing about at home, pottering about, doing nothing that has any purpose. I have never been the sort of person that feels the need to DO stuff at the weekend just because its thought that you should do constructive, day out, educational things in your spare time. Give me a garden to doss about in, some books to read, a kitchen to burn things in, some nice wine and the internet and that makes me happy. One of these days I may turn into a normal person. Just not yet.

Tuesday night's alright for fighting....

Ooooo high drama and rock and roll!
The ACDC band did a gig last night and the singer declined as usual to get in the van with the rest of the band, but went on the train. By himself. To virtually the other side of the country. En route he indulged in all manner of legal and non legal chemicals, and by the time he arrived, he looked like a wizened little garden gnome, and made as much sense as one as well. He then proceeds to have a right go at t'other guitarist for most of the night and almost doesnt do the gig. And when he DOES, he abuses the audience and sounds dreadful and all together mucks things up.
So, after the gig, he has one last go at the poor guitarist and then slinks out of the door and off into the night. At which point the other guitarist snaps and goes legging it off after him. Now, the singer is five feet four or so, old and dreadfully unfit. And the guitarist is 6 feet two of professional sportsman. The outcome could have been pretty bad but the other guitarist obviously thought the same, and managed . to not do anything to him.
On the way home, we saw the (now EX) singer wobbling down the road by himself, miles from home and its all his own fault.
Sooooo, they are now singlerless, so if anyone knows a northwest England based Bon Scott impersonator, let me know!
I am on my holidays this week, and there were two more gigs earlier in the week, and some DIY and today is him indoors 40th, so he is getting spoiled a bit. He is keeping it low key (especially after yesterday!). We went to the pub for our dinner and we had two starters rather than a full meal, as we are going to the fantastic Nawaab tonight, and I am glad we only DID have starters because the portions were massive! Crushed new potatoes with bacon and cheese, and spicy wedges, breaded mushrooms and other little fiddly things. Mmmmmm.

Retail Therapy

Well, thanks for your "where are you"s!
To cheer my miserable self up (worried about the health of she that bore me) I took a trip to asos.com and bought some totally useless but wonderful things.
In particular this... http://www.asos.com/product.asp?sku=CACBP1249
Its great!
Last night saw me in Chester, doing my sound engineer thang, and rolling home at 4.00am.
Last Saturday saw me in Ellesmere Port doing the same thing and getting in even later....
All seems to be on the up and up on the mother front, so everyone think nice thoughts in her direction.
I have been doing a whole lot of reading as well recently, mostly the Miss Read Thrush Green books. Now, this seems a very strange choice of literature for one so rock as myself (!), but they are very immersing in a lose yourself in a different world kind of way. I like them.

Dark day so I will make light of it

Stuff happened today which I won't go into. So, on the frivolity side, I still have a black "Barry M" eyeshadow I bought in Kensington Market in 1989 and there is still some left and I still use it.
Me, him indoors and a mate of him indoors once got told to leave "the whole of South Kensington" by a policeman one dark night. Our crime? We had had a few and were singing a bit. Seems quite innocent these days.
I need cheering up.

This Ole House..is falling apart

On Wednesday the bathroom flooded. Which flooded the kitchen below. Well, not really flooded but unpleasant coloured water dripped through the ceiling. I had to call a plumber. I then had to sit with two saucepans, holding each in turn under the cascade of water that was jetting out from under the toilet, emptying them every 2 minutes and so on and so on. I didn't know where the stop cock was. Eventually I found it, and turned the water off. Noah and his ark went away. The problem was due to a little rubber thingy at the bottom of the toilet perishing. The cost? £160. Insane. I should have been a plumber.
Yesterday, Mr Sam heroically replaced the broken ball cock thingy in the cistern all by himself! This is the man who claims not to be able to actually DO any home improvements, but this was one problem that wasn't going to go away, and we certainly can't afford to get another plumber out!
As I type he is fitting a new bathroom carpet as well! Its green, like the bottom of the sea (he says). I wonder what else I can find for him to do, now he has revealed his true colours....