In an effort to put paid to various cold bugs, which have been lurking around us, we decided to have a pretty lazy stay at home this weekend. Apart from my wasted journey to Ashton Gate, to watch a shockingly inept City team lose to Oldham, we enjoyed a lovely homely weekend.

Over the past few days we have spent a lot of time listening to BBC radio’s excellent coverage of SXSW from Austin, Texas. Having done a few festivals based in towns in the past (Edinburgh and Hay On Wye), it certainly wetted our appetite and got us talking about making the trip ourselves one year. Marks and Bab’s did it a couple of years ago and had a pretty amazing time, my only worry is that with so many bands playing at the same time a lot of tough decisions would have to be made about who to see and who to miss. Everyone seems to think that Austin is a wonderful place, so it does look very tempting. We will just have to see how we feel next year.

During our determined batch of staying in, I finally managed to complete the excellent “Kavalier & Clay” book by Michael Chabon. At well over 600 pages it’s a daunting but rewarding read. I thought the climax of the book was particularly well handled; something that could easily have been overwrought was dealt with in a very subtle and moving fashion. Recommended.

This week we are hoping to see the latest Takeshi Kitano film Zatoichi, with the possible exception of Brother all his films have really involved and moved me. I not a fan of violent films normally but something about the way that Kitano handles his films takes them to another level.

This afternoon with had both our mothers over for lunch to celebrate mother’s day. We also had a surprise visit from some other members of Orynthia’s family, so pretty soon the conversation turned in a VERY loud conversation about food, which left my mum rather dazed and confused, but happy, I hope.

On a musical front I have really been enjoying the following: Nostalgia 77 – Songs For My Funeral, The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow, Charlie Parr – Criminals and Sinners and his brilliant new album King Earl. Also been enjoying a couple of great 12" singles, RSL - Wesley Music and The Free Design - Redsigned, The Remix EP (including remixes by Madlib, Peanut Butter Wolf and Chris Geddes from Belle & Sebastian!).

I just spoke to a very excited friend of ours, who went to Kraftwerk in London yesterday. They were of course fantastic.