Tree Time!

Christmas begins

Today we went to the Christmas markets in Manchester. We had a german steak burger, a cup of something-wein (can't pronounce it but it was hot mulled wine with blueberries), then a cup of somethingelse-wein (as before but with cherries) and THEN a cup of cider punch which sounds vile but was so lovely we bought two bottles of the stuff. Also got some posh fudge, some dutch cheese ("for those about to rock - cheese!" as the dutch bloke selling it said when he saw my ACDC tshirt) and we kept the cups the something-weins came in as well.
The markets looked like the above (I don't know who the people are!)
Oh yes, and I also got The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on dvd, and Lionheart by Kate Bush. And a fantastic book of 60s adverts, more of which later.

Here is him indoors agog with desire at the huge pile of olives and garlic....

And the world's OLDEST baby Jesus....

A MASSIVE Father Christmas (sorry - can never get the hang of all this "Santa" business)

Some time has passed

I didnt say about the Barnsley Gig did I....It was very good. Rockaholics was the venue (staged at G and Ts club) and the journey there was very lovely. It was dark and the moon was out and there were no lights as we drove across the Woodhead pass. We didn't hit any sheep either. I don't recall the journey home, as I had been drinking Jack Daniels till 2.30am and I was "tired". So I wrapped myself in a blanket or two and went to sleep in the back of the van.
Chez office, the ceiling fell in the other day and I spent the morning in my new role as office cleaner. The builders from hell, it has transpired, have stolen the Christmas decorations out of the basement where we USED to keep our stuff, which has dually upset AND annoyed me. I have been shouting a lot at anyone in a hard hat as a consequence.
The band have finally got a new singer, and rehearsals for this little event .....http://www.acdcconvention.co.uk are in order. I can't wait!
It snowed a bit the other day, I broke the bonnet catch AND the window winder for the driver's side in my car (don't know my own strength!), and a Marshall stack has taken up residence in my front room.
So nothing to report really :-)

Some Sims....

Here's one I electrocuted earlier.....

My Life as a Sim

It all began so innocently. A few years back, I bought a pc game called The Sims. I was already a fan of point and clicky things like Myst (although Doom will always be my favourite pc game ever). It seemed simple enough. You make a family, build them a house, decorate it, furnish it, get your Sims a job, get the kids off to school each day, that kind of thing. May pass the odd hour or so once every so often. Except it turned out to be the most compelling game I have every played.... Add on games appeared - The Sims Makin' Magic was especially good, allowing you to get your Sims to cast spells, practice magic and so on. I also discovered countless sites out there where you can download objects and clothes and hair styles and so on, to make your Sims more interesting.
I spent HOURS and HOURS playing it. The original Sims was a 2d affair. And then EA Games went barmy and made The Sims 2 - in 3d. And my free time disappeared in a whiff of pc gaming....
Oh dear me but this game is obsessive. I have cheats and add ons and downloaded objects, and an Amish family that keep asking for a telly (they were pleased with the bookcase I got them though), and I have one family that make Charles Manson's look like the Osmonds. I kill the ones I don't like in inventive ways (get them in the swimming pool and then take the ladders away/I get them to set fire to things and then take the doors away so they burn to death/I starve them to death...says a lot about me I think)
I have even built a faithful model of myself and my own house.
When I can get some screenshots together, I will post them so you can all marvel at my sad life :-)

Day Out

We went to Barnsley today. Well, Hoyland actually. The band are doing a gig there next Friday so we went on a recce mission because they alledged they have an in-house PA and him indoors wanted to make sure it was up to the job. Its a funny place - one side is all PA and lights and stuff and the other side is like a little tiny snug, all dominoes and swearing. It should be good though.
On the way back we came via Marsden and stopped at a cafe up in the hills for lunch. I say lunch - it was geting on for three o clock and I hadn't eaten all day. I had a bacon and mushroom toastie which was lovley. Its great up there - sheep wander about all over the road and the scenery is gorgeous. Yes, I forgot to take the camera.
Called in at Oldham and I finally bought The Sims2 University. The Sims what I hear you cry? Well.....over to post number 2 tonight....

Engerrland

Well we beat Argentina. It was quite LOUD chez Faery, what with him indoors shouting and waving lager cans about, but we had a more civilised bottle of Pinot Grigio to really celebrate. With hotdogs. The tea of Kings.
The new office continues to be great. I have so much ROOM. Goth boy seems to like it too, probably because we got new tea/coffee/sugar cannisters and they are BLACK. What he doesn't know yet is we are getting desk lamps - BLACK ones. He is away this weekend playing D and D. What a trooper of the Goth community :-)
I am nearly at the end of reading THUD by Terry Pratchett. What to read next is up for debate. Its either "John" by Cynthia Lennon or a Phillip Pullman. The Cynthia Lennon thing is smaller and therefore readable in the bath, but i fancy the Pullman more. Except its massive and liable to water logging....

News from the frontline

Blimey, have I been busy. A coupla DC79 gigs , and on Friday it was a late one. I got home at 6.40am. The NEXT DAY. To say I was a bit shattered is an understatement. I was very good though - I kept being offered Absinthe and I kept saying no.
I have been playing the Sims2 to obsessive levels, selling things on Ebay, reading Terry Pratchett and losing weight. Not neccessarily in that order.
We are finally in the new office at last. Its smashing - very large, very high ceilings, digital radio reception is ok again, and there is NO DUST and NO BUILDERS. An END to builders!!!!
Goth Boy is turning out to be a smashing staff member, which makes things easier on me, so all in all things are going well at the moment.
Well, all apart from junior senior cat. Felix is going a bit funny in the head. Or more than usual. I think senility is creeping up on her. She is getting a little confused and forgets where she is. I think a trip to the vets is in order. But can anything be done for a mentally confused cat? She isnt physically ill - she is stuffing her face and fighting with the other cat, and she is washing herself and things. She just isnt RIGHT somehow.
The perils of old animal owning.

Jet

Very sadly, my mother in law's elderly dog, Jet, passed away on Friday. She was 16 and things were just a little too much for her. She will be sadly missed.

Just relaxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Have i ever relaxed this weekend or what?
Friday night, home from work early, peppery chicken burgers for tea, lots of cider, bit of telly, bath, reading, crocheting, bed.....
Saturday I didn't get up till 12pm. Quick shop then lazy afternoon playing computer games, then England beat Antartica or someone, then garlic and mustard turkey for tea, then lots of cider and plum wine and the film "A Shark's Tale".....
Sunday? Up at 10am and off to a greasy spoon for coffee and toast, then a quick jaunt to the ma in laws to visit her aged dog and drop a birthday pressie off for the niece, then a pint in a couple of pubs on the way home ( I wasn't driving!), then after a quick mooch about at home, a walk down the big hill to the pub at the bottom for tea. Smothered chicken filled with cheese, salad and new potatoes, and a couple more pints, and here I am, after a nice cinnamon flavoured bath, watching Heartbeat and becoming a vegetable.
AND I am about to buy a satin pencil skirt on ebay. Oh the decadence.....

Sexism is alive and well and ...funny :-)

If you didn't all know, I work in I.T. On the frontline as it were. We support numerous small to medium sized businesses and business centres, we are an ISP, we do telecomms systems, we do the lot in fact. My email address is sam@. Colleagues refer to me as "Sam". Soooo most people who haven't dealt with me think I am a man. They really do. I don't mind this at all. Because 99% of people, when they find out I am NOT, just think ok, not a man, and carry on. However, 1% (and sorry guys, but its always GUYS that do this) think "oh , not a man" and then SAY "I thought you were a man!" About 99% of THIS lot then just get on with it. But not some. Some (and again, its usually guys, and usually youngish guys who are ALSO in I.T) get on their high horse and try and out-technical me in sometimes quite unpleasant ways. They never WIN but they try. It's sooo amusing. I have a smashing boss who gives me leeway to be as rude or sarcastic as I like to those that try to demean me. The other day, I got a classic.
Technical man - "I want to speak to someone about pointing our website to a different place".
Me - " I can do that for you. Which domain is it and can you email the details please, plus authority from the domain registrant?"
Technical man - "It's ok, I will call back when someone in authority is in."
ME - "As its me who will be doing this for you, I therefore HAVE the authority. "
Technical man - "No its ok, I will call back when someone important is in".
Click....brrr....
That really happened.
10 minutes later, the owners of the domain call, full of apologies and its all resolved.
The click...brrrr hangup was ME, not him, if you were wondering.

A catalogue of happy times #4. Whitby April 03.

I can't lay claim to this one. Him indoors took it. Usually his photos come out blurry, black or disturbing. Sometimes he has flashes of brilliance.

Random Evening Image

Not a photo. Just a verbal snapshot. Mr me is playing a snooker game on the pc. I am half watching. I am on the laptop. On the settee. Cider by my side, cat #1 poking its feet in my back to make me move. Everyone is a bit sleepy and full of the tuna we had for tea. I just finished talking to my mum on messenger. As far as I know everyone I know is ok for now. Sleep well people. Simple things. Isnt that what life is?

A catalogue of happy times #2. Chester Dec03.

Its ivy, its stuck on a church wall, and later on there was a squirrel that posed for photos as if its middle name was Kate Moss. Without the drugs.
It was a cold day, we were shopping and eating and having fun.

A catalogue of happy times #1. Llandudno pier June 05.

Its a pier. Its art. I took it. We went for a weekend away to visit my old holiday haunts of my youth.

Monty

Sadly, mum and dad's dog Monty (who has graced these pages before) passed away last night.
He was 17 and a half and a feisty little thing with a smiley face.
He will be missed.

Happy Madron!

Maybe I should remember this is the time to forgive and let go, to release old arguments and prepare for the new season. Does this apply to the BLOODY BUILDERS AT WORK? I suspect, sadly, it DOES. So, final rant. They lie, steal, laugh and don't CARE about anything. I hate(d) them. I will have to STOP hating them now. It didn't stop me pulling the power on their little hut thing as I went home tonight. Karma owes me big time for their behaviour, and I had a little of the devil in me this evening. And THEY didnt have any lights, radio or working kettle after I had finished. :-)I managed to stop myself poking holes in the water pipe for their toilet block, but that's only because Goth Boy also uses it, and its where we get OUR water from.
I drove home with the setting sun. I have had pizza. The cats are asleep. I am going in the bath. I have cider. Time to relax. Its all uphill now - darker nights, colder weather, boots and cardi weather - hooray for me!
Peace, y'all. )O(

When Blogging Goes Bad

I knew it would trip me up sometime. I was looking through old posts today and I noticed that over 6 months ago, I mentioned beginning to paint the bathroom tiles. And i still havent finished!I did a few more this afternoon and now I have stopped again. Maybe the rest will be done in another 6 months.
Anyway, I am off now. Hex is back on at 9pm and I need to ensure I am lying down on settee, cider in hand, cheese and crisps near enough that I don't have to stretch too far to reach them, cats are at a safe distance (when I lie down they tend to consider me open season for jumping on from a great height), and I hope its as good as the last series (although as far as I am aware, there is only me that watches it in the ENTIRE WORLD).
Be careful out there!

When quizzes go wrong

You're like me! The intelligent loner. You're shy
at times but friendly, and you are never weak
and always independent. You are incredibly
intelligent (wise beyond your years) and have a
talent for many things (sports, music, art).
You have a kind and warm personality and enjoy
the simple things. Like hanging out with
friends and watching movies at home. But you're
sometimes quiet nature makes you a bit of an
outcast and a mystery to people. No matter how
pretty you are or smart or athletic, you just
can't seem to break into the crowd and be
noticed. Don't worry, try to be more outgoing
and speak out when you have more to say. Don't
hide behind your books and sports and computer,
get out there and get noticed. You also have
deep desires in life and feel vunerable and
alone at times. Don't feel sad either, What
helps me to express feelings and dreams that I
can't say to people, is through my writting.
Maybe you should try.

What kind of girl are you? (with pix!)
brought to you by

no, thats NOT me. Quiet nature? I think NOT..... Try to be more outgoing? What do they want? Bette Midler??

DUST

Ok, so those of you who follow this will know that I am currently working in a portacabin from hell in the back of where my office USED to be, while they build a new office for us to move back into. And the date of the move keeps getting put back. And I am getting VERY cross now. Its dusty, and when I say dusty, I mean I put my sandwich down on the top of my lunchbox the other day, went out for 3 minutes, and when I came back, it was covered in DUST. Its AWFUL. The dust swirls about outside, torando like, so we have to keep the windows closed, but it gets IN somehow, and covers everything. Our new person at work (from now on known as Goth Boy - hope he doesnt read this!), can do an enviable Nephilim impression without getting the flour out, due to portacabin dust from hell. And it makes me behave cross as well. I am sure I am acting like I am having nine menopauses all at once ; I must be colleague from planet Banshee at the moment. I can't wear anything decent as it gets covered in dust and concrete and mud, and my desk is a mess of grit and I HATE THE BUILDERS. Get this : I am up a ladder in what we affectionately know as "the void" ( a hole in the ceiling where some patch panels live) , with Goth Boy clutching the ladder in the vain hope I don't fall off and blame him, and I am trying to patch electrical bits and bobs in. In combats and a hard hat and a hazard jacket. Nice look. Eventually - mission accomplished, without me breaking anything/killing myself. And later I pass one of the more moronic builders. "You were up a ladder." he says. "Mmmm." I say. " Someone move your make up mirror up the wall a bit?" says builder. ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH. DEATH to them.
I want a nice new office. I want there to be no dust. I want my stuff back - my fairy lights, my fluffy animals, my crystals, my TACKY JUNK, and I DO NOT WANT DUST. And I don't want builders. Anywhere near me. Ever again.

Oh the early 90s - me and him indoors

Oh well

Your Inner Child Is Angry

You're not an angry person. But when you don't get your way, watch out. Like a very manipulative kid, you will get what you want. Even if it takes a little kicking and screaming.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Muddled in Macclesfield

Last night saw DC79 (and therefore ME) in Macc. As its an in house PA which mortals are not allowed near, I was on photography detail. It was a good night, and I seem to have ermm imbibed quite a lot because I feel a bit "tired" today. I don't have photographic evidence yet, as it wasn't my camera, and I am not trusted to take it home with me, but I finally got the ones from the Big Ball bash back in August, which will be on their website soon enough.
Amongst other things last night, I danced with a woman, NEARLY fell down some stairs, had an argument with someone who insisted that to leer at a pretty girl was to "OOgle her" (OGLE - its OGLE for deity's sake), laddered my new stripey tights, carried 4 pints of beer up two flights of stairs without dropping or spilling ANYTHING, got accidentally kicked on the thigh (MASSIVE bruisery) and fell asleep wedged between three speakers in the back of the van on the way back. And all hail to Barry M Glitter Dust eyeshadow - I put it on at 5pm yesterday and it was STILL on at 11am this morning!
Must go - Heartbeat has returned to ITV!!!!

Evil Spammers/Crewe Gig

I have had to enable "word verification" for comments now. If you look at the ridiculous comment on the wedding post (a robot spammer) you will see why.When you want to post, it will ask you to type in a word to make sure you are really YOU and not some idiot spam person.
Sorry guys.
Gig for DC79 in Crewe last night. Great gig. For some reason I appear to have totally mastered the feedback issue with the monitors so I was Queen of sound. Drank G and Ts, had a great time, ate ham and mayonaise sandwich in garage at 4am, nearly died of tiredness when I got in. Its all go on the gig front from now until December. I am soooooo rock and roll :-)
Oh yeah, and if you are reading this tonight ,the 3rd, and you have Sky telly with the sports package, put your TV onto Sky Sports News tomorrow from 11am. They will be ON it (due to ex Premiership footballing legend being their rhythm guitarist). Sky Sports reporters turned up and videoed them!

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....

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear meeeeeee
Happy birthday to me!

Dichotomy

or however you spell it...
I have developed an obsession with the Neil Diamond version of Chelsea Morning (Joni Mitchell).
Its GREAT. Help me.

Where's the feather then?

Ok guys. I told my mum and she believed me. I told him indoors and he went, hmm, yeah yeah, ok, let me tell you about how crap my boss is, so I am going to tell you all today's spooky story.
This morning I am driving along the motorway to work. Its darkish and pouring with rain and you can hardly see for the spray from trucks and things. I was in the middle lane, doing about 65mph, overtaking a lorry, when out of nowhere I hear a woman's voice say "isn't it dark? you would think they would put the motorway lights on wouldn't you? i'd get in the inside lane if I was you."
I was so surprised I actually looked to my left because I thought there was a woman in the car with me (no, I didnt stop to think how a woman could have GOT in my car...)Of course, there was no woman, but I was so freaked out I did indeed pull into the inside lane....and seconds later the car that would have been in front of me if I HADN'T pulled in ran right into the back of the car in front of him. If I had still been behind him, I would have run into the back of HIM and there would have been a bit of a nasty crash. But I didn't because I wasn't there because the woman told me not to be.
Work THAT one out.

Hi Guys

Well, its been a while. Life is that thing that happens when you are making plans. I have had a lot of life recently.
Truth is, I haven't been 100% on the emotional front. I blame it on all those full moons.
Nothing happened, I just felt a bit blahhhhh. Now I am coming out of it and getting back on track. Its rubbish really. I have my family, my health, my friends, a job, cheese in the fridge and wine in the bottle so I shouldn't feel so yuk, but thats female life I spose. Bet you wouldnt catch a man feeling like that!
SO, what have I been up to? More pretend band photography and sound stuff. An embarrassing video camera incident filled night (tip - never give a drunk woman in 5 inch heels a video camera to film your gig. She may take it to the toilet with her and forget to turn it off....nah, that didnt happen but it NEARLY did!)
Work rolls on in its usual indomitable, hectic fashion. I have been shouting a lot at work, but only in the direction of those that deserve it. Its a small team (eugh, I HATE that term) and everyone has their bit to do, so if you don't DO your bit, I shout. Its simple really.
My mum has had me a tad worried on the health front, so all think nice thoughts at her.
Mr Me has had it in the neck for the last coupla weeks, just for being a MAN, which isn't fair but understandable :-)
I taught myself to play some tunes on the guitar, I have NEARLY finished making a tank top (yes! a TANK TOP!)and on the whole its been a busy time, full of stuff and a muddled head.
A moment of clarity in bath this evening and I think I am back to normal. Sort of..

1 Very Blonde

Forget red - I did what I do best and bleached my hair. Now back to Marilyn Monroe brassiness.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la mem chose....

And its goodnight from him

Here's me and him indoors. In our usual pose.

Why I am not materialistic

Today we bought a van. Its an L reg (1994) Ford Courier and it cost the grand sum of £899.
The poor old Seat is consigned to the great breakers yard in the sky and we had to get new wheels for him indoors and as he carts about a lot of band gear (both OUR band and his other band) then a van makes sense. Its white, its old, and it is quite frankly great. It isn't new, it isn't top of the range, its a bit tatty, and I am sure it will be a good van for years to come.It has character. Thats what I look for. Character. I am not being all "i can afford the best and i want brand new" but I could JUST about have afforded brand new, but I didn't see the need to buy brand new when I could get a van that has been used to ferry a boys basketball team about and still has carpet in the back with footballs on and a Bart Simpson air freshener and a manual for a Ford Fiesta in the glove compartment. Its a van with a history, a van that has been used for things a van should have been used for. The heater works, the radio works, there are seats in the back, and I can drive it. Its got a long MOT and it just works and I love it. I suggested giving it a name. Him indoors said no, so I am calling it (him) Neville Staples. Although I will only call it that to myself.
It's very exciting really. A brand new van lurks outside! Until tomorrow we are a three car family! Jezebel (MY car) will be jealous.
I have always been a charity shop fanatic (thanks mum!) and a fiend for the second hand, and the feeling of carrying this on in a van is very rewarding.
Second hand rose......... :-)

Filling in the gaps

I have been a combination of busy and can't be bothered recently! I have been reading, and knitting, and my band bought a PA (a pa SYSTEM, not a personal assistant. Although I would like one of those very much!)
DC79 did a couple more gigs, where I helped by being a very drunk sound engineer and falling asleep in the van on the way home.
I got my broadband upgraded to 2mb and went fully wireless at home. I saw a kid run out in front of a car in Morrisons and then watched the same kid hurl the most incredible language at the driver, and the kid couldn't have been more than 7. I would have run him over, but that's just me.
Its been snowing. I sold some more stuff on Ebay.
I got a bass guitar stand. Errmmm, I can't think of anything else!
Oh yes. Shall I dye my hair red? Tori Amos red. Mum, you can't answer this question because you will just say YES.

Time

I don't seem to be able to organise my free time all that well. I have all these great thoughts during the day, along the lines of "I will cook myself a nice tea (when him indoors and his truck are away) /play the Sims2/watch a film/knit a bit/read such and such" and then I get home and I have a glass of wine and eat cheese on toast and mooch about on the internet, have a bath (a bath for me takes about 2 hours, involving as it does candles, magazines, more wine, cheese, Planet Rock on the digital radio, a cat or two etc etc )and I don't DO any of the great things I thought of during the day. Then I get all "oooo I work too hard" (which is rubbish really) and feel guilty because I haven't done any of the good things I said I would.
But then the stuff I do instead IS good stuff in its own right, so maybe I AM good at organising myself.
I dunno, its like I have all this time and I waste it doing nothing especially, but then I LIKE doing my "especial nothingy things", so maybe its not a waste.
It comes down to housework. There is washing to be done. Him indoors can't even open the door of a washing machine, even after nearly 16 years of undomesticated bliss, and the hoover makes his asthma worse (he SAYS), and I just can't get excited about housework. It will all be there tomorrow to do all over again anyway, but I feel sometimes that I SHOULD do more.
Ours in a very very old house, and its slowly falling apart. And I can't afford to have most of it fixed, and most of the time I don't bother because its warm and dry (ish) and I don't live on a pavement, but sometimes I wish I lived in a mobile home somewhere near the sea, where cleaning up would take, oh, 10 minutes and I could shove the washing in a launderette and go to the pub until it was finished.
That's today's rant over.

Je Suis Un Rock Star

Friday night saw me and my guitar at the Thatched House in Stockport, 3rd on out of 4 bands, and we were very good. The last band on were not good at all, which makes me wonder why they got paid and we didn't. This was a general opinion held by everyone there, and not just mine! Hey ho.
Saturday night saw me and my guitar at the Lion in Castleford. Again, we were very good, even with a pa we had to cobble together from various bits and pieces of our own, as the venue didn't have a pa.
The journey there and back was a nightmare. I was wedged between speakers in sub zero temperatures for over two hours in total, and now I think I have frostbite.On the way home (at 1.30am in a frozen northern wasteland) I made our drummer take all the stuff he sticks in his bass drum OUT and then I wrapped it around myself and was slightly less than freezing, but only just. So I used my old standby trick of falling asleep till I got home.
This may explain why I have a very sore leg and arm today ;-(
I also emailed a couple of pictures of Felix looking nasty to www.mycathatesyou.com but they haven't appeared yet. She is very disappointed.So here is a nice one of her so she doesn't feel too bad..

Psycho Sock..Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa

It had to happen. I work quite long hours and I got home, watched Corrie (ack, Katie Harris is HORRIBLE) and then...DID HOUSEWORK. Including WASHING. On a school night no less. And a pink sock got in with the whites. I say whites. I mean 2 multi coloured (but proven to not run) duvet covers, a Ramones shirt, a Laurel and Hardy tshirt, some knickers of dubious origin and a Leeds United towel (why is that in my house at all??? Nothing against Leeds, after all I work there, but this is a football = Watford FC house). And most important of all , three pairs of white school socks that him indoors/Angus Young wears on stage. And two of the pairs of Angus footwear are now pale pink. But not the other pair. Nor the white Ramones tshirt. Nor the knickers of dubious origin. So what's going on there then? Selective clothes dyeing.
Him indoors and his truck are away so he doesn't know yet, but I have never seen Angus in a pair of pink socks. I expect I WILL though.
Moral of the story? Don't do housework. As if I need an excuse ;-)

Thai-d up !

Last night 16 of us had a Thai banquet in Moseley. I have no idea what the courses were called but it was very nice indeed, and there was LOADS. Everything seemed to have fresh coriander on it, which I love, and the waitresses were dressed in authentic Thai costumes. Passing plates about between 16 people was a bit difficult though.
Aside from that, life has been occupying my time. My band played a gig (we were excellent, as ever), the other band played a gig (and I played sound engineer again), work rolled on, I have half painted the bathroom tiles, got a new Sky remote, killed one of my pcs with a screensaver (note to self - remember that you are an IT professional and don't download any more screensavers...)entertained a strange cat that invited itself in for supper, read a lot of books and just generally carried on being me. Nice.
Oh yes, and the back gate fell off and needs mending and the roof is leaking. When I was painting the tiles in the bathroom, I had to take the side off the bath, and at the back I found some very old wallpaper indeed, still attached to the wall. It must be pretty old because the layer beneath is green distemper! I will try and scan it in at some point, but its a bit tatty and aged. I am estimating 1950s or thereabouts.

The day the tree came down...

...was today. All the decorations are down and packed away for another year. I like Christmas and its sad to see all the glittery stuff come down but there you go.
And what did I do this Christmas? It was a lazy-fest actually.
Christmas Eve was spent indoors eating and drinking. Christmas day food was Russian themed this year. Chicken patties, cabbage and vodka. Neat. In a shot glass. Just the vodka I mean, not the food! You had to toast the food, then the plates, then the condiments, then the chef, then drink a double vodka neat in one go. Several times.
The vodka was FREEZING as it snowed a lot on Christmas day



and we stashed the bottle in a pile of snow.
Boxing Day we whizzed over to my in laws and went to the pub for our lunch, where I had something called "smothered chicken". The smothering bit was CHEESE. Lovely. Got very drunk on all kinds of wonderful drinks, and ended up playing "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" all night.

The rest was just eating and drinking and being ill - I have flu and I feel ATROCIOUS. Never mind, it will all be gone by the time I go back to work!

2 more days off and back to normality. The cats will be relieved. They haven't been able to do whatever it is they do all day when there is no one here, and they are getting a bit fed up of humans hanging around all the time.

I got loads of good presents, mostly things about or containing faeries of some description. My best one was this:



although I liked this one a lot as well:



See him sitting amongst the rubbish in my house! He waves his paw up and down (he has a battery in him) and the paper attached to his paw says "money". He certainly worked because him indoors found a pound in the pub and we cashed in all our loose change in one of those machines you get in supermarkets, and it came to £179.83!

The Witchwood

How rock and roll...

am I ....?

Yep, here I am in all my glory, complete with blue eyeshadow, Tinkerbell vest and the new Ashdown behind me, and it matches the eyeshadow.
Thanks to Tim for taking the luverly pictures.

Busy Busy Busy

We, Born Idle, were supposed to be doing a gig on Wednesday night but it got cancelled due to the pub losing its licence (can't blame me - I've never been before!) but we did play on Thursday night at The Witchwood in Ashton, supporting the UK Subs. We were brilliant, especially me....
On Friday I played groupie again, as DC 79 played at the Beehive in Chester. The fact that I am watching a band and not playing with them is always made up for on these occaisions by the fact that I don't have to limit my drink intake, carry anything,pack anything up, drive anything or behave in a professional manner! There are photos of me. I won't be posting them.
I got in at 4am, so Saturday was a bit of a lazy day...
I used to be the stand-in Cliff Williams before they got a proper, male, one, and I enjoyed it very much indeed.Although I pretended to be Mark Evans, just to confuse them. If you don't like ACDC, presumably YOU are confused now!
I went to Asda today for a joint for tea and it took me 20 minutes to get out of the damn car park. Honestly, its just STUPID the way that car park is organised.

Christmas

I have Christmassed up the house....

Although the camera went wonky when I took this one...

But not when I took this one...

Happy Christmas!

Rock Star

Another gig. Live Cafe, Deansgate, Manchester. First on out of three because we are using this as a warm up for next week's mini tour.I have a new amp, a lovely Ashwood Electric Blue 180 and its LOUD. Very LOUD.
Guitar amp went wonky though, which marred our wonderful set, but not too much. I had a cocktail. It was called a Pointsettia, and involved cranberry juice and Champagne and was £5! But I didn't buy it so that's ok.
I have the Christmas tree up in Technical Towers, and a little one in Jezebel, but not in the house yet as I am not allowed.

Christmas is Coming...

On Saturday morning, we went to the Christmas markets in Manchester. We had german steak burgers and something sausage-like that I can't spell, and a ginger latte from Starbucks and it was all very Christmassy.
There were some lovely things on sale...
except I couldn't justify the prices, and a massive Father Christmas, with a rather strange Sooty....

and the most lovely window display I have seen in a long time...

Wish I was rich!

Scarf

You remember the green scarf? It turned out like this. Not sure HOW!....

Travel Lodge

Last Saturday night we began the trek to Benfleet (that's darrrrn sarrrf you know) to see my ma and pa. For a change, we left on Saturday tea time and drove half way ish (to Huntingdon) and then decided to stay in a Travel Lodge overnight. Oooo the decadence! So, we arrive at the Travel Lodge (having booked on line in the modern way) and were put in the disabled room as they were full up. It was very nice as it was a lot bigger than a normal room, due to wheelchair access and so on. There was almost an emergency chord/thought it was a light cord incident, and I locked us out when I went to ask for an extra pillow, but apart from that it was great.
There was a distinct lack of drink, as its attached to a service station I suppose, but there was a Little Chef. Now, Little Chef's are much maligned, but I like them. They aren't cheap but they are reliable and you can see what they are doing in the kitchen. I had a chicken on a bun kind of thing, and him indoors had a burger, sans chips. And three bottles of Stella each and three little mini bottles of wine. And 2 tubs of pringles (the small ones, I hasten to add!).It was like an adventure!
The next day saw us in a Wild Bean Cafe (those food bits in the big BP stations), and then we arrived at Benfleet to do the traditional exchange of household goods (ie giving away things we don't want anymore to each other, although I always seem to be up on the deal!).
The day was lovely, as ever, but a long drive (4 hours in total) and work the next day beckoned, so we had to leave.
I did get back in time for Heartbeat though!
There was a very friendly warning sign in the Travel Lodge bathroom, which I thought informed you of danger in a very sweet way....

Monty

And here, at the request of my mum, is their dog Monty.
Awwwwwwwwwwww.

Stilton and Guiness

Today saw me at the Trafford Centre. I bought more Stilton and Guiness pate (nearly my favourite thing in the whole world) and some Reeces Cups. Now, you have to get Reeces Cups from Selfridges as they import them from America (If you are American and reading this, you can't get them in normal shops over here), and I LOVE them. They are like little cake shaped things only they are milk chocolate filled with gooey peanut butter stuff and they are GORGEOUS. I don't really have a sweet tooth but I do like them A LOT.
I bought the ma in law's Christmas pressies, and then went on to Cost Co (like Makro, only bigger) and bought lots of diet Red Bull. And some lovely smelly candles that are Christmas pudding flavour.
It snowed the other day when I was coming home from work. It snowed heavily on the motorway, and Saddleworth Moor looked all spooky and dramatic and the sheep had gone in.
And here is today's random picture. Its the view of the fireplace from my chair.

Pussy Cats

Here are my cats. They are 16. Felix (the black and white one) doesn't normally squint like that, or look like she is going "Arrrrr Jim Lad". Harvey on the other hand, ALWAYS looks like he does here...

I am so enraptured with my new bag, here it is.....

Laaaazeee Sundy Arfternooon

Well, I have done a whole lot of nothing today. I did hoover Jezebel, and stick some stuff on Ebay and put a picture up, but the rest of day was spent doing nothing. Oh, I did buy a new bag and a pair of boots from Wynsors World of Shoes (what a name for a shop!) - the boots are black, flat heeled knee length things (if they were on Ebay, they would say "Boho/Kate/Sienna" on the label!)but the bag is a tour de force. Its for work, and its got a picture of a kitten on each side, and the kitten is pretending to drink through a straw from a cocktail glass, and its got little diamante bits stuck all over it to make it look like the kitten is wearing a diamond collar. Its brilliant!
I have just watched an advert for Activa yoghurt, where they are going on about it containing "bifidus digestivus" - is that not something they say in Harry Potter when they are casting spells???
And now, to add to the House that Fell To Pieces saga, my overflow pipe is dripping like a mad thing and I don't know why. I can't get in the loft to find out what's going on (and I am not sure I would know what to do when I get up there anyway!). I have a plan. I will IGNORE it.

Going back to the family (a Jethro Tull reference!)

Yesterday I went to see my Nana, Grandad and Uncle. It was my grandad's birthday. It was lovely to see them and I have made a pact with myself to go more often.
On the way back, I drove past the house I used to live in from being 7 to being 13. 83 Fairfield Road. It was small!!! Its a Victorian semi, 4 bedrooms, nice garden, and I remember it as being MUCH bigger than it was. Even the road was narrower,
although as I haven't lived there for 23 years, and there are an awful lot more cars about to use up the space, its not surprising. A lot of my strongest memories lie in that house and I am a bit disturbed that someone else lives in it - it should be a monument to our family!
They have had double glazing put in, but the front door and the little window in the tiny bedroom above the front door are still original. I wonder if it would be too cheeky to go back and ask to see the inside?
Sometimes there is nothing better than sitting around with your family and remembering stuff you used to do. We always spent 2 weeks in North Wales each summer en masse. Me, mum, dad , Nana, Grandad and Simon (my Uncle)always went to Rhos On Sea in a Triumph Toledo (Grandad's) and a Volkswagen Beetle (Dad's) Dad's car had plastic seats which got RED HOT if he parked in the sun and which caused third degree burns if you got in and sat down without remembering to get the rug first....
We played an awful lot of crazy golf, drank a lot of hot chocolate in the local Forte's cafe, and Simon and I virtually lived on the beach. The local swimming pool was an outdoor one, and fed by sea water, and I swear there is nothing colder on the face of the earth than the water in that swimming pool. Its a wonder I am still alive after swimming in that. One year I went swimming in the rain in the sea off the Great Orme. I don't think that's even legal these days!
Happy days.

It's only rock and roll..but I like it

Yet another DC79 gig, this time at the Glynne Arms in Flint. A small place, very narrow and no cider on draft. Boo hiss to that.DC79 were as good as ever, although the drummer was a stand in, as the usual one was away.
The journey home was great - it was very foggy and there was a strange diversion down some country road, which put me in mind of Village of the Damned (!!). We had a 1.30am (actually 2.30am in reality, but the clocks went back, giving us an extra hour)trip to Pop's Cafe (the services at Lymm), where we dined on ham and mustard sandwiches, Mexican Chilli flavoured crisps and coffee.
This morning we took the hire van back, and had lunch in Pizza Hut before a jaunt round the shops. I got "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by Andrew Collins (the book about his student days at university), "The Village Green Preservation Society" by the Kinks and "Rude Kids" which is about the blokes that started Viz magazine.
Heartbeat is back on (after being outrageously cancelled last week, due to the Brazillian grand prix), so that's ok.

More kerknitting

Here is a picture of a green ribbed scarf I am making. Its a chunky wool, on size 2 needles so it shouldn't take long but I am running out of green, so it's going to end up blue...



And here is a picture of the stripey jumper I am making.



The pictures are a bit wonky (my camera is playing up).

Kerknitting

I knit. I like knitting. I am quite good at it, until fairisle comes into the equation, in which case I pretend I don't know what it is. My mum is a fantastic knitter. Queen of knitting in fact. We were chatting about it tonight. I thought it was a bit of a dying art, until I went looking it up on the www, and it's not all old ladies with cats you know. It's young ladies with cats as well! Just not very many of them. It seems to be more prevalent in America, or maybe that's because its BIGGER, but most of the knitting sites and rings are based there. Girls aren't taught to knit as a matter of course anymore. It's a terrible shame because you can listen to music or watch telly (or read, if you can find a passing cat to sit on the book and hold it open for you) at the same time, its very relaxing and you end up with something that you may end up handwashing for the rest of your life but at least YOU made it!
I am not left handed but I knit left handed, because my mum is left handed and I learned from her. Sometimes this has an interesting effect on armholes when you forget to reverse things!
I can also crochet a bit as well, but I have big problems doing circles (I think I have mentioned this before), so everything I crochet has to be square. Last winter I crocheted a lovely multi coloured Afghan for the cats. It's only taken them 12 months to work themselves up to sitting on it, so I feel very honoured.
Maybe it's a sign of our times, but I think it's very sad that hand knitting has gone out of fashion. Look at the current mad craze for ponchos - one of the easiest things to make and yet people prefer to buy "nylon fall apart after one wash cost £2 from the market" jobs, when they could have fun (yes, FUN) and satisfaction making their own and being a little individualistic into the bargain.
Go on, knit something.

Hex

I've been watching Hex on Sky One and its great. Its been billed as the "British Buffy" but I can't stand Buffy so I took no notice of that, and it was really good. However, it has put me in mind of the way that people describe things for sale on Ebay. I am a bit of a rock chick/hippy chick type dresser (I like my old jeans, long skirts, velvet, band tshirts and my leather jacket), but when I look for stuff on Ebay, I find that 9 times out of 10, the things I like are described as "Boho/Sienna/Kate", which is as bad as saying that Hex is the British Buffy. Kate is Kate Moss. Sienna is Sienna Miller. Why would I want to buy clothes just because some morbidly underweight woman, famous just for wearing stuff , has been seen wearing something similar?I am not a big lass, so it's not envy, but what is it with this cultural edict we seem to be stuck with that says "whatever is new" has to be the same as "something we have already had"? What's wrong with "These jeans are ace and look really nice and you stand half a chance of being unique if you wear them with some other stuff that you like wearing"?
I am selling some jeans on Ebay at the moment. I have sold some before, to great success, but this time I have added "Boho/Kate/Sienna" to the description. Let's see if it makes a difference. Watch this space....

Another night out

Last night I went to see DC79 (Bon Scott era ACDC tribute band) on account of me being married to one of them (the pretend Angus). I got in at 4.30am. It was in Macclesfield. I am a bit tired! They can be seen here: www.dc79.co.uk
This kind of made up for the fire travesty on Friday. The man came to fit the new fire and he can't because the flue or the chimney or something is broken and needs fixing before the fire goes in, which which will cost about a million pounds to do and I can't afford it. Its not fair because I was really looking forwards to staring at the pretend flames on cold winter nights. At least the central heating works now!
I got a gorgeous throw for the settee from the RSPCA charity shop : its all purple and lilac and cherry and black indian patterns and its massive. And it was only £3.99!So two pluses and a minus this weekend.
Another possible minus is the fact that I have a horrible cold but after the tooth trauma, a cold seems like nothing!
I also bought the Sims2. Bad mistake. I was obsessed enough with The Sims and all the expansion packs up to Makin' Magic, but I can see that the Sims2 is going to be WAY more addictive than The Sims. I had a "quick go" for half an hour the other night that turned into 3 hours... One thing that is annoying about it is my female Sims keep dying from food poisoning and I have no idea why!

I am Warm

The man came to mend the central heating tonight and it is MENDED. He is a hero. It cost buttons (he is a friend of a friend kind of person) and now I am warm and have proper hot water. Tomorrow the new fire arrives, to complete the picture. The rest of the house (built 1832 so its falling to bits somewhat!) might be a relic from the past but at least its warm!!!
When I was little, we lived in a house with no central heating, and icicles used to form on the INSIDE of the windows and I used to sit on a convector heater all evening to keep warm, and while this was no big deal at the time, I wouldn't like to go back to that, given the choice.
When we lived in Whalley Range about 12 years ago, we spent a whole 2 months in Winter with no heating at all, and had to sit inside sleeping bags to keep warm. Getting out of the bath was not a nice experience, as you were liable to freeze yourself to the floor! (Not like Arizona ;-))
Happy times though.

Gig # 2

Friday night, The Phoenix Club, Farnworth (yes, THE Phoenix club out of the Peter Kay thing!). It was us on last, preceeded by a band called BillyClub and before them a band called Kiss Off. I stuck to drinking shandy and we were very, very good. Although I wore exactly the same as the LAST gig, which shows a lack of imagination. There were quite a few people there, and lots of our friends turned up (one even came all the way from Wales!) and I managed to get to bed by 2am so not as late as last time.
We are going to be playing at the wedding of our singer's son next year, but we will be reborn as "Wedding from the Crypt" and be playing lots of StrayCats/Cramps/50's songs, and we will be in suits. Can't wait!
Earlier in the week a lovely friend of a friend type man came round to look at our central heating and he can FIX IT! It needs a new pump, which he can get and fit for £40 and will be doing it soon, which is a real result.
Harvey had an abscess on his face, which has gone now but it's left a hole and he looks a bit scary. It doesn't stop him eating mind you, although nothing seems to stop Harvey eating.

Hearth and Home

Last weekend I was out being rock and roll. This weekend I bought a gas fire and went to a car boot sale and Matalan. It is a big car boot sale but I think they should be done under the trades description act because its all market traders and hardly any "boots". We bought olives and garlic, and some jasmine incense. We also joined Matalan and got 2 pairs of pretend Converse boots for £1 each!
The new gas fire arrives on Friday and the downstairs will be warm again. Lovely.
Here is the offending fire, the last time it kind of worked, Christmas Eve last year.
http://www.faerywings.co.uk/fp1.jpg

Gig # 1

Retro Bar, Sackvill Street, Manchester. Voodoo club night. Went on stage 12am, despite being there FOR EVER. Played a lot of songs. Intro was The Sweeney theme tune. Started off great, fell apart a bit, very good at the end. Incredibly hot and sweaty. Lots of people. Clapping. Broken string. Bit of guitar fell off. Amp appears to be on its last legs.
I enjoyed it. Sold a cd! To someone we didn't know!!
Got to gig in a borrowed van with no front seat - it was a dining room chair bolted to the floor and there were a load of fireworks in the back. First and reverse gear were..erm...reversed (first was reverse and reverse was first.)
I wore a black shirt and a school tie and lots of black eye shadow a la Gaye Advert. Got paid 24 bottles of Becks and £60 (between us, not each).
Drank cider through a straw due to teeth (although almost better now.)
Got in at 4.30am. VERY VERY tired now, hence lack of grammar.

DENTIST HORROR - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH

Not last Sunday night but the Sunday before, I got an abcess under my wisdom tooth. I spent a week of sleepless agony while waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. If you haven't HAD an abcess under your tooth, you can't imagine how HORRIBLE it is.
Anyway, I made an appointment at the dentists for today to have the tooth out (I have been putting it off for 18 months, so the abcess is my own fault anyway.)
Sooooooo I go to the dentist today. Now, I am TERRIFIED of dentists. Absolutley TERRIFIED.
So there I am, shaking and near to tears, and I get called in. She does the injection thing (which I don't mind so much), and then I wait for 5 horrible minutes and go back in. And off we go. 20 minutes (yes, TWENTY) later she can't get it out. I have been yanked and squahed, heard crunching and cracking, and it won't come out. She decides to xray it, and "while we are waiting" for the results of the xray, she does some other work that needed doing: 3 fillings, ANOTHER extraction and a scale and bloody polish!!
By this time, I have lost all fear of dentists and their dental practices - fillings? ha, they are nothing. Scale and polish? a walk in the park. Bear in mind I have been in this chair for an HOUR so far....
The xrays come back, and the tooth that wont come out is "tricky". Mmmmm, yes, I agree, smiling my bloody smile, looking like an extra from Zombie Flesh Eaters, with gore trickling down my face. Another dentist arrives to help with the "trickiness". Dentist number one sits on me, while dentist number two hangs onto her. She shows me one of the things she is going to use. It is a small chisel. A proper chisel, out of a toolkit. I grin again - this is nothing to someone of my calm demeanour and non-fear of dentistry.
Wrench, CRACK, chisel, CRUNCH CRACK CRUNCH, a HORRIBLE pulling sensation which lasts for...oh, another 25 minutes or so.... (yes, TWENTY FIVE).... and FINALLY nothing.
"Won't it come out?" I ask, and she is holding it up in her plier things. I feel cheated. No gut-wrenching final agonising yank, no collosal CRAAACK - it's just OUT.
But this isn't the end of it!!! Its an exciting tooth!
Turns out it has 4 roots and was stuck behind the tooth next to it AND embedded in bone which is why it didn't want to come out. The second dentist jostled me in his excitement at such a unique find. Its going to some dental place to be looked at as its very unusual apparently.
Anyway, here I am , back home, blood filling my mouth, anticipation of impending agony, and I am SOOO proud of myself its untrue.
I am not frightened anymore. Everything that could go wrong or was unexpected HAPPENED to me today in my 2 hour ordeal. It hurt then and it hurts now and it will get worse I expect, but I WENT and I didn't cry or anything and I feel so relieved its unbelievable.
If any of you are scared of the dentist, don't be. It's easy to say, I know, but I was PETRIFIED, went through HELL and now its nothing to me. A filling is a nasty noise and a bit of wincing. A scale and polish is a bit of vibration and horrible mouthwash. The tooth that WASN'T "tricky" was out in seconds (literally - it was pliers in, one yank and its gone!) and it is weird rather than painful. The pain comes AFTER, but by this time you aren't in the dentists anymore so it doesn't count.
So, I am dripping blood, sore jawed and in lot of pain but I lost my fear of dentists, and toothache will never get the better of me again.

I'm With The Band

Actually I am IN the band. After a near two year gap (sacked old drummer and couldn't find a NEW one), we went back to the drummer before last and are now up and running again. We have been rehearsing and we have a few gigs coming up, which is exciting, and we are sounding very good if I do say so myself. The sound is a kind of 70s punk/rock and roll (Stones type rock and roll) kind of style and we do all original stuff except when we go down very well and have to do encores (which happens you know!).
Today we rehearsed in the smallest room on earth, which was a little better than last week's hottest room on earth, and I have blisters on two fingers which is very rock and roll....and very painful.
And now I am at home waiting for Heartbeat to start and knitting a tank top from a pattern in a 1965 issue of Woman and Home. I am a living paradox! Or do I mean quixotic? Or maybe I mean just plain weird...

That was the week that was

I was off work last week. I didn't do very much except potter about, which is proably my favourite thing in the whole world to do. Bit of shopping, bit of gardening, bit of knitting, bit of reading, bit of going out for dinner or tea, bit of doing nothing but more importantly having nothing I HAVE to do.
Now I am back at work and reality is kicking in. I have to get my heating fixed. I have to get my fire fixed. The other car needs £400+ worth of work doing (its failed its MOT for the first time in its history with us, which is not bad considering its a J reg Seat Ibiza which has been doubling up as a gear transporter for two bands) . I have a rather large credit card bill to whittle down, and basically I am not very rich.
Oh well, I am sure it will all sort itself out. S'only money in the end.
Peace!

Poor Felix

One of the moggies, Felix, is a bit under the weather. Being 15 she is getting on a bit, and she has developed an aversion to walking anywhere. She is quite happy to hit Harvey, the other moggie, eat copius amounts of food and loll about in the litter tray, but walking now seems to be off the agenda, unless it involves eating, fighting or weeing.

........

I take it all back. She has just jumped down from the kitchen table, sprinted across the floor and disappeared through the catflap into the rainy night. Cats. WHY?

My Cats Have Fleas

How on earth do you get rid of cat fleas? We have tried collars, spray, powder, everything, and still they live. I have combed and combed and washed and washed the cats but still the damn things refuse to die.
The house is flea-free. The cats aren't.
On a more creative note I have made a patchwork cushion cover for my chair at work, now that we are back in our real office. Oh, I didn't say what happened! We got flooded. The building we work from is having flats put on the top and there is a temporary roof. Which didnt stand up to the torrential rain, and caved in. Although we are on the first floor of three, it got right into our office and all our ceiling tiles fell in. Water was cascading through the ceiling and I had to run around like a lunatic trying to move anything expensive and putting buckets under the worst of the leaks.
We hung out in a cupboard - sorry, temporary office - for a couple of days, and on Friday we moved back into the old one. Which is a lot tidier, a lot cleaner and a lot less like it was pre-flood. It doesn't take much to change the ambience of a room, and even though I have only been out of it a few days, it seems like an alien office - like I have set up my desk in someone else's office without their permission.
At least nothing of a personal nature was damaged. I have a lot of STUFF on my desk, which all pulled through unscathed.
I have also been playing Doom3, which runs a bit slow due to the somewhat ancient nature of my graphics card, but I liked the atmosphere and the monsters. Sadly, it hasn't lived up to its expectations ( at least in my mind). I am a devotee of the first 2 Doom games, and 3 doesn't seem to be of the same stuff as the first two. I can't explain WHY - it's just not the same. It doesn't seem to be related to the first two, and while I am all for great graphics and a good story, it seems too much like everything else out there in first person shoot 'em up land, rather than being about uniqueness and playability like the first two were.

Jezebel

Jezebel continues to be a joy as a car. The ma in law had a go as well. I got a rise at work. Things are nice. Happy girl!

I have a new car. She is called Jezebel. She is a W reg Citroen Saxo and she has a yellow gear lever. And the seatbelts are different colours. Lovely lovely new car.

All bad things come at once....

I have given up with the heating. It will stay cold downstairs. There are always jumpers anyway. Darlene has gone round the clock - I watched it happen. And now her exhaust is on its way out. And I need a new gas fire in the front room because the old one is non-functional. And I haven't got any money to repair the heating, buy a car or get a new fire.
If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all, as they saying goes. Actually its not THAT bad when you weigh it all up, and it could be worse. At least I HAVE a house to go wrong on me. At least I HAVE a car (just) that is losing its vital organs one by one.
I have almost run out of things to sell on Ebay as well.
We went to see Shrek 2 last Saturday - it was ace! There were plenty of adult orientated jokes and references in it, and the kid level funny bits were just as good. Although I did want Fiona to kiss Shrek before midnight so they could both stay beautiful and not turn into ogres again. Lets be realistic about it, people. What would you rather be? Ogre or pretty princess?