Been very busy

I haven't been here for a while, tsk tsk. Must try harder.

So what have we been up to? Apart from sheltering from the rain things have just been ridiculously hectic of late. Alongside the usual work-type stuff I've been catching up on odd jobs at home, things I'd promised people for ages, and going to more concerts.

Our latest gig was Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile. He played the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Sunday on the first night of his tour (his first since the 1997 "Peace at Last" tour) and, although visibly nervous, the show was fantastic. And - shock horror! - he played two new songs! Two new Blue Nile songs! One of them, "Meanwhile", was absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait to hear it again... in 2018.

Oh, and full marks to Sanctuary, the Blue Nile's record label. I emailed them to say that their latest album, "High", isn't rippable to MP3. Their response: Send it back to us and we'll send you a non-copy protected one by return. Result!

I've also finally - after having it for about five months - finished editing the first big chunk of Neil Richards's book / story. Needless to say he was surprised I actually did it, but pleased with the results.

Last week I was running a 2072 in Manchester and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Had a great bunch of people and we just had a laugh from start to finish - only spoiled by a bit of an iffy lunch on Friday at Hugo Mash. This week is very different - a tailored 2071/72 in Leeds, all of the students coming from one company. Hard work... not having a lot of fun. Still, we'll be finished for lunchtime tomorrow. Hooray.

We've booked to see Take That again too :-) We're off to the City of Manchester Stadium (the "Bell End") on Saturday 17th June, and we have "golden circle" tickets, which means we're in the bit right in front of the stage. Lou is ecstatic!

Read a couple of fantastic books of late: "Sea Otters Gambolling in the Wild, Wild Surf" by John Bennett, and "The Incredible Alan Spark" by Alan Bissett. Loved every word of them both. Also on the subject of books I'm currently awaiting the delivery of... my third copy of "House of Leaves" by Mark Z Danielewski! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! This one is the "remastered full colour edition", with all of the "house"s in blue, "minotaur" and crossed-out parts in red, and so on. So far I have a "grey" paperback (no colour), a signed first edition hardback "red", and any day now I'll have the full colour version. I think that will be enough. Anyway, his next book is out in September :-)

Bank Holiday Weekend starts tomorrow, and this time in five weeks we'll be in Santorini. We're both completely done in and really, really need a break - we've not had any time off at all since Christmas and we're soooooooooo tiiiiiiired.

In fact, I'm going to bed now.