As ever all those films that I intended to watch on TV over the Xmas period passed me by completely. In the old days it seamed as though we would lose hours wallowing in wonderful old black & white films, as the holiday break slowly edged past us.

2005 has also seen a marked decrease in our cinema visits, this has mainly been due to the increasing amount of time that we have been spending on hospital visits, as our families lurch from one health crisis to another. "Have you seen the new King Kong?" "No, but have you checked out ward 14 yet? I think it's their best work so far."

Anyway in an effort to change things, our Xmas gifts to each other were rather different this year. Neither of us could come up with particularly inspired options for one another, so rather than just buying things for the sake of it, we have decided to set aside a week in January when we are going to surround ourselves in cinema. For a week, we will watch as many films as we can during the evenings and weekend, we also have the bonus of both of us being at home on Fridays in January, so we may be able to sneak in couple of films then. Bristol does have a good range of cinemas, so hopefully we will be able to find enough things to amuse.

It was great to see "I know where I'm going" the other week, it's a magical film. We are really lucky to be able to see wonderful old films in the cinema. When I was younger I would spend hours looking through the revival cinema listings in the New Yorker to work out an imaginary day of viewing. It's always struck me that one of the signs that you live in a civilised place is that you don't have to have to be dependent on just recent cinema releases for your viewing pleasure. You should be able to watch a classic film from the past, rather than the latest thing that Hollywood wants to push at you.

So it’s over already. It’s the same every year – obviously. The big build up and then in flash, it’s done.

I have to say that I do enjoy Christmas, I know that with my advanced years (another one added on December 24th) I really should be cynical about the whole process, yet somehow I’m not.

The timing this year was really rather nice. Finished work at lunchtime on Friday so had time for an unhurried drink or two on Gloucester road with some colleagues before meeting up with Orynthia for a quick visit to a friend’s new house. Oh the fun we had looking at all his wonderful storage areas. No, really it was fun.

As mentioned before the 24th was my birthday. Orynthia gave the most fantastic present, the complete history of the New Yorker magazine on an 8 volume DVD set. That’s right, every page from over 4,000 issues of the magazine is not at my disposal. Piece after piece by the likes of Woody Allen, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin, Milan Kundera, Lorrie Moore, Dorothy Parker, Philip Roth, Oliver Sacks, James Thurber……Then, there’s all the amazing artwork and cartoons. I may never leave the house again! Well actually we did manage to get out for a lovely birthday breakfast in Cotham, before making a quick visit to the Here shop in Stokes Croft and taking a lovely walk around some of the architectural delights of the Cotham area.

Some parts of Christmas day were a little chaotic, but we saw lots of family and I think that everyone had fun. We finally made it to bed at around 1in the morning after being beaten on the final letter at Scrabble by Orynthia’s mum. Can’t believe I lost after using my “Z” on a triple letter, double word spelling of Zebra. Then getting double word points for the “Z” again in Zoot. Must try harder!

So yesterday I worked a full day on a Friday for what may be the last time! In the New Year I’m going back to working 4 days a week, having Friday as my day off. Orynthia is switching back to a 5 day week in February, so for January we will both have Fridays off which will be great.

I’ve avoided a couple of work Xmas meals so far, but on Thursday we had the Bryan Munich Christmas curry, which was good fun. After leaving the restaurant at around 11:25 we wondered around the Whiteladies Road area for about 25 minutes trying to find a bar that was open. Strangely everything was either closed or closing it looks as though the much heralded 24 hours opening has yet to reach that part of town.

Tonight we are off to Gloucester Road for a meal with some friends; then tomorrow will see a get together with Orynthia’s family for the first of the Christmas birthday gatherings. The only other certain thing for Orynthia and I next week is a trip to Arnolfini on Wednesday evening to see the wonderful “I Know Where I’m Going”. It’s one of the best films from the amazing directorial duo Powell & Pressburger. We’ve seen it many times at home, but the chance to see it at the cinema can’t be missed.

Had a great night at the Gaz’s rockin’ blues’s evening down at The Tube last Friday. He plays an extraordinary mixture of reggae, ska, stompin’ R & B, just about anything to set your feet twitching. All the while he stands behind the decks, huge clouds of smoke bellowing from an enormous cigar, laughing and grinning from ear to ear as he watches the poor people try to drag their weary limbs off the dance-floor. Top man.

Had the almighty shock of watching an excellent performance by City on Saturday. A gutsy, spirited and dare I say skilful performance saw us turn the league table upside down, gaining a deserved 2-0 win over Huddersfield. I even leapt from my seat when we scored the 2nd goal...just like the old days.

Over recent days I’ve really been enjoying the iTunes only Belle & Sebastian live recording of the “If you’re Feeling Sinister” album. It brings back so many great memories of seeing them in the early days, Union Chapel, The Bowlie and more.

Other than that I’m loving the new single from The Strokes, have to say that I was horrified when I first heard it. Now I think it’s the best thing that they have done. I love the way that it really charges along; I swear that the record gets shorter each time I play it!

Another great single is “Boot Prints” by King Creosote, taken from the excellent K.C. Rules album this is a wonderfully infectious song. On first hearing it appears to a really silly little song, but the more you listen to it the more complex it becomes. Loads of supremely chirpy organs sounds and a top-notch chorus. Should be number 1 for weeks, then again maybe it is? Must admit that I’ve got very little idea about the charts these days.

Still enjoying “Set Yourself on Fire” by Stars a great pop record from Canada. An album from a few years ago, which I’ve only just picked up, is “Soft Spot” by Clem Snide, plenty of fine songs on that one.

Paid our first visit to the newly open "Tube" in Unity St this evening. Very nice relaxed place, a nice alternative to the mega bars and clubs of central Bristol.

Last night we had a very pleasant evening at Arnolfini in the company of Francois and the Atlas Mountains. They were playing as part of a book launch, so the gig was free and what’s more they provided free drink. As well as the music Francois also showed some short animated films which he had made. That boy has too much talent!

Once again the unbridled enthusiasm and wonderful melodies of this great band, made for an evening of sparkling fun. Looking forward to their album in 2006.

Before the gig I met Orynthia in Obento for some splendid Japanese food. Not only do they sell lovely food they also sell Japanese condensed milk sweets!!!! We first encountered these on the plane out of Tokyo a few years ago. That’s right, the plane out – just when it was too late to buy any. We did find some in New York a few years later, then Selfridges in London was selling them in London as part of a Japanese festival. Now we can get them in Bristol – yum yum. They are the perfect hard sweet, richly creamy and long lasting.

Some of our friends are involved in a new bar / club in Bristol called “Tube”. We missed the opening night last weekend because of our Glasgow trip. Tomorrow they are having a bit of a food promotion which we are going to go along to, then on Friday it plays host to the excellent Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues, top tunes guaranteed.

We had a wonderful time in Glasgow, thanks to all the lovely people in Camera Obscura, their partners and their manager Francis. We were made to feel really welcome at the intimate party to celebrate the end of the recording period for their new album.

On occasions it did feel more akin to a wedding party, with exception of us everyone who was there was friends or family. Party poppers, crisps and chocolates on the table and a free glass of wine when you arrived, splendid. Former football star Pat Nevin played a indie hits DJ set before the band came on, following the short but lovely gig, Victoria from The Concretes took over the DJ role. After a lovely post gathering, we finally got back to our hotel at around 4:30am, exactly 24 hours after we woke up to get our flight to Glasgow, tired but happy.

On Tuesday we are off to see Francois at Arnolfini, he’s a very popular boy with the Camera Obscura crew, should be another good night.

So today we should have spent the day in Devon catching up with my dad. However, yet again a planned visit coincided with some unusually dramatic English weather. Yesterday we had a smattering of snow, down in Devon though they had around 4 inches, resulting in some very slippery narrow roads. Dad called this morning to say that he thought that some of the roads around them were just too dodgy to try. Consequently, we had an unexpected day in Bristol – What to do?

Decided that it would be good to catch up with Orynthia’s mum, so we made our way over to her place. She jumped at the idea of visiting St Marks Road in general and Bristol Sweet Mart in particular. It’s such a great shop even more so when Orynthia’s mum is with us, as she can explain exactly what all those strange vegetables are. Following a bit of shopping we had a pleasant lunch in the Old Casbah (£18 for 3 of us!), whilst we caught up on the family news.

Whilst we were in St Marks Road, I picked up a solo CD by the Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau. It’s a live recording of a gig in Tokyo (I love that you can actually hear people coughing in the gaps between songs!) It includes a fantastic version of the Radiohead tune “ Paranoid Android” which goes on for almost 20 minutes. Set me back all of £1.50!

We been doing some more holiday visiting over the last week, my sister has been in for some pretty serious work. For once she let us help her out, which was nice. She is back at home now with her books and dogs, hopefully everything will be ok for her. We really don’t want to spend any time in the B.R.I. next year.

I know I’m repeating myself but really, Moby-Dick is just fantastic. It’s so much funnier than I imagined. Herman Melville has such a brilliant way with words; I love all the little distractions and tangents in the book. Genius!

Much excitement here in Tomorysworld today. Orynthia has won us an invite to the launch party for the new album from Camera Obscura. I think that it’s going to be indie heaven for her, who from the fabulous world of Glasgow music will be in attendance? Well we will just have to wait and see, however we do know that the band themselves will be playing so it should be a great night.

Over the past few days I’ve starting to put myself into the bizarre world created by Herman Melville for his epic Moby-Dick. In the main I’m a reader of 20th& 21st century fiction, but over recent weeks Melville’s’ work has been coming at me from all angles. Eventually I just had to give in and say, “OK, I give up, I’ll read it.”

If you time and live in or around Bristol make sure that you get down to Arnolfini for the fantastic Black Mountain exhibition. Where else could you “hear” mushrooms growing?

Once again this weekend BCFC were at home and I didn’t go, consequently had a great day. A good friend was unexpectedly in town for a couple of days so thought that it would more fun to spend some time with him than watching some so-so football.

So Orynthia, Kev, Petunia and I meet at Ashton’s flat for breakfast before heading off on the Totterdown art trail. Lot’s on interesting, funny eclectic work and people saw the hours fly by. We even bought a Lino cut print (so that someone could give it to us as a Xmas present. Next weekend it’s the Bishopston art trail, should be fun

I’ve just finished reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer and really enjoyed it. It’s very tricksy – lot’s of pictures, changes of font size and the like but I thought it would really, really well. A few times last week I work back to work after a lunch time reading session feeling pretty emotional. A very interesting book.

Went for a very chaotic Moroccan in Hotwells last night, there were about 20 of us and the food took an age to arrive, in the very cold restaurant. Still everyone had a fine time. When we realised that one poor chap was doing all the cooking, I guess we just felt sorry for him. The delay gave plenty of time for pictures to taking of us smoking on the hookah with a fez on our head, what more can you want from an evening out?

When we returned from our recent trip to Glasgow, I think we both felt a little disappointed that Bristol did not offer quite the same sort of upcoming musical talent that that fine city has to offer. Well last night proved that we were wrong.

We went along to The Folk House for a glorious night of music in one of the nicest places in Bristol. First up were Cajita, purveyors of lovely brooding music. Mainly acoustic but with an electronica influence adding a nice twist from time to time. Fine band.

The star of the evening though was the magnificent Francois playing with The Atlas Mountain Ensemble. Now, we’ve seen Francois a few times in the past and it’s been nice, we’ve got a couple of his CD’s and they have their moments of beauty – but last night!

The performance was nothing short of wonderful. The only person that I could link him with is the mercurial Sufjan Stevens. Fantastic arrangements by the huge band (10 or 11 members, I kept losing count), featuring all sorts of instrumentation, added to the sense of wonder. The band played in the middle of the room, with minimal amplification and I’m sure that they must have loved looking around to see so many faces beaming with happiness.

They are playing together again at The Arnolfini on December 6th, well worth seeing if you can.

I finished reading “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith this morning. It’s little strange when academics write books, which are set in the academic world. I know that you are supposed to write about what you know, but how many of us really care about the internal politics of university life? However I did enjoy the book, particularly the adventures of the young son who is determinedly non-academic and makes desperate efforts to hook up with some like-minded people.

Had a bit of a CD buying burst today, picked up Aidan Smith’s “Fancy Barrel (worth buying for that cover alone),”Set Yourself on Fire by the Canadian band Stars and “Tanglewood Numbers by Silver Jews. This week I shall mainly be concentrating on performers who name begins with the letter S!

Whilst I was out shopping with Orynthia, Bristol City were being beaten at home in the F.A. Cup by Notts County. Over the past few months I’ve found it harder to raise much enthusiasm for football at Ashton Gate or particularly in the wider arena. For the first time ever I had to think long and hard about buying a season ticket in the summer and unless something major changes, I don’t think that I’ll bother next season. I just think that there are so many better things that I could do with my time.

It’s not the money, though watching football is far too expensive these days. It really is true that as you get older time is more important than money. So I may well limp through to the end of the season, then watch the World Cup and then that may well be the end of it for me. It will be strange, as I’ve spent most of the last 36 years watching the game, the magic has just slipped away.

Last night we spent our final hour with one of our favourite TV shows - Six feet Under. Over the years it's been a show which has intrigued, engaged, involved, and put us on an emotional roller coaster more than any show I can remember.

I think that the strength of the show was that the characters you liked had the ability to annoy, frustrate and disappoint you, in the same way that the ones you weren't so keen on could suddenly delight and amuse you. In short it was just like life. No one was always good or bad, which kept the show interesting.

As so much of the show was taken up with death it was often a pretty tough show to watch. I don't think that any other series has sent us off to bed with damp checks as often as this one did. We have had quite a lot of issues to deal with over the past year or so, including death and serious health worries for members of the family. Six Feet Under just seemed to have a knack for articulating the emotions we were feeling at the time, which wasn't always comfortable but was in some strange way helpful.

We’ll miss it.

As the rain pours down with ever increasing force, we completed the purchase of our new car this weekend. The main attraction – the splendid glass roof, which given the right weather conditions will open to flood the car with light and air. Of course at the moment the only worry is that it will flood. So far so good, no sign of any incoming droplets, which is a very good thing.

Since our recent holidays we’ve been rather lacking in gigs to attend, however we managed to get ourselves along to The Cube last Thursday, to see SJ Esau’s John Peel anniversary night. We went along with a few friends who were making their first visit to this wonderful place. It was a typically chaotic and noisy night featuring all manner of mayhem.

Whilst listening to radio 6 this morning I rediscovered a lost treat – The sublime “Katy Song” by Red House Painters. They were someone that I only discovered long after they had split up. Finding them was one of the many benefits in fact of working at Imperial. Beren who worked there with me was a huge fan and pointed me in the direction the excellent double CD compilation of their work on 4AD, it’s a fine thing.

Well a bit of a first for me last night. On Friday I was asked if I would DJ at the latest evening of musical delights from the Grumpy Man collective? Thought I may as well give it a go, have to say that I really enjoyed it. People even came up to me to ask what some of the records were, just like a proper DJ.

It was all done with CD’s, so in reality it’s pretty straight forward, and given the nature of the evening, there is no pressure to keep people dancing – what can go wrong?

Anyway here is my set list.
1. Jacob Faurholt – Alone with you
2. Iron & Wine – Cinder and Smoke
3. Music and Movement – Cosmonaut
4. Nina Simone – Please don’t let me be misunderstood
5. Lucksmiths – Fiction
6. Lou Reed & John Cale – Hello it’s me
7. M. Ward – Hi-Fi
8. Francois – Katrina
9. Calexico – Not even Stevie Nicks
10. Devendra Banhart – Now that I Know
11. The Decemberists – On the Bus Mall
12. Teenage Fanclub – Planets
13. Pavement – Range Life
14. Beth Gibbons – Romance
15. Bobby Darin – Simple song of Freedom
16. Sufjan Stevens – The dress Looks Nice on You
17.Lambchop – Up With People (remix)

Found out today that a couple of our best friends are leaving the area. After a lot of thinking they have decided to head up to Scotland. It’s got me thinking about our situation, I’ve never lived anywhere other than Bristol, and the same is virtually true for Orynthia. She has lived here for as long as she can remember.

Now this brings many advantages, we’ve lead pretty sociable lives, so whenever we go out in Bristol it’s pretty likely that we are going to bump into a friendly face or two. It’s also true that Bristol is a great place to live, lots to see and do, good travel connections and generally a nice relaxed atmosphere.

And yet… I did feel a little pang of envy. I love the idea of the bold new adventure, heading off to a place where you have no obvious links with anyone or anything. Just the two of them together, working out how things in that community work, how to fit in with the people around you, where to buy your bread, the best way to get from A to B or even C.

Then again our friends have both moved around England during the course of their working lives, so I guess they are well prepared for the challenges ahead. We’ve always been steady, organised, no risk sort of people. That makes us sound dull, it’s not meant too, because I think we’ve had a fantastic life. Seeing and doing so many different things.

As I write this the wonderfully simple song by Smog called “Let’s move to the country” has just come on the CD player. Now you could never call Orynthia and I country folk, but it really suits our friends. As the song says, “ Let’s move to the country, just you and me. My travels are over, my travels are through.” I don’t know if their travels are through, but they might well be. Then again if you are used to relocating every few years can you ever completely settle in an area or does the urge to reinvent yourself come along every few years?

It’s been a busy few days, stating last Thursday with a visit to The Prom, a John Peel day gig featuring our favourite faux country band – Wilma. I’m sure we weren’t the only people to hear a cover version of Teenage Kicks that night, but the boys carried it off with some style.

On Friday we nipped out to see the latest work of genius to come from Bristol – Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Funny. Knowing and great to look at we all loved it. Saturday saw Bristol City continue to limp towards the middle of the table with a hard fought 1-0 over Tranmere.

The football theme continued on Sunday when the plucky Bryan Munich went out of the cup at the first attempt, yet we played really well and were more than a tad unlucky. Oh well now we can concentrate on the league.

Sunday Evening saw making the short trip to Cardiff to see the majestic Roddy Frame. You can see a million people standing up with a guitar and singing a self penned song, yet when someone like Roddy does it a sort of magic take place. He was on top form and the crowd of middle-aged fans lapping up every note.

Back home after our short trip to Scotland. We had a fine time, Falkirk was fun, and Glasgow was grand.

The Falkirk Wheel is quite a thing, if you like concrete, modern sculpture or engineering, you should pay it a visit.

We stayed in an amazing B&B, it was within walking distance of the Town Hall, yet had the feel of a huge house in the country. Amazing garden, leading to plenty of bird watching activity over the breakfast delights.

The gigs were good. On the 1sst night Aberfeldy opened up with a collection of little pop gems. Next up were The Pearlfishers, who I enjoyed rather more than Orynthia did. Lush piano driven singer songwriter stuff from another age, think Jimmy Webb or Burt Bacharach, not at all rock “n” roll, I like d the ambition of it. Finally The Trash Can Sinatras took to the stage and played a lovely set of songs old and new.

The next evening saw us enjoying Malcolm Middleton (of Arab Strap) rather more than we expected to, have to say he dealt very well with some hilarious banter from a very exuberant female member of the audience. Then we enjoyed a majestic set from the mighty Teenage Fanclub. The lads were on top form, and it was great to see them in front of a Scottish audience, who sang along with gusto to many of the songs.

The next day we took the short train journey to Glasgow, a city festooned with men in kilts in a high state of expectation before the Scotland – Belarus football match. Sadly their enthusiasm was misplaced as Belarus managed to secure a 1-0 win.

We missed the football as we were enjoying our iPod tour of the musical highlights of the city. A lot of it was familiar to us, places such as the “School of Art”, “King Tut’s” and the splendid “13th Note”. New to us was the esoteric “Tchai Ovna” a very special café dedicated to tea form around the world and absolutely flippin’ marvellous “Mono”. Mono is a great place, part fantastic records shop (opened with help of many luminaries of the Glasgow music scene), part organic café, part super relaxed bar and also a live venue. I must admit that we spent ages in here on Sunday afternoon to rest our feet after the long walk of Saturday. It’s the perfect place to sit and read, and pick up some top tunes.

Other than that we enjoyed another visit to The Lighthouse, always an interesting place the highlight this time was the Marimekko exhibition.

Well we’ve been back almost 2 weeks now and I’m only just starting to feel as though I’m back in sync. To prove the point I’ve just got around to watching a video of the final day of the amazing ashes series. We won – it’s still hard to believe that England (with the help of a couple of Welshman) have finally managed to beat the Aussies.

Our friend Jon kept me abreast of all the cricket (and football) news with a wonderful supply of ever more frantic text messages whilst we were away. The cricket even made the papers in Germany, surely that’s a first!

Ljubljana is a lovely place. A beautiful old town with a picturesque river, it’s also blessed with some great 20th century building and sculptures as well. Loads of friendly street café’s and bars where a drink never cost more than £1 and some of the best Ice Cream we’ve ever had helped to make it a splendid destination.

Berlin was a massive contrast; huge, busy and fascinating, it’s a marvellous city. We caught lots of awful bands at Popkomm, the music industry festival that was taking place in the city. The honourable exception to the mass of mediocrity was the excellent Jacob Faurholt & Sweetie Pie Wilbur from Denmark. They were great, head and shoulders above anything else we saw.

Whilst we were away I read “Small Island” by Andrea Levy a wonderfully wise and entertaining book about the experience of the melting pot culture of the world in the 1940’s.

What else? Well next week we are off again, not quite so far though this time. We are heading up to Scotland for a few days, firstly to spend a couple of days in Falkirk. Here we will get the chance to see Teenage Fanclub, Trashcan Sinatra’s, Aberfeldy, The Pearlfishers and Malcolm Middleton. Then we have a couple of days in one of our favourite cities in the world – Glasgow.

The other major thing to happen over recent weeks is that Bristol City have started to score goals and even (gulp) win matches! New manager, new era, the smiles were back at Ashton Gate on Tuesday evening. Another home game coming up this weekend, for once I'm looking forward to it.

Well we are back home, had a great time in two wonderful places. Been a bit too busy to write anything here since our return. You can see lot’s of pictures by clicking on the “Our pictures” link on the menu.

More soon.

Only one more day to go before our holiday!


On Saturday we head off to Berlin, later in the week we go down to Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia for about a week. Then it’s back to Berlin for a few more days before heading home.

We are writing down lists of things to take, the weather is looking good, which always helps with the packing.

See you soon.

So the last bank holiday weekend of the summer has almost come to an end. It’s been a gently social weekend for us, we’ve also been unusually vegetarian. On Friday Bob and Karen and Pete and Maggie came over, as 75% of them prefer their life without meat, Orynthia cooked up a lovely veggie couscous with corn bread and salad.

Whenever I have couscous my mind goes back to the outrageously over sized couscous meal we had near the Bastille opera house in Paris many years ago. We sat at an average sized table for two, watching in amazement as side dish after side dish, was placed upon it. Eventually the table was full, we assumed that we were clear to start eating. Just as we were about to tuck in, a member of staff produced another table, which he attached to ours, before adding yet more dishes. We are basically polite people, and they had gone to all the trouble of cooking the food, it seamed that we really had to try our best to clear the mass of dishes before us. When we finally left the place, we were considerably heavier and less nimble on our feet.

Saturday saw another gathering. This time we made the short walk to St Andrews to see Vikki and Simon. It was Vikki’s birthday, so Orynthia baked a cake. In addition to the cake, we worked our way through a lovely fish pie and several bottles of wine in the company of Jude, Russ & Becky and Heather. During the course of the evening, there was quite a lot talking of the supposed delights of camping. We needed to keep our wits about us as the camping fans tried ever more devious ways of trying to tempt us to join in the outdoor fun. Heather and Spider have gone for the happy medium of buying a camper van, which makes the prospect of spending time in the country almost appealing. At least you have a proper bed to sleep in. Tents are just rubbish, you can never find anything, it’s always too hot or too cold and as for getting dressed….!

Whilst in the house we’ve spent quite a bit of time listening to the splendid BBC Radio 7. Lot’s of great old comedy stuff, including “Vinyl Café”, which is good but so like Garrison Keillor as to be virtually a sample in musical terms.

A rather strange week of football fixtures has seen 3 home games for Bristol City this week. We still have one of those to go, with tomorrows game against the nomadic MK Dons, the first two games saw 12 goals being scored, with an even 6-6 split.

It all started so well last Saturday against Port Vale when we went 4-0 up after about 30 minutes. Since then it's gone downhill somewhat. We managed to hang on for a 4-2 win that day, before losing 4-2 to Barnet on Tuesday evening. It's not what we were hoping for at the start of the season and the pressure is already starting to build on our manager.

Oddly, they are home again the following Saturday, but I won't be around to see that one. We will be heading for our 2 week holiday. Initially we going to Berlin for 5 days, then we head down to Slovenia for a week, before heading back to Berlin for a few more days.

Having visited Berlin last year, we have a pretty good idea about what we plan to do there. Slovenia is however an unknown quantity, so we've been spending lot's of time reading about the place. It looks fab and we are expecting a similar holiday to our previous trips to Prague and Vilnius.

We have also been thinking about going to Valencia at the start of November. We were hoping combine a tip to a very exciting looking city with a chance to Teenage Fanclub playing with the Go-Betweens. We can fly pretty cheaply to Valencia from Bristol, so that's no problem, however hotel availability and costs are proving to be a bit of a problem. For some reason the end of the first week in November appears to show a sharp decline in the amount of affordable hotel rooms that are around.

I guess that there could be some sort of trade fair going on, or maybe those two bands have started a huge rush on trips to Valencia.

So sad to hear the news about Mo Mowlem today. She was that rare thing a politician who made a difference and was loved.

After a bit of a delay, thanks to the amazing cricket over recent weeks, last night I finished reading “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss. It’s a wonderfully poignant and understated book about the subtle connections which change our lives. It’s well worth your time.

Next up will be Small Island by Andrea Levy, although I may hold off starting that one until we go on holiday in a couple of weeks time. Between now and then I’ll be spending some quality time with the New Yorker; in fact today I read a great piece by Jonathan Franzen about the traumas of being a bird watcher. It’s something which Orynthia and I have become involved in over recent years, with the encouragement of my old boss Mark, and whilst in New York our friends Bill and Doreen.

Franzen captures brilliantly the strange addiction of waiting for the next sighting and the huge disappointment heading out with binoculars and books and have nothing to see. The only unsatisfactory thing about our trip to Lithuania a few years ago was the marked lack of any sort of feathered activity, lots of lovely countryside, not a bird to be seen!

Musically I’m still very taken with “Picaresque by “The Decemberists”. Also loving the latest Sufjan Stevens masterpiece “Illinois”. Other than those “I Trawl the Megahertz” by Paddy McAloon has been a constant partner this summer. It’s unlike anything he has done under the Prefab Spout name, more of a classical record than a pop one; it’s the perfect film score, for a film yet to be made. Put it on and let your head fill with a thousand stunning images – genius.

We spent some time last night watching BBC4's 10th anniversary of Britpop coverage. It's quite amusing now to look back on the events of 1994. Whilst watching an interview with Louise Wener of Sleeper, we started chatting about the time that we saw Sleeper supporting Blur at the Anson Rooms in Bristol. At the time neither of us particular fans of Blur, going along out of a sense of curiosity more than expectation.

It was an amazing gig. Sleeper were OK - Blur were just fantastic, one of those times when you catch a band absolutely on the top of their form. The audience caught the mood and responded in kind, giving us a night of exuberance and exhilaration when band and crowd became one.

Towards the end of the show Damon Albarn disappeared into the throng for a bit of crowd surfing, emerging a while later minus his shoes. Interesting then to hear Ms Wiener talking about the madness that surrounded that tour, and we both chuckled when she mentioned that people were chanting "Jesus" to Damon and pinching his shoes when he went into the crowd.

Obviously the scene fizzled out in the end, as too many drugs and an inability to change scuppered the long term plans for most of the bands. Yet it was fun for a while, what a treat it was to see bands like Teenage Fanclub, Pulp and Boo Radleys make it into the charts, if only briefly.

My replacement iPod arrived at the end of last week – and it works!

Oh I forgot to say how wonderful the new album from The Decemberists – “Picaresque” is. In the past I’ve thought that their was bit too much of the sea shanty about them. Well the new album finds them sprinkled with more than a dash of lovely indie pop sheen. Songs such as “The Sporting Life” and “On the Bus Mall” are gorgeous. Lyrically inventive, the whole album is a joy. Intelligent, articulate, able to switch between the sombre and playful with consummate ease, it really is a fine piece of work.

Friday night was strange, after eating lots of yummy Burmese food with Orynthia’s family, we rushed down to Trinity for the Devendra Banhart gig. A very strange night it was. After a dreadful opening act, whose name escapes me (which is a worry as we may accidentally see her again), Espers took the stage. They had a modicum of interest within their desperate 60’s / 70’s prog folk sound, but really this whole obsession with bad folk music is threatening to get out of hand!

Things were so bad that I was fully expecting to last only 20 or 30 mins of Mr Banhart’s set, so miserable had the musical entertainment been. However our fears were swept away, as his band and him remembered that tunes really do matter. There were a few cringe worthy moments when the hippy influence came to the fore, but overall he really was very entertaining.

Saturday morning saw of waking up rather earlier than anticipated, when I was woken by the sound of a hot air balloon going over the house at around 7:30am. It was soon followed by another one, which I managed to get a few snaps of.

Bristol City are off to a dismal start to the season, 3 games played, no goals scored, only 1 point = bottom of the league. The only way is up. Isn’t it?

As ever we’ve been stupidly busy of late, Sunday being a case in point. Over the course of the day, we met up with Orynthia’s family for a huge Chinese Dim sum brunch, went to the Fleece to see the ever improving Wilma, had a nice stroll round the docks, have a light meal in Café Havana, then went to Mr Wolfs noodle bar to help one of the Bryan Munich boys turn 40.

I forgot to say that we managed to go our lovely local cinema The Orpheus last week to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – wonderful, just wonderful. Burton and Depp at their best, I was lost in their magical world.

We are trying to have a quieter week; in fact we have 2 consecutive nights when we are both at home. On Friday we are off to Trinity to see Devendra Banhart, I really hope that it won’t be too hippy drippy folksy. All these new fangled folk types are starting to worry me, I don’t want to hear about pixies, elves and hey nonny nonny thank you very much. I will not wear a smock and grow a beard for anyone; in fact maybe I should wear a suit that might be interesting!

Last night was a sad night for lovers of music and traditional pubs in Bristol. After a painful 18 months of waiting for the axe to fall, The Albert Inn in Bedminster finally closed it’s doors for the last time.

Over the previous 20 years this small and simple pub played host to scores of fantastic musicians from the world of jazz and folk. For many years it punched way above it’s weight when it came to booking bands, because of the way the landlords Ian and Lorraine looked after and encouraged the performers.

It was not unusual to hear that some one who was playing one of the legendary Sunday night sessions at The Albert for a £5 admission fee, would be playing somewhere else in the country for 2 or 3 times that price the next night.

Sadly all that came to an end 18 months ago, when news of the impending sale of the building came to light. No time scale was given so no further gigs could be booked. The pub stoically limped on until last night. Now the people who own the building (who are of course based in London) are going to have flats built on the site, bringing to an end years of history in the process.

Even when the music stopped, it was still a great little pub to pass the time in. You could spend hours looking at the highly individual wall coverings, and those classic 70’s lampshades without fear of being rushed along.

Bristol has lost a very special place.

Well we had a great few days away. Saw some interesting architecture in Birmingham, before heading further north for the delights of Liverpool. Well actually we spent most of Friday afternoon and evening in Crosby. The sculptor Anthony Gormley has created a strange installation on the beach there.

It consists of 100 life size metal body figures, buried in the sand along 3km of beach. When we arrived the weather was murky yet warm, which suited the earie nature of the work perfectly. You can see lots of pictures of it on my flickr site.

The next day was spent mainly around the Albert Dock area of Liverpool and in the Tate in particular. The current exhibition is a huge collection of psychedila related artefacts from the 1960’s. Now Orynthia and I are not as taken with the whole psychedlia thing as some of our friends so it was not really the best thing for us to see. There were however, some fantastic photos, which made the visit worthwhile for me.

That evening we went back to the west midlands to stay in a truly wonderful old hotel (more pictures at Flickr). One of the nicest places we have stayed in, it was a lovely treat. Sunday saw a gentle journey home including stops in Ironbridge and Shrewsbury.

I’ve started reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, it’s really rather splendid.

On the beach

Hello Norway!

Over the past few days this site has had a lot of visits from Norway, not really sure why. If you happen to be from Norway, maybe you could leave a comment to say what bought you here.

Talking of far off lands, this evening we are heading off for a few days. Nowhere as exotic as Norway, just a quick trip around England, Tonight we head off to Birmingham to catch up with some old friends and to take a look at some of the new buildings in the centre of the town.

Friday evening will see us heading further north; in fact we will be staying overnight in Widnes before heading into Liverpool on Saturday. We are aiming to have a look at the Tate and anything else which takes our fancy.

Saturday evening will see us back in the midlands, when we stay just outside Telford. On Sunday we may go to Shrewsbury or we may not. We’ll just see how we feel.

Finished the new Banana Yoshimoto book the other day. It actually consists of two short stories, “Hardboiled” and “Hard Luck”. The first is a gently spooky story of woman being revisited by her past. The second is a very affecting tale of loss, coupled with attraction for the wrong person at the wrong time. As ever with Yoshimoto it’s a beautiful and deceptively simple piece of writing. I just wish we had more published work from her in England.

Other than that we had a very frustrating time with our iPod. Endless hours have been spent watching attempting to load songs and then locking up, leaving us with a blank player. At least all the tunes are still on iTunes and we have Orynthia’s iPod shuffle to keep us going.

Had a bit of a book buying splurge the other day. Went out to pick up a copy of the new Banana Yoshimoto book. Actually let's stop there for a moment, the problem is that word "new". Looking inside the front cover I noticed the original publication date in Japan was 1999.

Now this confused me somewhat, although she is not a household name in this country or America, I'm sure that she has a reasonable fan base on both sides of the Atlantic. Enough anyway to justify a rather quicker translation than we have seen here. It does raise the question of how many more untranslated works are lurking in Japan by the likes of Yoshimoto, Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami.  Occasional sniffing on the web has unearthed a few short stories from these authors from various magazines and it's great to be able to print them off and read them, but I'd hate to think of novels which are lost to us.

The other books were Small Island by Andrea Levy and A History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Small Island is a book I've almost bought on several occasions, the praise directed at the book has been unanimous, and a line from the back of the book has caught my imagination. The line question talks about the disapproving looks and comments caused by the addition of a black lodger into a white household in post 2nd world war England.

Back in the late 1950's, my mum and dad were trying to produce a sibling for my older sister to play with but nothing much was happening. Eventually mum decided to using her training to do some nanny work in the hope that in some subliminal way her reproductive organs would relax. She looked after a young Nigerian boy called Michael, the sight of my very white mother pushing around a pram with a very black baby apparently caused a deal of consternation in Bristol.

Soon enough Michael and his family were on their way back to Nigeria and seeds of my birth were sown. I often wonder about Michael, it strange but maybe I owe my life to him.

Ashton our sometime house guest over recent weeks, went back home today following his recent heart problems. I think that he's looking pretty good. So is Orynthia, then again she always does.

So I’m feeling a bit like a naughty schoolboy today. We have decided for the first time since the very early 1980’s we are not going to the Ashton Court festival. All weekend I’m going to have that bunking off school feeling, expecting someone to come up behind me, tap me on the shoulder and say, “shouldn’t you be somewhere else?”

Last night Orynthia finally nailed a phrase to justify my lack of enthusiasm for A.C. this year. She said that she doesn’t really begrudge the £6 entrance fee on it’s own, but she is annoyed that this money is being used to help the festival become something she no longer likes and when that is coupled the all the publicity which Orange get from the festival it leaves a nasty taste.

Of course it’s probably just us getting old and grumpy. There is no way to return the festival to those lovely days when around 30,000 people would turn up, allowing you to wander around with ease, get in and out of any of the marquees without having to push your way past lot’s of other people trying to do the same thing. The whole thing has just outgrown itself.

After work yesterday I nipped into town to meet up with Orynthia, Ashton and Jane at The Olive Shed for a quick drink and a few nibbles in the sunshine (delighted that the temperature has dropped to more comfortable levels). When a wonderful place it is, the perfect example a great little idea. I particularly like the fact that when the chief needs fresh herbs, he just wanders round to the enormous barrow in front of the place and plucks them as they grow, that’s what you call fresh.

I was delighted to find that the shop at the top of the road has started to stock Plan B, not they really knew what it was. I did have to do a quick run through about the magazine with the manager. It’s great to read something that feels like it’s written out of a need to write, rather than a need to hit a deadline. Talking of music journalism, we caught the excellent BBC 4 documentary on the NME last week. Ah those glorious days when the NME was like taking an Open University course in politics, history, philosophy, literature and little bit of music as well.

Also saw the BBC 3 documentary on local drum and bass legend Roni Size. I dip in and out of the world of the hard beat, but Roni and his gang have provided some fantastic musical moments over the years. The thing that I loved about the programme was the lovely almost simplistic enthusiasm, which Roni has for music and for Bristol. I’ve only spoken to him a couple of times and he was exactly the same then. It’s so nice when the good guys come out on top.

It is too hot, I know that everyone says that but it’s true. Because of the heat I can’t sleep, because I can’t sleep I can’t stay awake…..and so it goes on.

What else? Well I’m starting to really enjoy “Coin Locker Babies” by Ryu Murakami. Also liking the new Sufjan Stevens album, talking about music this week it’s time for the Ashton Court festival here in Bristol. For the first time in years we may not go up for both days, a mixture of the need for time for ourselves and the feeling that the festival may have moved too far away from it’s roots is making us think that we may just give it a miss.

Other than that it’s still too hot.

A quiet night in (2).

A quiet night in (1).

Well it’s been a while! No real reason, a bit of summer laziness, combined with a lack of inspiration has kept me away from this site for a while.

So what’s been going on? We had a nice day in Oxford during which went to see a couple of episodes of Radio 4’s excellent “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue” being recorded, had a relaxed day in the company of thousands of others in St Andrews Park, had a night in Chippenham, Spent way too much on the new book by Jonathan Safran Foer, Started reading Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami, bought the new album by Sufjan Stevens, Went to Devon (and got sunburt), failed to get a haircut for months, enjoyed heard my first “Podcasts” (disappointing), hurt myself playing football, got grumpy about the Ashton Court festival and Glastonbury festivals become too big and mainstream, wrote a sentence which was way too long.

Read about, heard about and finally watched the awful news from London today.

Hope to get back to normal soon.

Louie stays open!

Full details here

A house on the hill in front of us is having a garage sale tomorrow, what a fanatically Un-English thing to do. I've always like the idea of the yard sale type thing as a way of getting rid of previously loved but now unwanted items.

The only way of doing it normally is to get up in the middle of the night and take your stuff to a car boot sale, it's just too much like hard work. Much better to just spread your stuff around in your yard or garage and see what people take a fancy to. If they don't like it just put back in the house, much better than all that lugging around.

Wouldn't it be great if whole streets would get together to have enormous garage sales, what fun we could have going from house to house.

This week we've mainly been at home, this is because we have had a house guest who has needed a little looking after. Orynthia's brother went in to hospital for some tests, two days later he was being rushed through a quadruple heart bypass operation. Having been discharged from hospital on Monday, he has spent the week with us. It’s great to see him getting stronger every day. Today was the first time which he has really enjoyed eating, and it’s been great to hear him asking for more food.

I’ve been working my way through the New Yorker Debut Fiction this week, really enjoyed The Lazer Age by Justin Tussing. It also contains a fantastically squirm inducing piece by David Sedaris called Turbulence.

On the music front, top listening awards go to the following:
Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. album
The Coral - Invisible Invasion. album
Yeti - Sense of Wonder. single
Arctic Monkeys - Fake Tales of San Francisco. single
Boca 45 - Down to Mexico. Ep
The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers. album
M Ward - Transistor Radio. album

Keep "The Louie" open!

Some of you will have seen this already via email, if not and you live in Bristol or just love very small venues, with great bands please read this. Rather than provoke counter productive spam emails for our friends in the council, please let me know via the comments box below and I'll send you the email address, should you wish to raise any points

I expect that most of you are aware that one of the important music venues in Bristol, The Louisiana has been under threat for some time. The latest licensing decision is due to take place on June 21st, as couple of objections to the renewal of licence have lodged, it's important to let the council know how much we value this wonderful venue.

I'm sure that you don't need me to tell you what a cornerstone of the Bristol music scene this has place has become. In recent years the likes of The Strokes, White Stripes, Divine Comedy and Scissor Sisters, have played their first Bristol gigs in the intimate surroundings that this place offers. Just as importantly it's the testing ground for all those young Bristolian musicians looking to strap on a guitar and make a big old noise. It's also a friendly and trouble free place, exactly what the city needs.

So, please lend you voice to the campaign to ensure that "The Louie" stays as part of the cultural map of the city. Send an email to *********** reminding the council that any city worth the name must have places like this. The council has happily taken reflected glory from the contribution that musicians have made to this city over recent years, remind them that music needs a place where it can develop.

Get you friends to contact the council as well, we need as many people as possible to let them know just how important to Bristol this place is.

Please get your comments into ************* by 20/06/05, so they can be read before the meeting.

Wow - Politics

Pinched this from the Teenage Fanclub site, it's something that Norman Blake wrote about Edwyn Collins of Orange Juice, it's really rather lovely.

You can't hide your love forever!

Just been listening to the forthcoming domino compilation of the orange juice singles and early recordings (hats off to domino for that). It's wonderful! Amazing songs, great, funny, strange lyrics, totally original band, and "Blokes on 45" epitomises their humour. I loved orange juice when I was in my early teens, bought all of their singles and went to see them numerous times. For me, the best group that the city of Glasgow has produced. They were a total inspiration. Without them, there would have been no Teenage Fanclub, Pastels, Bmx Bandits, Vaselines, Belle and Sebastian or Franz Ferdinand (I'm sure that Stephen,Douglas, Eugene, Alex and Stuart won't mind me saying that). I got to thinking about Edwyn and what he's been going through over the last couple of months. I've been following his progress, looking in on his website when ever I can. His partner, Grace is something else, don't you think? (coincidentally, Grace's sister Hazel, was in my class at school. She was very cool too! Whatdya know!) I loved the guy then and he's still an inspiration (as is James Kirk), and am hopeful that he will make a good recovery and be back on stage at some point soon. I met him a couple of times, he is totally charming! I met him at a Joe Meek convention on Holloway road. He loved Joe Meek. He turned me on to a lot of great music. I am looking forward to seeing him on his next tour. So there you have it! Orange Juice forever!

It's been a strange few days, due to a serious family illness we have been spending quite a bit of time in the hospital again. I'm not going to go in to much detail at the moment but things are looking much better than they were at the end of last week.

In between times we have managed to see the absolutely fantastic M Ward. It was a brilliant gig, he is a fantastic guitarist and blessed with an understated, hypnotic and beguiling voice, if he comes anywhere near you make sure that you go and see him.

On Saturday evening we went to see Alabama 3, they are one of those bands whose records can be a little disappointing, but when it come to live shows, they really have it cracked. Heavy on the irony and showmanship, they are always entertaining and this gig was no change to that rule. Due to our rather late arrival we were placed well towards the back of a very busy crowd, and one nice chap took upon himself to move people around so that Orynthia could see what was going on, how nice.

So what’s be going on here then? Well, most unusually for us a lot of work around the house. We spent most of the weekend and last night painting our kitchen, It’s quite a satisfying thing to do once in a while but it’s not like real life, is it.

Talking of which, tomorrow evening we are off to see the splendid M. Ward at St Bonn’s. His latest album “Transistor Radio” has been a firm favourite round here over the past couple of months. It’s great that he is playing at St Bonn’s as it’s only a 10 minute walk from our house, how civilised!

Other than that, well not too much really. I’ve been enjoying singles by The Rakes, Yeti, Boca 45 and The Magic Numbers. Just had an unsuccessful trip to Boarders in an attempt to buy the new albums from The Coral and The Eels.

I do miss working in town, the only chance I get to go to any interesting shops is on weekends but I don’t want to spend the weekends just shopping. I miss the wandering around a record shop, seeing what other people are buying and talking about. A 30 second blast of something on iTunes just ain’t the same. Sure things are cheap to download, but I want to pour over the sleeve notes - who’s playing 3rd recorder on track 3? Oh it’s..... Where was the album recorded? Who’s doing backing vocals? Who produced it? ITunes gives you none of this, which is pretty poor.

I suppose I really miss the good old days of working 4 days a week, it gave me so much more time to do all sorts of things. Cooking for instance, I do enjoy cooking but I like to take my time. Cooking in the middle of the afternoon is a thing of joy, especially when you bought the ingredients that day.

It’s quite strange to think that at the start of next week I will have been doing my current jobs for 6 months. It has gone really quickly and we have enjoyed having the extra money, so I can’t complain. Sometimes though I do feel like a bit of an oddity there. It’s rather disappointing to be back in a world where the likes of Big Brother matter to people, indeed with a few notable exceptions, I feel like some sort of towering cultural genius. Yes I read books, go to interesting places and would rather go to see a band in a small room, than have the “30, 000 other people are here - so it must be good” mentality. I guess that’s the problem. Most of the people around me need to be told in big bold letters that something is good, so I never get the benefit of other peoples influence which Mark, RLF, Jay, Chris and Gaz gave me in Imperial. Whilst I was at Oxfam I was lucky enough to work alongside lot’s of fascinating people of all ages,so why is it not the case here?

I guess it’s just systematic of office work and office workers, as I’m lacking the creative gene, that’s where most of my working life has been spent, so what does it say about me?

Luckily Orynthia and my non work friends keep pushing things my way. Long may that continue.

After spending much of the last few months engrossed in the world of Japanese fiction, I wandered over the pacific to America, and to the world of the gentle humorist in particular.

Firstly I spent some time in the company of David Sedaris, by way of his book "Dress your family in corduroy and denim." Over recent years Sedaris has become a very popular figure in the states, though less well known over here. I'd listened to him reading a few pieces on the web and I think it helps to have the sound and tone of his voice in your head and you read in stories. The humour is gentle, and the slightly perplexed tone of his voice helps to set the mood, allowing these very personal stories to weave their magic.

Now I'm back in the company of an old friend, Wobegone Boy by Garrison Keillor is proving to be a real treat. I loved his early stuff, indeed Lake Wobegone days is still one of my favourite books. Whilst reading it, I would often stop to read passages to Orynthia. In fact when book reviews say that a certain book made them laugh out loud, I never quite trust them, mainly because I seldom laugh out loud whilst reading. To me the highest praise is to say that a book made me want to read out loud. It's got to be pretty good to that. Wobegone Boy does read as a more substantial book them some of his pieces, in fact it's reminding me of The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen at the moment, surely the best American novel of recent years.

Today we are off for a brunch meet with some friends before taking a look at the Hope Centre market.

Last night we went to The Cube to see the wonderful Wes Anderson film "The Life Aquatic", loved it. So funny, so odd, so unexpectedly touching in places. A real joy. Managed to get the seats in the middle of the back row, for the extra leg room and it was free as it was our free loyalty card visit - how great is that!

Sunday was spent walking the streets of Southville, for the southbank arts festival. We walked in and out of many houses where local artists were showing their work, It was also an interesting trip down memory lane for Orynthia as she grew up in that part of town. A very interesting way to spend the day.

Laburnam in Spring

Laburnam in Spring
Originally uploaded by tomory.

Laburnam in Winter

Laburnam in Winter
Originally uploaded by tomory.

THE CONVERSATION

“ Here we go, this is a great place.”

“Yep, can see it all from here.”

“Thank God, we got away from all those tall people, we never would have seen anything, stuck behind that lot.”

“You’d think that they would move aside, they must know that that people behind them can’t see.”

“ I love this one! It’s so gentle.”

“Yeah, I listen to it late at night, it’s almost like having a friend in the room with you”

“Spooky!”

“I know, but it is, it really is. It’s great when something really connects with you like that, not many bands can do it.”

“And have you listened to the words? I love the way the meaning can change depending on the mood that you are in. The other day I had a really bad row with Tony, and when I heard this again it said everything I wished I’d said.”

“But you didn’t?”

“No, you never do, do you. It’s only later that everything falls into place. I sometimes think that’s the reason people become writers.”

“What to make sure that they can win every argument?”

“In a way, wouldn’t it be strange if you had to argue like that. Right. stop! This is heading into a row - grab you pen and paper, go to separate rooms.”


“Could you do it via e-mail?’

“Oh no, that’s far too quick! The whole point of it, is that it gives you time to come up with brilliant, seemingly spontaneous, one-liners”

“Of course”

“Arguments could go on for days or weeks, but you wouldn’t be able to refer to them during normal daily life.”

“Brilliant”

“Yeah, so you don’t get any of that red faced, door slamming stuff”

“ I’m rubbish at that. One time the door just sort of went phhhwm. Useless! I wanted to rush back into the room and try again, loosing my big dramatic exit.”

“Sounds like you lost it anyway”

“I always do!”

“So under my new system, you could at least loose after a fair debate, not just because the other person throws more words at you.”

“That’s my other problem. I always end up using the same dumb words again and again. I know that each time I use them, they carry a little less weight, but I can’t think of anything new to say. I’m stuck in this ridiculous loop. In the end the other person doesn’t even have to say anything back, I whittle away at my own self confidence, seeing my reason and logic collapse around me.”

“Thesaurus!”

“What?”

“Thesaurus. You’ll be able to use all those words, you’d never dream of using in a normal row.”

“Of course.”

“Wow, I’ll sound so clever, no-one will dare to challenge me again”

“Shh - I’d like to hear the band, not you two nattering about rubbish”

(Quietly) “If only he knew. We could cut him down to size”

(Quietly) “As long as he gave us enough time to compose a suitable reply. I guess we would have to get his address, we’re posting our response to him - right?”

(Less quietly) “Someone would take care of that for us, a central database would take care of everything.”

(Not quiet at all) “ Genius, not only do we solve all arguments we create thousands of jobs as well. It’s...

“SHUT UP!!”

(Loudly) “Go and stand by the tall guys, they’ll give you all the peace and quiet you want! We’re coming up with a new way for the world to solve it’s problems.”

“Hey, not bad!”

“I’d still like to put it in writing!”

Must mention the splendid 2-3-2 cafe on Gloucester Road, Bristol. We spent last friday evening in this lovely relaxed cafe / restaurant. It’s one of those places where you can have cake and coffee or lovely 3 course meal, well worth a visit in you are in this part of Bristol.

During the course of the evening, we had a very interesting chat about planning for old age with our friends Pete & Maggie. After seeing the struggles which have afflicted our respective parents over recent years, we decided that we need to get together with all our friends and move into some sort of sheltered housing.

That’s right - get rid of the houses which as you get older become more of a curse than a blessing and use the money to get a nice flat. we could use the common room for punk rock disco’s, arrange outings to the cinema and have a fine old time. Not long to go!

At the other end of the spectrum, we went to a very wedding reception of Sunday evening as old BT friends Ceri and Simon celebrated their wedding in the idyllic setting of Priston Mill. It was a chance to catch up with a few old friends, some of whom I’d not seen since leaving BT in that previous life of mine.

Ceri and Simon are now taking a month long break firstly in Kong Kong before moving onto Australia. Back in 1990 we went to Australia for a month and had a brilliant time but...Coming back to work after a 4 week break was a nightmare.

I’m the sort of chap who needs to be retrained after a lunch break, so after a month I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, the trouble is that everyone else thinks that you still know what you knew before you went away. This resulted in lots of very painful conversations, featuring me desperately trying to bluff my way through situations. I could just about manage my name and shoe size, anything was like being asked to explain nuclear fusion, somehow my colleges put up with and coaxed me back into some sort human state. I guess that it was a test run for those confused days of old age which await us all.

When Orynthia nipped along to Replay to pick up the new Teenage Fanclub album, she also grabbed the latest album by another band who threatened to move into the mainstream without ever quite managing it - The Go-Betweens.

Back in the late 80's I remember seeing them appear on kids TV (not that I was a kid then, although it would be lovely to think that I was), it was one of those strange moments when you initially have a little burst of excitement because one of "your" bands is on TV. Remember that this was before the all pervasive spread of MTV and wall to wall music video coverage, so any glimpse of favoured band was a treat. I then started to wonder how the band would be feeling, playing these meticulously crafted songs, to group of excited 8 year olds. I'm sure that Robert Forster enjoyed the delicious irony of the moment. Of course, it made no difference in the end, the band never got beyond cult status, much loved as they were.

We had an interesting evening yesterday, one of Orynthia's colleges has started to do some sort of cranial therapy, which involves her picking up on the movements of your cranial fluids and from that getting a feeling of areas of your body which could be in need of attention. I don't fully understand what was going on, but I did have a very relaxing time.

In fact it was a little strange, as I drifted away my mind started to play tricks on me. The passing traffic on the road outside started to sound like rolling waves washing up on a beach. In my mind, I was lying on a beach in Malaysia whilst the waves of the South China sea lapped at the shore, very nice indeed. Orynthia went after me and found herself walking around the streets of Prague! It could be a cheap alternative holiday service for the future!

Last night was spent in the company of Teenage Fanclub, and what better way of spending an evening could there be.

When we first arrived there were worries about the gig going ahead, it was thought that the glare from the vast number of shiny headed middle aged males, could prove too distracting for the band. Luckily some younger people came in later, bringing the average hair follicle content up to EU approved gig levels.

As ever with the Fanclub, we got the normal mixture of classic songs and amiable bonhomie. I sometimes wonder what would have happened to the the band if the Grand Prix album had been as huge as it should have been. I sort of think that they would not be around to entertain us these days if they had been forced to go on the non stop touring treadmill. So although their bank managers may be upset, I think the rest of us should be pleased that the Fannies are still able to lighten up the darkest room.

A new short story by Haruki Murakami - "Where I'm Likely to Find It" was in the May 2nd issue of the New Yorker. You can find it here

Arcade Fire were wonderful last night. A rousing, exuberant, crash, bang, wallop of a gig. Boy was it good!!

It was just the album plus a couple of other songs, but that was fine. The packed house cheered and clapped along, to a band which many of us were seeing for the first time. They really seem to have captured the imagination of a lot of people, I’m not sure if they are playing the big festivals this year, but if they are they will go down a storm. Can’t wait to see them again.

Bryan Munich

Bryan Munich
Originally uploaded by tomory.

Well we managed a 5-0 win, so we ended the season in 2nd place in our division. We think that this means promotion!!

A busy day in prospect, this morning we have the final match of the season for Bryan Munich. A win or a draw (as long as it’s not 0-0, when things would get very complex!) should see us promoted. It’s our furthest trip of the season as we have to travel down to Weston-Super-Mare, it’s almost like playing for a proper team.

This evening Orynthia and I are off to see Arcade Fire. It’s a gig I am really looking forward to, I’ve read and heard so many great reports of their live shows. I love the slightly manic intensity of the album, from what I’ve heard this becomes a euphoric noise on stage - let’s hope so. Another gig coming up on Wednesday, when we see a long overdue return to Bristol of Teenage Fanclub!! One of our favourite bands, seeing them is just like having old friends round for a drink.

Yesterday we went to see the V.E. day 60th anniversary celebration in Bristol. Most striking was was watching film of the devastation of central Bristol following German bombing raids. Also heard several people telling their wartime memories on Radio Bristol in the morning, some of which hd me on the verge of tears.

Small people or big sofa

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

Are Orynthia & her mum small, or is this sofa which are looking after for some friends rather large?

Orynthia at Redland Fair

Orynthia at Redland Fair
Originally uploaded by tomory.

Lot’s of dashing around over the last few days. On Thursday, I had my second visit to the BBC following my invitation to be part of the listeners advisory council.

This was rather different to the other visits I’ll be making, as it the induction event for all new members of the various council’s in the area. As such, we were asked to comment of the first 15 minutes of the local tea time news show - Points West. Interestingly enough the lead item on the show was a hopeless non-story, which gave us plenty to get our teeth into.

As you would expect the people from the BBC took the criticism with good grace. We then had a quick tour of the studio’s and the presenters, who were charming and welcoming, they dealt with the gushing admiration of some of my colleges with supreme grace.

Then it a quick walk down to Gloucester Road to hook up with a few former work mates from my time at Oxfam. Liz came up with brilliant idea that in the future a real socialist government would set up a sort of “luxury item” bank. It would allow you to have access to one luxury item which you could never afford to own, in fact if you could afford to own it, it would imply that you were earning too much money, which in the socialist paradise, would obviously not happen.

Anyway, the luxury item which Liz had chosen was a top of the range Cello. The thinking went like this, when she wanted to use the cello, she would pop down to her local Cello bank / library, collect her instrument of choice at no cost, play it to her heart’s content, before returning it for other Cello lovers to use. Simple really.

When it came to thinking up an item which I would like, I must admit that I struggled. Eventually, I came up with something. The only trouble was that It would be a difficult thing to share. I decided that I would like to have a retractable roof our house. What could be finer that waking up on a glorious sunny saturday morning, reaching across to pick up the remote control unit, pressing the button and watch the roof peel back, exposing a clear blue skyline, with the sunshine filling the room. Quite how this could be shared with my comrades in the socialist paradise, I’m not really sure, but I do think that it would be a wonderful thing. If anyone invents it, we here at tomorysworld are willing to be your guinea pigs.

On Friday I meet up with Orynthia at Spike Island, for the start of the annual open weekend at this eclectic arts centre. As ever it was a fascinating chance to see what some of our local artists are doing, it’s also a very social place to be as lot’s of our friends were out and about. To put the icing on the cake, they provided lots of free nibbles and this year saw the welcome introduction of Pieminister Pies to the catering options. Fantastic!

Then it was off to The Bell to catch with a couple of friends from Madrid, who were in town for the weekend.

Saturday saw what should be the last home game of a disappointing season for Bristol City. How surprising then that it should be one of the best games we have seen over the past 9 months. Searching for a win to keep our play-off hopes alive, our incredibly young side launched everything at Doncaster Rovers. Somehow we ended up drawing 2-2 rather than getting the win we deserved.

Yet the skill, determination and persistence of the side packed with lads in their late teen’s and early twenties was a joy to watch. If results do go our way, we could still figure in the promotion shake up, I think I’d rather see these young lads grow as team at a level where they can hop to win games, rather than being on the back foot all the time.

Tomorrow it’s Redland Fair 50’s kitsch, old books and records, strange clothing and furniture, it’s what bank holidays are made for.

spike Island open weekend 2

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

If you live in or near Bristol, make sure you get along to Spike Island for the open weekend. It's also Redland Fair on Monday. Top weekend

Spike Island Bath 2

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

Spike Island Bath

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

Spike Island open weekend 1

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The end of the book. I just finished reading The Victim by Saul Below, however it's not just me that's finished the book, no one will ever get to read this particular book again. It was a recent 2nd hand purchase for the princely sum of £2.00 and I enjoyed the book, so I certainly got value for money.

The only problem was that, many other people had evidently enjoyed the book as well. Consequently, chunks it were drifting away from the binding, like leaves from a tree on a blustery autumn day. So that's it, it will have to be thrown away, which makes me kind of sad. I have no doubt that there are already plenty of books, hanging around in our house which will never be read again, yet they can quite happily sit on our shelves in the hope that either one of us will read them,  they might be leant to a friend (never to be seen again!) or taken to a charity shop.

This one is different, who knows how many pairs of hand it has passed through? Sadly the end is here.

I've started to read my next one, it's a lovely new book which hopefully has many yeas of being read in front of it - Strangers by Taichi Yamada.

On Sunday we went to The Coral and they really were great. My friend Geoff has been working with them over the last year or so, consequently I've seen them around quite a bit. They came into Imperial on a couple of occasions when I was working there and of course they played the Tsunami benefit gig's a few months ago. On Sunday they played a really good mixture of old and new songs, which went down a storm with the capacity crowd. Their new single is stupidly catchy, should be a huge hit for them.

Having a bit of work done! (part 4)

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

Where do all these wires go?

Having a bit of work done! (part 3)

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Having a bit of work done! (part 2)

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Having a bit of work done!

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Originally uploaded by tomory.

In our weekend battle of the canine against the feline, I have to say that the canine came out on top, with Freeze Puppy trumping Evil Kitty, when it came to the most entertaining night out.

We had a fine time at Evil Kitty, but did not do as much dancing as we had hoped too. Top marks on the DJ front went to Andy Jenks of Alpha, who played a great selection of tunes in the upstairs bar.

Saturday night at The Cube was most entertaining. A lovely set from Francois and his band set the tone for the evening, this was followed by the very entertaining idea of videos being shown of 5 different local performers doing versions of freeze Puppy songs. Some very entertaining and curious stuff here, my favourite being Team Bricks, crazed looped vocal take on one of the puppies songs.

Then the man himself, who produced another wide ranging show of musical delights. No two songs in the same genre, this guy really is a unique performer. The fact that cakes were handed to the audience during the set obviously helped as well!

In the bar afterwards, RLF played a great set of 60’s classics to get us dancing more than we had done on Friday. Lots of friendly faces were about, making it a top night.

A busy weekend awaits us, starting on Friday evening at Evil Kitty. It's the 2nd night for the latest club venture from our friends John Stapleton and Ian Green (and another lovely chap who's name escapes me!). It's taking place at The Arc bar, one of the nicest city centre venues and with the special guest being Andy Votel of Twisted Nerve fame, so I'm sure that we're in for a good evening.


On Saturday, I'm off to see City play Wrexham, in what now look like a pointless game for us, although it could be a vital one for Wrexham and they strive to avoid relegation. Then on Saturday evening we are off to The Cube. One of our favourite local musicians Freeze Puppy, is launching his album by playing a gig with a few friends. My old Imperial college RLF is returning from London to DJ at the event, so it should be a top night. It's difficult to describe the music which Mr Freeze Puppy makes, it's unique and really rather wonderful.


I'm going to spend most of Sunday emptying out the kitchen, as we are having some work done next week, which includes replacing the existing ceiling. It's sure to be a messy experience, thankfully my lack of DIY expertise means that I won't actually be doing the work, it's in the safe hands of our friend Matt.

I've had this passed onto me by Jessica, so here goes:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?

As Vixgirl said I haven't read Fahrenheit 451 -- but from what I can tell, this is a question about which book you would memorise and, accordingly, which book your life would come to resemble.
So with that in mind, I think that I would have to go for something by the marvellous P. G. Wodehouse. I think I’d plump for Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves as it features Bertie Wooster, Jeeves (of course) and the splendidly hapless Gussie Fink-Nottle. What joy, to be locked in that wonderfully daft world.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Not exactly a crush, by I was thoroughly smitten with the enigmatic Shimamoto in Haruki Murakami’s South of the Boarder, West of the Sun. As with all of Murakami’s protagonists, she has very little to say, yet manages to cast a sublime spell over the book.

The last book you bought is?
A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell. Picked this up for £2 the other day. It’s the first book in Powell’s 12 volume series - A Dance to the Music of Time. It’s actually replacing an old copy which I foolishly lent to an old college and of course never saw again. Back in the the late 80’s I got as far number 8 in the series and one day I know that I’ll go to them and will complete series. For those that don’t know the books, it’s a wonderfully acidic look at the English ruling class. The book in question is delightful penguin 1st edition from 1962

The last book you finished is?
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami. No relation to Haruki Murakami, this chap looks like becoming another fixture in my ongoing obsession with fiction from Japan. This is a very short but hypnotic journey into the dark side of Tokyo of life. As with many of his compatriots the style is detached and understated, even whilst describing some stomach churning events.

What are you currently reading?
The Victim by Saul Bellow. Another £2 pick up the other day. I tried reading Herzog by Bellow on a couple of occasions, without completing it. I read a lot about him since his recent death and thought it was time to try something else. I’ve only read 14 pages so far, it’s rather too soon to say if I’ll make it to the end of this one.

Five books you would take to a desert island?

Way too tough, this is the sort of list that would change every time I wrote it down. Anyway here is the list for today:
The Corrections By Jonathan Franzen. Plenty of time on a desert island to work my way through this masterful insight into family life. Everyone who moans about their family should read this. Fantastic

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Yet more upper class English twerps (something of a theme developing!). Still makes me laugh 25 years after I first read it, worth having just for the description of Uncle Podger attempting to hang a picture - genius.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. The first really grown up book I read, I’m still amazed at the way in which Dostoyevsky puts you right in the mind of poor Raskolnikov. The gathering despair and paranoia is mesmerising. This really is a book to lose yourself in.

Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami. I could have chosen any of his books, they all have so much to offer. This is one of his funniest books, as he links Sci-Fi with hard boiled thriller, few others writers could pull this off.
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto. Another wonderful book from Japan, this one a classic coming of age book, which rewards repeated reading.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Joanna - Compulsive reader, brilliant writer
Pete - Reads lot’s of books I’ve never heard of and always engages my curiosity.
Tally Ho Sulky - Great insights from our native New Yorker.

I must admit that we had a few worries in the run up to Mat & Helens wedding last weekend. They were all linked to the fact that temperatures were plunging and the reception had been arranged in a marquee, it sounded like a recipe for a very chilly evening.

Well we needn't have worried. The weather turned out to be much better than anticipated and the marquee was very pleasantly heated by Helen's very thoughtful parents.

After a slightly delayed Saturday morning departure, we arrived in the village of Pandy , where our accommodation for the evening had been booked. We just had time to change into our glad rags and have a brief look around the splendid old house which we had been booked into. Peacocks and chickens strutted around the grounds, as we nibbled on pasties and sausage rolls (nothing worse than being the owner of a rumbling tummy in packed church). The church was a classic British village one, packed to the rafters with smiling faces. The mood was further enhanced by the vicar, who possessed a marvellously deadpan sense of humour. Whilst the all important paperwork was signed we were entertained by one of Helen's friends who sang wonderful versions of "Fly me to the moon" and "My baby just cares for me" accompanied by a surprisingly jazzy organist.

After a brief pause for pictures, we all took the short stroll to Helen's parents house for the reception, which as I mentioned before was taking place in a huge marquee. The canapes and champagne flowed nicely, then the speeches began. We had to nip off during the these to collect part two of the DJ double act. Part one - Ian Green had made the journey with us, the other half of the act, local legend DJ Derek preferred to indulge his passion for coach and bus travel. Anyway the pair of them did a great set, which resulted in lots and lots dancing.

The next morning I took DJ Derek off to the nearest coach stop, before the rest of made the short journey to Hay-on-Wye, to spend many happy hours wandering around the amazing bookshops of that unique town. Talking of books, I finally managed to get to the end of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Once I got past the dreadful middle section I enjoyed it, the problem was mainly down to me, as lost my reading rhythm at the midway point. Since then I've managed to wizz through "In the Miso soup" by Ryu Murakami. Short and beautifully written, although it does contain one section of eye popping brutality, I really enjoyed this dark and unsettling short novel.