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.