Music and Moanings

So, I’ve discovered that, unfortunately, I am too old for music festivals.

To be fair, I wasn’t really all that much in the mood to go to the Lovebox Weekender anyway. Depression from PMT, a niggling backache and bad hayfever left me wanting to climb back into bed for the weekend and ignore the world, but having spent so much on the tickets I was determined not to waste them. Of course, I was also regretting the choice to go on Saturday, where the line up consisted of little other (from my point of view) than Duran Duran, however much I love them; when Sunday’s line up had Gary Numan and The Doves, amongst others.

Being in the already grumpy mood I was in, I was also unhappy about the weather. Obviously I’d been hoping that in the middle of summer, the day would be long, hot and dry. Sadly, it managed only one of those three things.

It all began so well, considering. Having got to Mile End, having been able to travel on the part of the Jubilee Line that is still running at weekends, with the weather showing signs of being sunny, things didn’t seem quite so bad. But then came the walk to Victoria Park, which the Lovebox website had described as being ten minutes away. I had already been made aware by Kev the beanpole that even he couldn’t walk it in ten minutes. However, we hadn’t anticipated something nearer to a forty five minute walk.

Still trying to get into the spirit, our first stop was the tequila tent for a rather tasty margarita and some excellent Latin American disco, where I became the proud owner of a rather tacky pink and orange maraca.

So, things seemed to be looking up, although more alcohol (which I suspect would definitely have helped the day) was out of the question as I was driving, so instead I moved onto the water and the odd nice cup of tea. There were many food stalls, and all seemed to be fair trade and organic and all those other good things, the choice varied and eclectic. Eventually Mrs H3 decided on a Greek chicken kebab, whilst I went for an organic sirloin steak burger with some divine onion relish (and another cup of tea – yep I know, I’m so rock n’ roll!)

Having checked out the various other entertainment areas (most of which appeared to be hardcore house music) we ended up sitting near the main stage as there were at least people we’d heard of on there. We missed VV Brown as we were debating about food, we caught most of the Rumble Strips, who I personally didn’t think much of, although to be fair we were sitting outside of the area where we could hear them properly and during the break while we waited for Mr Hudson to come on, we went over to the Warehouse stall to get our free ‘Rain or Shine’ kit, consisting of a cheap paper fan and an even cheaper white plastic poncho. This was our best move of the day.

Sadly, by this point I had to admit to Mrs H3 that I was feeling somewhat bored as there wasn’t enough (of interest to me at any rate) going on between acts on the main stage and sitting around was beginning to make my back hurt again.

So back to Mr Hudson, and I was desperately trying to remember which rapper had taken him under their wing (it turned out to be Kanye West – is he a rapper?). Anyway, I thought Mr Hudson was okay although not really my cup of tea, although I did recognise Supanova which means that Greg James must have played it between 4.45 and 5.30am a few times in the recent past (the only time I listen to Radio One these days).

Having found ourselves in the optimum area for viewing and sound, we proceeded to stay and watch Florence and the Machine, who were the only other band that I’d been looking forward to seeing (as Friendly Fires clashed with Duran Duran on the other stage). Disappointingly, for me at least, I wasn’t overly impressed. I will admit that Florence does have a good voice, but her songs were quite boring and even Rabbit Heart, a song which I’ve quite enjoyed when I’ve heard it on TV, didn’t lift the proceedings. Eventually we gave up and instead joined the humongous queue for the toilets.

By now I was fed up of standing (backache and arthritis setting in big time), so we headed for the barrier in front of the disabled viewing area/sound booth and finding a nice central pitch sat down while we waited for N.E.R.D. to come on stage.

It was at this point that it started raining and so we donned our cheapo ponchos and settled in to watch Pharrell and his crew doing their thing. Now I have to say that this sort of music really does pretty much leave me cold, although Mrs H3 was in her element. But, although I was no longer able to sit down due to the rain, I actually found myself starting to quite enjoy the show, especially when they blantantly broke every Health and Safety rule in the book and invited a whole load of fans onto the stage.

But now everything was wet and so sitting down was a no-no, which meant the next few hours were spent standing with all the old age pain that goes with that. Again there was a long wait for the final band, who as Mrs H3 surmised, were obviously waiting for it to get dark so their (admittedly spectacular) light show was visible. By the time Duran Duran had made it to the stage the temperature had dropped considerably and I was now freezing cold, to go along with wet and miserable and the wishing I hadn’t come had returned.

I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised to hear that I thought Duran Duran were bloody excellent, and Simon looked gorgeous, dressed as he was in frockcoat, waistcoat and top hat (definitely feeding a fantasy of mine). His singing too, was spot on, and as had been the case with Voodoofest, it was clear they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. For the duration of their set, I forgot the cold and the rain, almost forgot the pain from standing for so long, and even, for a moment, stopped thinking that I’d wished I hadn’t bought a ticket and experienced some real pleasure.

But then the concert ended and we had the long, long walk back to the station and the even longer trip back home. I was in so much pain by this time and Mrs H3 was so fed up, that we decided that even if we’d had tickets for Sunday we wouldn’t have gone (yep you heard me right, I’d have missed seeing my beloved Gary rather than make that journey again). By the time we’d got home we were determined that we’d never go to another festival ever again.

However, sleep and hindsight made me consider that had the day stayed dry I’d have not been in as much pain as I’d have been able to sit down more and had there not been so great a walk, it would have been fine. As an urban festival Lovebox was nothing like Reading or Glastonbury and I think I’d been expecting it to be like them. Whereas at the larger festivals there are so many different things to do that you can never get bored, even if the music isn’t quite to your taste, unless you were up for getting drunk there wasn’t so much to do at Lovebox. There weren’t enough bands that I liked, I’ve never been into all that house music stuff, and even the fringe stuff wasn’t as entertaining as other places I’ve been so the day soon became rather boring.

So actually, maybe I’m not too old for festivals, I’m just too old for the Lovebox Weekender or any other festival that takes place in Victoria Park. Give me an easy journey and a seat to sit in and I’ll be happy!



Having missed Gary Numan at Lovebox, we did instead get to see him at what used to be called the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (it’s something O2’y these days, as everything seems to be) last Saturday evening - and yes, we had seats.

I had been a little maudlin as Ben and Jerry’s Sundae Festival (yep the ice cream people, and yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to any more festivals) had a cracking line up, including I Am Kloot and the Super Furry Animals. After a lot of considering we decided that it would be too much to try to attend both, although part of me was still disappointed at missing IAK. Anyway, all disappointment was forgotten once Gary took to the stage.

Mrs H3 told me on the journey home that she always enjoys watching my face when Gary comes on stage, as I always look so ecstatically happy to see him. And it’s true. Every time he appears I’m transported back to the first time I ever saw him live and the joy and love that I felt for him then spreads through my entire body.

Whilst watching him this time I was thinking about the number of incarnations he’s gone through over the years and how far away his music is now from what I was listening to and loving so much back in the late seventies. I wondered for a moment whether, if I’d been told, at the time I first saw Tubeway Army on Top of the Pops doing Are Friends Electric? that Gary would eventually be doing hardcore metal music, whether I’d have believed it, or even been such a fan. But, whilst I might not have believed that he would head that way, I would definitely have still loved him.

Music-wise it doesn’t seem to matter what Gary turns his hand to, I enjoy it. I don’t LOVE all of it, but then, personally, I think it would be a very strange person that could say that. But I’ve enjoyed his journey to where he is today, and love the way that he integrates the older songs into his current style. And I love his current style. And when I see him live there is no equal for me... I adore I Am Kloot and often say they are my favourite band, but Gary is a lifelong love that will never die and for me nothing, and no one else will ever come as close to perfection as he does.

So now we have a quiet period. Not much going on in the way of concerts, I assume because of the summer holidays and people going away so nothing interesting has been booked. The next concert at the moment is Peter Doherty (oh yes) on 19th September, followed by concerts by people as diverse as Blue October (yes, they are coming back to the UK and I am very happy about this), Flaming Lips, Alice Cooper, Marc Almond, Chas and Dave and Gary Numan again towards the end of the year.

We found out recently that Dave's wife died of lung cancer, which may have accounted for his absence from the last concert we went to, and others since. I'm hoping that he's back for the three concerts we've got booked for the end of the year, or I fear for Mrs H3’s sanity. My sympathies go to Dave and his family for their loss.

I’m also looking forward to September/October as this signifies the release of the new I Am Kloot Album called B, which contains B-sides, rare recordings and new songs. Obviously this will be accompanied by a tour, which is always good news!

It’s Here! Well, Almost!

So it’s almost time. The moment I’ve been waiting for so long. Yep, of course I’m talking about getting my Severus Snape fix, erm I mean Harry Potter fix, with the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at midnight tonight. Sadly, it appears that nowhere in the UK, or at least nowhere within travelling distance for me, is doing a midnight showing, unlike the US where there are all sorts of things going on. So I’m relegated to having to wait until the morning to see it. But I suppose, after the wait I’ve already had, another thirteen hours is nothing.

I’ve spent the last three weeks desperately trying to ignore the wealth of clips etc. that have been released in the run-up, but gave up after the London premiere last week, and have since immersed myself in all the hype and am as excited as a six year old waiting for Santa. All my geeky HP friends (and believe me, I count myself as a geek too) are as excited as me and all day the tweets have been flying on the subject of the film and the Harry Potter Alliance drive to get #Dumbledore as a trending topic on Twitter. Facebook too has been flooded with HP surveys and quizzes and statuses that hint towards something momentous occurring shortly.

I’ve just noticed that the countdown ticker on my blog is wrong, as it still shows Friday as the release date. I guess they never got round to changing it; still I won’t hold it against the Leaky Cauldron as they have been somewhat busy recently.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

Okay, so last time I posted I was heading for the London Ukulele Festival, where I and a number of other uke players were going to try and break the world record. I am happy to say that we did it, with 851 players completely routing the previous 401 player record. Mrs H3 and her parents came with me for support, and I can honestly say that it was a really good day out. I also managed to raise £85 for Cancer Research, not a fortune, but not bad with only one day to collect sponsorship. The photos from the day are below and you can see, amongst other videos, the report that appeared on the ITN news. A picture of my official certificate, when it arrives will follow.

Tomorrow also sees the re-emergence of Mrs H3 out of quarantine, as she’s been suffering with the dreaded swine flu. Fortunately, not serious enough to end up in hospital or dead, although she did pass it to her mum (get well soon Zena), so things have been a bit quiet on the going out front over the last couple of weeks.

However, it gets going again on Saturday with our trip to the Lovebox Festival at Hackney (which I’m now regretting only going for one day, as Gary Numan and The Doves are playing on Sunday), although we are seeing Gary next Saturday at Shepherds Bush, so all’s not lost. I just hope the weather is nice, not sure I can face spending the day waiting for Duran Duran in the rain.

Concerts, Harry Potter and the wonderfulness that is Wizard Rock!

So it’s been a little while since the last catch-up again as I’ve got lots of things coming up in the future, but there’s been nothing much of interest going on in the recent past.

Valentine’s Day came and went without troubling me as usual and lack of money meant quiet evenings down the pub in lieu of any real excitement. But that all changed as the first of the two Elbow concerts we’re going to finally arrived last Saturday night after a somewhat drunken and uproarious Friday session that involved rather too much champagne among other things. Now I’m still ecstatic at the fact that they won the Best Band award at the Brits (although a little surprised I will admit) and then followed that up with another win at the NME awards, the well deserved Outstanding Contribution to British Music so was looking forward to seeing them immensely, especially after my disappointment at missing them last year.

So Saturday night found us at the Brighton Dome, tired from the previous night but happy and ready to be entertained. And what a good job Elbow did. The Acorn are supporting them on their tour, which is good as I really enjoyed their album Glory Hope Mountain and thought they did a fine job. But Elbow were sublime. Obviously incredibly happy at their awards and their ‘sudden’ fame Guy was happy to talk and joke with the audience and even at one point engaged in a question and answer session between tracks. The concert was uplifting and every bit as good as the BBC televised one earlier in the year, although of course the songs weren’t just restricted to Seldom Seen Kid as that one had been, nor was there the huge orchestra and choir.

Between us Mrs H3 and I took about 500 photos (see a selection below) and a good deal of video (hurrah for my fabby phone – although I did feel a slight pang for the crap quality of the old Nokia and am considering taking it to Wembley just for old times sake). So on 14th March we’ll be at Wembley with the guys (and possibly David Hasselhoff) doing it all again, except a bit different. It will be interesting to see the band in such a large location and I’m suffering those pangs of all fans whose bands go global, that I’m torn between wanting to see them in such large venues but at the same time still wanting to see them in smaller places. I expect knowing how down to earth Elbow are they’ll be doing a mixture of both for a while.



Also on the horizon are concerts by Peter Doherty on consecutive days at the Brighton Dome and Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone on 20th and 21st March and after a lot of praying and wishing on my part I Am Kloot, or at least Johnny Bramwell, is finally coming south of the Watford gap again and performing at the Half Moon in Putney on 9th April with an appearance at the Boileroom in Guildford on 11th May. We will be fitting in a visit to the Roundhouse on 30th April to see the newly re-formed (and believe me I’m very excited about this) Ultravox, who I haven’t seen since the Monument Tour in 1982. But the fun doesn’t stop there. It’ll be Chas and Dave time again on 14th May in Croydon and on 18th July Mrs H3 and I will be heading to London for the first day of the Lovebox festival. I am definitely expecting to see an eclectic mix of music there with bands like Florence and the Machine, N.E.R.D. and of course the mighty Duran Duran. The following week will see us at Shepherds Bush for the latest Gary Numan concert.

But one of the events I am most looking forward to is the Hogwarts Jamboree UK on 27th June which is being held in London. Now everyone who knows me knows that I am Harry Potter fanatic (what…you never realized?) and am into everything HP related. Through this I have become involved in a genre of music called Wizard Rock which, having started (rather late I will admit) as a vague interest of mine in hearing bands who called themselves after Potter characters and sang songs about the stories, has turned into devotion to the cause with a considerably increased CD collection.

How to explain Wizard Rock? My personal view is that it’s almost impossible (unless you have a complete hatred of music) not to like at least one of the bands around and believe me, although most of you not in the HP fandom will never have heard of this phenomenon, there are literally hundreds of Wrock bands out there. The musical styles are varied – everything from pop to blues to rap to country, with a healthy dose of comedy thrown in for good measure. In fact, think of a musical style and somewhere there will be a Wrock band that meets your criteria.

Initially started by American bands like Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys, it didn’t take long before the Wrock revolution spread worldwide (and I mean worldwide as there are bands in Sweden, Australia, Japan, Israel and Canada to name but a few) and Britain can boast what I think are some of the best bands around. Personal favourites are Split Seven Ways, Riddle TM, Peeved, Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons, Siriusly Hazza P and the awesome Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office and excitingly for me at least, some of these bands will be appearing at the Hogwarts Jamboree.

Ok so this was a funny moment for me: As usual I had 4Music on in the background while I was working earlier on. On comes the video of Apologize by One Republic. I’m confused: the words are all wrong. Then I realize. I’ve listened to the Ministry of Magic’s cover version of the song so many times now that I’m automatically singing their words, rather than the original. And I have to admit I prefer the MoM version.

So lots of music already planned, with more to come I’m sure. After all Michael Jackson is rumoured to be doing a series of concerts at the O2, which I think must be a dead cert assuming the tickets aren’t stupidly priced, although knowing him…. Plus of course the festivals are just beginning to be announced. I’m really fancying Sunday of the V festival, even though Oasis are headlining on the main stage, as there are plenty of other bands that I love playing (read Elbow, James, Snow Patrol and Ocean Colour Scene) and Keane will be headlining the 4Music stage.

The Music Bit

So as well as lounging around eating ice cream and watching the latest blockbusters Mrs H3 and I have also been enjoying the music.

On Thursday 3rd July we were back at the O2, this time seeing Duran Duran. This was a weird experience for me. It was promoting their last album ‘Red Carpet Massacre’ which I have to admit I’d not listened to after the first couple of days of owning it as I wasn’t overly keen on it and so I don't know the words to any of the songs. It was odd to be at a concert and not singing along except to ‘Falling Down’, especially as Mrs H3 and everyone around me was. Of course they also didn't play any of the songs I really liked from the album so I actually, and I really hate to admit this, found myself a bit bored at various points throughout the night. Of course things livened up when they played the old tracks and overall I will admit that the evening was excellent and I did thoroughly enjoy it.

I was unlucky enough to be stuck behind a fat bird with fat hair to match (yes I am aware that I’m not Twiggy) who was dancing like she was having an epileptic fit for the whole concert. Every time I tried to get a picture or video the stage, in fact even just look at it she was in front of me waving her big hair around all over the place. Although we were pretty near the front of the venue I spent most of the evening watching the band on the big screen as it gave me an unobstructed view of Simon.

Mrs H3 says that I’ve been different about Duran Duran since their treatment of me in New Orleans. And I think she’s right. Whilst I didn't expect them to stop and talk to me I didn’t think it was too much to expect a smile or a wave, having travelled so far to see them, especially considering there were so few people there. On their fan club website and when they are on stage they are always going on about caring about their fans, but I saw no sign of that at Voodoofest and being cynical it is easy to think they are just about making money.

That cynicism is even easier to have when you discover that the VIP packages that they sell for an extortionate amount of money (I believe the O2 ones were about £400) aren't so VIP after all. My idea of VIP is for a select group of people to be given the chance to have the top seats and the experience of meeting the band etc. At O2 there were 150 VIP packages sold – certainly not my idea of select, and they were sitting only a few rows in front of us. Did they get to meet the band beforehand? I don’t know but according to the information on the website it’s not always guaranteed. This year I also decided not to buy a programme (and actually stuck to that) and the t-shirt stand was left well alone as they didn't seem to have anything under £20 (the blingy t shirt I liked was £35!). Of course as much as I moan I will still renew my fan club membership and be nervously waiting for tickets the next time they tour, so I guess I’m not too cynical just yet.

In the end we decided against going to the Mighty Boosh festival, mainly due to a severe lack of money and so our next musical outing was to see the rescheduled Pete Doherty show at the Royal Albert Hall. Now obviously we had been eagerly awaiting this since Pete had got himself put in prison back in April and I’m sure Mrs H3 was the same as me in hoping that he didn't do anything stupid before Saturday 12th July came. Fortunately he didn't and the show went ahead as planned.

And it was brilliant. I know a lot of people knock Pete for his drug habit but they are being unfair. If you didn’t listen to a band/singer because of drug taking there would be very few bands left in the world, and the ones left would generally be pretty boring. Pete really does have a wonderful voice; he’s a brilliant songwriter and a consummate performer. When he appeared on stage he was well dressed in a suit, completely clean and sober and drinking tea. Oh and he wasn’t wearing his trademark hat either.

The audience dynamic was interesting to say the least. A mix of hard core fans who are more used to him playing venues like the Tap ‘n’ Tin, seat owners who had come along purely to see what all the fuss was about and others like Mrs H3 and I who just enjoy good music and a good evening out. We were lucky enough to have front row seats in one of the boxes and so had an excellent view of the proceedings.

As the evening went on it was clear that some of the die hards were having trouble with the RAH concept of sitting still and watching the performance. Occasionally they tried to get up and dance but were asked to sit down, this wasn’t what they wanted or were used to. Pete did make a couple of mentions to it, at the beginning asking if everyone was sitting comfortably, and later saying he’d been told by another artist that the best bit about being at the Royal Albert Hall was the respectful silences between songs – his die hard fans didn’t shut up for a moment.

What amazed and impressed us most was his ability to keep going under difficult circumstances. At one point in the evening a guy in the front row was trying to get him to talk to his girlfriend on the phone in the middle of ‘East of Eden’. Pete stopped singing, asked the guy to turn his phone off and then carried on pitch perfect from where he’d left off as if he’d never stopped singing. Shortly after the same man was evicted from the hall after he threw a bottle of water at Pete.

Unfortunately the Royal Albert Hall chose to only have two of their bars open during the short interval and so we missed the first few songs of the second half (including ‘For Lovers’ which I’d been hoping he’d play) as we and a million other people were still queuing for water and the evening was cut short by a stage invasion at the beginning of his encore, which effectively ended the show. However, yet again, even with the stage filling around him he only actually stopped singing when the crowd dragged him too far away from the microphone to be heard. I just hope he had as good an evening as he appeared to be having. I know Mrs H3 and I did, although more than a little disappointed at losing the final fifteen minutes of what could have been an amazing encore.

I was worried that as usual the reviews would show the old drugged up pictures of Pete that they always seem to reel out for stories about him and that the stage invasion would be used against him. Fortunately there were only a few that used this tactic, the rest being fair and respectful and even using pictures of him from the evening which showed how good he was looking. The event was filmed and so hopefully at some point in the near future everyone will be able to see just what a good evening those of us at the RAH had that night.

Since then it’s been all quiet on the music front, although we do have plans to see Gary Numan at O2 Indigo on 7th September and hopefully, when I can afford the tickets, Elbow at the Roundhouse in October. By then I’m hoping the I Am Kloot guys will be back from their festivals and touring again as it’s now been 105 days since I last saw them and I’m having serious withdrawal symptoms. Having caught part of their performance at Latitude on the TV I see that Johnny has had his hair cut and I approve. I think he looks better without the long curls.

A New Game

I think I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m not as happy with my new phone as I could be. Although it’s lovely and pink it takes really crap photos and even worse video. It is so bad that I’ve decided to create a new game for Mrs H3. It’s similar in style to the old ‘Shooting Stars’ game where Vic would sing a song in a club style and the guests had to guess the song. I’m going to do the same with my concert footage. By the time the sound goes through my phone it comes out just as thumping bass. So the game is guess the song, the singer and the concert. With clips to choose from My Chemical Romance, IAK, Gary Numan, Duran Duran and Pete Doherty it should be interesting – especially as they all sound pretty much the same!

It's My Blog's Birthday!

I’ve just realised that I’ve been doing this blog for two years now so HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my blog which I started on the 15th May 2006! Wow two whole years of aimless rambling – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun!

Disappointingly I’ve just lived through a whole week without any live music; I’ve not seen a show, been to the cinema or done anything even vaguely of interest. Of course there are things on the horizon – in fact the future looks pretty good, but my present is most definitely boring.

The one bright spark has been the acquisition of the new(ish) Elbow album ‘Seldom Seen Kid’. I already had and enjoyed an earlier album ‘Cast of Thousands’ but hadn’t really taken much notice of them for a few years. With the possibility of seeing them with I Am Kloot in Cheshire next month I thought it was high time to catch up with their newer work. I had heard (and loved) the single ‘Grounds for Divorce’ but hadn’t expected to enjoy the album quite as much as I did. I think it is probably a completely ‘me’ album. With fantastic lyrics, lush storytelling over divine music, upbeat yet careworn, dreamy and enchanting, the album is a joy to listen to and gets better with repeated listenings and I can safely say is one of the best albums (if not the best) that I’ve heard this year.

Not such a surprise I guess when Elbow are so closely linked to Kloot and have Richard Hawley doing guest vocals on a track. Perhaps it was obvious that I was going to love it.

Music will be playing a big part in my future as we’re still going to see Duran Duran on 3rd July at the O2 arena and now that Pete’s been released from jail it looks like his concert at the Royal Albert Hall has been rescheduled for the 12th (according to the NME anyway). I’m really interested in the Mighty Boosh Festival on the 5th at the Hop Farm as Gary Numan has announced he’ll be playing there and I love the Mighty Boosh; whilst Mrs H3 has shown interest in the Zoo8 festival at Port Lymphe mainly due to Chas & Dave’s appearance I think, who are unfortunately on the same date. I'm also extremely tempted by Jools Holland's upcoming concert at Rochester Castle on the 17th as Marc Almond is playing with him. All I need now is to win the lottery and I can go to all of them and the Latitude Festival that same weekend which IAK have just confirmed that they are playing (with Elbow).

But it doesn’t stop there. Next week sees the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Although the critics haven’t been very kind to the film I’m sure it’ll be just as entertaining as the other three so I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure when though, next Friday Mrs H3 and I are off to see ‘Potted Potter’ a 70 minute take on the Harry Potter series. Believe me when I say we’ll go and see just about anything if it looks interesting enough!

In my last post I mentioned Diesel Park West playing at Chatham Central Hall. Fortunately I didn’t get tickets for this as the following day Mrs H3 got us tickets for the premiere of ‘Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’ at the O2 arena. Not only did she get us tickets but she got us amazing tickets at the front, dead centre. Obviously this is going to be a fantastically star-studded event (after all it is the UK’s biggest film premiere and for charity – Great Ormond Street Hospital) and I understand that there is a dress code involved so look out for the two of us gracing the red carpet, no doubt trying to upstage any minor celebrities that may be there.

But before all this comes Chelsea Flower Show on Wednesday – the horticultural highlight of my and Lynne’s year and so far the weather forecast is looking good. The gardens … the flowers … the Pimms … ahhh the pleasure of a nice day and relaxing with the sounds of the brass band and an ice cream. Of course there will be the usual hundreds of photos uploaded somewhere on line after the event – my fabby purple new camera very kindly donated by Mrs H3 has a card big enough to hold almost 3,500 pictures – more than even I’ll need for the day!

Back to Normal ... Well as Normal as I ever get!

So I’m back at work, somewhere I was desperate to be last week when the course got a little overwhelming (the second week is definitely NOT the easiest) but where I really don't want to be now. All the problems I had before I went away are still here (and then some) and now there’s a MASSIVE pile of work to be done too.

As I said the second week of the course was incredibly hard and the volume of information required is huge. Unfortunately I think I did even worse in the exam than I did the first week (complete inability to answer the big 20 point question not helping too much there). And so it’s all over with the exception of the small matter of the workplace risk assessment and the 750 word report that I have to complete and return to the course centre by next Wednesday (no pressure at all then!) After that it’s just a case of waiting until 20th June to see how many of the modules I’ll have to resit. Of course if by some fluke I do happen to pass the whole thing maybe I’ll have to go on and do the Oxford Brookes Diploma *LOL*

While I was away Duran Duran announced their European tour and more specifically the London concert date at the O2 (3rd July for anyone who may be interested). Fortunately although they tried hard to make it impossible for me to get the fan club tickets I did manage to do so, although at an extortionate price (just how do Ticketmaster justify charging £6.75 per ticket as a booking charge? It’s completely outrageous!) This has gone some way to cheering Mrs H3 and I up as we had finally managed to get tickets for Pete Doherty’s gig at the Royal Albert Hall just before he was sent to prison and so were a little disheartened at the loss of that concert.

Of course we still have I Am Kloot to look forward to, the first concert being tomorrow night at Komedia in Brighton. The new album ‘I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge’ seems to be generating some good press, with both The Sun and The Evening Standard giving it 4 stars and Elbow’s lead singer Guy Garvey praising them from the rooftops wherever he can. I suspect that Mrs H3 is a tad fed up with them, but she’s far too nice to make me go to the concerts on my own and I keep hoping that with enough exposure she’ll eventually realise what a truly awesome band they are even if they’re never going to be as famous as I want them to be. At least they don't cost a squillion pounds to go and see (although there’s still a ruddy booking fee) and we’re on the guest list for the Koko gig as I’ve agreed to do a little name collecting for the newsletter. So if you see me there do say hi. I don’t bite … well not much!

The thing I had been looking forward to most about getting home was watching my brand spanking new DVD of Sweeney Todd which I was sure was going to be waiting on the doormat for me. Imagine then my extreme disappointment to find that not only had it not arrived, but it hasn't even been sent yet. Although it was released in the US on 1st April it appears that Play.com haven't yet got their supplies of the film. I’m gutted as I would have expected to have watched it at least once by now and am seriously considering buying it from elsewhere.

There’s a couple of films I might have to make the effort to see over the next few weeks. First of all there’s the quirky ‘Son of Rambow’ which appeals to me for some unspecified reason that I can't quite work out. Also ‘The Oxford Murders’ starring John Hurt and Elijah Wood as it’s one of those murder-mystery ancient clue solving films that I so love. Perhaps I’ll go and see that when I should have been seeing Pete D.