26-11-15 - Sunday I - Cud @ Dingwalls, Camden, 6th November 2026

Is there a more indie band than Cud? And is there a more indie Venue than Dingwalls? Okay, maybe the Electric Ballroom, or the Astoria before it was knocked down... Anyway, I made my way to Dingwalls as a solo traveller to see Cud last Friday. I did catch up with an old pal on the way, but she wasn't down to watch the "mighty Cud band"  - despite her ambivalence, it was great to catch up. 

I really like Dingwalls as a venue, the fact that it is staggered over several levels makes it easy to see the bands on stage. The support band were a bit "route one", they reminded me of the Rolling Stones (not that I've seen the Rolling Stones, but they had a similar swagger). 

Cud came on stage at a reasonable time and played some brilliant tracks. Stand out for me was their new one, "Saturday", which isn't that impressive when played in the kitchen on Spotify - being honest here - but it made sense live, and I think the track I enjoyed the most, and the one that has stayed with me since last Friday, is "Oh No Won't Do" - I might have the 7" somewhere but unfortunately it's not on Spotify. Although, I did ask my "smart device" to play it from YouTube earlier and it did, so that is progress!

I missed the Cud encore, because I needed to catch the train home all the way to Worthing; so I didn't see them do "Magic" or "Van Van Van" but apparently "Push And Shove" was not on the schedule tonight - weird? There was a bit of aggressive pushing and shoving in the crowd, but that calmed down after a bit, I'm not sure what was going on but some feminine intervention calmed things down - as always.  

All told, it was a great night, I enjoyed seeing [again] one of my favourite bands, and I was amazed at their live energy. The only criticism I could possibly have is that Carl is going a bit thin on top - but that's a sign of time passing for us all.

TTFN

26-10-20 - Tuesday I - A Man On The Inside (2nd Series)

Just finished watching this last night. Loved the first series (obviously), Ted Danson is brilliant and perfectly cast in this. The addition of Mary Steenburgen was inspired, and the Thanksgiving episode was just beautiful. 

If you are reading this (unlikely) and you don't have Netflix (again, unlikely) then this series might be worth a month's subs. 

TTFN.

26-06-09 - Tuesday II - EMF @ Factory Live, Worthing, 3rd June 2026

Well, that would've been a blast from the past if I'd seen EMF first time around... What a great night. The support band, Ecce Shnak, from New York, were really good and something a bit different. I'll go and see them again if I get the chance. They sang a song about the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, and another song about a cat. 

Then EMF came onstage and they looked like they were enjoying themselves immensely. They dropped "I Believe" and "Children" fairly early on. Then they did a few of their more recent ones including "Reach for The Lasers" which contained a medley of dance floor smashes. Then they sang "Unbelievable" followed by a weird version of "I'm a Believer" (the Monkees' song) and then they were gone. A thoroughly enjoyable night. 

TTFN.

26-06-09 Tuesday I - Alice and Steve (Disney+)

Well, we smashed through that. Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement were amazing, as were all the cast, and it was so well-written. Six half-hour episodes took us through the story at pace. Not sure if there *can* be a second series, but whoever wrote it should be watched for their next opus. Some really cringey bits, and some laugh out loud moments really made it. 

26-03-12 - Thursday I - TVAM & Massive Luxury Overdose @ Hope & Ruin, Tuesday 10th March

Saw these two bands on Tuesday night. MLO were better live than they were on Spotify, and it seems they've grown up on a diet of Depeche Mode and New Order basslines. Their songs were quite danceable as a result. 

TVAM didn't do it for me but the gig was sold out and the mood was very atmospheric, so he must be doing something right. His haircut was reminiscent of the guy out of Flock of Seagulls - now there's a niche reference!

TTFN.

26-02-09 - Monday I - Ironheart (Marvel 2025)

I've been struck down by the lurgy yet again (first time this year, I believe) and so it's given me some time to catch up on TV. This afternoon I smashed through Ironheart and actually quite enjoyed it, despite the negative reviews I've heard about it. Only six episodes, and each episode was approx. 50 mins; I found it nice easy watching. I think I've got some of the early Ironheart comics somewhere, they're probably bent up but if I do find them, I might give them a read to see how closely the film follows the comic story. There was a bit of magic in there, which I wasn't that keen on, which you might think is weird, given that it's a film about superheroes, but there is an internal logic to these films and that came very close to breaking that logic; I think they got away with it by invoking Dr Strange, but only just... I did look to see if they had a second series planned, but it looks like the reviews have kiboshed that. Shame really, because it could have been interesting. 

TTFN. 

26-01-03 - Saturday I - Stranger Things

How could I have forgotten? New Years Day was mostly spent watching the end of Stranger Things. I really enjoyed the whole thing and can't believe we've given over six (?) years of our lives to this show. Towards the end it increasingly felt like a D&D game, which is natural, but it was so well done. The first few episodes of this final series felt really claustrophobic and tense. 

Because of the time we've invested in the show the ending felt right, but I would have been okay with a shorter final episode; I guess some indulgence in wrapping everything up was allowed. All in all, a really enjoyable TV show and recommended from me (as if that carries any weight with anyone).

TTFN.

26-01-02 - Friday I - Darts

My sister came a-visiting yesterday, she has been to see Mum in the care home and since she's up in London she took the opportunity to pop in. Very kindly she brought Mum's Irish documents so that we can apply for Irish citizenship. The girls fancy living and working in Europe over then next few years and Irish citizenship will make that easier, what with Brexit and all. 

Apart from that, New Year's Day was very quiet. I watched a bit of the darts and had a drink or two in the evening because I'm a monster but then was in bed by about 22:30. Rock on! 

TTFN

26-01-01 - Thursday I - Happy New Year

It's the start of a new year, so that means it's time to resuscitate this excuse of a blog. New Year's Eve was fun with a couple of cocktails at home with TW and TL, then to bed at about 00:30 and swiftly to sleep. And that's the level in winning for in 2026... Happy New Year!

TTFN.

25-08-21 - Thursday I - A New Pad

Well, so you poor bastards are in for a treat. I've swapped my iPad for an Android tablet (Xiaomi Pad 7, if you must know) so that I can type more regularly and not have to learn those weird Apple shortcuts (I'm not sure they exist, tbh). That should mean that I start posting more regularly, but we all know that good intentions didn't necessarily end up in good outcomes. Although I'm not sure that more posting can be classed as a "good outcome". Anyway... 

I went to see YHWH Nailgun tonight. The support band were good. 

TTFN.

25-07-23 - Wednesday I - Oh Well

That didn’t work then… On Monday night I went to see Wet Let, a last-minute resold ticket at Chalk in Brighton. The ticket was for the early show, so I got there just after 5pm. I’ve not seen a queue like that before at Chalk; the line of people went all the way down to the seafront and around the casino. I was in just after 5:30pm, I guess, and it was already (over)crowded inside. 

I managed to get somewhere in the middle at the back, I was trying to get over to the right hand side but there was just no room. We stood there, packed in like sardines for 20 or 25 minutes and then the band came on at 6pm. They didn’t have much banter in between the songs, and since this was the album launch,  I didn’t know the songs either. To be fair, they did say that it was nice to be in Brighton, and they did thank us for making the album number 1 in the charts, but apart from that there wasn’t much. They did play “Chaise Longue” and a couple of other tracks which I half recognised. Then it was 6:45 and they left. Was that it? To be fair, they were playing a second show the same night, but the tickets weren’t noticeably cheaper for the early show, and I was left expecting something more. Still, I was home by 8pm, so I guess it’s swings and roundabouts… 

TTFN. 

25-07-20 - Sunday I - 100 Words pt I

So this is a challenge, to write 100 words per day about stuff. So far today I’ve been to see Mum in her care home and I’ve put some petrol in the car. Then I walked into town and dropped off some broken glasses at Specsavers. They want to charge me £17 for a new arm, which I am not sure is worth it, but then it’s always good to have a pair of specs as back-up - not really sure what to do. I do have until 10am tomorrow to decide whether to go ahead or not, so I guess we’ll see by then. 

It’s been a lovely sunny day in Worthing, I really enjoyed having a solitary beer at Level 1 earlier. I was able to make use of my Stubble & Co shoulder bag too, although I think that was a bad purchase - I was expecting a bigger bag. Well, I wasn’t “expecting” a bigger bag, I guess I just didn’t look at the dimensions before I bought it. I would have liked a shoulder bag I could have fitted my iPad, I guess. Still, that’s my fault for not really researching the bag before I bought it.

25-03-20 - Thursday I - Big Boys

Wow. Just finished watching Big Boys on Channel 4. What a lovely heart-warming comedy that was. Absolutely brilliant from start to finish. I am surprised I didn’t hear more about it; it was only as a throw-away comment on a podcast about the third series being shown that brought it to my attention - I guess that’s the nature of today’s fractured media landscape. Maybe it wasn’t aimed at 53-year old men, but I thought it was great. Go watch it - here.

24-12-30 - Monday I - Christmas in 326 Miles

On Christmas Eve we drove to the MiL's house up in Oxon, in a little village called Long Hanborough. We had a nice afternoon getting ready for actual Christmas in a different house and then cracked into Christmas there. Christmas was a quiet low-key affair, as we were celebrating with TW's Mum who is 80 and her partner who is 89. 

I got some nice presents including a lovely warm dressing gown and I think TW appreciated her gifts. 

On Boxing Day we drove to Bristol and celebrated with TW's family including the MiL & partner and TW's brother and sister and spouses and nephews. It was a lovely day, more celebrational than actual Christmas Day and unfortunately I overdid it slightly. 

On the 27th we girded our loins and drove back to Worthing on a very slow M4 - it took us five hours to get home but once we'd got off the M4 onto the A34 the traffic was more free-flowing. When we got home we watched three episodes from the first series of Gavin and Stacey as a family, which I really enjoyed.

The other thing of note worth mentioning was how still and how foggy it was for three days or so. Driving to Bristol we couldn't see the countryside and I was disappointed about that, and it was really quite mild - no need for heavy jackets at all. It was difficult to get a fire going in Long Hanborough because it was so still. 

It was a lovely four days though, and a great way to spend Christmas. 

TTFN.

24-12-18 - Wednesday I - A Birthday Trip to The White Horse, Chilgrove

Sunday 1st December, the day of my 53rd birthday, TW & I went to The White Horse in Chilgrove. We stopped in Chichester on the way and TW shopped for a few Christmas gifts at John Lewis and Home Sense, then drove on to Chilgrove.

We checked in and lay on the large double bed watching an FA cup game, which was a nice distraction. It was just the two of us, in the afternoon, with nothing to do except enjoy each others' company and pass the time until dinner.

Speaking of which, the food was lovely. I had rainbow trout with some horseradish loveliness to start, which was a departure for me. TW was planning to have steak for her main but because it was Sunday and they were doing roasts, steak wasn't on offer. So we had burgers and fries, which were delicious but not the experience we had planned. We had cocktails as well, which were delicious and refreshing,  and then shared a bottle of wine that could have been a bit colder. TW of course had a pudding which was delicious but would have been too much for me - I've always preferred "starter and main" rather than "starter, main & pud". The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, it was very relaxed, and I enjoyed the evening. We were tired from the previous evening so it was early to bed for us. 

Next morning my cold really started to develop, so we had breakfast which was again delicious - I chose eggs Benedict instead of a full English, another departure - and then we came home where I retired to bed for a couple of days. 

It's funny, I seem to remember not being floored by colds twenty years ago, but these days it really helps just to get into bed and watch some mindless Christmas films where concentration is only minimally required. And lots of lemsip and tissues, of course. 

So that was Birthday #53, let's see if #54 can top it!

TTFN.