A week of live music

I didn't really plan it in fact the week before I only thought I was going to see the Ting Tings with some mates in Leeds. But I managed a whole week of live music.

It all started the Friday before when my friend John MSM'd me to remind me that I had said yes to going and seeing the Killers at the 02 on Monday. This was a surprise as I guess I had agreed to it a couple of weeks ago in a pub somewhere while quite drunk!

So Monday is away off to the O2, London, what used to be the Millennium Dome. We had tickets in the god and 'F**k me we're a long way up!' about said it all when we got there as it was very much like watching the Killers from Orbit. we must have been 80 foot off the ground in a really steep sitting section with the stage about 100 metres away. These sizes are all pretty amazing if as well you know its all indoors. The gig was quite good although the distance was so much that there was a difference in the time the light and the sound took to get to you.

The rest of the week was quite quiet until Friday. The normal plan is for me to go up to Leeds on the Friday night train, fighting my way across the rush hour madness. However this time for some reason I booked the tickets for Saturday morning. The Ting Tings gig was on Sunday night so there was no rush. Anyway this was handy because we had a major musical event just around the corner from the office on the Friday evening which I happened to walk into.

U2 decide to play a gig on the roof of the BBC building a couple of streets away. I was a little late a work when an email went around (OK I was playing Quakelive.com with Angel) saying that U2 would be playing at 6pm. I finished playing around quarter past and noticed the email and so went to have a look to see what I could see. There was a huge crowd doing nothing outside the building, so I hung around too to see what would happen. at about half past the Police stopped the traffic (this is Regent Street in London, during rush hour and so it was busy) and the crowd rush forwards. Then when things settle down U2 came out on to the roof of the build to the roar of the crowd. They played for about 20 minutes and did four tracks ending with a great version of 'Beautiful Day'. By the time they did the last song you could hear the horns from the car of the now irate drivers stuck in the jam, but the crowd left happy.

I rounded the week off in Leeds at the Academy with a storming set by the Ting Tings singing along at the top of my voice and bouncing around like a nutter. My voice wasn't to great the next day but I loved it.

So the full line up for the week was

Louis XIV (a bit rubbish)
The Killers (OK a bit far away not sure it was worth the 40 quid)
U2 (great crazy stuff, tick them off my list of bands to see)
VV Brown (good didn't know anything about her but we could swing along to it)
LadyHawke (got a bit confused that this might be the Ting Tings doing some new stuff but it was very good)
The Ting Tings (YEAH! That's not my name!!!! la la la la!)

Sans beard

Yeap Saturday night I shaved the whole thing off and I look about 20 years younger!

I measured it just before the end and the longest bit was just about 2 inches.

it's an odd sensation to feel the wind on my chin again.

The generally the verdict so far, mostly people at work, is that I look much better.

In fact it was funny as a couple of people didn't notice straight off when they where talking to me. They would sort of go boss eyed and then step back as if trying to get my face in focus before they realised the goatee had gone.

Sorry we shut Wales

The plan was, as is a bit of a tradition with me and a couple of friends, to go winter walking in the mountains. We try and do this around February/March time each year when the conditions are hopefully cold, clear and frosty.

So we had planned for a long time that at the weekend we would travel up to the Brecon Beacons in Wales, however the weather had other ideas. The heaviest snowfall for years put a bit of a stop to that. In fact when they started closing the bridges into Wales we knew it wasn't going to happen.

So plan B, we had the train tickets (fortunately we got a refund on the cottage) so we went down to Bristol and went walking in the Mendips instead. it was good if hard work with wading thru snow drifts. We took in Beacon Batch the highest point at a modest 325 metres above sea level (not quite the Brecons!) and the Rock of Ages, made famous in the hymn of the same name.

The knees didn't half ache the day after.

Snow and the Tupperware flat

Lovely new windows and not a moment too soon.

I got back to the flat on Sunday night after being back to the Folks for Dougie's first birthday party and general kiddie chaos, and found the builders had done a great job. The windows are very nice and will keep the flat cosy and warm. Not like the old drafty ones which suffered from too much repainting. They are clean and plastic so it's a bit like living in high class Tupperware.

It's fortunate really as winter has now hit London with some force and 15cm of snow have caused the whole place to grind to a halt. I made it into work after a bit of walking and a lot of Tube changes but hardly anyone else has and the place is a bit dead.

Handy then that I've got all my winter walking gear out of storage for my trip to the Brecon Beacons at the weekend.