The Joy of Scrapbooking!

On Sunday I remembered why I’m a digiscrapper.

It was a simple premise – I need to decorate 2 8x8 pages for a little project I’m working on. Now with real difficulty it would have taken about twenty minutes on my computer – in real life? About 5 hours!

But it’s simple I hear you say. Yep it is – if you’re one of those organised scrappers who knows where everything’s kept, not when you’re me with your stash buried down the back of the sofa (amongst many other places).

Step 1 – choose your papers. I needed 4 different papers – easy enough you would think except that it meant moving EVERYTHING from behind the sofa to find it. Even Arnie would have had trouble lifting some of my boxes of papers – God knows how I got them down there but they’re not coming back up again without me doing some serious injury to my back!

Step 2 – cut to size. Okay – so I’ve lost my paper cutter. Nope I found it but the blade needs replacing. So I find the scalpel. Unfortunately the blade needs replacing in that too. And I can’t find a cutting mat or my steel edged ruler for love nor money. So finally I dig out the scissors and cut by hand – it’s a bit wonky but it’ll do. It’s made with love after all!

Step 3 – rounding the pages. Yep you guessed it can’t find my CM corner rounder anywhere, although I know I saw it somewhere earlier but I do have 2 Dovecraft ones (no longer - they are now in the bin where I should have thrown them the last time I realised they were completely crap). So I’ve ruined a perfectly cut page with a crappy corner rounder and realise I have no choice I have to find the CM one or not bother with rounded corners.

Step 4 – cut the embellishments. These are simple and fairly plain pages so I only have a few hole punched embellishments in different papers. I wanted to do circles but find I don’t have a circle hole punch bigger than a pinhead, so okay I’ll change everything and go for hearts (the only thing of the size I need).

Step 5 – stick it all together. Well I’ve lost my herma. I can find various refills but not the actual unit. I don’t want to use double sided tape in case I need to move anything around later. Hurrah my first piece of good luck my Xyron X sticker thing is somewhere where I can see it straight away AND joy of joys it has repositionable glue. Brilliant! I can stick my embellishments on my page.

But now it’s looking a little bare – I don’t have any suitable titles etc. and not quite sure what it should say anyway at the moment so instead I decide to add a couple of extremely heavy plaques (those metal ones by Making Memories)

Step 6 – add the metal. They have eyelets on the back so need to be set. Of course I do still have my Provocraft Silent Setter but to my mind it’s even more useless than the Dovecraft corner rounders so don’t even bother trying to find it. What I need is my trusty setting kit and a big hammer. Of course I can’t find my MM toolkit which has all those wonderful things but I do have a setter hanging around and strangely there’s a little pick hammer down the side of my freezer (don’t ask why). No mat though and so I have to bang it into the table (fortunately about a million years old) leaving a couple of nice holes in it.

So my pages are finally done. And I can’t yet show them, but as soon as I can I’ll post them so you can see how much trouble went into such little outcome.

I’m seriously considering selling all my stash and going purely digital – it’s much easier and quicker to do and all the kits can be stored on my external HDD taking up no space whatsoever!

Hello It's me!

Blimey I know you all thought I’d died!

I’ve had a complaint (okay more than one actually) that my blog hasn’t been kept up-to-date recently. I’d like to point out that whilst I’m out doing all the exciting things I write about in my blog I don’t actually have time to write it and since the Chelsea Flower Show I seem to have been constantly busy.

So first was the Chelsea Flower Show. Always a good day out and this year was no exception and we were lucky enough to have the best weather of the week. Personally I wasn’t all that impressed with some of the show gardens – all that green and white that was so fashionable this year was rather boring. As usual I didn’t like the garden that won Best in Show (the Laurent Perrier garden) but I also missed all the television coverage so have no idea which garden won the People’s Choice award. I did notice that the gardens in the final were generally the ones with colour rather than the boring green/white combos, which says something about the taste of gardeners as opposed to garden designers. We did attend two interesting talks, the first given by Julian Dowle, the designer of my favourite ever Chelsea garden ‘From Darkness to Light’ for the Salvation Army, who discussed the differences between modern and old fashioned gardens and the second by Andy Sturgeon who gave a slideshow of the building of his fabulous show garden for Cancer Research. It was fascinating to see exactly what goes into building those amazing gardens. How they manage it in three weeks I’ve no idea.

Hopefully if this works there should be slideshow of my Chelsea photos below. If not they can be found at Chelsea Flower Show 2008, but be warned there are over 300 pictures.



The day after Chelsea Mrs H3 and I went to see ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. I have to say I thought it was dreadful. As a devotee of the first three films I was very disappointed with the effort. There were many special effects, but a lot of them seemed to be done just because they could rather than because they were needed. The story was ridiculous and pretty boring in parts and the ending was poor too. Cate Blanchett was underused as the baddie and the worst thing for me was that Harrison Ford’s Indy reminded me very much of the ‘Headcases’ version and it really put me off. Whilst I would always watch any of the first three films I can’t imagine even bothering to turn on the television for the latest one. Will it be a classic in 20 years time? I can’t see it, but then I know a few people who aren’t quite such fans of the original three who thought the film was good so maybe the passage of time will improve it.

So onto ‘Potted Potter’ the play about the Harry Potter books. I’m not sure what Mrs H3 thought about it but I loved every minute. Incredibly funny and irreverent, the thing had me in stitches from the moment it started (watch out for the terrifying dragon!), through the Quidditch match, right till the end of the last book and poor Severus Snape’s upset at his fate. For the first time ever I ended up in Slytherin (hurrah!) but we lost the Quidditch match to some precocious child who added a great deal more laughter to the proceedings. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.

Then it was time for the Eurovision Song Contest. I love this trashy pop fest and try to watch it every year. This year was just as good as usual, although the proliferation of Eastern European countries in the final mean that the Western Europeans are likely never to win again. The voting has always been dodgy, but this year was extreme and our (poor but better than in several previous years) entry was given hardly any points again (not even Malta voted for us this year). Anyway unsurprisingly Russia won (although my personal favourite was Azerbijan with their wonderful angels). It will be interesting to see if the BBC and other Western European countries continue to fund the competition when they have no chance of even getting in the top ten any more let alone winning. I hope so because for camp entertainment value if nothing else it’s worth the licence fee – but only as long as Terry Wogan continues the voiceovers of course.

So we’re still considering the Mighty Boosh Festival, but are now booked to see Gary Numan in September at the O2 Indigo.

With summer coming it’s wedding time and my friend Kelly married Mark a couple of weeks ago (31st May). Next Saturday (21st June) my Sinner friend the Doc (Jen2) and her other half Michael are tying the knot in Essex and I look forward to catching up with friends old and new there.

Finally the biggest news (and the reason that I haven't updated the blog as quickly as I should have done) is that Mrs H3 and I went off on holiday. Yep after spending months (and I mean months) thinking about it we finally headed to First Choice at Bluewater on the Friday before our holiday started to see what last minute deals they had. After two hours we emerged with our holiday choice – 7 nights in Crete at the Golden Bay Apartments. We flew out on Tuesday morning (3rd June) returning the following week.

The weather was hot, the hotel basic and quiet and Crete was a wonderful place (although Greece seem to be rather taken with the Spanish Eurovision entry ‘Baila el Chiki Chiki’ – they played it a lot). I am intending to do the Crete Odyssey holiday blog once I get Mrs H3’’s photos (she took lots more than me), hopefully with input from her. The hot weather wasn’t too good for Mrs H3 though and she got bad heat rash which turned nasty when we got home culminating in her ending up with steroid cream and the possibility of cortisone injections, poor thing.

Unfortunately the holiday worked out quite expensive and it meant that we had no money left for the Elbow & IAK concert at Delamare Forest (and believe me I am bitterly disappointed as I haven’t seen IAK for almost two months now although Guy Garvey is playing them on his show tonight on Radio 6 so I'm listening in specially) however it did give me a nice relaxing weekend at home before having to go back to work.

So next Thursday is the premiere of Prince Caspian at O2. Look out for Mrs H3 and I on the red carpet with all those celebrities.

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!

Loving the sound of Motown

Well keeping up with the growing tradition of live music every week, last night I went for a slightly different type and went to the theatre to see the Motown musical, “Dancing in the Streets”. Lynne had a spare ticket as someone who was supposed to be going was ill and I stepped into the breach. I rarely take much notice of what’s playing at Chatham Central Hall, but obviously a lot of people do as it was pleasingly well filled.

The premise is as simple as the set – a recording studio in downtown Detroit filled with the house band and a run through of the greatest hits and hitmakers of the Motown catalogue - the Marvelettes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, The Supremes and Diana Ross, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Glady’s Knight and the Pips and more.

I love Motown and for me the chance to see the sort of dance routines that groups like the Temptations would have used was the real pleasure, as was hearing all those fantastic songs again. All the cast were thoroughly excellent, although I personally wasn’t keen on the girl who played Diana Ross (although to be fair to her she did come into her own on ‘Love Child’, one of my favourite Supremes songs) and actually cringed during the singing of ‘Endless Love’ which I think the show could have done without (actually the whole Lionel Ritchie thing seemed a bit out of kilter with all those other fantastic songs).

As with all the best musicals there was loads of scope for the audience to sing and dance and Lynne and I took full advantage of the opportunity. It really was a very good musical and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who likes that type of music.

As I was there I thought I’d pick up the leaflets for upcoming productions having spotted the wonderful Dara O’Briain on the cover (unfortunately he’s on the same day that we go to Chelsea Flower Show), however something that did catch my attention was Diesel Park West’s Marrakesh Express Tour which is hitting Chatham Central Hall on 19th June.

Now Diesel Park West are one of those resurgent psychedelic bands that I loved in the early ‘90s but, as I’m sure you’ll be astounded to hear, didn’t do as well as they should have done. After early promise (EMI actually bought the record label (Food) they were on as they wanted them so badly) with their first album ‘Shakespeare Alabama’ they disappeared, never to be heard of again (except by die hard fans I expect). Now, suddenly here they are doing a tour covering the songs of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Freakily, I had a conversation about Diesel Park West only last week at the I Am Kloot gig as it turned out that one of the two women I chatted to after the show’s sister lives with the lead singer John Butler. She was amazed that someone had actually heard of DPW, let alone actually knew any of their work and we had quite an interesting discussion about what they’d been up to over the years.

Anyway this seems like an interesting evening so I may have to go for it, however plenty of time between now and then to decide as I can’t see it being sold out.

Oh and IAK have announced that they’re supporting Elbow at Delamere Forest in Cheshire while Mrs H3 and I are on holiday. I’m thinking a trip up that way could be in order …

The Perfect Evening ... Almost!

So the concert last night was fantastic (bet you guessed I was going to say that *LOL*) but it really was. Unfortunately things didn’t quite go to plan. I found my hotel but couldn’t find any sign of the car park. As Nottingham is a one way town it meant driving right round again for the second attempt. At this point my petrol light has come on and I’ve found that the garage marked on my sat nav has been knocked down, with no sign of any other garages in the area. Unable to keep driving aimlessly I park in the hugely expensive NCP car park and make my way on foot to the hotel, which is one of those ramshackle bad end of town jobs. Having established how to get to their car park I go back to release my car from the NCP at the extortionate price of £2.80 for 13 minutes parking. Soon I’m back in the hotel with its musty smell, peeling wallpaper and slightly too spongy carpets. I’m allocated the room the furthest away from the entrance – on the third floor (with no lifts) and a real hike once at the top of the stairs. The only bonus is that it’s right next door to the fire escape so I’m okay if there’s a fire. Although the hotel was a bit grim the room itself was clean and tidy with fresh bed linen and a rock hard bed, but then the downside to my cheap room – no ensuite. The toilet is right down the end of a very long corridor and the bathroom is next to it. Thank god I’m only here for one night.

Then I find that the new memory card that I bought for my camera on the way up is the wrong one, even though I showed the salesman my camera. I am not happy as I’d wanted to record ‘Fingerprints’ and the card I currently have is nowhere near big enough. I have to admit now that I deleted all the pictures I’d taken on 25th April for Shimelle’s course to free up some space, but alas it wasn’t anywhere near enough – I managed to get only the first verse (*sigh* am I ever going to get a decent copy of this song? Why on earth don’t they release it?)

By now it’s gone 7.30pm and I still need to get some food before I go to the concert but there’s plenty of time multimap has said it’s a 15 minute walk to the Rescue Rooms from my hotel and I’ve got the map and the directions. The problem is that Nottingham isn’t very well signed and so I have trouble working out which way I should be going. I ask the receptionist who’s clearly never been to Nottingham before as she doesn’t recognise any of the roads around the hotel at all and can’t tell me whether to go left or right out of the door. Eventually she tells me to go left (she’s wrong). So finally I head off in the right direction only to discover that they’re not keen on street signs. By some fluke I manage to find Maid Marion Way after about fifteen minutes of walking and set off up the huge hill to find the roundabout. I find that too, after another twenty odd minutes and then try to find the next road (according to the map I’m almost there). It’s not there and no-one I ask has ever heard of it (or the Rescue Rooms … I find out later that it used to be called something else and everyone knows it by its old name). Eventually a nice doorman at one of the Casino’s takes pity on me and tries, without much success, to decipher the map and instructions I’ve got, but he too is stumped. Eventually after more aimless wandering I finally manage to find a cash point and someone who can point me in the right direction. I’ve still not had any food but there’s no time as it’s now almost 9pm and I’m still not there yet.

By fluke I spot Rock City, the bigger sister of the Rescue Rooms so I know I must be in the right area. I am, sort of. I’ve found the back where the tour coach is. Luckily I find someone to ask and they direct me back round the corner where I finally reach my destination just in time to hear Ferraby Lionheart’s last song. From the applause he’s receiving they obviously really liked him. I get a drink and head over to the desk to (finally) buy his CD and have a chat with him about the concert and the tour in general. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and tells me that he’s really enjoyed touring with IAK and has loved the UK.

The venue is a small one, not much larger than the Half Moon and I head (of course) for the front. The stage looks rather crowded with all their equipment and when they come onstage almost 15 minutes early Johnny comments on the way that his guitar cables are completely messed up. Everything goes pretty smoothly, with the usual jokes and heckles until ‘Life in a Day’ when Johnny’s guitar stops working. He disappears off to the side of the stage to try and sort it, but it doesn’t work. When a second guitar doesn’t work either he proceeds to strut the stage like some old time rock god, highly appreciated by the crowd.

When the rest of the band disappear for their cigarette break (poor Pete used to smoke 20 cigarettes during a concert so the smoking ban has hit him badly) John creates mayhem trying to get his guitars to work. He decides to plug them directly into the amp and there’s a cheer as the guitar works once more, but the wires are still tangled and as he heads back towards the mike he ends up pulling over the amp, almost wrecking his other guitars in the process. Norman nips back onstage to help him get the amp back up and eventually Johnny gives up and moves the mike nearer to the amp. The last few songs go without a hitch and suddenly it’s all over again.

After saying I wasn’t going to do it, I did buy the official release of ‘Moolah Rouge’ with the DVD as it gave me the chance to get it signed by Johnny. We had a brief chat during which I was surprised and pleased to find that he recognised me – probably from Half Moon, and discussed the concert at Koko, with the conclusion that while it was a fantastic concert he’d enjoyed this one more.

As luck would have it I’d got chatting to a couple of women who were standing next to me during the concert (alas my memory for names is rubbish) but it turned out that they were good friends with Colin and Norman McLeod, the brothers helping IAK on their tour and owners of the Moolah Rouge Studio. Soon I had been introduced to them too and had quite an interesting discussion on the tour, the amazingly huge glitter ball at Koko, Colin’s Theramin that Norman had played during the concert and other such fascinating topics. They asked me if I was going to the final gig at the Manchester Academy on Saturday night but I told them I had to work and it was too far to go (aren’t I a good girl). They did try to convince me and even suggested that the band wouldn’t be going onstage till 10pm, but I wasn’t swayed (yay me for being so strong!)

As much as I was having fun chatting to them and Ferraby who’d made a reappearance I knew I had to go as I still had to find my way back to the hotel and I wasn’t sure what walking back would be like at that time of night. Amazingly I managed to find the hotel pretty quickly as I now had some idea of the route and it actually did only take about 20 minutes. Of course by the time I’d got back to the hotel my mind was turning over the idea of going to Manchester, working out that I could just about make it, especially if I manage to get them to let me finish work at the pub at 3pm.

Of course I won’t really go – 1 long trip in a week is more than enough, especially as a bad cold that I had earlier in the week has now increased to leave me with a sore throat, hardly any voice, blocked sinuses and a strange noise in my right ear. No I won’t go … although I really, really want to!

IAK at the Rescue Rooms ... Here I Come!

Okay yes I admit it I’m mad!

I’m just about to head off to Nottingham for the I Am Kloot concert at the Rescue Rooms. Sorry but withdrawal symptoms coupled with rumours that apart from an appearance at a festival in Holland at the end of August along with Babyshambles (which interestingly clashes with a festival that Gary Numan is headlining that same day) they aren’t likely to be touring until October meant that I just had to make the effort to go. I’ve managed to find the cheapest and probably dodgiest hotel room in the world so I don’t have to make the journey straight back after the show.

Am I obsessed with the band? Maybe, but at least it’s getting me out and I get to hear great live music. Oh and it’s going to be my final attempt to acquire the Ferraby Lionheart CD too!

And I'd Like To Thank ...

As if there was ever any doubt (did I mention I was competitive) the Drama Queens headed by my dear mate Amanda were crowned the champions of the UKS cybercrop last night.

It was close, but not that close - yep we thrashed those other teams, Musical Melodies, Comedy Kings and the Lovey Doves.

Final scores:
Drama Queens = 30560
Musical Melodie = 29690
Comedy Kings = 27970
Lovey Doves = 27190

Well done to all my fellow Drama Queens without whom ...

UKS Cybercrop Final Day

So here I am posting my final layouts of the cybercrop. Unfortunately work once again intrudes in the creative process and I have finish early.

At the final tally I managed 8 layouts – 5 challenges and 3 classes.

Challenge 1 – Blank Cheque – to use only plain papers:

Challenge 5 – All Inspired – A layout based on one of a choice of film titles – of course I chose the obvious ‘All I Desire’ and I think it’s fairly obvious who I chose as my subject for that particular layout!

Challenge 7 – Oscarlicious – A layout in the classic black and gold of Oscar. Another Kiefer layout as the colour scheme didn’t fit with Jo’s wedding pics. Still who’s complaining?

Challenge 9 – Ladies Night – A layout showing something glamorous. And what could be more glamorous than my sister in her wedding dress?

Class 5 – Up Close and Personal by Claire – The original was done in black and white, but I love this pic of Jo and so it was the perfect substitute.

So in the final tally I managed 290 points and some great layouts! Now I just need to wait and find out if the Drama Queens won the crop.

Day 3 Cybercrop Points = 290

UKS Oscars Cybercrop Day 2

Okay so it’s the end of day 2 of the UKS Oscars cybercrop.

Have to admit to having not been very productive yesterday evening mainly due to having to install Office 2007 and then get to know how to use it before I could do anything – it’s weird compared to all previous versions of the programme, but I’m loving it so far. Also the first few classes weren’t really my sort of thing as a digiscrapper – the first was to decorate a manikin and then do a mini book for it to hold, then there was a challenge to make embellishments etc. However, this evening I’ve got into my stride and managed to accumulate 130 points for the Drama Queens.

Now I know they say the point of the cybercrop isn’t to get points it’s to have fun and do decent layout’s (and to that end they’ve hidden the score and they won’t be announced until the crop is finished – please let us see the running total Scrappybunny *beg beg*), but as we all know - for me points are the thing. They are the thing that actually get me scrapping. Let’s face it I didn’t even get round to looking at the classes for the last one which had no points attached to it and neither did several of my sinner mates.

Of course I’ve made it difficult for myself (why not eh?) because with the exception of one layout I am expecting the rest will be of Jo and Paul’s wedding and so I’m having to adapt the classes to fit the colour scheme that I’ve been using for them.

So far I have managed 2 classes and 1 challenge, although I’m anticipating completing a few more before I go to bed (after all I haven’t done my traditional cybercrop Kiefer layout yet).

So here’s what I’ve done as of 11pm tonight:

Class: The Colour Purple by Beckie – this class used lush velvet papers etc.

Class: The Stuntman by Sarah – how not to be afraid of white space it said on the blurb!

Challenge: Media Mogul – a layout based on a movie poster. I used the one for Pride & Prejudice (shown below)

So I’m off to read back through the challenges and see what else I can do easily otherwise I might be making a start on my Kiefer layout.

Day Two: Cybercrop Points = 130

Scrapbooking, Photography and More

So tomorrow is the start of the Oscars cybercrop on UKS. Although I meant to get more involved in the run up this time I haven't had a chance but I am certainly hoping to get something done over the weekend - hopefully a few more layouts of Jo's wedding.

Tomorrow is also the start of Shimelle's new photography course 'All Systems Go'. The idea is that every 25th of the month for the next year you spend all day taking photos wherever and whatever you're doing. Jo told me about the course as she'd heard about it on a photography course that she's doing called 'Painting with Light'. I've decided that I shall give it a go - after all it's only the commitment of 12 days out of my next year. You never know it might even improve my photography

Anyway here's a reminder that Shimelle's given us

If anyone else wants to join in then check it out here. Oh and it's free to join in so no reason not to give it a go!

Guilt is a Terrible Thing

I am so not a criminal. Or at least I should say I don’t have the mentality of a criminal. As you know Mrs H3 and I were on the guest list for Tuesday’s I Am Kloot gig at Koko as we’d agreed to collect e-mail addresses for the band’s newsletter. The premise was simple, turn up before the bands come on, collect a clipboard, paper and pen from the merchandise desk, harass a few unsuspecting lurking students and then settle back to enjoy Ferraby (not Mrs H3 obviously) and the awesome I Am Kloot. Great in theory, in practice not quite so simple.

For starters when we arrived at about 7.45pm (bear in mind Ferraby wasn’t going on stage till 8.30pm so this is how serious I was about doing the job properly) the merchandise desk was closed so we didn’t even spot where it was. After searching the whole of Koko for something that looked like the merchandise desk or anything to do with IAK we finally asked a security guard. He directed us back out to the entrance where we found the desk – still closed.

So back into the theatre where we found a fabulous spot, for once not right down the front by the stage but up in the balcony next to the sound desk. Unfortunately, I start to feel guilty about not having collected e-mail names and eventually get so fretful that we have to go back to the merchandising desk. It’s still closed and still no sign of anyone. We are lucky that we manage to get our space back. Now of course anyone else would give up at this point and just enjoy the evening, but not me. Another two times we visit the merchandising desk only to find that it’s still closed and still no one around. Of course by this time Ferraby has come on and we’ve lost our space. Mrs H3 is taller than me so she can still see the stage and spots Pete to whom she gives a huge wolf whistle before he runs off again. I tell her she’s scared the poor man away. *LOL*

Finally I Am Kloot come on and our good spot on the balcony is no longer so because loads have people are now in front of us (yep my fault totally for getting wiggy about this collecting lark again) but we can’t go downstairs because it’s absolutely packed (hurrah finally a mega crowd for Kloot – and better still most of them obviously appreciated the music big time) as Mrs H3 gets a bit freaked in close spaces.

Then to really cheer me up I’ve got three dickheads next to me who don’t stop chatting all the way through the set about … well just about anything but the music. Eventually I realise that I either have to move or I’m going to end up being thrown out when I thump them. As I can’t see the band from where I am anyway I move back to leaning against the wall seat and listen to the concert in peace without the added inane chatter. Every so often someone moves slightly and I catch a glimpse of Johnny through the bars of the balcony but it’s not much compensation.

Kloot (who for the first time ever have gone on stage dead on time at 9.30pm) are every bit as good as at Brighton, although the sound is different because of the different type of venue – not so rocky but with the fantastic acoustics in the place they sound great. But Johnny’s voice is on its way out again. It has grown considerably croakier since last week however he still manages to sing ‘Fingerprints’ (which is my current favourite, having overtaken ‘Dark Star’ with this performance) beautifully – and yes he does just about manage the high notes in ‘To You’ too although it’s clear that it’s a bit of a struggle.

As much as I hate to say it I hope that once the tour finishes he has a good long rest to recover his vocal chords (although obviously I’ll be pining at not seeing him – after all I’m already getting withdrawal symptoms and it’s only been 2 days!)

By the end of the concert I’ve finally managed to find a spot to see the band clearly and manage a full 30 seconds of the last song before they go offstage.

So time to leave and yep, I’m still feeling guilty about not having done my job but guess what – the merchandise desk is still closed on the way out, a shame as I wanted to buy the Ferraby Lionheart CD. Mrs H3 thinks it’s really funny that I feel so guilty about such a little thing. But I can’t help it.

As you can tell I’m still feeling a bit guilty about it hence the confession on here, but really we did try our hardest to do the job – it’s not our fault the merchandise desk was closed or that there was no sign of anyone vaguely IAK related around!

So for us the IAK tour is finished, although I would have to admit to having seriously considered going to Nottingham next Wednesday (unfortunately my Sat Nav tells me it’s a 3 hour drive which would make it a bit tight for seeing the band assuming they go on stage on time). Of course I’m sure I’ll do the sensible thing and not go, but it could be months before I get to see them again …

These are my friends, see how they glisten

“There was a barber and his wife …”

Wooohooooo!!!!!

It’s arrived! Yep Sweeney Todd is in my DVD player even as I write. I am sure you can imagine the excitement I’m feeling at seeing it again. After all it’s been just over two months since I last saw it (blimey doesn’t time fly!) although of course I have listened to the soundtrack rather a lot since then. All together now “It’s priest. Have a little priest …”

I have to mention the I Am Kloot concert on Tuesday, which was completely fantastic. Now I know I always say that but they really were on excellent form. Heavier than usual too which made a nice change. I noticed that Johnny changed the words to every one of the old songs in some way and several of them were played differently which was nice, but he’s keeping the ones from Moolah Rouge the same at the moment – probably a good move when they’re touring to promote the album. I was a bit disappointed that some of my favourite tracks from the new album weren’t played but as any Kloot track is a great track it was all good. Roll on next Tuesday when we get to do it all again!

IAK had a support act this time, the fabulously named Ferraby Lionheart (yep you heard it right) and I rather liked him. Mrs H3 very definitely didn’t. A solo singer-songwriter in the vein of David Mead he was right up my street although I was finding the chatting of the crowd through his set very off-putting, so I don’t know how he must have felt, poor man. I can see his album “Catch the Brass Ring” heading my way very shortly (probably next Tuesday to be precise), although I’m guessing Mrs H3 won’t want a copy.

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.

Snoozy Sunday

Well here I am back at Woodland Grange for the second week of my NEBOSH course. Apparently this week is easier (I certainly hope so!) Unfortunately the first exam didn't go wonderfully as I had complete brain failure - one of those cases where I completely forgot stuff that I'd been looking at only a few minutes before. Of course it's sods law that now I'm out of the exam environment I can remember the answers without a problem (isn't that always the way?) Anyway I'm sure the week will be okay even if I do end up as nervous and sick-feeling before the exam as I did last week.

I stayed just outside Leamington Spa for the weekend as I couldn't face the long journey back and forth and so Mrs H3 came to visit and we spent yesterday at Warwick Castle. It isn't a cheap day out once you start to add it all up - tickets are £18.50 each (although we were lucky that someone gave us a discount voucher which gave us 2 for 1 entry) plus another £2.75 each for the Ghosts Alive attraction (definitely worth a visit), car park is a fiver and then of course there's the cost of food and drink, not to mention all those little souvenirs one so desperately needs to buy ...

I had forgotten to mention in previous posts that Mrs H3 and I had been to the O2 bubble to see the Tutankhamun exhibition for her birthday a couple of weeks ago - which was also incredibly expensive (think almost £60 for 2 tickets including entrance to the 3D film 'Secrets of the Mummies') and to be honest it wasn't a patch on Warwick Castle. Although it was interesting to see the egyptian stuff, most of it wasn't anything to do with Tutankhamun (or two tanks as we now think of him) and disappointingly the mummy wasn't there (which we knew but was still disappointing) but worse still neither was that elaborate death mask - you know, the one everyone thinks of when thinking of egyptian grave goods ... the one that they are using on the posters to promote the exhibition (very much a rip off I thought!) The film was interesting, mainly for the 3D aspect rather than interest value. Although it did fill a couple of hours I personally wouldn't want to go again and I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone either.

However, Warwick Castle is a different matter. The place is brilliant and I would heartily recommend anyone who's ever in the area to go and visit. Obviously there is a big castle ... and very impressive it is too. Add to that archery, waxworks in authentically restored rooms, weaponries, fantastic birds of prey and the largest trebuchet in the world (22 tonnes) and it adds up to a cracking day out.

They cleverly schedule different things throughout the year so you could go every couple of months and not get bored. Although the weather wasn't fantastic, at turns cold, wet and then hot and sunny we both had a good day, and it was a full day too. We arrived about 11am and left about 5pm. Obviously we looked at all the displays and watched 2 of the birds of prey displays as they used different birds each time as well as taking part in the seasonal entertainment which was fairytale princesses and princes. A lot of fun for everyone involved - I just wish I had a job anywhere near as interesting as the one the people that work at the castle have ... and they get to dress up too!

Mrs H3 did take some photos which will follow at a later date when I have a chance to upload them.

Yoohooo ... it's me!

Okay, so things aren't as bad as I'd feared. The learning centre (the very plush Woodland Grange) has internet access and I haven't been completely deprived of my favourite pastime, although of course I haven't had quite the access that I normally have.

Did I mention that the course I'm doing is the NEBOSH National General Certificate? If not ... now you know!

It's been an interesting week, full of emotion and I think I'll be glad when the exam is over tomorrow and I can finally relax for a couple of days (I hope), although I'll be sad to say goodbye to a few nice people who aren't taking the second part of the course. The first day was a bit overwhelming, so much new information that it was hard to take in and I got rather despondent when I couldn't do the homework. Fortunately a nice new friend called Dave gave me his to copy ... although I did admit to Peter the tutor that I had cheated!

The second day was much better - more my area of work - law and compensation so I was relatively happy and then came yesterday.

A nightmare day full of lots of heavy duty stuff about health and safety legislation and regs followed by a mock exam!

I did absolutely dreadfully and left the classroom feeling very teary and ready to leave the course and go home. Lots of self-pitying e-mails to friends (sorry Mrs H3 and Nick especially) and rather a lot of red wine later I finally stumbled to bed still despondent but no longer crying.

Of course this morning after a chat with Peter, during which he marked my paper under exam conditions, I found that actually I had done rather better than expected and would in fact have passed that part of the exam without any problem. So of course today I am much happier and even considering doing a bit of revising this evening in readiness for tomorrow afternoon's exam.

So think of me at 1.30pm tomorrow and send me all your good vibes ... and everything you know about POPIMAR, JOI and the HASAW Act 1974!

Incommunicado

Just thought I'd make a quick post as I'm about to leave for Leamington Spa for a two week health and safety course (woohooo lucky me eh?) and will be incomunicado until I get back. Yep, no internet access for 13 days - oh my god how am I going to cope? I can't usually manage more than an hour without it!

I'm not really sure what there is to do in Leamington Spa and environs, apart from Warwick Castle but I'm sure it'll be nice and of course it's two weeks out of the office ... which is always good!

Better still when I get home my Sweeney Todd DVD should have arrived (guess what I'll be doing that weekend), and it's only 16 days till we see I Am Kloot in Brighton

Before I leave though I've just registered for the next UKS cyber crop which is this time based on the Oscars and I'm in the team 'Drama Queens' (Yes, I know, very apt!). This time I'm really going to make an effort to get involved as last time I actually didn't even look at any of the classes let alone actually do any scrapbooking!

Another Longish Catch Up

Yea Gods I’m a terrible blogger aren’t I? Where are the regular updates, the film reviews, the concert reviews, the general boring chatter about my inane life?

Well for starters I was a bit poorly after the half moon gig (nothing to do with the gig or the yummy Lebanese food we ate there) with a mega-migraine, which kept me in bed for over a week doing nothing more productive than sleeping. I will admit to having written a rather long entry a couple of weeks ago, but as it was about depression and suicide it didn’t make for happy reading. I’m sure much to everyone’s relief I decided against publishing it but I’ve kept it as a reminder of just how bleak my life can seem on occasions and perhaps when the next downward spiral starts I’ll be able to get something out of it. Note to self: when very depressed do NOT listen to Gary Numan’s ‘Empty Bed, Empty Heart’ on repeat. It really doesn't help!

So back onto the happy stuff (thank you so much Gary for cheering me up no end last Wednesday!)

Music

In between being ill and mad (me that is not Mrs H3) Mrs H3 and I have had our usual jaunts out. First of course was Johnny Bramwell’s solo gig at the Half Moon, which I thought was a cracking place, although Mrs H3 thought it a bit cramped. The support band, who I can't even remember the name of (something to do with One) were pretty poor, although they might just have been scared. Johnny was on top form, although drinking too much Guinness for a bloke his size (I hadn't realised quite how short he was till he stood next to me). There were lots of jokes and lots of chatting, more than we’ve seen before at the Kloot gig. There was also lots of changing the words to songs, whether because he’d forgotten the words or just because he has a tendency to do that anyway (which he does all the time when you listen to albums like the Peel Sessions) I’m not sure. He did sing “Fear of Falling” followed immediately by “Astray” to which he added an extra verse that was really excellent. Of course I’m now excited to see I Am Kloot doing the tour of their fantastic new album, which is finally being released on 14 April. The album comes with a DVD containing an hour of performances and interviews. Argghghh! I have the limited edition version of the CD and now I need this one too! We’re going to Komedia Brighton (15th) and Koko London (22nd) to see them.

Here's a video someone took from the Half Moon. It's Johnny and the crowd singing 'Proof'

Oh go on here's 'Storm Warning' too

Passenger have finally announced a tour but its while I’m away on a course in Royal Leamington Spa and the dates ‘up north’ are when I get back with the southern dates while I’m away (typical!) Hoping that they will do more dates later that I can make. I’m beginning to get paranoid that they really don’t want me to go and see them.

Last Wednesday was one of the most exciting nights of my life for the last ten odd years, finally seeing Gary Numan live once more. I have to admit that I was a touch nervous. After so long without seeing him there was just the vaguest possibility that he’d gone downhill, although I was determined to keep the faith. Add to that the fact that Mrs H3 wasn’t actually born when his first album came out and I’m not sure she was born for ‘Replicas’ either, I wasn’t sure how she’d react to a 50 year old rock god getting all retro for his 30th anniversary.

Of course there was no need to panic. Not only was Gary’s godlike awesomeness every bit as wonderful as every other time I’ve seen him (have you realised I adore him yet?) Mrs H3 really enjoyed it too. It was wonderful to hear new interpretations of the whole of such a classic album, ending of course with a blinding version of ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and he played ‘Cars’ (and for once it was a joy to hear), ‘Everyday I Die’ and ‘Prayer for the Unborn’ as the encore.

'Are Friends Electric'

It was loud (we were both deaf by the end of it), it was heavy on the bass (you could feel your clothes moving even when you were standing still) and it was bloody fantastic! Unfortunately we forgot cameras and my new phone so pretty and pink is completely rubbish at both photographs and video so instead of a lovely reminder of the evening it captured only the bass, and boy did it capture the bass!

Here is the wonderful finale to the gig 'Prayer for the Unborn' and a few words from Gary from his excellent website on his performance:

My apologies for becoming somewhat emotional during the final song, A Prayer For The Unborn. My three children were at the gig, Raven and Persia in the security pit by the stage for much of the show. As some of you may know A Prayer For The Unborn is a song for our first baby that died during the pregnancy and it's never easy to sing at the best of times as it brings all the sadness and tragedy of that horrible experience flooding back. To be singing that song and looking down at Raven and Persia was all a bit too much to be honest and I think I did quite a poor job in trying to disguise my emotions. I hope it didn't ruin anything for those people that noticed I was struggling.

Of course it won't be long till the DVD is out and I’m sure I’ll be buying it, just as I bought the special 3 CD edition of ‘Replicas Redux’ which I am hoping will turn up soon. I was actually very restrained at the concert only buying a programme which because it was Gary and he’s a complete technophile is a 2 disc CD containing a 2 ½ hour interview interspersed with tracks from the album, a complete bargain for £10.

He’s expecting to tour again with new stuff in the autumn and Mrs H3 and I will definitely be there with him. Hmmm, I can feel a trip to ‘Bestival’ on the Isle of Wight coming up as he’s performing there too.

I have to say at this point that I was being kind to Johnny’s support band only because Gary’s were so much worse. These hoodie wearing technoboys seemed to be torn as to what sort of music they wanted to play (the lead singer looked like he wanted to be Gerard Way, but played a big electronic keyboard like Rick Wakeman) and failed in just about every respect except for the pretentious song names and dance trance rubbish (oh sorry ‘Higher State of Consiousness’) they came out with at the end. I have no idea what they were called either as we couldn't work out what the singer was saying with the amount of reverb they added to everything, but they made all previous supports seem like geniuses in comparison (and I include Sheep on Drugs at Folkestone Pavilion in 1996).

Film

Talking of DVDs I ordered Sweeney Todd from the US as the release date of 1 April was over there only, it’s not out here until May 19th – far too long for me to wait!

Mrs H3 and I went to see Rambo 4 and had a terrific evening. The film is incredibly graphic, incredibly violent, incredibly gory and bloody good fun. Of course I was in the midst of my depression at the time so may have actually rather over-enjoyed it but Yep, I’d definitely recommend it.

On Sunday we went to a preview of the Spiderwick Chronicles, another of those children’s films made from a series of books that I love. I wasn’t disappointed. It is a well-shot and not overly long film (running time 96 minutes) that captures the first five books (obviously well abridged) with some amazing special effects and Andrew McCarthy although only for a few moments, but it’s always a pleasure to see him. I would definitely rate this film higher than the adaptation of The Dark is Rising and would happily sit through it again.

So there you go, that’s me caught up again. Nothing much planned for this week although with the Easter holidays coming along who knows what might happen?

How Much Chatter?

I thought I’d better have an update as I haven’t posted for ages (hadn’t realised it had been quite so long to be honest). So apologies if this goes on a bit but I’ve got a lot to say. (Oi, who said just for a change?) *LOL*

Since I last posted my scrapping mojo has left again for the time being, mainly due to lack of time rather than lack of creativity. As soon as I can find some time to relax a bit I’ll be back to scrapping some more of my sister’s fab wedding photos. And I might have a go at some birthday cards too as I’ve missed everyone’s up to this point again (sorry folks!)

I spent a lovely weekend at Shazzer’s a couple of weeks ago where we relaxed and chatted and ate and drank all sorts of good stuff including some scrummy pasta and doughnuts (nope the eating plan is not going all that well at the moment). It was fantastic to see her again and enjoy a good chin wag. Hopefully it won't be too long till the next time and maybe a meet with the other Sinners too – it’s definitely far too long overdue! If not then I’m sure we’ll be meeting up at Jen and Michael’s wedding which is on the 21st June at a currently undisclosed location in Essex (think I better get back on that eating plan!).

Film

I have sadly only been to see ‘Sweeney Todd’ once more since my birthday, mainly due to being let down by people who were going to go then couldn’t. Of course now I know all the words, especially as most of them are contained on the deluxe soundtrack CD which I’ve played probably once a day since I got it. So now I’m counting the days till the DVD is released which according to a press release yesterday from Paramount will be 1st April (I hope that’s not just in the US) – and yes I am waiting for Play.com to notify me when it’s available.

Last night Mrs H3 and I went to see Jack Black and Mos Def in ‘Be Kind, Rewind’ on preview. I thought it would make a change to see something new for once especially as I don't think she could face seeing ST again and I wouldn't be mean enough to ask her. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I was hoping (although the Ghostbusters sequence is really laugh out loud funny), turning out to be much like Jonathan Ross’ review of the film said it would be (we had already booked tickets before I saw his review of it). It seemed to me to be 2 different films trying to merge into one and it didn’t quite work on either level although the ‘sweded’ film segments were definitely very funny, so it wasn’t the worst film I’ve seen recently, ‘Atonement’ still wins hands down on that.

The next films we’ll be most likely going to see are ‘Rambo 4’ which is out this week – a must see in my book anyway as I’ve loved all the others and after seeing his marvellous performance on Jonathan Ross last Friday just confirmed that need and a preview of the Spiderwick Chronicles on 16th March (yep it’s another kids series that I love). Hmmm, I wonder if I could sneak in just one more trip to see Sweeney Todd too? *LOL*

Music

This evening we’re off to the legendary Half Moon in Putney to see Johnny Bramwell who apparently played a really blinding set in Manchester last week (I now wish I had gone to see him there after all). Here’s hoping he’ll be as on form tonight. Of course I am really excited about it as usual. Better still I Am Kloot have just announced a major tour once they return from Europe to promote their fantastic new album ‘Moolah Rouge’ and they’ll be doing a couple of dates in the South, at the Komedia in Brighton on 15th April and Koko in London on 22nd April. I’ll be going to at least one I’m sure.

Below is a new acoustic version of Ferris Wheels (from said album) that he recorded to promote the Valentine’s Day gig. Enjoy.

As exciting (or actually even more exciting being serious about it) is the fact that we’ve managed to get tickets (and standing tickets at that – something I rarely do these days now that I’m old) for Gary Numan’s 30th anniversary Replica’s tour. As much as I love Gary’s new work my heart has always belonged to his older material and having missed the Telekon tour last year because I was away I couldn't resist the chance to see this wonderful classic album performed in its entirety live. Be assured that I will be getting more and more excited until 12th March when I’ll probably have exploded! If he ever decides to redo the Warriors or Berserker tours I’ll probably die of happiness!

Gary was a guest on Jonathon Ross’ radio show last Saturday which was a real pleasure to listen to (he had Jason Isaacs as a guest the week before) and even played ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and ‘Down in the Park’ - probably the first time Gary’s had a record played on the radio for years!

My Chemical Romance are doing a final ‘The Black Parade is Dead!’ tour across America, including a date in New Orleans that I’d love to go to but obviously can’t unless I suddenly win the lottery. Then they’re heading back into the studio to record a new album … and then hopefully a lovely brand spanking new UK tour (yes I’m impatient, I know!) Blue October are still showing no sign of coming to the UK even though they said they were hoping to be over in the Spring (c’mon guys it’s nearly Spring come and see me, please). They too are set to go back into the studio for a new album to be released in 2009 so I’m really hoping they get over here before then. I’d also like to see Stephen Fretwell the next time he’s touring as I’ve really got into his stuff recently, David Mead (oh if only he’d do a tour or even a new album) and Passenger who are doing a concert in Southampton on 5th March but you can only get a ticket by winning one from the local radio station. We are considering going to see James Marsters (yep, that’s Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) at the Union Chapel on 2nd May and of course I’m completely gutted to have not got a ticket to see Pete Doherty at the Royal Albert Hall on 26th April – perhaps he’ll be back at the Tap n’ Tin soon instead.

Television

My friend Andrew at work has lent me the first series of ‘Life on Mars’ to watch as I seem to have missed it every time it was on the telly. Haven’t had a chance to watch it yet though as I’m currently loving watching the first season of ‘Brotherhood’, the devastatingly attractive Jason Isaacs completely fantastic US TV series that I recently got on DVD (and I’ve just finished downloading season 2 - and now the writer's strike is over hopefully soon season 3). This was after having recently finished watching another of his works ‘The State Within’, a political thriller that I also thoroughly enjoyed.

Having about 10Gb of space left on my 80Gb I-Pod I had the brainwave of converting a few movies (Snow Cake, The Search for John Gissing, Dogma etc.) and adding them so I could watch a film when I fancied. Unfortunately it didn’t go as smoothly as I was hoping and for some reason it completely deleted the 65Gb of music that I had on there when it added the films even though it was set to manually change things. As you can imagine I was initially quite upset* but on reflection I decided that it would give me a chance to have a clear out of some of the stuff that I didn’t really listen to anyway. I am reloading slowly so at the current time my I-Pod contains the following perfect shuffle list of artists: I Am Kloot, Gary Numan, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Passenger, Muse, Stephen Fretwell and David Mead oh and of course the Sweeney Todd soundtrack.

*incredibly pissed off wouldn’t even begin to cover it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Finally I just need to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY for today to Andrew (who’s busy working in Manchester at the moment – although not too hard I hope) and also to Alan Rickman who is 62 and still completely and utterly gorgeous!

More Scrapbooking

So my mojo really has been working overtime this week. After the mass scrapbooking of Wednesday night I had another attack on Thursday and completed another 3 layouts. Once again from Jo’s wedding.

What I Did On My Birthday

Well I had a completely fab birthday. Having reverted to my usual nocturnal hours with a day off looming I was awake until 4am, re-watching ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Angel’. So that of course meant a nice lie in (always a pleasure). I opened my cards while I had a cup of tea and generally chilled with a couple of presents (2 rings from Annette and Carluccio gold leafed dark chocolates from Kev and Sandra). After a chat to my parents I got dressed and went to Bluewater to meet Mrs H3 for our day of fun.

I received my presents from her before we headed off to see the film - tickets to see JHAB at Half Moon on 21st February (with her obviously) and quite possibly the most fantastic present I’ve ever received in my life – the awesome Moo Dog.

As you can see Moo Dog is a cow. For the uninitiated, the Cow Parade is a huge public art exhibition, which began in 1999 and still continues to this day (recently showing in Istanbul, Copenhagen, Vigo, Milan and Marseille). In 2002 it came to London and at work we all became interested in the life size decorated cow statues that began appearing all over the capital. In fact we became so obsessed with seeing them that when Mrs H3 left us to go and play in pastures new we bought her a china version of the fabulous ‘Beefeater – It Ain’t Natural’ as a leaving present.


In 1999 George Rodrigue (who for anyone who knows me or has seen my New Orleans blog will know is one of my all time favourite artists) sponsored 3 cows for the Chicago parade (shown above). Mrs H3 was trying to get me a china version of one of these, but was unable to do so (due to their rarity I’m guessing) so instead bought a plain paint your own cow and made one for me.

I am completely astonished and touched both for the amazing skill that she’s shown in rendering my plain cow into something fantastically closely resembling one of George’s originals but also for the amount of time and care that she took in doing so. Thank you so much matey for a truly wonderful present.

Once the presents had been opened we headed, complete with large ice creams and fizzy drinks for our second viewing of Sweeney Todd, which I enjoyed even more than the first. Seeing it again gave the opportunity to pick up on the things I missed the first time round and to just let the lush cinematography and sublime Sondheim lyrics wash over me. Apparently the woman next to Mrs H3 had a rather extreme reaction to the film – being terrified for most of it and having hysteria for the rest. I am sure I’ll be seeing it at least once more and the DVD is already top of my want list for the year.

After the film I decided that it was time to finally sort out getting a new phone. I had realised that it was pointless being on a contract when I use so little of the allotted time and texts so was going to switch to pay as you go. However, I really need a new phone as mine is almost 3 years old and having been dropped a few times doesn’t function anywhere near as well as I’d like it to. As luck would have it Virgin (who I am with on contract) had reduced the phone that I really wanted from £90+ to £70 (the beautiful pink Nokia 7373 from the L’Amour Collection) and although I hate the idea of having to actually pay for a phone (yes I know I pay for it through the contract but at least I don’t have a big outlay upfront) even I could see that I needed to switch. Fortunately I got a nice sensible salesman who having agreed that I really did need to move from contract, explained that I could switch to pay as you go without any trouble, keeping my current number and still paying by direct debit, in future just being charged for what I use. He sorted it all out for me and then cheered me further by telling me that my customer loyalty points meant that I got £60 off the cost of a new phone. With another discount it meant that in the end I only had to pay £2.50 for my lovely new phone (which Mrs H3 generously added to my birthday presents) and got 200 free text messages a month for the next 4 months and a years free subscription to Glamour magazine as well. A complete bargain as I’m sure you’ll agree.

We then hooked up with Lynne and did a little window shopping until it was time to meet Andrea and Tina and enjoy a nice meal at that old favourite De Alto. Lynne bought me a bunch of beautiful purple tulips, a big bar of dark chocolate and a crystal butterfly necklace and earring set. Aiden bought me more chocolate (mini Green and Black bars) and Andrea bought me the deluxe version of the Sweeney Todd film soundtrack. From Tina I got a gift voucher and a beaded makeup bag. All in all an excellent stash of presents!

The presents have continued today with a visit from Jane and Leanne. They bought me the UK version of Snow Cake with all the extras (hurrah!), Nanny McPhee, Edward Scissorhands and Bridge to Terabithia. Loads to keep me occupied for a while.