Noel.

Yes, it's Christmas.

Very Merry.
Alcohol.
Food.
Family.
Friends.
My girl.

When you think about it, it's not that bad.

Up/Down, But Mostly Up.

Despite having left things in Greece, having a Grandparent in a serious state in hospital, having my sister being involved in a car accident and having my bag stolen and thus being without my mobile, wallet, keys, glasses, iPod and headphones, I have this surprising and almost overwhelming feeling of positivity and happiness.

I can only put this down to one thing.
Or rather one person.

Live through this,
and you won't look back..

Suffolk Off.

Complexities abundant, simplicity and ease remain absent.
Escapism appears at a price, with these arrows drawn upon maps as the crow flies.
I sometimes flex my puny poetic muscles.


Today, I'm feeling damn detrimental toward detail.

I took a drive to Wigston, and slept in my old bed.
I sat in the back of my Dads car, with Oceansize in my ears, and Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" before my eyes.
I arrived in Stowpland, and looked around my sisters new house.
I had lunch in a pink pub, called The Crown.
I had a pint of Aspalls. Suffolk Cyder, apparently.
I looked at wedding photos.
I looked at wedding photos.
I looked at wedding photos.
I fed the guinea pigs.
I did a little more reading.

I wrote this blog.

I will watch a film, probably High Fidelity.
I will probably fall asleep before it's finished.
I will sleep.
I will sleep.
I will sleep.
I will awake.
I will sink some toast and coffee.
I will travel home, once again with Richard Dawkins, perhaps accompanied by Sigur Ros this time.

But when the crow flies free, and these arrows find wayward direction,
our maps become pictures, and we're escaping in circles.

Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder.

Like a west-coast sunset, your eyes slowly close,
In the dark your mind turns, but your body stays in one pose.
As the sea crawls in, creeping round my ankles,
The surrounding beauty just reminds me of you.

Drive Well, Sleep Carefully.

So I find myself falling hopelessly behind on my life's travels. I could document each event and emotion. I could ponder over everything that happens, but I think I'd rather apply the thought and the time to select things, the things that I find important and feel inspired to write about.

This seems like quite a grand introduction to a post that will probably disappoint, but I guess that's how things go. I received some pretty horrible news a couple of days back, regarding the health of my grandmother. Due to a series of small and one large stroke, she is now paralyzed on one side, and has no memory whatsoever, long term or short. What I hate is that I've already learned to cope with my other grandmother (my mothers side) not knowing who I am, due to Dementia, and although I know I will, I really don't want to have to do it again.

Those two parts of my life have now pretty much been erased, they are not the grandparents I knew and although my love and support for them is still there, I find it so hard to visit them. I can do nothing but continue as I would and love them, despite these new found difficulties. I just find it hard to imagine how she must feel.

This post has a rather low tone, and I'm sure my take on the whole situation will adjust with time.

Mayebeshewestlondon.

Despite my heavy eyes and aching head I wanted to write this entry about the weekend that just passed. I spent the majority of it in the capital with my good friends Maybeshewill. They were unlucky enough to lose their bassist the previous weekend, and asked me to cover for this gig in Brixton. I swiftly accepted, dusted off my Jazz Bass and got busy in drop C#. (It just took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to do a hash on a Mac keyboard..)

A week, three rehearsals, and a new jack lead later I was just about ready for it. The journey down to the capital was cool, good tunes, relative comfort in the back of the Maybeshewill van. Although, we spent more time on the road going through the west side of London than we did getting to London itself..

After passing Marble Arch, Buckingham Palace Gardens, Park Lane, the Thames, and MI5 we eventually got to Brixton, and the venue. It was quite a pleasant place, lots of nice people about and a free BBQ, which we immediately swarmed upon. The event was an all-dayer ran by the excellent Cats and Cats and Cats. I managed to catch most of the bands playing of which Shield Your Eyes, Jairus, and Catsx3 stood out the most. We met some nice people, a dog that lived on the roof, and got asked where Jesus was born, before it was our turn to play.

Considering it was 11:30 after an all day event there was a pleasing turnout for our set, which went relatively hiccup free. I broke my belt, and inevitably messed up a couple of times, but really enjoyed it. I think there were a couple of videos taken, which would be interesting to see. It was quite different playing bass on stage, after playing drums with my band for nigh-on two years, but it was nice to swing about a bit (a lot) and have a little expression.

After our set, we packed everything up, got in the van and cracked open some cans. After a couple of hours, a whole heap of TUNES and an amount of beer/cider, we were back in Leicester, and promptly went into Firebug for more drink, with Nathan and Cem (Buenos Aires), Gav (Minnaars) and a few other characters. Times.

White Noise Stunner

I've spent the last few days recovering from the weekend, which was occupied mainly by the White Noise Summer festival at Firebug. Buenos Aires opened the friday night, so being the first band of the festival and getting our set out of the way meant that mass drinking could ensue. Below is a photo from our set. The turn out was pretty amazing, nigh on 150 people in a 100 capacity venue? Can't be bad, not for the bands anyway. The band after us, called And So I Watch You From Afar quite simply killed it. Probably one of the best live bands I've ever seen. We've had the pleasure of playing with them twice now and they never disappoint. The weekend continued as it began, with great weather, great people and great live music.



My tiresome search for a job has finally provided a fragment of success - I have a trial shift behind the bar at Firebug on Thursday night. I do hope I get the job, as that place seems to be my second home anyway and I'm bored of job hunting now. I have bar experience, and I know half the staff anyway, lets just hope I don't fuck up somehow..

This weekend is the PVS (Performance Vauxhall Show) at Santa Pod Raceway, Northampton. Once again my car will be on the mk3 Astra owners stand, and I'll probably spend most of my day watching the action on the strip. I always look forward to shows like this as it gives me a chance to get away somewhere and see some amazing cars. The VBOA Rally at Billing Aquadrome is next month, which is also a great weekend.

This evening I'm going to tidy my flat, and maybe finish a song I started writing a couple of days ago. Ttfn.