Franz Ferdinand at the Kentish Town Forum Aug 23rd 2006

We went to see Franz Ferdinand at the Kentish Town Forum last night. They're a band that has gone from being a little in-joke between me and Steve to one of my absolute favourites at the moment, mostly because they're just very, very good at what they do.

Steve had got tickets for this gig as a spur of the moment thing, as he was in the right place at the right time. It was a small, intimate gig to warm up fro their appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals over the weekend, and if last night's performances were anything to go by, then the audiences at the festivals have a real treat in store for them!

It was a bit different to most of the gigs I've been to in the past, as everyone was up and bopping from the moment they played Do You Want To? (my favourite of their songs) and I'm not used to that! We bopped around a lot with everyone and there was a really infectious happy atmosphere in the forum as they played.

The band themselves are absolutely at the top of their game, and it looks like they're loving every minute of it too. Good for them! Alex Kapranos (the lead singer) is amazing. He just oozes charisma (and is quite sexy with it, even though he looked a bit unkempt last night), and he made the whole crowd smile with one raised eyebrow or some seemingly ridiculous expression. I can't really describe it very well, but it worked for me. He even caught my eye at one point, which made me smile a lot!

A great gig overall, and my instant reaction at the end, was Wow!, which I think sums it up quite nicely.

Time

It's a funny feeling to be so close to finishing the course. It's occupied so much of my time over the last two years that although I'm really looking forward to having my free time back, I think I'm going to need a couple of projects to fill my time again. I don't want to end up being bored, after all!

There's a couple of things that I want to do. Firstly, I think it's time to take the plunge and learn to drive (or finish learning to drive, as I have had some lessons in the past). With the possibility of getting a new job looming, I think this would be a good thing to do. It's something I really should have done by now, but there's time now to concentrate on it and get it done I hope.

I'm going to be writing two episodes of the new Planet Skaro Doctor Who Audio Adventure (PSDWAA?) The Soap of Fatal Death shortly, which I'm really looking forward to. It's a better, stronger story in many ways and now that we know who we're writing for cast-wise we can tailor it to their strengths and avoid some of the weaker moments we've had before. I can't wait to get started on it and have the excitement of being involved in something so worthwhile again. I thoroughly enjoyed the last one (and the fact that we've listened to it a few times shows that!) and I'm glad I can be involved in a little more of a hands on way with this one.

I'm also going to be doing a new column for The Vervoid as well. Some may remember I had my own column there for a while, and I'm not sure about resurrecting that (although it's a possibility), what I will be doing is the long overdue Blakes 7 guide. I think I trod on Si's toes a little about that, but that's the one thing I've wanted to do for ages, and I hope I can do it well (I do know the show very well indeed). I've got some ideas, and Steve has suggested some good ideas too, so I think it will be a success. I also want to do some more I Love Doctor Who columns too, just because I like the nostalgia!

Hopefully, with the big Planet Skaro move coming in the next couple of months too, there will lots to keep me occupied.

Current Music: Elliott Smith: Tiny Time Machine
Current Book: Mark Chadbourn: Jack of Ravens
Current Words of Competition Review: 183

Go

Rather unfairly I've always been a bit dismissive of the Lemon Jelly album 63-95, because it's not another Lost Horizons. Still, this evening, with a couple of good bottles of bitter, I've had the chance to sit down and enjoy the DVD of the album, which a good friend bough me for my birthday, and I have to admit it was a really good present.
The animation for the songs was superb and compelling. Simple ideas, but rather hypnotic. It's a shame my old DVD player can't handle the DVD very well, but then again, it has meant I've waited to watch it on a dark and stormy night, on my own, in the dark and listen to a rather superior mix of the album rather loudly! It turns out it's a pretty decent album after all you know. Not as good as Lost Horizons, but judged on what it is, rather than what it isn't, it's pretty damn good!

Saturday night and I've got tea. My goodness the beer was good. It's not often I drink at home, but tonight it seemed like a good thing to do. There's so much alcohol in this house, leftovers from various parties this year that there was plenty to chose from.
It's well known that I like a good pint of real ale when I have the chance and there were a couple of decent bottles in the cupboard, so I've taken the opportunity to partake of them! Good for me! Oh Good for me!

Current Music: Mandingo: Black Rite
Current Mood: Bliss
Current Doctor Who: The Underwater Menace

Muz and Nicola's Wedding

Bradford is a grim place. We arrived on Friday afternoon, early August and grey clouds hung in the sky giving the city a gloomy feel, not unlike the cold grey January day in 1994 when I last visited. Ah well, at least it gave Steve the chance to prove his theory that it's grim oop North!

The hotel was rather nice. I think Steve felt a bit self conscious as we checked in, as the receptionist with the two tone hair (Black and purple!) asked if we really wanted a double room as he mumbled an answer about it being cheaper that way or something. Despite that uneasy start we did have a good couple of days there and some very tasty and large breakfasts!

We recovered from the drive up and went to meet up with Phil and Emma and Raz. It was really good to see Steve and Phil getting on well again. I suppose it's much the same as me and Adam, cousins who share a place together that just end up not talking. Mind you, we both thought that Emma has had a really positive effect on him, and they're a really lovely couple. I've enjoyed getting to know them both a bit better over the weekend.

Friday evening we met up with Muz , Brian (his best man) and some of Nicola's family for a curry at Aktahs on the Leeds Road. A good curry was had by all. Two family Naans were enjoyed by all... They were quite amazing, so large they came on a hook and hung up for all to share! Muz wasn't looking too nervous, despite not having written his speech!

We chatted a bit with him about the situation with his family. None of his family came to the wedding. Muz comes from a Muslim family and he ought to be part of an arranged marriage, but he's courageously stood up to his family and said he wasn't going to do that. It's made things really tough for him as his family want nothing to do with Nicola, and of course it meant they wouldn't be at the wedding, so it was doubly we were there as his friends to support him. I can't imagine how difficult that must be for him, but it does show just how much he loves Nicola and how love can conquer everything.

Saturday was the day of the wedding, and after the large breakfast we took ourselves off to get ready. We arrived looking smart (not often I do that!) and ready at about 11, ready for the rest of the day. We had a drink in reception, chatted a little with Muz before he went off to "meet and greet" and we panicked that someone else might have bought the same present from the list as ours, as we suddenly remembered we hadn't crossed ours off the list at Argos (I blame it on being forced into that wretched shop in the first place...).

We went down for the ceremony in the downstairs reception room, and we all managed to sit on the wrong side, not that it really mattered. It was a lovely ceremony, and I know Steve was welling up a bit inside. I suppose this is the first wedding of one of his school friends, and of course with all the hurdles in the way before they got to this stage, well it was quite emotional.
Awww!

Afterwards, there was the usual round of photos (we got some pretty good ones) before the reception started. It was all ok, and we only had to go in a couple of them, although, somewhat ironically, since it was a rather grey day, the sun came out when we were photographed, and I was squinting as it right in my eyes! Ah well!

The reception was good, great food, some good conversation with some of the people on the table, though we were rather isolated at the far end of the table opposite some people who knew each other very well and who didn't mix as well as they might have done (but doesn't that always happen at weddings?) and the speeches of course were highly entertaining. Despite winging it, Muz's speech was lovely and really touching. He got a loud round of applause for it, and rightly so. His best am didn't humiliate him too much either, though Steve and Phil had had fun earlier telling some him some stories from their school days...

There was a bit of a lull for a couple of hours before the evening do. We had a quiz to do, which helped to keep things going, but everyone seemed kind of subdued at this point, not sure what to do with themselves. We drank a bit, but we probably should have gone back to the room for a snooze really, but never mind.

The evening do was good fun. Despite the DJs best attempts, we got some good music played eventually and had a good dance! Muz and Nic had My Best Friend by Queen for their first dance (and a good choice it was too), but the DJ's copy (like a few other CDs he put on during the night) was scratched which was a real shame.
It was interesting to see what songs filled the dancefloor. By far the most popular were the mid 90s Britpop/ Indie anthems... We sang along, danced badly and had a great time! Who'd have thought Cast, an unloved band at the time would be such a big floorfiller? Brimful of Asha, you can understand, but Alright by Cast?! The only real problem was that it was really warm in the room, and so everyone ended up hot and sweaty!
We stayed up until the end of the night, after sitting down through some of the dreary R&B songs around midnight, and because Muz wanted us too (there's only 51 minutes to go guys, come on!) and we ended the end bopping to Motown songs, and laughing at the appalling dancing! Fantastic! We got to bed at 1.30 after showering... But it was well worth it!

We were amazingly ok in the morning,mostly because there was so much food and it was so warm that instead of drinking alcohol, we'd switched to the soft drinks (mostly tap water!) through most of the evening! We got up for breakfast and were just about the first ones there, but it did us a chance to speak to Nicola's Mum and Dad for a bit before the others arrived. It was great to chat with Muz and Nic for a while too.

We left around 10am, for the long trip home and overall it was a fantastic weekend and I'm so glad I was invited to be a part of it. We enjoyed the CD from Muz and Nic as Steve drove us home and just before we arrived we got the message at the end they'd recorded specially for us... We grinned. It was a great end to a great weekend!

Going Back

It's been a long weekend, but a great one. I'm going to cover the wedding in a separate blog, because I don't think it fits with the first part of our trip up north...

The plan was to go up earlyish on Friday morning so that we'd have time to spend a couple of hours in Sheffield on the way up to the hotel in Bradford. It's been a long time since I'd been back ( I last popped in for a couple of hours in 2001, but only got as far as the city centre then) and I felt it was time to see some of the places I used to visit. It wasn't that I was feeling particuarly nostalgic, i just felt that it would be nice to go back and show Steve those places that were important to me, and it gave me an excuse to tell some old stories and just see how things had changed.

It was odd really. In some ways things had changed immensely... there's been massive regeneration across the city and yet it still feels the same. The skyline looking out to Park Hill flats hasn't altered a great deal, which was quite reassuring... it's just there are a few more shiny new buildings in the way!

Broomhill was our major target though. This was where the bulk of my first two years were spent and its one of the prettiest areas of the city, with it's big stone houses, old tree lined streets and it's little shopping centre... it's still my favourite area of the city.
We parked round the corner from my old hall, Stephenson and wandered up the hill (of course) to the shops. Had lunch and went to Galaxy Four for a few presents for a couple of up coming birthdays and then had a wander around.

We couldn't get into the hall to have a look as there's lots of building work going on, but we did have a wander up another hill to go and see the flat at Endcliffe Terrace, where I lived in the second year. This was my biggest reminder of how things move on. It's been ten years since I was last there and although the flats themselves hadn't changed much, the view across the field was really a potent reminder that nothing lasts...
Sorby and Earnshaw, the two halls opposite were being demolished as we stood there. It felt really strange to see them going, especially as I'd spent the best part of year staring out of the window instead of writing essays! I remembered happily running around the halls during the massive snowball fight that took place between then two halls one freezing night in my first year. Earnshaw won that night and I dared not say I wasn't at either of the two halls, just in case they turned on me!
I suppose that the visit did make me feel less nostalgic for that time, if nothing else. As I've been told before, you can't go back and driving up to Walkely, which has become a bit rougher than it used to be, well, I was quite sated on seeing the past and was happy to go with a smile and leave it all behind.

We drove out of Sheffield with me telling stories of those days with a big smile on my face. The past remains where it should be, but its always nice to revisit!

Soap

I think Steve was rather surprised when I came home last night and asked to watch Neighbours. I'm not sure why, as I've never really made any secret of the fact that I love the show.

There's a school of thought that says Neighbours is the ultimate disposable soap, that you watch as a teenager and then you give it up... The constant influx of new younger characters every so often for the new viewers tends to reinforce this view, and yet I still love it. In these days when I've given up watched every other soap I think I'm still allowed to watch this one.
I'm not sure if it's in a good period or not at the moment. It's difficult to judge. I rather like the Timmins family, I'm enjoying all the Robinson family intrigue with Robert/ Cam, and Boyd is of course, rather lovely on the eye too. There are, however, too many characters who don't contribute a great deal and it's good to hear that some of them are on the way out... Though sadly not Ned, who inexplicably is staying. I don't know why, he doesn't add much.
So anyway, I'm a Neighbours watcher and I don't care what anyone thinks of that!!

I'm in a wistful, melancholy mood tonight. I was thinking of Grandad tonight and it brought a few tears with some happy memories. It still, even now, 18 months later seems very strange that he's no longer with us. I do miss him sometimes, just the little things and his very reassuring presence in all our lives.
But life moves on around us, Luke and Annabel are proof of that. Luke made me laugh today as he stole my chips at lunchtime and pretended it wasn't him that had done it, and he made me smile as he asked about the old Cybermen with torches in their heads! He's such a fan!
Annabel is just gorgeous and the way she giggles at me always makes me smile. We're lucky to have them both, very lucky.

History Repeating (only differently!)

The PS meet on Saturday was a great. It's been noted elsewhere that it wasn't quite the big event that the November meets are, but I think this worked in it's favour. I liked the intimacy of this meet, and the fact that it wasn't a huge event and that no-one got too pissed seemed to work really well. I even managed to talk to almost everybody, which is impossible at the huge meets! It was great to have the pub virtually to ourselves and I'm glad we didn't move on. I don't think we'd have found anywhere that was any more suitable and we might have had to spend our time in a noisier and more crowded bar for the sake of a few pence off the price of a pint!
I hadn't missed getting the last train home though... It's been such a long time since I've had to do that and it's not a lot of fun, when you just want to be home and have a cuppa! Ah well, it was well worth it though.
It was great to hear that a few people are really excited about the next audio adventure and want to be involved. It was good that people thought so highly of Protii, and kind of reassuring really, as the next story is so much better. I think we can do something really good with Soap and I'm really looking forward to starting work on the script once the small matter of the dissertation is sorted!

I do worry about one of my friends though. It's an odd situation really, as I can see him making the same mistakes I made several years ago. I'd like to offer him advice, but I don't think he'd listen to me... He hasn't so far after all (I suspect this is because he doesn't want to hear what I'll say about it all, but people have to make their own mistakes) All I hope is that he comes out of ok at the end. I think he will, as he's got some good friends looking out for him.

I don't regret anything I did back then, well aside from the few people I really hurt with my selfishness and thoughtlessness, because that's what's shaped me. You have to make a few mistakes along the way I think to come out the other side a better person. Some good things did come out of that time, but there wasn't much that I did to be proud of. Yet it was because of that time in my life that I inspired someone to come out, that I formed a very close friendship with Mark and ultimately I've got a really lovely life right now.
I think it was worth it, and you know, despite it all, I have some very happy memories from nights where I misbehaved!

Current Music: Lorraine Bowen: Manhole
Current Doctor Who: The Moonbase
Current Novel: David Mitchell: Number 9 Dream

Re-writes!

Jackie was brilliant! In one ten minute phone call she put me back on track and gave me the little push I needed to make the results a little more sophisticated. Themematic not systematic is the way forward and I can do that. In fact it's really going to be mostly a cut and paste job from the work I've already done, with extra analysis added. So, with my week off coming up I can sit and get my head down and get on with it.

I had a lovely night out with a few people from work last night. We had a meal ( I had a large pie, which was very tasty indeed) and a lot of laughs. I know I see them all the time, but I work in a great team, full of some of the nicest, kindest and funniest people I know and it makes all the shit at work worthwhile, because they've never managed to knock the team spirit out of us, no matter what they try. I think Steve appreaciated a night in on his own too... he seldom gets them.

Oh and a certain admin of Planet Skaro is getting right on my tits at the moment. It doesn't matter what he does, whether it's call all the people attending the meet on Saturday by their first names in the scrolling text except me and Steve or complaining at this very late stage about the pub we've all chosen to go to... whatever he does makes me cross. I don't think it's just me, but he's really got up my nise since he was brought back to the team and I feel that he's trying to take over everything. Ah well, I'll have to live with it for now. It's shame cos he's a lovely guy in real life, just online he's thoroughly annoying!

Guidance

Ideally I'd know exactly what I was doing and just get on with it, but it turns out I'm not sure I do. Writing up my results has gone ok, I've written 4000 words or so on them, going into details of what was said and that kind of thing, the thing I'm not sure that my linear approach is right. It just feels, well, a bit dull. I think what I know what I need to do to make things right, but I'll wait and see tomorrow morning when Jackie phones and I can throw a couple of ideas around with her, see what she thinks. I want to make this a great piece of work (though I'll setlle for a good piece of work if I have to) and so for the first time I need some guidance.

I wotked at Harmans Water library last night. It's always odd working there because that's the branch I used as a kid. It's funny really, I wasn't a confident child really, I was rather shy, but I never was in the library.
The woman who ran the library, Muriel (now there's a good librarian name!) was rather austere, with half moon specs and greying hair, a typical librarian really, although she was also incredibly glam too, but she was always very nice to me. I used to ask her to order me Doctor Who books from across the county and she was always very paitent and helpful and always got me what I wanted! I've never forgotten that and I hope that in some of the kids I help now will remember me as fondly.
It's a small library is Harmans Water, but it's got a lovely atmosphere. They used to have more than a few hardback Doctor Who books and I must have borrowed them all more than a few times... The Curse of Peladon, The Soace War, Frontios to name a couple! Happy days!

Current Novel: Jasper Fforde: The Fourth Bear
Current Music: I Am The Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Current Words Completed of Dissertation: 12,405