Footsteps in the dark

Colindale, London, England // 8.32 pm // Mostly clear 21ºc / 70ºf

First post of the month... the way things are going there might not be any more this month either! A backlog of stuff to do is piling up, and I don't see much time between now and Cuba to get stuck into that either.

Obviously lots has happened since the last blog post that I've forgotton by now. Actually, over the last couple of days I've been contemplating whether I should keep doing this blog or not, given that my life is so well documented on Facebook and Twitter anyway. Your thoughts please.

One thing that does stand out in the last couple of weeks is Celtic qualifying for the playoff stage of the Champions League qualifiers. We lost to Dinamo Moscow at home, before rewriting our history books and beating them away to win the tie. This was the first competitive away win in 7 or 8 years, the first time any Scottish team has overturned a first leg home defeat for 50 years or so, and the first time Celtic have EVER done it. It was a special night, and the next leg will almost be as special as we are playing Arsenal! I was hoping to get a hold of some tickets for the game here in London, but season ticket holders get first dibs on the briefs. I'll have to wait and see if there will be a general sale for any remaining tickets. The first leg in Glasgow is next week!

Last Thursday I got the train back up to Saltcoats for another long weekend in Scotland. It almost started with a disaster though. I got onto the train at Euston, found my seat, and proceeded to try and squeeze my luggage into the overhead compartment, which was approximately half the width of my bag. I wasn't going to be beaten though, and after trying to compress it further I tried to force it in again. I gave it one almighty push, my right hand slipped, and all of a sudden I was putting all my forward force onto my thumb, which was bent right back towards my wrist completely unnaturally. I saw, and felt, the almighty pain and just waited for it to pop out of its socket. Thankfully, it didn't, otherwise the trip home would already have been called off in order for a trip to A&E! But the thumb was in complete agony for the rest of the weekend, and still hurts to quite an extent now.

The train journey up there was unusually uncomfortable. The carriage was quite cramped, and I didn't have a window to the side of me. Nothing too bad though. When I got back to my mums in Saltcoats, she had made me a big pot of chilli con carne. Later that night I went to my friend Stephen's, and our friend Big Craig also came along for a good catch up and a few beers.

On Friday afternoon I caught up with another good friend, before getting ready to go out for a meal in Ayr with Stephen and two of his friends. We stayed out in Ayr - the night was ok, but was definitely surpassed by the following night.

On Saturday afternoon my dad came to pick me up and take me to Tesco in Irvine where I got together the ingredients to make Sichuan Beef for my mum and John. Took me about three hours to make, was a wee bit more complicated in a kitchen I'm no longer familiar with, but the end result was fantastic. Barely gave me enough time to get ready to go out though, but I managed. 

On Saturday night Stephen and I hit Saltcoats. Although people slag it off, I love going out in Saltcoats. It's my hometown and a large bit of my heart is still there. Plus most of my friends and family. Stephen and I went to our usual pubs, and it immediately became obvious that this was a different kind of night. The town was jumping, and the atmosphere was fantastic. This was also the case in the town's one and only club, the Metro, which has usually been a bit shit the last few times we've been. This time round though we had a great night, despite getting caught right in the middle of a rather large fight (one of the many that night). I also bumped into a lot of old faces, including some people I hadn't seen for at least 8 years.

Sunday. I felt rough. Very rough, and my dad was planning to take me to a fantastic Italian restaurant in the afternoon. I was determined to go, but felt worse as they day went on, and once my dad arrived at mine he decided that it wouldn't be the best idea. Instead, we went back to his for a little while before we headed out on our usual Sunday night pub crawl. Drinking was the last thing I wanted to do. I knew I had to be sick... that way I'd get rid of whatever was in my stomach that was making me feel so shit, and be able to carry on. I felt like I was going to be sick a few times, but no joy. In desperation to feel better, I resorted to desperate measures. In a moment of madness, I induced it by myself - the old two fingers down the throat technique. I'd never done it in my life, never even contemplated it before, but my god does it work! I was spewing away like something out of The Exorcist. Minutes later, I was on top of the world. I don't condone this kind of action, especially as I was making myself sick just so I could go out and drink again, but it did help me enjoy the rest of the day/night.

We met up with my uncle, auntie and stepmum (my dad's brother, sister and wife) and had a few drinks in their local before a lovely, much needed, Chinese meal. After that we all headed into town and to a pub my other uncle was working it, and spent most of the rest of the night there. It was a great laugh, and as always one of the main highlights of the weekend.

Headed back to London on Monday afternoon. The train journey back wasn't half as bad as the way up. Had the day off Tuesday, so I caught up with a lot of stuff. Had a hellish night sleep on Tuesday night, sleeping only for the last 30 minutes before I had to get up for work. Managed to struggle through yesterday at work, and slept like a baby last night.

Speaking of last night, Scotland played their World Cup qualifier against Norway. Getting some kind of result was so important last night. Instead, Gary Caldwell got sent off and the game just fell apart from there. We ended up losing 4-0. We have two games left - both at home against Macedonia and The Netherlands. We really need to win both. I'm not sure we can. Roll on World Cup 2010.

Pride

Colindale, London, England // 7.30 pm // Partly cloudy 19ºc / 66ºf

Last weekend was quite packed, and lots of fun. On Saturday, a little late as always, Elle and I headed down to Mottingham in South East London to catch up with our friends Ciara and Paul. Paul broke his leg a few months back and is still on crutches, but was getting around fairly well. Elle and I were friends with Ciara at uni, and she and Paul are getting married in the near future, which will involved a trip for us to Northern Ireland. Anyway, the main reason for going down there was for a catch-up and BBQ. The weather was actually really good on Saturday, as was the food. Elle and I even enjoyed the chilli prawns that were done on the grill, despite not being very adventurous when it comes to seafood. After the BBQ we went back inside and had a good few drinks, played some games, and then left around 10.45pm to catch the last train back into Central London.

I woke up fairly early on Sunday, and headed to Wembley again for the second installment of the Wembley Cup. After lunch at KFC, I headed to the Crock O' Gold pub near the stadium to once again meet up with Tam and the others. On the way there I noticed that the whole feeling and atmosphere around the place was different to Friday. It was much more vibrant with many many more Celtic fans than Friday. This day was going to be different.

I got to the pub and found it, somehow, twice as busy as the last time. Just as I got to the front of the bar, I got a text from Tam telling me he was also in the pub. I had assumed they had already been through, got their drinks, and were in the beer garden. So I waited at the bar for my turn to be served. And waited. And waited. For almost 20 minutes I was being practically ignored. I started to feel potential violence surge up inside of me. There are only two things that really really annoy me in life to the point that I'm scared I'm going to hurt someone. For the life of me, I really can't remember right now what the other one is. But the main one is poor, unexplainable, pointlessly bad bar service. Somehow I kept my cool and finally got served, buying two pints at once so I didn't have to repeat the experience any time soon. Just as my pints were arriving, I got another text from Tam. This time telling me the pub was too full, they gave up and went to the stadium! So there was me, on my tod, with two full pints in my hands.

I duly finished them and headed to the stadium too, and caught up with them at the bar there, where the bar service was completely the opposite. I managed the full transaction - request, handing money, receiving - in about 6 seconds. Incredible. Although this was a good 90 minutes before the Celtic game was due to start, so the place wasn't exactly full at that point. Barcalona were playing Al-Ahly on the pitch, but unsurprisingly most of the Celtic fans were more interested in sinking a few pints, which is what we did.

Just before the Celtic game was due to start, we headed out into the stand, and it became obvious that this was a Celtic event. Not a Tottenham event. We had at least three times more supporters in the stadium than Tottenham. In their own backyard! It was a very proud night for Celtic and their fans. We were in fine voice throughout the game, and it paid off. We played a very good night of football, with a very young, almost reserve team, and still comprehensively beat Spurs 2-0 to win the first ever Wembley Cup. I stayed for the presentation of the cup itself before heading home. And the good news is it's likely we will come back next year to defend the title.

Throughout the whole weekend there was not a single hint of any kind of trouble that I spotted. Everyone was on their best behaviour, and it just proved and solidified the brilliant reputation that the team's fans has. I wonder if Rangers can repeat the good behaviour this weekend as they hit London for the Emirates Cup. Somehow I doubt it.

Back to work on Monday, prepared for the radio show on Monday night and did the show on Tuesday night, which was another good one.

Last night Celtic played Dynamo Moscow in the 2nd round 1st leg Champions League qualifier. I was very hopeful about the game given the great pre-season we've had so far. Annoyingly, the game wasn't show on any single TV channel anywhere in the world, which has to be the first time this has been the case for a very long time. Well actually, the Brisbane game wasn't on anywhere either but that was a friendly! Anyway, the only place you could see the game was Celtic's online TV channel, Channel 67. As it happens, I subscribed to this last week to watch the Celtic v Cardiff City friendly, so I was over the moon that I'd actually get to see the first important game of the season.

But no. Celtic obviously completely underestimated the demand. The website was down all evening as it was too busy. I tried several times but failed. I tried to listen via the Radio Scotland website but they didn't have the rights. In the end I had to opt for a less-than-legit stream via a dodgy website, which in the end was a simulcast of the official Channel 67 stream, so obviously some people got to login. Anyway, it was a frustrating game. We played fairly well from the point I saw the game, 15 minutes in. Unfortunately, we lost a goal before that, and that's how the game stayed - we lost 1-0. I can only now pray that we can turn around our shockingly bad away record in Europe and beat them in Moscow next week to qualify for the next qualifying round, where we'll play an even trickier team. If we don't win next week, we won't even see the Europa League.

Day off work today, and I had lots to keep me busy. I left the flat around 10.30 this morning to finally enroll at the local doctor's surgery. To do that, I had to call my old surgery in Reading and request my NHS number. Apparently I should have a card, but I don't ever recall seeing one in my life! I have a  general appointment with a nurse in mid-August but I do need to try and sort out seeing someone before that as I need vaccinations for Cuba.

After that I headed down to the Royal Mail delivery office to pick up some vinyl that arrived for me earlier in the week, which was a 1986 vinyl compilation of Earth Wind & Fire tracks called "The Collection". I came back to the flat to tidy and have some lunch after that, before heading out again for a haircut, a quick beer in The Stag in Burnt Oak, then to Asda to pick up ingredients for tonight's meal that I'm cooking.

The meal will be interesting. I've never cooked a fish dish, ever, but tonight it is salmon and asparagus supper. I've never really had salmon before either, and Elle is just a less likely to try seafood as me. But we're going to try and venture into that whole realm with my next few recipes to see how it goes.

Actually, I should go and make a start on that now.

Video blog: Road to Wembley

Colindale, London, England // 11.55 pm // Partly cloudy 15ºc / 59ºf

Video post: We're on the road to Wemberlee

Colindale, London, England // 7.16 pm // Partly cloudy 19ºc / 66ºf

Keeps ticking away

Colindale, London, England // 5.24 pm // Mostly cloudy 18c / 64f

Halfway through the week, and it's been a pretty heavy one so far. Something I neglected to say in my last blog post was that on Sunday Elle managed to do something for me that I had been hoping to happen for 8 years. She found square sausage in England! Square/lorne sausage/slice is a Scottish delicacy, and is something I grew up on back home. Right now, now that I'm thinking about it, there's nothing I want more than a roll and slice with a tattie scone. Anyway, I digress. I noticed on Twitter that some random had said something about square sausage. So I tweeted back something about the fact I've never been able to find it in 8 years is one of the biggest downsides of living in England. She replied shortly afterwards. Turns out she lives in Coventry, and Iceland sell the stuff! Elle headed to our nearest Iceland in Burnt Oak and, right enough, they do sell it!! It's hardly as good as the stuff you get out of the butchers back home, but my god will it do! Now all I need is a place I can buy Scotch pies and bridies...

Monday was my last day of the long weekend. I slept till around 10am and did some DXing. A guy from British Gas came round around lunchtime to do the annual gas boiler inspection and safety check, and thankfully all was ok. Monday afternoon mainly consisted of getting the flat in order, doing loads of dishes, preparing for the radio show and doing more DXing. Later, I headed to Asda to get ingredients for dinner, which has been named "Spaghetti Shenanigans", and is basically chicken and bacon spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic and herbs, with garlic bread. It was, of course, really bloody good. I also came across one of the most impressive things about anything I've done cooking wise yet since I started all this. I'm now fascinated by the process of peeling tomatoes. It's soo easy!

Yesterday I went back to work and was really suffering from tiredness when I got home. But, I still had to head back out and do the radio show last night, which was really good fun. I loved playing that EWF track - it went down really well.

Still not been successful in getting the handyman into the flat to sort out the sealing around the bath. We rearranged for him to come round this coming Thursday, after he failed to appear last Friday (he simply said "I couldn't make it". No shit). Then he turns up yesterday, two days early, when I'm not in, and calls to ask me where I am! I don't know where my patience comes from.

Yesterday I also received the current Celtic home top, which I neglected to buy when it came out last summer. Thankfully, it's still the home top for this season, and is actually the first time I've actually owned a current Celtic football top, after my £10 steal at Tesco in Reading just days after it was no longer the current strip! I'll be wearing the new top with pride at the Wembley Cup next weekend, which I'm looking forward to immensely!

From the vaults

Colindale, London, England // 12.13 am // Mostly cloudy 16c / 61f

Coming towards the end of my long weekend, and it's been a really good one. It started on Thursday night, when I cooked for us. It was a really simply recipe this time, which was hoi sin and garlic steak and noodles stir fry. I stuck to the recipe, and therefore added no spices which it, in hindsight, probably could've done with, but it was still really good nonetheless.

On Friday, rather than get my much needed lie in, I needed to wake up early as the handyman was due to come round at 9am and reseal the silicon around the bath. Only, the guy never appeared. I called him three hours after he was due to come, and there was no answer. And he failed to respond to the voice message that I left. Two days later, and I've yet to hear anything. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking this up with the landlord tomorrow, and this isn't the first time it's happened.

It's just as well I didn't really have any plans on Friday anyway, so I wasn't put out too much. I ended up doing a lot of cleaning and tidying, and lots of DXing, plus catching up with stuff I meant to do ages ago. Later that evening I headed into town to meet Elle and her friend Olga, and then a load of my workmates for a rare, pre-arranged get-together in a bar in Soho. Elle and I were the first ones there, and true to form the last ones to leave. It was a good evening, and nice to chat to the guys in a non-work setting. I was also glad that Elle had the chance to put some faces to the names she's heard so much about over the last year!

Saturday morning and afternoon was definitely a chilled affair. Elle was definitely suffering more than I was too, due to a slight bit of overindulgence the night before. Still, that evening we went out for a gorgeous Indonesian meal at a restaurant in Colindale that I've wanted to go to since we moved here, "Jakarta". The food was fantastic, as was the service, and it was really well priced too. After that we had a couple of drinks in Wetherspoons and our local before coming back home.

We were going to drive to the restaurant, but we discovered that Elle's car had absolutely no power at all. Not even enough to power the LCD clock on the dashboard. God only knows what drained the battery - nothing was left on - but something did. So that has just compounded the initial problem with the car that caused us to break down on the M1 last month. The joys of driving.

This morning Celtic played the first of their 6 pre-season friendly matches, and the first match the new manager Tony Mowbray has been in charge of. And it was a great start with Celtic beating Brisbane Roar 3-0 in Australia. It sounds like we had a great game, and a very convincing performance. And someone who went to the game told me on Twitter that there was no less than 4 streakers during the game! Next up, Cardiff City a week on Wednesday.

Today has been another really chilled day, again spent catching up with stuff, and doing lots more DXing.

Tonight, thanks to help from a friend in Los Angeles, I came across a series of Earth Wind & Fire demo recordings from the sessions for the Raise! and Powerlight albums of 1981 and 1983 respectively. They are horns demos, and from the sound of the tracks, the songs (which eventually made the album) were in their very early stages, mostly with no discernable vocals, and slightly different structures. And the biggest highlight of coming across this series of recordings is the fact there is a complete, full-length track that has never even been heard, never mind released. And it's vintage EWF. I'm hoping to play that on the show on Tuesday.

The ladder

Colindale, London, England // 8.19 pm // Mostly sunny 16ºc / 61ºf

Finger f*cked

Colindale, London, England // 6.49 pm // Mostly cloudy 16ºc / 61ºf

Finding it pretty difficult to type right now. For the second time in a few months, the index finger on my left hand has basically falling apart from the tip. And it's really painful to type on. I'm not really sure exactly what is, but I'm far from getting it seen to by the doctor just yet. I've had a bad history of eczema, but it isn't that. I might have to read up on psoriasis.

Had a really busy, packed weekend. I took Thursday off work and spent pretty much all of the day cleaning and tidying almost the entire flat, in time for my friend Stephen to fly down from back home in Saltcoats and stay for the weekend.

He arrived quite late on Thursday evening, and we didn't do much other than have a few beers and go out for some food. On Friday, we headed over to Wembley Stadium, as that was one of the places he definitely wanted to see. Unfortunately they weren't doing the tour, as there was an event on. The event was in evidence as soon as we got there - it was the day of one of Take That's gigs there, and even at 2pm the place was crawling with kids and grown-up kids wearing t-shirts of Gary Barlow etc! Amusingly, although there was a DJ playing music over the tannoy system, he said he wouldn't be playing any Take That. Although he played plenty of Robbie Williams!

After that, and lunch, a few drinks and a quick change, we headed into town for a couple of drinks before meeting up with Elle, and going to the Gielgud Theatre to finally see Avenue Q. Elle and I wanted to see it for years, but never got round to it. Good job we did too, as apparently it is closing for good in September. It was definitely worth the wait though - it was brilliant, really really funny, and very clever. It was also the first time I've been to the theatre in as long as I can remember! In fact, I don't even know if I've been to a show since I myself was performing as Oliver Twist in the Palace Theatre in 1994!

On Saturday, Stephen joined me as I continued my Central line pub crawl. This time we headed up to the western-most point of the line and back as far as Stratford. It was also the first time I've done it at the weekend, which did result in slightly busier bars. That, and Stephen drinking a good bit slower than me, slowed things down a bit. But we still managed to finish it in time that we got back to the flat, changed, showered then headed out for a night in Camden. We started off at Lloyds No.1 and ended up at Electric Ballroom. Although it's almost like a student night in there, I really do love it in that place. Getting served at any of the bars is amazing - you usually have your drink in your hand in less than a minute! Strangest part of the night - getting chatted up and hit on by someone who I'm sure could've been Stacey Slater from Eastenders!

On Sunday, we had a bit of a slower day, and headed down to Embankment for a few drinks and a meal, before going back to the flat. Later in the evening we went to the local for a couple more and a game of pool.

And on Monday I took him for a tour of work, and a couple of drinks before we came back to the flat and played a lot of Fifa 09 on the PS2. And he flew back home on Monday night.

Yes, that was a lot of drinking.

Back to work yesterday, and it was a bit of a crazy day. And Tuesdays being Tuesday, I did the radio show in the evening, which went really well. But I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to see the Michael Jackson memorial ceremony, which was definitely one of those big see TV moments.

Opposite of chankin

Colindale, London, England // 8.07 pm // Mostly sunny 25ºc / 77ºf

As I type this I'm sitting here on the sofa, practically naked but for a pair of boxer shorts, all windows to the flat are open, and the fan is blowing the hot air in the room a bit faster towards me, like it's making any difference. 25 degrees celcius at 8pm - cannae beat it. Why oh why don't we do air con in this country?! Still, I'm not complaining - it's a summer, that's for sure!

Yesterday was just a little bit cooler in the day, 27c was the high. Elle and I had originally planned to go down to Wimbledon and soak up some of the atmosphere, but by the time we got round to leaving the flat there wasn't really enough time for there to be any point. Instead, we risked a trip to Asda in Elle's car, which made it there fine. However, it only just made it back, so it definitely still needs a lot of work done to it, and expensive work at that. Maybe even too expensive for it to be worthwhile keeping the car, but don't try telling Elle that!

After that, we headed on the tube down into Central London for a few drinks at St Christopher's Place, Carnaby Street and Argyll Street before heading home.

Day one of three at work today, and was quite a good day - much quieter than anything we had last week. When I got back, I prepared the Michael Jackson tribute edition of Grooveline for tomorrow, put some more tracks on my MP3 player, and bought tickets for me, Elle and my friend Stephen (who is coming down from back home on Thursday for 5 days) to see Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theatre on Friday night. It's a show I've wanted to see since it premiered in London, although we have gone for the cheapest tickets, so probably have the worse seats in the house!

Where were you when...?

Colindale, London, England // 10.55 am // Partly cloudy 22ºc / 72ºf

• I woke up on a Sunday morning sometime in the Autumn of 1997, around 8am, and turned on the TV in my bedroom. I had the four main TV channels plus a link from the Sky box downstairs. The last channel that my mum had the Sky box on was UK Living. Usually complete drivel as far as I was concerned, but before I turned it over I noticed a caption on screen. "For coverage of a major news story, turn to BBC News". Eh? Why were UK Living telling us to turn over to the BBC. So I did. Immediately I realised what had happened when they were discussing the legacy of Princess Diana. She had died in a crash in Paris. I remember every step I took towards my mum's bedroom where I woke her and told her the news. It turned into the eeriest Sunday yet.
  

• It was Tuesday afternoon in late summer 2001. I was moving away from home in 11 days to go to university. Even at 18, I ironed my own clothes, and I had just set up the ironing board to do my shirt before heading into town to get some more essentials before moving away. My mum was chatting to a friend in the kitchen, so I felt free to turn off whatever shite Jerry Springer was sprouting on UK Living (that channel again!) and instead switch over to CNN International, which I often did. Literally seconds later, they switched to a simulcast of CNN domestic, reporting on an incident which had just taken place in New York. One of the World Trade Centre towers was ablaze. It was just after quarter to 9 in the morning over there. A few hours later, the world would be a very different place. I never did iron that shirt.

• It was a warm, muggy night in North West London in early summer 2009. I was sitting on the couch with Elle after a lovely dinner, watching a bit of TV. Just before 10.30pm I switched over to CNN International (that channel again!) just to see what was happening in the world before bed. Again, somehow, I managed to catch the few seconds before a major story was about to break for the first time. Maybe it's a sixth sense. In fact the news appeared in vision, on the flipper, before it was announced. Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. Shiiiit. That can't be right...he was due to start the gigs which would surely only resurrect his career in a few weeks time. Elle and I discussed the fact that this would surely delay the gigs, meaning we wouldn't be seeing him live on September 1st at the O2. Little did we know at the time that he was already dead. No one will be seeing him live.
  

These are the three events where I will always remember where I was and what I was doing, even how I was feeling, when I found out for the first time that these events were unfolding. And even though I thrive on news and big events, and even though unfortunately much of that is bad news, I do sincerely hope that there won't be many more of these kind of memories.

I dream of jeans

Colindale, London, England // 12.22 am // Partly cloudy 15ºc / 59ºf

I'm typing this as I swelter in the living room just after midnight. It's not even that warm outside now (although it's still pretty mild) but it's been a fantastic day weatherwise, and this flat really did heat up through the day, and now refuses to cool down.

Been a nice long weekend off work with lots of stuff happening. In fact, I've hardly stopped which is a nice change compared to the last few weekends when I started to get close to climbing the walls.

On Thursday night I cooked what was supposed to be mustardy pork chops, except I forgot to buy the pork. So I improvised with chicken, and the result was actually really good. Quite a simple recipe but very delicious. It's fair to say I also had quite a few drinks during the course of the evening, and ended up falling asleep on the sofa, waking up at 5.30am, and then going to bed.

I had a substantial lie in on Friday, sleeping till 1pm, which was bliss. By the time I had tidied the flat, had lunch, showered etc it was time to head off to Kenton, just north of Wembley to catch up with my friend Robin, who was set to depart uni halls for Canterbury for the last time, as he's come to the end of his course, with great marks to boot. I got there just after 4pm and we had a good few drinks in the McGowan's pub there, which is a less inspiring branch of the chain compared to the one in Colindale. Nonetheless, it was great to catch up with Robin. It got me thinking that it was a shame that we didn't really do it more often, other than meeting up before gigs, especially since I moved to NW London last summer. Still, there will be many more opportunities to come, not least the Incognito gig in August.

Robin and I parted company just after 6, and I headed south to Paddington, stopped off for some dinner at KFC, and then headed to Hammersmith to join Elle and her workmates for another few drinks. We ended up staying there till around half 11 before heading home for a few more drinks.

And, true to form, I once again fell asleep on the couch. This time till 7.30am, which I think is a record. I can only be thankful it's not the toilet.

Felt surprisingly fine on Saturday though. And after the usual ritual of tidying/lunch/shower I headed out in the glorious sunshine to Twickenham, in South West London, for the annual meeting of the British DX Club, at the Barmy Arms on the north bank of the Thames. I think this is the 4th time I've made it to one of the meetings since moving to this part of the country in 2004, and every time so far the weather has most definitely played along. The turnout this year was fantastic and very encouraging. I spent a great few hours having some really interesting chats with people who I really only ever see during such meetings.

At around 7ish we headed to the usual Indian restuarant, Delhi Durbar. Last year we ate al fresco, but that wasn't an option this year thanks to live bands performing outside The Fox pub across the road. I found the service in the restuarant quite odd this year (and now I say that, I'm sure I commented on it in the past too). For instance, they wouldn't really accept us ordering sundries... instead it appeared they were going to give us a set amount of rice and breads to share between ourselves, based on the number of people, which resulted in at least two naan breads and a portion of rice going to waste. I opted for the green masala, which was a chicken dish based on green chillis and lime pickle. It was a really tasty, spicy dish, although the flavour got a bit too intense after a while. Lime pickle is hardly a favourite of mine anyway, but I liked the idea of having it as part of a main dish, but it did get a bit too much after a while. Still, the food was lovely.

After the meal, the remaining half dozen or so of us returned to the pub for another drink, then I headed back off to Colindale.

I actually stayed up quite late when I got back, playing Fifa till around 4am. Woke up just before midday today, and shortly after that headed down to the Brent Cross shopping centre to their branch of Next to buy a new pair of jeans. Anyone that knows me knows that I pretty much live in the same pair of jeans. And, to be fair, the pair I have right now have lasted me long. But, judging by the holes between the legs, right trouser leg, and both knees, this pair has had it. And the only place I can buy jeans that fit me perfectly is Next, without fail. This is if I can find the place. And I could not. It turns out, thanks to a tip off from my friend Eve's sister, Holly, that there *is* a branch of Next there, but I was looking in the wrong place. So I'll attempt that again tomorrow!

A few hours later, Elle and I headed into town to meet her friend and partner for a meal in Leicester Sqaure. We ended up in the Wetherspoons below Capital Radio, and had quite a few drinks and something to eat. I went for the unusual (for me) option of the chicken al forno pasta dish, as I fancied something light. And it certainly was that - despite being one of the more expensive main meals on the menu, the portion was hardly signficant, but there was something oddly gratifying about that when I had finished. I felt I did good.

So tomorrow is the last day of my four-day weekend, and is set to be a busy one. I'll wake up fairly early and need to do the following: register with the local doctor's surgery, buy jeans, post stuff at the Post Office, go to Asda for ingredients for dinner, cook said dinner and prepare Tuesday night's show.

Break? What break. Although I really can't complain, it's been great.

Video post: Do not adjust your set

Colindale, London, England // 8.28 pm // Mostly sunny 16ºc / 63ºf

Strike!

Colindale, London, England // 7.05 pm // Mostly cloudy 16ºc / 61ºf

First blog post in June. Been quite busy over the last fortnight, and even when I've been in the flat with some spare time, I've been preoccupying myself with watching football online. Even though the football season has ended in most of Europe, there is still plenty happening around the world, and a surprising number of websites streaming the games live. The legitimacy of some of the sites is question, but one that is kosher is the Ladbrokes website. I had no idea they stream several games live daily. I've just finished watching the Macedonia vs Iceland World Cup Qualifier, of interest to me as they are in the same group as Scotland. And over the last week or so I've watched stuff from African WC qualifiers to the Indian Premier League to MLS. It's really great stuff, and very addictive. I'm gonna watch a bit of the Faroes vs Serbia at 7.15pm before the England game starts at 8.15pm.

Speaking of football on TV, Setanta Sports seems to be on the brink of ruin. Once again, a minnow takes on Sky, and Sky wins. I've been a huge supporter of Setanta for years, since they bought the rights to the Scottish Premier League, and I'm currently a subscriber to their feed on Freeview. I remember being quite ecstatic when the EU ruled that the English Premiership packages could no longer all go to Sky, and Setanta snapped up two of those. Unfortunately, what was supposed to make Setanta, broke it as they lost one of those packages. Unfortunately for them they put too much reliance on the expected increased subscription numbers, which weren't as high as expected. I'll be surprised if they still exist come the new football season. What happens to live SPL coverage I have no idea. Come on Channel 5, you know what to do!!

Staying with football, Celtic still don't officially have a manager, but it looks pretty likely that it will be Tony Mowbray. The more and more I read about it and think about it, I think he is a fantastic choice for the job. And he's a Celtic man at heart, unlike Gordan Strachan. Can't wait for the Wembley Cup in July.

So in the last couple of weeks I continued the Central Line pub crawl, completing another ten stations last week. Next time I continue the crawl, my friend Stephen from back home will be here, and we'll do another ten stations together.

I haven't cooked for a couple of weeks, but will be doing so twice in the next week.

On Saturday night Elle and I went to her friend Becky's place in West Ealing for what was supposed to be a BBQ, but the poor weather saw to that. Actually, food was still cooked on the BBQ, but we stayed inside. It was a nice, chilled night where we ended up watching a couple of films before we left at 11pm.

Actually, I've watched a few films recently, which is really unusual for me. In the last couple of weeks I've watched The Good Shepherd, The Last King of Scotland and Phone Booth.

This week has seen the start of a 48-hour tube strike here in London. Thankfully I only rely on the tube to get back from work at the moment, but yesterday - a few hours after the strike started - was to be the first time I was affected by it as I tried to get home from the radio station. When I left the station, the Northern line was still reporting good service, but I didn't want to risk it. So I got the DLR from Shadwell to Bank, a bus from Bank to City Thameslink station, and a National Rail train from City Thameslink to Mill Hill Broadway, where Elle was waiting to pick me up. Annoyingly, when I got home the Northern line was still reporting a good service!

Amazingly, that's also been the case for the whole of today! So I managed to do my usual tube journey home (Victoria line from Oxford Circus to Euston, Northern line from Euston to Colindale) with no problems at all. In fact it was quicker than usual, thanks to a couple of closed stations, and the train was emptier than usual as I suppose many people didn't think any line was working.

Apparently 40% or so of tube drivers crossed picket lines to report to work as normal. Good on you.

Video post: Summer in the city

Colindale, London, England // 8.48 pm // Mostly sunny 18ºc / 63ºf

Video post: Doing something jazzy with peas

Colindale, London, England // 11.53 am // Mostly cloudy 18ºc / 64ºf

Video blog: Dazed

Colindale, London, England // 4.51 pm // Light rain 15ºc / 59ºf

Quick update before I head off to the radio station for tonight's show. Been feeling really quite strange for the last couple of days, yesterday particularly. The whole morning at work went by in a blurred daze. God only knows how I managed to do television. As it happens, I've had no complaints so I'm sure it was fine, not that I remember much of it! Today I've been feeling a bit strange too. I'm not sure if I'm finally losing my mind, or if I'm just a bit tired and it is a phase that'll pass.

What is really odd is that I was so completely done in by the time I went to bed last night, but I found it really hard to get to sleep. It didn't help that it was really warm in the flat, but it was still annoying.

Elle finally got back last night around 9pm and we watched a bit of TV before I went to bed.

And no surprises in the news that Gordon Strachan left Celtic yesterday. I'm not one of those people who hated him from the start - I'm actually quite sad to see him go, but as time got on it became more and more apparent that he wasn't really right for the job anymore. Not least judging but some of his strange decisions. (Riordan? Continually playing Hessilink?). No idea who will take over, although Owen Coyle and David Moyes seem to be favourites right now. Personally, I quite fancy seeing what John Collins can do. We'll see what happens in due course.

Video blog: It wasn't to be

Colindale, London, England // 6.31 pm // Mostly sunny 24ºc / 75ºf

Video blog: The day before D-Day

Colindale, London, England // 3.52 pm // Mostly sunny 20ºc / 68ºf

Soup for one

Colindale, London, England // 5.40 pm // Partly cloudy 18ºc / 64ºf

Last night was the 8th edition of Grooveline on XStream East. When I got there, it was the busiest I think I've seen it. For the first time, there was a show before me which starred one of the girls that was at the same induction as I was. Also in the computer room was Katie, who is a girl I used to work with, and the person who persuaded me to join the station. As it happens, right now she'll be on a flight back home to Australia, to where she is relocating for a job at a radio station in Sydney.

The show itself went really well, although it was the most quiet so far, as far as listener response is concerned. Still, I really enjoyed it and thought the music was excellent. And it's always a pleasure to play something from the live session Kaldera did for the show in Reading a few years back.

Elle was out last night, and didn't appear by the time I went to bed. I spent the hour or so before bed watching some more of The Good Shepherd. Anyone that knows me knows I generally don't watch films, but I do have quite a few DVDs, including some that I got from colleagues when I worked at the BBC, so I've decided to start going through them. Although I wouldn't be able to sit through a whole film from start to finish - just too much effort. But I'm quite enjoying this one, and don't have much left to watch.

Tonight I'm having a bath (I'm only mentioning it as it's something I do once a month, showers every day for the rest of the month), tomorrow I'm cooking after work, and I'm off until Monday. Elle is going to her dad's this coming weekend, so I'll be left to my own devices. Sunday is the big, massively important Celtic game. It's also the editorial weekend for Communicaton, and I've yet to make a start on it.

The dirty lowdown

Colindale, London, England // 5.18 pm // Partly cloudy 16ºc / 61ºf

Very quick post before I head off to the radio station to do tonight's Grooveline.

Glad to say the bluebottles have disappeared. Sadly, that probably means there's not very much left of the poor dead bird that remains in my loft. In a way though I hope the bird carcass with disuade any other birds to make their home above my kitchen. Personally, I think it's a bloody good warning. The message doesn't seem to have got to the family of birds above the living room, at the front of the flat though. They are still pretty happy. For now.

Had an extremely lazy weekend, which was fantastic. It didn't dawn on me until I was on my way to work at 4.30am on Monday morning that I actually didn't leave the flat once between Friday afternoon and Monday morning.

On Saturday night Elle and I invited our friends Stu and Jenn round for a Eurovision party, which involved several drinking games, which included taking drinks when someone fell to their knees, did an "airgrab", winked at the camera, or did a dodgy faux-English language rap. We also did a sweepstake for the scoring round, and took drinks any time our country got points, culminating in the downing of drinks any time our country got 12 points.

In the end, the UK did amazingly well considering our performance in the last few years. I was most impressed by the Azerbaijan entry though. The song was pretty good, they scored fantasticly and the female singer was absolutely stunning. I still need to Google her. And it's ok, Elle knows. And agrees with me.

On Sunday, Celtic virtually threw away their chance to win the Scottish League this season. Now it's all up to Rangers, they have control. This Sunday, it really can go either way.

Nothing much else to report. Some news from back home... one of the guys who I kinda grew up with - he grew up around the same street as me, and although we were far from friends, we shared some friends and did hang out together sometimes - was found dead in his prison cell at the weekend. He had been jailed for attempted murder. Although he obviously made some bad choices in life, he seemed to be a nice guy at heart. He was a dad to three children, which is the saddest part. And my thoughts are with his family and friends.

Lord of the flies

Colindale, London, England // 6.15 pm // Mostly cloudy 12ºc / 54ºf

Quite a bit of time has passed since the last written blog. Not a huge amount has happened in that time either. Actually, I think I recorded a video blog, but somehow it disappeared into the innards of Youtube.

Bank Holiday Weekend at the start of the month was no such thing for me, as always. One day I might work in a job that honours a normal working clock and bank holidays along with everyone else in the universe. Still, the weather was nice and we had visitors in the form of Elle's sister and her boyfriend. As we tend to do with guests, we did the tourist thing around London: Westminster, Trafalgar Square, South Bank, Canary Wharf, Covent Garden etc etc. On Sunday we went to one of Elle's friends in Ealing for a BBQ, although I had to leave after an hour thanks to a 4am start on "Bank Holiday Monday".

The next installment of the pub crawl took place after work on Monday, with one of my colleagues joining me for the first few stops. I managed to finish off the Bakerloo line quest, and start on the Central line.

Two of the main things on my mind in the last week or so have been insects and football.

On Saturday, my friend Stu came round to watch the ever-important Celtic v Rangers match, which was deeemd to have the power to decide who wins the league. Stu left around 3pm. It was a nice day outside, and I had assumed Elle had opened the kitchen window at some point and it flew in. But I asked her, and she hadn't. Strange, I thought. A few hours later, another appeared. Hmm. Coincidence, probably.

Three more appeared later in the evening, and I started to question if we had a problem.

Saturday night, Elle and I with our friends Stu and Jenn went to our local for karaoke. I was feeling particularly daring and only sang songs that I had never done before, including Mike & The Mechanics with Over My Shoulder.

On Sunday afternoon, the first bluebottle of the day appears - before then, I had completely forgot about the day before. And another. And another. And a few more. Then I started getting worried, as did Elle. At this point, I was managing to let them out of the window one by one.

Later, Elle and I went to the Barnet Council dump to drop off my old PC monitor (got a nice sexy flatscreen LCD one now) and to Asda to get ingredients for the dinner I was cooking later. Two hours later, we returned. I had thought about and worried about the bluebottle situation all the time we were out. I was right to do so; I stepped into the kitchen to find the horrific sight of 21 bluebottles all flying around the vicinity of the window. Thankfully, I was armed with a can of Raid! which I had just bought at Asda, and proceeded to wipe the bastards out with the stuff. I don't know exactly what this stuff does, but I do know that it *really* fucks them over. It's actually quite an amazing sight to see 21 large bluebottles all fall from the sky pretty much simultaneously a few seconds after spraying this stuff. 10 minutes later, when they had all buzzed their last buzz, I was able to count them. By the end of the day, I had spotted and got rid of 49 of the cretins.

Needless to say, I wasn't going to be able to deal with this for much longer, and got the landlord on the case. I also emailed my boss to warn her that I might need to take Tuesday off work (Monday was already a day off) to keep on top of the situation. Good job I did, as Tuesday was the only day the pest control guys could come out. But on Monday, encouragingly, only 6 of the things appeared. On Tuesday, 5, but the pest control guy found nothing. It's probably a good time to explain what I think the cause of the infestation was.

For the last few months, we've had two nests of birds in the loft space above our flat - one above the living room window, and one above the kitchen window. Around the same time as all this shite happened, I realised I hadn't heard the family of birds above the kitchen for a while. They had flown the nest for some reason. Presumably because one of the birds kicked the bucket. Dead bird = rotting corpse = maggots = bluebottles.

But as I said, nothing was found. However, the guy admitted he couldn't access the portion of loft space that I assumed the birds had been living in due to the construction of the roof. A good thing is we found out our loft actually had a complete floor, and we're contemplating what to do with this space.

Thankfully, the following three days - including today - bore no new bluebottles, so I can now assume that the problem has past, the corpse has rotted, and the bastards are gone. Until the next time.

And amongst all that excitement, the Scottish Premier League has also reached a really exciting phase. However, it started with Rangers beating us last weekend, which meant that they were now in control of the SPL, and their own destiny. We kept up the fight by managing a win on Tuesday, and amazingly Rangers screwed up on Wednesday by drawing against Hibs, putting Celtic back on top and back in control, albeit only 2 goals ahead. It's turning out to be one of the closest title races for years, but I have horrible memories of four seasons ago, and the last game of the season against Motherwell, and losing the league by one single goal!

So there are two more games to go. And the Rangers games are just as important as the Celtic games for me now. Rangers play tomorrow, Celtic on Sunday, then we both play at the same time next Sunday for the last game of the season, which will decide the title. I'm really hoping we can do it.

Video post: Ya swine

Colindale, London, England // 6.50 pm // Mostly cloudy 16ºc / 61ºf

Video post: Sheer greed

Colindale, London, England // 11.37 am // Rain 10ºc / 50ºf

Adventures in Black Sunshine

Colindale, London, England // 1.56 pm // Mostly sunny 18ºc / 64ºf

So finally it's April 24th, and time for the Incognito gig tonight. More on that shortly.

But first a short word on my latest cooking masterpiece last night. It was actually really simple to make, as I mentioned yesterday, but it was absolutely gorgeous and just the right amount portion-wise too. The chicken was perfect, especially for being frozen and baked in the oven before being shredded. Next up, lemon and brocolli chicken on Monday.

Did quite a lot of the magazine last night before going off on a tangent and reading up on the history (and lack of future) of teletext. Gripping stuff, I'm sure you'll agree. Although I do sometimes think how amazing the technology actually was, decades before the public availability of the internet. Especially when it came to things like Datafax and Televox (Google those if you're interested).

Rounded off the night by playing some Football Manager where I continue to be the manager of Norway, trying to qualify for the World Cup 2010. Although it can get quite tedious as much of the job is actually just *watching* other matches to scout for Norweigian players to pick for the team. It'll take a while to finish the campaign, and only then will I retire and finally install the 2009 version of the game!

Woke up around 10am this morning and pretty much got straight onto finishing off typing up contributions for the magazine, which I did about an hour ago.

Tonight is Incognito's first London gig in about two years, at a new venue for me (and for them) the Camden Centre, rather confusingly at Kings Cross. Been really looking forward to this gig, especially as Glasgow girl Gail Evans is back in the band, and that the performance is followed by a live DJ set from Norman Jay. Looking forward to catching up with Robin before the gig, and hopefully Claire although it's been a bit of a mission to get in touch with her in the last week or so!

And just this morning I found out about what looks to be a stunning 30th anniversary gig of Incognito at IndigO2 in August! Jocelyn Brown is rejoining the band for the night, and no doubt there will be many other surprises if the 25th anniversary gig 5 years ago is anything to go by. And then a week after that I'll be back there, this time at the main arena, for the Michael Jackson gig! I'm really glad the Incognito gig is on a Saturday night, as I won't have to worry about booking the time off, and there's only a 1 in 7 chance I'll be on-call that weekend (and even then I should be able to swap it).

And to top it all off, the weather today is again fantastic.

Video post: Coooba

Colindale, London, England // 6.46 pm // Mostly clear 16ºc / 61ºf

Salsa

Colindale, London, England // 5.47 pm // Light rain 13ºc / 55ºf

I can't help fearing we've now had our summer! The weather yesterday was beautiful - warm and sunny. In the past we have had some really warm Aprils, followed by a generally shite summer. It hasn't really happened this year, besides yesterday. Does that mean this summer will be sunny and warm?

Anyway, on Tuesday night I did the radio show. I prerecorded the emergency backup show first, which will only be played if I am unable to do a live show for that particular week, and I haven't been able to get into the studio earlier in the week to pre-recorded a specific show. As I started the show I thought about exactly what the circumstances would be if the show was ever played out. So I recorded it as if I had probably died! I made no secret of the fact that it was pre-recorded, and that something was probably wrong with me. When I asked for people to email in, I said either I would get them next week, or someone at the radio station will print them off and put them in my book of condolences. And I ended the show with an advert for a free slot on the radio station, Tuesday nights 7 till 8pm! All in all, it was pretty comical. I just wonder if it will ever get aired, and if it does I do hope it's not because I've had a run in with the front of a bus!

Yesterday after work I picked up a few bits and pieces for the dinner I was making. On the way to the shop to get those, I had to walk past a pub. The pub's beer garden was packed, at only 4pm, with people enjoying a nice cold pint in what was the first lovely, warm afternoon of the year. I just *had* to join them, so I did!

Eventually I got round to cooking crispy Italian chicken breast with polenta, green leaf salad and garlic bread. It was very much different to what I've cooked before, but was just as good. I had never used, or even heard of polenta before I made this, so I was particularly surprised to be able to pick up a block of it in Asda!

Over the last few days Elle and I have been looking at holidays. We are getting a step closer to book something. I've booked three weeks off work in late September/early October and we've set our sights on a few fortnight all-inclusive package holidays to various resorts in Cuba. We are going to go around a few travel agents on Saturday to see if we can cut those prices down. If not, we'll come home and book something online, and then go for a celebratory pub crawl from Edgware to Kilburn, down the A5!

About turn

Colindale, London, England // 9.14 am // Mostly cloudy 12ºc / 54ºf

The rest of Sunday continued on the lazy theme. It was a really good weekend though. Although I missed Elle, it was good to have nothing at all planned. However, now that the weather is getting better, I might be happier to do more stuff out and about at the weekends over the next few months. Exhaustion permitting, of course!

Yesterday, Easter Monday, was just another work day. Well I say that, but it was actually incredibly busy. After work I came home to make the place look decent for Elle getting back from a long weekend back in Walsall for Easter. The night before, I was helping her and her friends with a pub quiz via text, where she texted me what I thought was a substantial proportion of the questions. In the end, most of the questions I answered were right. However, they only got about 30% right! Which were probably most of my answers! And came last. I was sure they were certain to win, but I suppose justice was done as they *were* cheating!

Anyway, Elle came back last night with the wonder of the world that is a takeaway from KFC! Bliss.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the fact that I received an invite to the first audition of this year's X Factor. It was something that Elle and some other people had been trying to persuade me to do for years, but it just didn't interest me. All of a sudden, when people stopped trying to persuade me, I somehow thought it'd be a good idea to give it a go! So at the end of the last series, I applied online.

A couple of weeks back I got the invite to the first audition at the O2 at the start of next month. Initially I was still fairly upbeat about giving it a go. But as time went on, the more I thought about it and the more I talked to other people about it, I started to wonder what the hell was the point! Firstly, ok... I can sing fairly well, I'll admit that. Various karaoke prizes is testimony to that. But Christ, no where near good enough to get anywhere near very far, I'm pretty sure. Secondly, although I like to think I'm a fairly easy-going, likeable person (I hope!)... I'm hardly Mr Charisma! I don't think I'm outgoing enough and particularly confident enough with singing to be able to perform or impress. And finally, and probably most importantly, I don't *really* want it. It *isn't* my life. I don't have a one-legged granny who is dying of the bubonic plague, whose last wish was to see me sing on tv, and then they'll switch off her machine. And that fact would just shine through, compared to the teeming masses who would break into hysterical crying just at the sight on Simon Cowell's gleaming teeth. Plus, I already have pretty much everything I ever wanted as it is. Why do I need to add this to that; what am I trying to prove?

So if anyone else wants to go as me, I've got an invite here ready to post to you*

* Until I run out of loo roll

Recluse

Colindale, London, England // 12.27 pm // Foggy 11ºc / 52ºf

I don't really know what it was about last week, but at the end of it I was absolutely exhausted. On Thursday night I just didn't have the energy to do anything. I do have a kind of routine most days, and I just couldn't be bothered with it. Unfortunately, part of that routine is showering, so I didn't even do that. Still, it's just the one day.

I still managed to get through Friday, which was a really long day. After work I came home for a bit before heading back into town and going for a few drinks with some work colleagues in Carnaby Street. It was a really good night, and made me think I should definitely do it more often. I used to wait to be invited, but actually I'm not really sure if that's how it works. I'm thinking if I just turn up around the same time any Friday night, there will be people from work there, who've just done the same thing. It's good to chat to people outside of the work environment sometimes.

Elle left to go home to Walsall on Friday afternoon and she won't be back until tomorrow night. I've used the opportunity to do absolutely nothing at all this weekend other than chat to friends online, do a lot of DXing, and drink alcoholic beverages (in moderation, of course). I don't really have a choice - the week had left me so zapped that I couldn't think about doing anything at all strenuous. And this coming week is set to be a hectic one, with a few new things happening tomorrow to get used to. I'm trying not to get too anxious about it.

I was so tired yesterday that I failed to wake up in time to watch the Celtic game on TV at 12.30pm. Sounds like I didn't miss too much anyway, as we drew 1-1, meaning Rangers cut the gap behind us at the top to just one point when they won later that day. And on my football coupon, I ridiculously backed Hamilton to pull off a shock win at home to Dundee United. If I didn't do that, I might well be £27 richer.

Video blog: Heading on-air

Colindale, London, England // 5.05 pm // Partly cloudy 13ºc / 55ºf

Catching up

Colindale, London, England // 4.08 pm // Mostly sunny 17ºc / 63ºf

One of the best things about the shifts that I do, well actually the single best thing, is the days off midweek. Particularly when they form a long weekend, as they do once a month. Today was the last day of my latest long weekend, and I also need to wake quite early so I'll be tired enough to sleep tonight, in time for my 4am wake up.

So I was up at 7.30am this morning and I've done quite a bit of DXing/radio listening this morning, along with starting and finishing preparations for tomorrow night's radio show. I remember the days when it took me up to four hours to prepare a two hour show. Now it takes me about an hour at the most, which is just about right for a one hour show. It's also helped by the fact that I have a much larger library of music now than I did then, at around 5,000 individual tracks. So it goes without saying that no two shows will be the same!

Really glad that the first show is available to listen to on-demand now, although I was a little surprised to find that the handful of tracks I played before 7pm last Tuesday night have been kept into the on-demand stream. Ideally, it would start right at the start of my show. I'll have a word with the station manager about that tomorrow night.

Also made some lunch today, and did the dishes in preparation for tonight's meal of chicken curry soup, which is the last recipe to come from my "Cooking with the Wok" cookery book. Next it'll either be one of my two Indian curry books, my pasta and risotto book or the BBC Good Food Guide meals for 2 book. And by the way, although it's a "soup", I cook a portion that is apparently for four people. With a crusty baguette. So it's pretty much a meal.

Not a great deal else to write about really. Was glad to see CNN have changed their broadcasting hours on Freeview, now available from 7pm till 12am, with the following two hours leased out to a roulette TV channel. A bit dismayed to see the loss of three local radio stations in the last few weeks though. The last few years really have changed the UK radio landscape, with so many mergers of ownership and subsequently output, handing back of licences and stations going bust. Still, at least I've got Colourful Radio, although god knows how long it'll be before they decide it's no longer viable to be on DAB. And where are the DRM receivers I've been waiting for for years?

Shortwave is ever declining too, generally, although there are some pockets of resistance. One of those seemed to be the Voice of Russia, who recently revealed that they were to reinstate a 24 hours a day World Service in English. All good, you'd think. But at the same time, they seem to have all but abandoned AM SW broadcasting to Europe. Still, I'm more positive now than I was several years ago that there will still be lots to listen to on SW in the next decade or two.

Risin' to the top

Colindale, London, England // 1.52 pm // Mostly sunny 13ºc / 55ºf

As I type this I'm listening to a recent addition to the DAB channels here in London, Colourful Radio. It's a station I was vaguely aware of beforehand due to its presence on Sky Digital, but I hadn't really paid any attention to it. Now though, I've actually replaced Solar with this station! And I've listened to Solar Radio for well over a decade. Colourful is brilliant - much more approachable as far as the DJ's styles are concerned, the mix of music for most shows is far better, and it is more London-centric which appeals to me as, in effect, it's a local radio station with a music policy that wholly appeals to me. And being on DAB, it's much easier to just switch on and listen to compared to Solar's internet stream, which is the only way I can hear it. But it begs the question I continually ask - why the hell aren't Solar on DAB yet?! Surely it doesn't cost *that* much for a Digital One slot these days?!

So quite a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. I went back home on the 26th of March for a long weekend. The train journey was pleasant and non-eventful. I couldn't believe that 80 minutes after leaving London Euston I was speeding past my old home of Stafford! That's the West Coast Mainline upgrade in action, people!

On Thursday afternoon when I arrived I spent most of the day in the house with my mum and John, then headed to my friends Stephen and Ian's house for a few beers in the evening.

On Friday morning it was an early start as me, my mum and John headed up to Gartnavel Hospital, and their specialist cancer unit The Beatson Centre, for John's last chemotherapy treatment. After that, all the signs are good - his blood levels have come right down to normal, and the hope is that he'll get the all clear. But he still needs an MRI scan shortly to confirm that, physically, he is healed. And even then, he'll need to go up every month or so for the next 10 years to make sure there is no relapse.

On Friday night I headed out into Saltcoats for a few drinks in town. Every time I've gone out there, it's been quieter and quieter. It just seems like no-one goes out anymore! How the Metro nightclub can afford to stay open is beyond me. My forecast is that the place will shut by the end of the year.

Saturday was a fairly chilled day, punctuated by an early start to head to Ayrshire Central Hospital to pick up a prescription for John. When I got back to Saltcoats, I walked through the town for a while, popped in a few places to see people, and went for a long walk along the beach. It's no secret that this is what I miss so much about being home. It's a perfect time just to think about things and put things into perspective. I did a lot of that. I sometimes wonder how I manage to get through life without being able to talk a walk along the South Beach whenever I need to.

Saturday night was spent at my friends Stephen and Ian's house, as Stephen was holding a "dinner party". This also involved him cooking, which is something I've never known him to do in the 22 years that I've known him! Starter was tomato and basil soup, followed by a main of lasagne and garlic bread, finished off with homemade trifle. He cooked for 10 people. I brought round a packet of instant noodles, just in case. But it was great - the food was lovely and the portions were huge. So much in fact that nobody managed to even look at the trifle! The rest of the night was spent drinking lots of alcoholic beverages, singing badly on Lips (the Xbox 360's version of Singstar) and half of us disappearing halfway through the night, only to return wearing 70s gear (photos to come!).

I stayed over at Stephen's, got about 4 hours sleep, and had to get up and go out again for the traditional Sunday afternoon/evening night out with my dad and his uncles! This has undoubtedly become the highlight of going back home every time. That Sunday my Dad had just had Sky installed, so we spent a while looking at all the shite available on there. Wedding TV anyone? Horse and Country? Numerous Nollywood channels?

After that we headed to a lovely Indian restaurant in Ardrossan for dinner, before heading out to all the pubs in Saltcoats that you'd never usually go to. Everytime I do wonder why not though, because I always have a great time! It was a brilliant night, got to meet and chat to a few interesting people, and finished off going to my Uncle John's flat for a few drink before going home.

Then on Monday I came back to London, and instantly started preparing my first radio show.

Which I hosted live at Xstream East Radio in Tower Hamlets on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed the show, and it was great to be back on the air again, and to get lots of feedback during the show. Facebook has helped, as I've created a group which at the moment has 64 members. The station manager seems really pleased with the show'ds debut too. The show page is also now live at www.xstreameast.co.uk, including the option to listen again on-demand to the previous show. Eventually, this will have the last four shows.

After the show, I came back and reheated the soup I had made for us - Thai chicken soup with coconut milk which was, of course, excellent!

Really busy two days at work this week due to the G20 summit taking place in the city. Was really glad it was just a two day working week, although I did almost enjoy the week - I think we did some really great stuff.

Had the day off on Friday, which was the first day off in April. Which means a continuation of the famed pub crawl! After a stunning 11 hour sleep (much needed!) I got the bus from Colindale to Wembley, had some lunch, the jumped on the Bakerloo line for the pub crawl, starting at North Wembley, going up to Harrow & Wealdstone and ending up at the other extreme of the line, Elephant & Castle. The weather was beautiful on Friday, but there was a real lack of beer gardens. In fact, I only managed to sit outside twice - at Kilburn Park and Elephant & Castle.

After the 10 stations, and 10 half-pints I headed back home for a quick change before going back out in Kings Cross for a couple of drinks with Elle, our friend Ellie and her friend. Ellie, usually from Manchester, was in town for a birthday night out of another of our friends, Ciara, the following night.

Which was last night. After losing £2 on the Grand National, and £1 on the football coupon (2 minutes and one goal away from winning £40!) Elle and I drove round to Crayford, in Bexley, for the grayhound racing. There was a good show, about 8 of us there, and we bought the pacakge which includes two free bets, two free drinks and free food. I had some really good luck last night, winning in about 5 or 6 of the 12 races. However, overall I finished 30p down! Was a really good night though. Had a drink in a local pub afterwards, before heading back to Colindale.

And so to today, which nothing much is planned other than a trip to Asda and a lot of chilling. Cooking again tomorrow - chicken curry soup. And preparing this week's radio show.

Souper

Colindale, London, England // 2.51 pm // Mostly sunny 10ºc / 50ºf

Scheduled day off today, so I did what I usually do on day off - cook. Although I started off the day by waiting for the guy from British Gas Homecare to come round and repressurise the boiler. He was schedule to come round between 8am and 1pm, and thankfully I only had to wait for an hour. He took 10 minutes or so to do the job. Turn's out there are two ways to repressurise our boiler - the way that it says in the manual, and that for some reason I couldn't manage. And the second way, which I just found about today, is as simple as turning a tap. Job done.

After that, and a shower, I headed to Asda to get ingredients for tonight's meal, Sichuan soup. On the way I spoke to my mum and John on the phone, and had a call from my Aunt Donna in Perth who was having problems with her internet connection.

Made some lunch when I got back to the flat, then made the Sichuan soup, which was actually quite quick and simple. I had a quick taste when it was done, and I'm actually amazed. It looks and tastes fantastic! Looking forward to having that later tonight. Before then I need to go to the radio station in Tower Hamlets and do the last rehearsal for Grooveline and finalise the plans for the relaunch.

Heard today that the TV channel Trouble is closing down at the end of the month. I remember when the channel launched in 1997, I believe out of the old TCC channel. I did watch Trouble for a while not long after it launched, but haven't done so for many years. Still, sad to see a channel disappear which, to an extent, I grew up with.

Video blog: Heedache

Colindale, London, England // 7.15 pm // Mostly sunny 8ºc / 46ºf

It's a jazz day

Colindale, London, England // 4.22 pm // Mostly sunny 11ºc / 52ºf

I don't quite know how many of my blog posts have been named after a lyric of the song I'm listening to at the time, but I know it's many. And it's happened again here, thanks to Robin Blamires' special jazzy show as part of Smoke Radio's marathon broadcast last week. Robin, if you're reading this, I did intend to wake up to listen to the show. My alarm even woke me up at 4.55am, but I just couldn't pull myself out of bed. So thank you for the link!

Been a few weeks since the last blog. Something that I have been doing every week is going to the radio station in East London to do some more rehearsals for my forthcoming radio show, the resurrection of Grooveline. I've not been giving specific details about the show or station until it is concrete, but we are almost there. At the moment it looks like the show will be launching, available online, on Tuesday 31st March at 7pm till 8pm, and will be so weekly. I've been really pleased with the rehearsals so far. It's sounding more like a real radio show that it has in the past, at least production wise. Features return to the show. And I'm really enjoying the challenge of cramming it all into a neat 60-minute package. There will also be a great show webpage to support the show, featuring the facility to listen to the previous 4 weeks of shows on-demand. I'm really excited about it all, and hope to confirm the details sometime next week.

Everything has been going well at work, but it has all been going an hour earlier. Because I work for an American company, and to American time, and the fact they went into "summer time" 3 weeks earlier than the rest of the world, I've had to wake up at 3am instead of 4am. It's amazing the difference it makes. Getting the car into work in the morning usually, shops are loading up with stock, news-stands are open and milk trucks are out. It feels like early morning. But at the moment going to work, at 3am, news-stands are shut, kebab shops are full of pissheads, girls with their arses hanging out of their skirts are trying to flag down taxis with their ridiculously tiny handbags waving in the air. It feels like late at night!

It's also meant going to bed closer to 9pm, which is even more difficult. Roll on BST!

The last two weekends have been busy, and spent in the West Midlands. Two weekends ago Elle and I went to a reunion-of-sorts in what was my home for three years, Stafford. Elle and I met up with a group of old friends and spent the afternoon and evening going round our old drinking holes, and some of the new venues that have sprung up. Besides those though, not a lot has changed. But it's always nice to go out of London and be able to buy a pint for considerably less than £3!

Also that weekend I watched the Scottish Cup 6th Round match between Celtic and St Mirren. We had beat them 7-0 the previous week. But surprise surprise, St Mirren managed to dump us out of the cup. And pretty comprehensively. Still, we made up for it the following weekend by beating Rangers 2-0 in the League Cup final! I watched the game in a fairly scary Celtic Supporters Club in Wolverhampton.

Which was last weekend, and started with a night out in a pub in Hammersmith with Elle and some of her workmates. On Saturday we drove up to Walsall ready for a night out in celebration of Elle's 26th birthday which was on Monday. We went out in Birmingham on Saturday night after a few drinks at Elle's mums. The plan was to end up at the club Gatecrasher on Broad Street, but we had a few drinks elsewhere first.

Finally, we were queuing up to get into the club, and the queue was moving fairly fast. Our group got to the front of the queue, the door attendant took one look at me, shook her head and said "Nah, he's not going to get in". For a second or so I thought she was joking, but it was soon apparent that she really wasn't. We were asking her why but didn't really give us a straight answer, although something suggested it was what I was wearing (a dressy shirt, smart jeans and black shoes - all well within their dress code for the night). Meanwhile, chavs wearing pretty much tracksuits, and girls with their tits virtually hanging out were all streaming inside the club. For being part of a party of about 7 respectable people, and a night out for Elle's birthday, I was pretty upset.

The door person told us to go to someone else further down, in the hi-vis jacket, and ask *her* why we weren't getting in. So we did. To be fair, I remember looking a bit like a lost sad puppy at this point, but I just couldn't understand in the slightest what the problem was. As it seemed, either did this other women who, on being asked why I wasn't being allowed in, umm'd and ahh'd for a good while as she looked me up and down, trying to find a reason. She couldn't, but she followed that by "Well it must be the shirt. It's just the wrong type of shirt". The wrong t.... the... WHAT THE F*CK?! The wrong type of shirt?! I don't remember seeing *that* in the dress code! By this point, I felt rage bubbling up. This wasn't the first time this had happened to me in Birmingham. And the other time it happened it was for similarly baffling reasons, and *again* on Elle's birthday night out. At that point I decided that I was never going to part with any cash on anything to do with Gatecrasher again, and decided after the night had ended I was going to boycott Birmingham and never have a night out there again.

We ended up going somewhere else where there was no problem. It seems everyone had a good night anyway, but it really did spoil my night. I don't really know why I took it so personally, but I just hate being responsible for spoiling what had been planned for weeks, maybe months.

When it comes down to it, if that is going to be their criteria for the door then I don't want to be in a place like that anyway. And I hope they let in record numbers of drug dealers, people with knifes and those who intend to spike girls drinks in, just because they were wearing the right kind of shirt. The quicker they get shut down, the better. And then with hindsight they may think maybe they should have rethought their entry policy.

Video blog: Post pub crawl

Colindale, London, England // 9.47 pm // Mostly clear 5ºc / 41ºf