So I went to the barbers at the top of the road yesterday and all the talk was of the strange goings on at our newspaper/general store. Over the past couple of months it’s been amazing to watch the progress of this shop. What was once a well stocked and seemingly thriving enterprise, has gradually been depleted of virtually all it’s stock. You can just about buy a newspaper or one of the handful of magazines that they have, as long as you don’t try to go to the shop before 10am, as it will inevitably be closed before then, quite strange really as most people like to get their morning paper somewhat earlier. You can forget about buying anything else, row upon row of empty shelves stand before you. No food, no drink not even any cigarettes. Yet the staff sit behind the till all day, even though they have nothing to sell. My barber is convinced that it is being used for some illegal purpose and he has spoken to strange Russians coming in for a haircut claiming to be linked to ownership of the shop. If they were trying to give us the experience of Russian shopping, it is certainly pretty close to the sad stores, which we saw in Russia in 1988.

Managed to get some tickets yesterday for a couple of forthcoming gigs, Beth Gibbons is playing in late February and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs come to town in March. We already have tickets for the splendid Teenage Fanclub on Feb 14th, so things are starting to look up following the post Christmas lull.