Monday 16th August, 2010

IRON MAIDEN

Everything at work ran like clockwork, which made the morning go quickly. This meant that I could pop into Watford, at lunch, to buy the much anticipated 15th studio album by Iron Maiden, The Final Frontier! I had been waiting for this album for months and finally today was the day I would get it and listen to it. Iron Maiden had put one of the tracks from the album, 'El Dorado', on their website as a free download. This, I thought, gave everyone some indication of the sound of the album as a whole. Wrong!!! The style and composition of each track is incredible. From some heavy songs to amazing riffs to 'Metal Ballads'. (If there is such a thing.) This album has a completely different sound to some of their recent albums, but then is very similar to them. It also has pieces that sound as though they could have been taken from their albums from the early 80's, but are a lot heavier. And yet it has some amazingly soft tones to it. With each listen you get a better appreciation of how this band have grown and you can also see that there is no way they are going to stop... yet. Having listened to it for the last few evenings, when I have had the house to myself, it grows and grows on you. I thought that on first listening to it, that the song 'Coming home' was my favourite. Then it changed to 'The Talisman', then 'When the Wild Wind Blows'. Now, I can't pick out a favourite. Each song is unique and deserves to be a favourite. It is very rare that an album can hold my attention through 10 tracks, running at over 76 minutes, and I find that I don't want to skip a single song. This is quickly becoming my second favourite Iron Maiden album ever! After 'Number of the Beast.' If you get the chance, give it a listen.

Up the Irons!!!

 

On August 16th 1977, the World lost one of its greatest performers. Elvis Aaron Presley.

Knowing this I knew that my friend, Len, would be round for a few drinks after work. He is a complete Elvis nut who is currently saving to go to Graceland in 2012. Sure enough he turned up. I was listening to my new Iron Maiden Album, 'The Final Frontier', when Len arrived. We cracked open a few cans and we sat in the garden while the CD came to its finish. Then I put Elvis on. Not your normal hits or anything. I put on his unreleased, live, rare, demo, one-off songs. Ofcourse the first one I played was 'I washed my hands in muddy water'. This is one of Len's favourites, and mine. Len didn't even know this song existed until I played it for him a couple of years ago. We had got talking in the pub and I asked Len if he had heard 'Don't cry Daddy' by Elvis and Lisa-Marie? He said, 'No' and that there was no such version. So i went home put the song on my phone and went back to the pub the following day and played it for him. Apologies all round. We quickly became good friends and I told him to pop over the house, and i would play some more tracks that I was sure he had never heard. Sure enough there were quite a few songs he hadn't heard. Or, rather, he had heard the songs but not the versions I had. This was especially true of the aforementioned, 'Muddy Water'. So we sat in the garden, drinking beer and listening to Elvis.

 

Cousin.

A little after Len had left , my cousin Mark came round. He was only down for one day, from Norwich, and had spent the afternoon with the Grandparents and his Uncle. Then I had called him and told him that i would be very upset if he didn't pop in to see me and Emma. So, he did. Emma had gone to a friends to drop in a Birthday present for our friends daughter, so Mark and I sat in the garden, with a beer. Since Len had gone home, Iron Maiden was playing again. Not soloud to deafen, but just enough to be heard in the background. We sat and talked and joked and basically caught up. Emma returned and they talked for a bit before Mark had to leave. As he was staying at my Mum's, he thought that he should get there earlyish, so that he could speak to her too. So we said our goodbyes and he left.

Time with Friends

After my trip to London with Alysha (see last blog), I relaxed for the rest of the week. Swany and I did go to 'Shoots' Garden Centre, on the Friday, as I wanted some more fish for my tank. On all of our last visits to 'Shoots' they have had a 'Snakehead' in one of the tanks. Unfortunately, no one had bought the Snakehead at 'Shoots' so it had been returned to the supplier. Snakeheads are usually found in freshwater in Africa and Asia. There are a number of different species of  Snakehead and they can grow anywhere between 25cm and over 1metre in length. They are predatory and eat everything from aquatic insects to rodents. They can also breathe air and when they are out of the water they use their muscles and fins to 'walk'. The female can lay up to 150,000 eggs a year! It is a great creature to see in a tank, but people have started to release them in to the wild, especially in America, where they are causing havoc with the local ecosystems. Anyway, I bought six Admiral Tetras and two Glass Catfish for my tank, along with an ornament for them to swim through. Swany, the mad man that he is, decided to buy a hamster. He had hamsters before and still had the cage, so he bought a small, female Russian hamster. On our way home we stopped off at Swany's to pick up the cage and then carried on to mine. While Swany cleaned his cage for his new hamster, I set installing the new ornament in the tank and acclimatising the new fish to the tank. While my fish were were bobbing about in their bags in the tank, Swany decided it was about time he named the hamster. Various names were thought of, including: Rachel 2 (last hamster had been called Rachel), Muppet (why not?!), MRS A (for a laugh), Treacle (for a millisecond), and various others, before he settled on... Lois. Quite apt as most people know Swany as 'Super Swany'. I did make the comment that Lois might get lonely and need a friend whom he could call... Clark. Swany was having none of it, so I left it. That night Swany had to drive to Wales so Lois stayed with us. That's Me, Alysha, Emma 14 fish and two cats, Tilly and Gerry, who thought the little furry thing in the metal box was for them to play with. Lois survived the night and was reunited with Swany on Saturday afternoon. Sunday I chillaxed and I returned to work on the Monday, at St. Albans City Hospital, and I was back at Watford for the rest of the week.

On Friday (13th) I went in to Watford with some friends. Chris, Adam, Michael and Kevin. We started off at the 'Oddfellows' for a quick one before moving on to the 'Moon Underwater'. We each had a pint and then we shared a pitcher of 'Green-eyed Monster'. Fantastic stuff. We then went on to 'O'Neill's' where we had 'Jager Bombs' and 'Sambuccas'. We then headed off to 'Yates's'. It was here that the words 'Beaver Club' kept getting mentioned. I was in no mood for visiting a strip club, so I made my excuses and scarpered back to 'O'Neill's', where I bumped in to Deano. He was up from Cornwall for the weekend and we always seem to find each other when he's back. So the two of us had a few drinks in 'Chicago's' before I left Deano with his arms around some young lady, and I headed home. Turns out this was a perfect idea, as the others did indeed hit the 'Beaver Club' and one of them even managed to get a bill for £240 on his credit card!!!

On Sunday (15th) Emma and I went to her sister Rachel's house for a BBQ, with all her family. The weather was perfect and so was the food. Plenty to eat and drink and we had a real good time. Alysha didn't go with us as she is currently on holiday with her friend, Sophie. Sophie's family had picked her up earlier on. I am sure she is having a great time and I look forward to seeing all the Photo's and hearing all the stories, when she gets back.

Until next time,

May it be well with you.

Drinks & A Tattoo!

I have had such a great weekend!

It all started last Thursday (29th July). I had the week off work and was looking forward to a night out with a few friends, Tendai, Ed, Alan & Swany from A & E and Alex from X-Ray. All six of us met up at Riley's in Watford for a couple of games of pool, at about 20:30. We had booked two tables so there were always four of us playing, until the last match when we all had a game of killer. I am not a very good pool player but I did manage to beat Swany, once. He was Okay about it has he did beat Tendai, which he rarely does.

After this we decided to go O'Neill's for a couple more drinks. One thing led to another and before you know it we were on Jager Bombs! (Alex's idea!) He soon regretted it as he was seen running to the toilet soon after. After a few more drinks, and a couple more Jager Bombs, we decided it was a good time to head off. Plus, the pub was closing. Alex and Ed were sensible enough to head home. Alan was determined to go to a night club, but in his state that was not going to happen, so he disappeared off with Tendai. Swany and myself decided to head back to his for a coffee, before I headed home myself. When we got back to Swany's, and after we had drunk some coffee, we decided it would be a good idea to sleep out in the tents. Mine was still up in my garden and Swany's was in his car which was on my drive. Superb idea! We got back to my house at about three thirty in the ayem and we set about setting up Swany's tent. Less than 10 minutes and it was done. Not entirely sure that Emma was happy about us pitching the tent at that time, but this is the sort of thing that happens when Swany and I get together.

Swany was not feeling too clever on Friday when he emerged from his tent at around 09:00. He went home to freshen up and was back round mine for about 13:00 as we had to go to see our friend Curtis in Dunstable. Curtis is my personal tattooist and Swany had been waiting an age to have a tattoo of a lion put on his shoulder. The Lion he had in mind was a sketch drawn by his Great grandfather, while in Africa. My tattoo was an Ouroboros against a cross. This gives it that Celtic look but incorporates two different elements. The cross itself is based on the rosary from the  film 'The Boondock Saints' while the Ouroboros is from the Chris Carter TV Series 'MillenniuM'. To say we were impressed with Curtis' work would be an understatement. Swany couldn't stop looking in the mirror after his was done and mine was just as good. Swany's was identical to the sketch that he had given Curtis, mine on the other hand I didn't get to see until it was going on my arm. I had given Curtis a brief with a few pics and then he designed it himself. He got it spot on!

Saturday Swany had to work, but came over afterwards with another friend, Pete. Len was also here and Emma had cooked us all stew and dumplings. Len didn't have any as he wasn't feeling too well and went home early, but the rest of us tucked in. Emma's stew is something to be savoured, as it is the second best Stew I have ever had in my life! (My Great Nan's was better!) After feeding we moved the tents so that they were facing each other than let off a few Asian Lanterns, just because we wanted to and because we wanted to upset a farmer in Kings Langley who is calling for them to be banned. His reasons being that his cattle might eat the Lantern and choke on the wire or they may cause fires. One: Our Lanterns have no wire as they use bamboo which bio-degrades. Two: By the time the Lantern falls from sky the fuel cell has been used up and the Lantern is stone cold. Besides, there are some 'Special' people in Bushey who believe that UFO's are flying every time we send a Lantern up. God help us!  After the lanterns had disappeared from view we settled in to our tents and continued to drink and chat. (Emma had already gone up to bed) Pete and I sat up talking 'til ridiculous O'clock, while Swany had passed out earlier.

So all in all a damn good weekend!

My next blog will be along shortly.

Until then, May it be well with you.

Bug Jam 24

I know its been a very long time since my last blog, but that will change. (The main reason is down to time.)

 

Anyway. BUG JAM 24!!!

 

On Friday, 23rd July, Swany and I went to Santa Pod, Northamptonshire, to see the Bug Jam 24. Swany has been to Santa Pod on many occasions and thought I would like it. He was wrong. I bloody loved it!!!

 

Friday: We left home in the afternoon and travelled to the Pod, after a short stop at Tesco to stock up on food and beer. We arrived just after 7 O'clock and spent 15 minutes finding a place to set up the tents, Once this was done, Swany showed me the track and we walked around the entire site, beer in hand. There was so much too see: Dragsters, Hot rods, Beetles, VW's of all shapes and sizes, Monster trucks, BMX riders, Live Music, Fun Fair, Dance tents, Stalls and lots more. We made our way back to our tents and get some things from the car. Everything was going well until Swany locked his keys in the car! D'oh! After a few minutes of 'I can't believe I did that!' and 'What do we do, now?' we decided it was best to break a window. We had to borrow a hammer from a neighbouring tent as ours was in the car, and Swany smashed a small back window in! We then covered up the broken window, had a few beers and eventually to get to sleep about 2am.

 

Saturday: We were up early for a weekend, about 8am. After a coffee we headed straight to the track to watch the action. Dragsters and supercars were doing their time trials followed by Run What You Brung. This was great! Ordinary people in their cars trying to see who could complete the 1/4 mile run in the shortest time and who could reach the fastest speed. Brilliant!

We then watched Terry Grant perform some of his stunts in the Live Arena! He drove a 'Legend' 1937 Ford Sedan, 'Mitsubishi EVO', 'TVR Tamaro', 'Ferrari F40' and a 'Herbie' VW Beetle. It was amazing to watch him doing doughnuts in the 'Legend', which he then got out of and let it carry on on its own. He then clambered back inside and did some fast laps and handbrake and J turns. He then left the car doing doughnuts on its own, again, and jumped into the 'TVR Tamaro' and started that doing doughnuts around the 'Legend'. He then got out of the 'TVR' and left both cars to their own devices. He then clambered back into the 'TVR' and parked that, ran back to the 'Legend' and parked that. He then had two young ladies stand in the Arena and proceeded to do doughnuts around each of them in turn in the 'Legend'. He was a matter of mm's from the girls toes!!!

After this he decided to put the 'Herbie' car onto two wheels. After two attempts he decided he needed more weight in the car. The two girls from earlier were more than happy to help and climbed in the back. Deciding this still was not enough, a spectator was picked from the stands. This was a set-up as the poor guys mates had already spoken to Terry about it. Turns out he was at Santa Pod for his 'Stag Do'. Ofcourse, Terry was happy to oblige, except that Terry asked the crowds if the guy should go in the back of the car with the girls or in the boot? As you can imagine the crowds voted 99-1 for the boot! Once the poor bloke was in the boot, Terry gunned the engine and drove to other end of the arena, reversed and then went for the ramp. The car went on to two wheels for the length of the arena. Just as I thought he was going to crash in to the barriers, he braked and dropped the car in to its parking place. The guy who had been in the boot was visibly shaking when he was released. Fantastic!!!

This was followed by a bit of motorcycle stunt work and some aerial action from the UK Freestyle Motor Cross team. They were achieving a height of over 50 feet above tarmac with no safety nets! MAD!

This was then followed by 'Podzilla' and 'Swamp Thing' the Monster Trucks. The sheer size of the things and the noise they make is incredible. Apparently they run on Alcohol and do 30 Gallons a mile!!!!

Once this was over, Swany and I decided to go for another walk around. (After getting more beer from the tents).

As we stood by the raceway start line, Santa Pod was visited by a Solitary Spitfire. Apparently he was just checking the route for Sundays Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. He gave a great little display in the air for a good ten minutes, before waggling his wings in a victory salute and heading home.

A bit later, as we walked back past Terry Grant, he was jump starting the Ferrari F40 with the Mitsubishi EVO. turns out he left the ignition on in the Ferrari and killed the battery. So, Swany and I decided that he deserved a 'Special' award, we which we promptly gave him!

We went in to the pits and saw the cars up close. We wandered past the BMX free-stylers and saw some great stunts.We also saw some of them stacking it, BIG TIME!!! One decided to land his back tyre on the upper handrail, bounce off, go up the other side and repeat. All was going well until he tried to put his rear tyre on the second handrail. He hit the floor and his bike disappeared over the back and dented a van! Brilliant! He got up and nearly stacked it again, but finally, after a number of attempts, managed to do the stunt to massive round of applause.

We then went to the Live stage and watched 'Blings of Leon' followed by 'Kasabian UK'. Both were brilliant! 'Blings' were probably better, though!

We then took a slow walk back through the all the stalls and made our way to the tents. We then cooked a nice, HOT Chilli, which we ate with Doritos and a Tiger Baguette. Then we grabbed some beers and headed back out to see what else was going on.

One of the signs that we had seen on the way in to Santa Pod said, 'NO CHINESE LANTERNS'! Well, as most people know, Swany and I love setting these things off so we weren't impressed as we had taken some with us! Turns out a lot of people had taken Chinese Lanterns with them, too! So at around 11 O'clock the sky around Santa Pod was filled with them. All of them were the same. White Lanterns with their little flame below, lighting up the night sky. That is until our last one! Our last one was Green and had an Aliens face on it!

We retired to our tents at about 2am, again.

 

Sunday: We had a lie-in and didn't surface until 9am.

Once we were up and ready we dismantled the tents and put everything back in the car. We then set off for a last look around the Pod and buy a coffee. Once we had seen everything we headed back to the car and headed home.

 

I can not wait until next year. I am already looking forward to Bug Jam 25!

 

Well, until my next blog, which hopefully will be very soon, May it be well with you.

St. Patrick's Week, 2010

I know it has been a while since my last blog, so here it is.

 

St. Patrick's Day. (March 17th for those who don't know)

 

I started celebrating at 1 O'clock on the Wednesday afternoon at O'Neill's, Watford, with a friend of mine, who I hadn't seen in months. We spent the first hour or so, just catching up with what we had been up to since our last encounter, before heading off to the moon Under Water for some more Guinness. We stayed there for a few rounds before heading off to Mangan's. When we arrived at Mangan's we bumped into some more friends with whom to celebrate. While at Mangan's I noticed that the barman had sprayed his hair green, so I asked if he had any spray left. I am pleased to say he did, and within a couple of minutes I had green hair!!! After a few more  pints of Liffey Water we all made our way to the Oddfellows for some more celebrating. I walked into the Oddfellows with a Guinness Hat on, green hair and an Ireland flag draped across my back. (It had to be done.) The landlord was serving Irish Stew with Soda bread, so we all tucked in, while he poured our refreshments. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Oddfellows, before I headed home at about 8.

 

Recovery Day. (March 18th)

 

Up bright and early and messed around on the computer. Watched Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. (Again). And pretty much chilled out all day for the next few days.

 

Super Saturday (March 20th)

 

It was the Super Saturday of the RBS 6 Nations, with all teams playing their final matches on that one day.

1st up, Wales V Italy. Wales and Italy both entered this match with 3 losses each and only 1 win each. The scene was set for a great match, unfortunately Italy forgot to show up until the second half.

Final score 33-10 Wales.

 

2nd up, Ireland V Scotland. Ireland had won 3 matches and only had one defeat in the championship, which had been against France. Scotland had lost 3 and drawn 1, so it would have seemed like a simple matter for Ireland to walk away with this match. Well, no! Ireland didn't seem to be as together as usual, with Sexton missing kick after kick and some clumsy passing from other players. Scotland on the other hand came out like a team reborn. Barely putting a foot wrong. Although I hate to say it, it was a much deserved win by Scotland.

Final Score 20-23 Scotland.

 

3rd up, France V England. England entered their last match with 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. France entered with 4 wins. This turned out to be a truly great match. France were not their usual dominating selves, and England had found a renewed sense of purpose against the old enemy. The scores were close right the way through the game. England deserved to win for being the better side, but too many penalties meant that France kept their nose in front.

Final score 12-10 France.

 

This left the 6 Nations table looking like this:

1. France

2. Ireland

3. England

4. Wales

5. Scotland

6. Italy

 

Sunday 21st.

I spent most of Sunday Chillaxin' and preparing myself for the week ahead. I was going back to work on the Monday and then on the Friday it would be my Birthday.

That should be fun and will tell how it went in my next blog.

 

As always, may it be well with you.

Reasons to be Cheerful...

1. Saturday. 

It started with a hair cut for me. (3mm all over!!!) Then it was a case of listening to music and some lunch before heading to the Oddfellows to watch the rugby. While listening to Ace of Spades by Motorhead, Emma commented that she preferred Five Fold Kiss's version! (That's how good they are, so go see them if you get the chance!) http://www.fivefoldkiss.org.uk/  We got to the pub a little early (about 13:30) as Watford were playing football at home and the pub was full of Peterborough supporters. Me in my Ireland Jersey and Emma in her Wales jersey. All the TV's in the pub were showing Tottenham v Blackburn, until 14:30 when suddenly the main screen was turned to the clash of the weekend. Ireland v Wales. (Always a great match for us.) After Sexton missed a penalty in the first two minutes and Wales managed to score a penalty, I knew it was going to be a good match. For an Irish pub, there weren't that many Irish supporters at the start, and only one Welsh supporter. (Emma.) As the match progressed more Irish arrived and the match turned in our favour.

Final score 27-12 IRELAND. 

After the match we returned home and watched a little of the Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England. What a poor showing from England. Scotland really did deserve to win but all they could muster was a draw.

Final score 15-15.

We had planned to go to the Dome Bar later Saturday night, to watch Five Fold Kiss, but unfortunately the gig had to be cancelled at the last minute. So, we had some dinner and watched the normal Saturday night rubbish on the Telly. The only good bit being Rufus Hound on Sport Relief dancing to Cheryl Cole's Fight for this Love. Bloody Brilliant!!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsABh6QoxVo

 

2. Sunday.

Sunday was spent doing pretty much nothing. After lunch we went to my nan's house to see my Mum, my auntie and the grand parents. After a cup of coffee and watching the first half of the France v Italy game, we returned home. France were in control of the match from the start, until 20 minutes from the end, when Italy decided to make a comeback. Suddenly Italy were scoring try after try. A far better match than the Scotland v England match.

Final score 46-20 France.

The rest of the day was spent chillaxin' and making the most of the peace and quiet.

 

3. Monday.

Both Emma and I had the day off (I actually have the whole week off as it's St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!) so that we were both here for when Alysha arrived back from Spain. New linen had been put on Alysha's bed and all the washing had been done, ready for all of her holiday clothes.

Alysha's aeroplane touched down at Stansted at 14:28, and she text me to say she was back in England at 14:45. Then at 16:16 she sent another text to say that were in Watford. We put on our coats and headed for the school and she arrived minutes after us. A big hug for me as soon as he got off the minibus and then she said her goodbyes to her friends and teachers and we headed home. My Mum met us at the house and we all piled in for coffee and biscuits. Then Alysha proceeded to tell us everything!!! It was obvious she had had a great time! Then she gave out some presents. An ornament from Aljaferia for my mum. A scarf and a box of Chocolates for Emma. And, a small pot of dried Chilli's for me. Does my daughter know me or what?!?!?! I tried one of the chilli's and soon wished I hadn't. Now, I like Chilli's and the hotter the better, but these things were not Hot. They were more like licking the Surface of the Sun!!! It turns out Alysha had asked the assistant in the shop for the hottest ones they had. Then Alysha uploaded her photo's on to the PC. 549 of them! Once they were uploaded we all gathered around and looked at them. There are some fantastic shots in there and I could tell immediately how much fun she had had in Zaragosa. After looking at all the photo's my Mum headed home and we settled down for dinner. The rest of the evening was chilled out, apart from my PC playing up. I sorted it though.

 

As I Sit here writing this, listening to Five Fold Kiss and various other Rock bands on the PC, I realise how much I missed Alysha last week. Daughters are wonderful! 

 

I might go for a stroll later on, once I have put the washing out, and then I have the rest of the week to look forward to, starting with St. Patrick's day tomorrow.

 

May it be well with you all.

A Stroll & Five Fold Kiss

It all started on Friday when my friend, Len, popped in for a few drinks after work. Music was playing, beer was flowing and to top it all off… BBC Four were doing the history of British Metal, from 9 O’clock, followed by Iron maiden filmed in Concert from 2008.

What a start to the weekend.

 

Then it was Saturday.

Not a lot doing around the house. Alysha wasn’t at dance because of her trip and Emma and I were doing as little as possible. Swany rang about 11ish and said that he would be ready just after noon. I ate some lunch and got myself ready. Swany turned up with Pete about 1 O’clock and we began our stroll. We walked down to the Ebury Way and turned left towards Watford. We then took a right and headed for the power station, which would lead us into the fields containing the pillbox. As we clambered over an old tree stump toward the bridge that led to the pillbox, the sight of a newly installed locked gate across the bridge, with barbwire across the top, faced us. I was not impressed, at all! We clambered over it anyway and carried on toward the pillbox. As we approached the pillbox, I noticed that both the entrances were now sealed. Unbelievable!! Swany and I took some photos of it and the mini waterfall, before continuing our journey. We followed the river until we came to the old green, plate Girder Bridge that is all that is left of the salt line. The three of us crossed this and arrived in a field full of Canada Geese. More photos were taken as we made our way towards Hamper Mill. A few more photos were taken before we headed back towards the Ebury Way. We arrived back at my house just after half two and enjoyed a cold beer. Swany and Pete left soon after and I headed indoors to get showered.

 

At about 6ish I left home to go and meet Colin for a few birthday drinks, while Emma wandered off to meet her friend, Jess. They would meet up with me in the pub later.

When I got to the pub Colin was a little worse for wear, having been in there since four thirty! We had a few drinks together before he wobbled off home, just before Emma and Jess walked in. We had a drink all together at Que Pasa, before I headed home leaving Emma and Jess to party.

 

Then it was Sunday.

Alysha had been up for a while before I woke up. A quick last minute rush to make sure that everything was packed, then it was off to School. We made it to School for exactly 7 and were met by my Mum, who had come to see Alysha off. A few quick hugs before Alysha, and the other exchangers were on the minibus and on their way to the Airport. As soon as the minibus was out of sight, it was back home. Emma went back to bed and I messed around on the PC. My friend Dave called round just after 10, for a coffee, then left. Not much else happened until after lunch, when it was time to head for the pub. Not our normal pub but the Horns. Our friends, Five Fold Kiss, were due on stage at three thirty for their first performance at the Horns. When we arrived we spoke briefly to a few band members. Chantal, Gary and Graham. Chantal admitted to being a bit ‘anxious’, while everyone else seemed to be taking it in their stride and seeing it as just another gig. Just before the band was ready, our friends Len, Barry and Jo arrived. A few quick words were spoken and then the band started. Well! What a gig! After a few dodgy bits in the first few songs, the band suddenly woke up and the audience noticed and woke up too! The rest of the gig was bloody brilliant! The audience were really good and some people were up dancing. Lots of people had come along just to see the band, while others had come for a meal and a drink and ended up staying until the end. Lots of people were taking photos, including me, and I shall upload some soon. After the gig, and after we had said our goodbyes, Emma, Jess, Len and I all headed back to mine for pizzas and beer.