Dear Diary...

This is my diary. How things are. Or something. Please note that the diary is archived month by month, so feel free to click the links for the archives (which now will go back five years maximum):

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2021


Monday 19th October – Sensoria in the Albert Hall

I worked from The Love In My Heart’s place today, which was good to be able to get several things done and support the event taking place in the US remotely as needed too, making sure that colleagues there would be able to use the print system. In fact that appeared to be going well primarily due to the colleagues there having done the setup and get things working all well. I think too that when you have a good set of colleagues that you are able to work with, then it makes life considerably easier.

I must admit though that the main reason for being in Manchester still (apart from spending time with The Love and indeed Brian the cat, who has kept me company all day and been so super adorable and cute) was that I was heading off to a gig tonight with a good friend of mine, who was heading down from Ulverston for it. It was one of our favourite bands and one which we did not think we would ever see live, primarily because of the passing of one of their main members, but also that there were never that many live appearances of the band anyway. But as this was to be one final tour, we just had to do it – and so it would be Cabaret Voltaire at the Albert Hall tonight.

After work I headed on the tram into Manchester city centre, and had arranged with my friend to meet up in The Waterhouse pub, primarily as it was close to the venue but also because the beer would be cheaper on a Monday and that we could grab food if we needed (and I did, the chicken and rice went down well.) It was great to see my friend of course and we spent a fair bit of time having a catch up and a good natter about all sorts, and that always feels really good anyway. I had got him a ticket for his birthday present as I thought that was a cracking idea, which I know he really appreciated.

Once all done, we headed over to Peter Street and the Albert Hall, and even though I had been to numerous venues in Manchester, I’d never been in here. It was up stairs to what is the lower level with bars and the stage, and the upper level where you could either sit or stand – and the view looked good from there. That said, as the floor does slope slightly towards the stage, and the stage was quite elevated, we got a good spot near the bar anyway and was able to get drinks – including a two pint option if needed. The staff were really friendly as well and the vibe certainly seemed right – there were some who maybe had discovered the band after their main eras, but plenty like us who were there for albums such as The Crackdown, Micro Phonies and so on.

First up was Gazelle Twin, and I’d heard some of her music before, but not a massive amount. I would definitely say it was suitable support for the Cabs, and very much performance art inspired as well as the music. Elizabeth Bernholz (who is Gazelle Twin) certainly looked striking and walked around the stage with vocals and occasional flute offering a dark backing to the electronic tracks being played. The likes of Unstopptable Force with the whispered “push me” hit home well, and to an appreciative crowd, and it is no wonder she has produced a number of film and TV soundtracks.

On came Cabaret Voltaire, and it was an excellent show all round. We had a rough idea of some of the songs based on previous nights, and I suspect an earlier curfew time meant that we did not get Kino, which would have been good. But nonetheless, a great cross section of tracks with Chris Watson joining Steven Mallinder, along with Eric Random and Ben Edwards, and in an interview with Mallinder recently, he explained they rebuilt all the tracks from scratch with a view to playing them live. And if we’re talking bass and lead guitar, synth drums, and lots of synth effects with Mallinder on vocals doing the business, then they really did put the effort in.

From the early parts of the set which had 24/24, Why Kill Time (When You Can Kill Yourself) and Spies in the Wires, the spread of the era covered was excellent, not least when Kneel to the Boss was aired and got suitable gasps of “Oh yes they are playing this!”. After Seconds Too Late, they did play Chris Watson’s newly penned track Tinsley Viaduct (those of you who know Sheffield will know.) Having Just Fascination and then Yashar back to back (more of course notable here as that track was released by Factory Records of course!) - and then following that up with Sex, Money and Freaks from the CODE album – being reissued soon, and blasting out Easy Life too. Nice.

What was a great final main set song was the opener from Micro Phonies, Do Right, which has a lead in some ways into what Sensoria would become of course. They went off very briefly before coming back on for the encore, and well, what a set of three songs that was! It was first blasting out the all time classic Nag Nag Nag, which sounded even darker than ever and gorgeously filthy with the low bass lines. This led into I Want You, which is tune of the day – for us Commodore 64 fans of course this was one of the two tracks Rob Hubbard covered on the game I,Ball – and it’s also from my favourite CV album too. Needless to say my friend and I were pleased with that – and to follow that with a blinding version of Sensoria? Oh yes, we were both spoiled. It was bloody excellent.

We walked back to the tram stop so I could get my tram back to The Love’s place, and we both had massive smiles on our faces. I think for us both the fact we’d finally managed to see a band that we both wanted to see, and that it was such a good gig all round, really did make it feel good. And spending that time with such a good friend meant a lot – we both were just happy to be there and I think that reflected in the fact I could not stop similing all the way home. Gigs are great, but having memories to cherish with one of your friends to look back on over time – even more so. Superb!

Sunday 18th October – Sense and Sensibility in Alty

The Love In My Heart and I were off out today, primarily to go to the cinema, which is always nice to do but we do not always get the time to do it – either I might be watching Manchester City, or we have Little Miss E or Little Miss O (or both), and those are both good times. We had got a voucher for Everyman Cinemas from our friends a while back, and we did need to use it. Although there was a suggestion that the new film with Tom Cruise in it, Digger, may be suitable, The Love was concerned it might not be her thing, and not action Tom as I think she prefers – and with good reason. As such, we decided that a current version of Sense and Sensibility, based on the Jane Austen novel, would be good. The times for Manchester were not the best, but Altrincham fared better, so a trip out on the tram to Alty (as the locals call it) was workable.

We walked over to the tram stop and from there it was a direct run on the tram to Altrincham. Notably we did have to wait a little bit because there had been some vandalism on the line, and that had caused some issues where the tram does the little loop back around. However, a solution was found and we were soon heading via Manchester city centre, out again, and once past Cornbrook and on to Trafford Bar the tram sped up considerably via Stretford, Sale, and Timperley (cue obvious nod to Frank Sidebottom, you know you must, you really must!) and on to Altrincham.

We knew where the cinema was so it was a short walk towards the market area and then up to the bar. We got a drink from the bar and so we could relax and then take that in with us in to screen four, which was nice and cosy and small – only around 40-50 seats tops with all comfy sofas for two, which The Love had booked. It was nice to be able to relax in there and sit comfortable with shed loads of leg room and a little side table to put your drink on – I normally have the Ubu ale when in there as it comes in a good sized bottle and is worth the money – the Menabrea is okay but a bit dear in truth.

The film I have to say was very good, and did follow the plot of the original book closely, so of course you know what should happen at the end (and it did) but it was really well set, with some lovely countryside backdrops and plenty of hills and paths for some of the drama to unfold, and the house that the Dashwoods move to did seem quite out of the way of things too, giving it that more country feel. Daisy Edgar-Jones was excellent as Elinor Dashwood, giving her character a sense of depth and intelligence as well as emotion, and that was mirrored by Esmé Creed-Miles (the daughter of Samantha Morton no less) who played Marianne Dashwood. They both really formed a strong partnership and showed strength in their souls and humility. I also have to note that the way that Herbert Nordrum portrayed Colonel Bandon was also excellent, and I can see him in more period dramas in future.

The Love really enjoyed it too, and we headed out of the cinema and back on the tram, stopping off in central Manchester to have a late lunch / early tea at The Bank on Mosley Street. I had the salmon fillet which came with prawns, capers, dauphinoise potatoes and also some stem broccoli, and was superb, and The Love had the gammon shank which was also delightful too. It was nice to have a good meal and with some nice tunes being played over the sound system too which felt more relaxing. In fact, there was Tears for Fears’ classic Everybody Wants To Rule the World, so tune of the day there methinks. We got back to The Love’s place in good time to feed Brian the cat and settle in for the Strictly Come Dancing results, and all was well with the world.

Saturday 17th October – Seven out of Seven

I had a delayed journey up to Manchester last night due to Avanti being their usual selves – the train I got did leave London Euston late and then it was claimed that there was “congestion” at Crewe, meaning being stuck outside there for some time. By the time the train limped into Manchester Piccadilly, it was forty minutes late and so naturally a Delay Repay claim will be going in to get half of that fare back. I know occasionally I did have issues when Virgin Trains ran that route, but nowhere near as bad and with cheaper fares, including incentives for football fans to get special discounts too – which really did help me considerably in my early years of working down South.

I had the common sense to get a weekend travelcard for the trams as I knew that we would be out tomorrow and the day ticket for going to where we are (being Zone 4) would be £4.90, so with the single fare last night being £2.80, and the travelcard being £6.80, quids in. Even more so this morning after I got up and let The Love In My Heart have some more restful sleep with Brian the cat, I headed off to Ashton-under-Lyne to have a look over at Rewind Collectables and Games. They’ve expanded to two rooms now, and a lot of card collectables and figures in the first one (the original room) with games in the second one. Still some good 8-bit selections in there, but nothing I needed today.

Later on it was over to the Etihad Stadium for me to see Manchester City play Ipswich Town. It was the first home league game since the recent news, and carrying on from the Champions League epic against Paris Saint-Germain midweek, it seemed City fans were in full gallows humour. Inflatable bananas were everywhere, especially in the South Stand and the Pep Guardiola Stand, and generally it was a case of getting on with it pending the appeal. I don’t like the situation any more than anyone else to be honest, and I would much rather have it all finally sorted, decisions made, and we can all move on. But it’s not the fault of the current players, and it’s wrong to have a go at them. But could we keep our league form going and make it seven wins from seven to stay top?

It was clear that Ipswich Town were keen on defending but with some pace in the counter attack, and they did look lively up front and braver than some teams in that respect. For us, Jérémy Doku was back and it was good to see him take on defenders, and when he did that down the left and put the cross in, it was Phil Foden who hit home for his first goal in ages to take the lead for City. All good there then. Well you would think so, but then Ipswich Town did not read the script, went forward, and with Marc Guéhi beaten to the ball well, it was down to Daizen Maeda to finish and that was with aplomb. 1-1, and we just cannot keep a clean sheet in the league most of the time.

City did at least go forward and went for it, and it was only a matter of time before we scored. Mateo Kovacic picked up the ball on the right, went past a defender and then laid in a perfect cross for who else but Erling Haaland to head it home. The keeper should have done much better and almost clawed it into his own net, but still I’ll take it and 2-1 at half time did feel better. Certainly it felt a little lively with everyone and the bananas, and they even had Imre Varadi on along with City fan Frank Newton, widely credited for bringing the first inflatable banana to Maine Road back in the day. Even now Imre recalls being called Imre Banana and he actually has a website selling the inflatable ones, yes really.

The second half was more pressure, and some changes to try and keep players fit but also finish the job off well too. A great through ball from Iliman Nidaye (who is fast becoming a shrewd purchase) fed Erling Haaland and it was 3-1, with some breathing room. However, City had eventually used all their substitutes and took some knocks – Antoine Semenyo’s looked bad, and Erling Haaland got a kick to the foot which was not good as he was clearly hobbling around during the ridiculous 12 minutes of added on time, primarily for two VAR decisions – one to deny Haaland his hat trick and one for a penalty to Ipswich Town, given away by Marc Guéhi, which was duly put away by Zian Flemming. Still, a win is a win and that’s 21 points from 21 which I am not arguing with whatsoever. Tune of the day is a nod to that and if we win the next one: 24/24 by Cabaret Voltaire.

Sunday 11th October - Car Booting and Battersea

It was time to spend a relaxing Sunday and be able to take things relatively easy. I had been bunged up with some cold and cough that had developed over the whole week (in fact the office has pretty much been a source of people catching stuff) and so yesterday it was just staying locally, doing some shopping and then getting some quality time in. I did fancy a walk somewhere on the coast but a lot of the trains were screwed for engineering work (part of the reason I was not in Manchester incidentally) but also that did man it would be a shlep to get anywhere, and I did not want to face that to be perfectly honest.

So instead I had a brainwave – hit a car boot sale, and then go for a walk afterwards, depending on if I had bought anything. So with cash in hand ready to rock, it was off on the train from East Croydon, changing at Clapham Junction and then off to Vauxhall. From there, and dodging all the American Football fans who were taking the tube via Green Park to Wembley Park for today’s game, it was over Vauxhall Bridge and following the signs for Pimlico, then over to the local Pimlico Academy where the car boot sale was being held. It is there usually every Sunday as they use part of the car park, the approach road for the school and the playground areas as well as some inside slots for people who just rock up with a case full of stuff, so it works well.

It was good to have a mooch around there, but it did feel like some traders were present amongst the bona fide sellers, taking card payments, far too many organised boxes of their wares and so on. For me this does reduce the essence of what a car boot sale should be, so that was not good. But on the plus side, lots of people who genuinely were selling their old stuff, and there was temptation to get an old DVD and VHS combi player primarily as video is starting to come back into retro fashion, and having something along those lines may work well – although to be fair I have no VHS tapes anymore and would have to effectively rebuild up a collection – and space and all that. Still, good to see.

After that, I took a short bus ride on the 360 route heading towards Chelsea Bridge, and that meant I could cross over the bridge and into Battersea Park. The plan was to take a nice walk around the permieter roads of the park and end up close to the train station and maybe even visit the café for the cats and dogs home, as they do nice coffee and any money made goes back into their care, so that feels positive. Anyway, I had walked around for a bit and got to the Putt in the Park segment and fancied some crazy golf. Not today! The whole complex and café had been hired by a charity as they were doing a run in the park and surrounding area, and using that for a finish location and for people to have a round of crazy golf afterwards for their hard work, which I thought to be fair was a really nice thing to do. No complaints there really.

I walked around the rest of the park and sadly the café at Battersea was closed for a break, and would be some time later that day before reopening, maybe they were short staffed. A shame but I will be back there at some point, and I know last time The Love In My Heart and I went in there, we enjoyed it. I had Plan B though – and this involved me doing something transport geekery too. Yes, I got the London Overground train from Battersea Park station! They only use it late at night during the week generally or sometimes divert if Clapham Junction has some work going on, which is what was happening today. To be fair, TfL should maybe split the final destinations more often, because it’s not far from the power station and so on. So it was on that to Denmark Hill and off to the pub for a good late lunch, because why not?

I got the 468 bus back home after that and managed to miss the final whistle for the Crystal Palace home game as that would otherwise have been too busy, and settled in to listen to Manchester City’s game at Liverpool. Suffice to say that the lads played really well and the red card did change things, but even so we got into them and it was somehow fitting that Liverpool collapsed under the pressure of having every other team wanting them to win against us. Three goals was more than enough to see us get over the line, and naturally having Erling Haaland in my Fantasy team, him scoring was good. Jérémy Doku scored a screamer and Rayan Cherki’s goal was majestic. Somehow it just seemed like with the world against them, City just got on with it on the pitch. Tune of the day has to be the old Man City song The Boys in Blue, as they never gave in when it was recorded back in 1972, and somehow seems apt it was the song of choice for me growing up too.

Friday 9th October - A Certain Ratio and A Certain Type of Gig Wanker

It was back to the office for me today, and I finalised some communications for our comms team next week, and of course it was a sad day as one of the team who had been so lovely was leaving for an internal position. I knew too she had helped out current comms manager work in the new ways of the company that took us over, and was a vital cog in all that and making it work. People move on, but it was good that there was such a positive write up for her and it was something that I had felt was more than justified.

I did feel a little odd in the stomach around 3pm, and headed to the toilet. It was not great - not sick, but defintely not the right time for it. In fact, I felt it sensible to head over to Boots on the way to the first port of call tonight and get some tablets (The Love In My Heart, as ever, was kind enough to suggest what would work) and with a bottle of water and two consumed, it did ease the pain a bit. I did wonder if that was down to the food yesterday or even the water for the table, because last time I drank tap water (in Nice incidentally) I ended up having similar stomach cramps and then needing the loo a fair bit. Thankfully it eased, and I could enjoy the rest of the night.

So first off was to Fetter Lane not far from Chancery Lane tube, and to The Wild Swan, which is a pub owned by the Thornbridge Brewery. This means good beer (yaay of course) but also proper decent prices, and under £6 for a pint in this part of London is pretty unheard of. It's a gem of a place and I loved the feel immediately - definitely need to go back with The Love sometime. I got myself the Lord Marples bitter (proper pint that) and headed upstairs, where thankfully a table had been reserved and my former manager was present, whom I had come to see. He had been made redundant by his current company, but to be honest I think he was more relieved and happy to be honest.

It was also nice to see several colleagues whom had basically split up fom the place I worked at and went the way of the digital commerce company, now part of a major business with a massive shed load of employees. The impression I got was everything seemed a little corporate, but lots of other nice chatter included which centred around music and sport, so all good there. It was nice to chat to lots of people, and of course one of the team who supported Newcastle United, but also keeps an eye on his very local side Hebburn Town, doing well by all accounts too. I did also have the Market Porter too and that was lush, as you would expect. Time had gone far too quick and time for me to head to Camden - which I'd warned people about. They were all happy to see me to be fair!

It was a hop on the 46 via Kings Cross and over to Camden Road Overground station, where I walked along the Regent's Canal towpath and over to the venue for tonight's gig, Camden Dingwalls. It was A Certain Ratio playing tonight and in effect, two sets, with their 1982 album Sextet and their 1986 release Force being played in full, and in track order. I managed to find a spot with a reasonable view but already I could hear lots of people chattering - I hoped that they would keep quiet by the time the band came on. Sadly, no. Too many absolute gig wankers inside this venue, and it really did start to annoy me. The band are on, listen and simply shut up and pay attention. How hard can it be?

I must admit that did spoil my enjoyment somewhat of the first set of Sextet, which is a shame. Because with epics such as Knife Slits Water and the opener Lucinda giving things a very funky vibe to start it all off, there definitely was a case of the band playing well but some of the audience not. The line up tonight was Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop (complete with iconic hat), and Donald Johnson bringing the drums and grooves, along with Matt Steele on keyboards and the superb Viv Griffin on bass and also handling a lot of the vocals too, and kudos to her for absolutely smashing those. Skipscada sounded excellent too, along with the spooky Rialto, and that really set things off well.

I decided to head to the right hand side of the venue and found a spot where I could view the stage well and also be away from talkative idiots. That suited me much better and once the break had happened, the band came back on to do the album Force in full. This of course meant Bootsy early on, which on the original album Corinne Drewery (of Swing Out Sister) sings - Andy Connell was in A Certain Ratio at the time too before leaving to do SoS full time, so makes sense. I have to say Viv was superb vocally on this, and really brought the bass grooves and the vocals wonderfully together, so tune of the day for making it feel so lovely.

This did of course mean Mickey Way (The Candy Bar) later on, which is one of my top A Certain Ratio tracks of all time, so definitely had all the vibes and grooves to get the diehards in the crowds at the front moving. It was great fun to enjoy that and I was much happier being away from gig wankers now. And Then She Smles was lovely too with Jez on great vocal form, but the nice surprise was to come - Anthem was great but they also included all three bonus tracks as well which included the epic Si firmi o grido, another fan favourite. A nice way to wind down the evening well and certainly the band had performed very well!

Thursday 8th October - Nine Go For Curry in Whitechapel

I went to the office today, primarily as I now have a locker in there, which means I can at least lock things in there overnight but also means that I don't need to carry everything with me all the time. This can be quite handy when going to gigs and so on to make sure I don't leave anything behind or be subject to any restrictions or storing things where they might not come back. In fact today I was working on getting some additional chasing done for some final migrations but also road testing a couple of things on the Mac side of things too - as we're shortly moving to another management platform.

It was a good day all round really and was nice to see some people I hadn't seen in the office for a good while, so was good to be able to chatter to them and see how things were. It was interesting too that one of them had been to Portugal recently so was able to mention about Lisbon and the different things we did this time around. They did mention that Faro itself was nice (something noted on a recent Steve Marsh video too incidentally) and so that would potentially give us a new avenue to explore in future.

Anyway, after work it was not heading home but on the District Line for me and off to Whitechapel. Work had arranged for a meal out for the team I work with, paid for by our big boss. He had his PA with him, who to be fair is really down to earth and lovely, and definitely liked a good chat about music (which of course several of us in the team also enjoy so it was good to mention that.) In fact, I mentioned how under the surface of Manchester music how so many different bands there were, including the likes of The Railway Children and The Man from Delmonte, so Water In My Eyes from them has to be tune of the day - it came into my head and I ended up having a little hum to msyelf on the train home later on.

We had gone over to Tayyabs, a restaurant with a good reputation for a good curry and indeed atmosphere too. They do not serve alcohol, but do not stop you bringing in your own, and so as such a few had gone to the local off licence and brought in some cans and wine. I was staying on soft drinks as I did not feel like drinking much (and I'd had Guinness Zero last night in The Bedford). Also as it was a work night out as such, I thought it sensible not to get too drunk just in case. In any case, conversation flowed and the food was coming out and looked very well.

To start, we decided on just getting some different meats to share amongst us, and this included seekh and shami kebabs, lamb chops, tandoori chicken and mutton tikka too. All were full of flavour and definitely tasted good too. We had a raft of pilau rice and different naan breads to go with the main curry we each ordered. I went for the king prawn karahi which was plentiful and had good flavours, and others had the chicken tikka massala, the mutton karahi, and the karahi keema lamb too. They definitely did all smell and look well preesented, and no one was going hungry - so much so that no dessert was needed whatsoever!

It was a little walk back to Whitechapel for me as some of the team continued with drinks later, but as I had a gig tomorrow night and a leaving do before that, I wanted to save some energy, so I got the Overground back to Norwood Junction and then timed it perfectly to get the 312 bus home from there, which meant a much shorter walk home late when I got off, just what I needed. I did manage to catch up and watch tonight's Celebrity Traitors so that was something, and of course Claudia Winkleman looked as gorgeous as ever which had to be done!

Wednesday 7th October - Back to Back in Balham

It was a different evening after work for me tonight, as I was heading off to Balham for a gig. It was at the Bedford, a place I'd always seen going past on the train from London Victoria heading back to East Croydon on the train of course, and I'd heard good things about the place. When it was announced that Hibbett and Christopher were part of the four act line up, I of course simply had to take that opportunity up and had purchased a ticket in good time. After all, £10 for four acts should be pretty good, and it does mean at least you woudl get the money's worth. I also knew that Tim Eveleigh was compereing, and he's done a fair few alternative gigs in and around Croydon for years.

As I had time on my side, I left work and headed on the 2 bus to Stockwell, and changed there for the 155 which took me via Clapham High Street and Clapham Common before heading towards Balham station. As I got off the bus, I noted a nice bar that I had researched and I knew that they did pizzas for food too, so I thought that might be quite nice. And kudos to Hagen and Hyde - a really nice well looked after pint of Gipsy Hill's Hepcat, and also a ham and mushroom pizza, cooked Neaopolitan style, and plenty of nice dough and toppings all round. A sure fire winner in my book.

I walked over to The Bedford and found the gig part of the place, effectively a round dome at the back with the stage at one side and chairs and tables all laid out, with its own little bar too so you did not have to go back to the main bar. I showed the ticket, all was good, and the stage was set for the second act of the night as they had a sizeable lineup and kit. I did get myself a nice comfy spot where I could see the stage and the place gradually filled nicely with people - not too many, but plenty enough to make it all cosy.

First up then was Adrian Roye, and I really liked his music to be fair. A nice mix of acoustic and Americana with some humour along the way, and songs to sing along to, such as Four Horses, and perhaps my favourite, Pink Trainers, where he ended up going to school with said footwear on and what fun that was when he got there, all delivered with a velvety tone of voice, and Dance of the Keeper was another one that really struck nicely too. Definitely one I shall be checking more of on Bandcamp in the near future, as the artists get more money that way and it's a good way of supporting them.

Next up was Interiors, a six piece band in all and one who had not released an album as yet despite being together for a long time (which is something Tim and later Hibbett and Christopher did mention too). Screens and Colours was their new song that they opened up with and that sounded quite majestic. Other highlights of the set were Scene of the Crash and then the closer, Fireworks and Dreams, from an earlier EP of theirs, and also - and with six of them including a violin player on the stage, the sound was all rather lovely.

It was then Hibbett and Christopher, with Mark Hibbett teaming up with good friend Chris Thorpe-Tracey (you may know him as Chris T-T too). The set was mainly songs Mark had written for solo or with the Validators, but I have to admit Seven Hearts, which is one Chris had written, just felt right and joyous all at the same time. In The North Stand was particularly poignant, and of course the all time classic It Only Works Because You're Here had to be played, and with suitable gusto. It sounds different with the more piano arrangement and therefore tune of the day for me. Timewasters was also really good too, explaining how you had battled for years to try and find a perfect band line up before you realised it was all too late.

Mark joined me later and we had chat and a drink before then the headline act, the Anna Tabbush Trio came on. As per usual, and throughout the night, the crowd were all nice and quiet when the acts where on, which is as gigs should be. The three piece had lots of strings involved, and Anna herself ranged from violin to acoustic guitar. There had been an EP released earlier this year, Seed, and the tracks from that were played. This include Harbour, which is a much more positive response to refugees, and two different love songs, one about happiness and one about sadness: I'm Going To Be Fine, and These Bones. That was a lovely way to end the evening and before I knew it, having missed the train, it was on the 249 and then the 468 home.

Sunday 4th October – Blending In

We all had gone to bed relatively earlier than the previous night, with Little Miss O heading of not long after Strictly Come Dancing had started, Little Miss E barely being awake til the end and me and The Love heading to sleep around 10.30pm - think we’d all had a busy day of it yesterday! As such The Love put on BBC iPlayer so that Little Miss E could watch the last few dances of Strictly, which included of course the one from Toy Story 5 that Little Miss E had been waiting for but had fallen asleep. It was a nice little dance to I Knew It, I Knew You by Taylor Swift from the film, which she had written for it. And of course it would make sense for Little Miss E, so she was super happy and so tune of the day. To be fair, you have to give Taylor Swift plenty of credit as she writes her songs, and also when performing live does a three hour set so you get your money’s worth. So kudos from me, even if her music isn’t to my taste, she puts the work in and is rewarded.

I did put on last year’s movie week from Strictly and needless to say that seeing George Clarke and Alexis Warr do a dance to a song from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Little Miss E was very pleased to see and hear that one – not least as she had a sweater on yesterday from said franchise. In any case, we thought breakfast out would be nice, so we got ready and headed over to Medlock Square on the Etihad Campus and went into Blend, which is next to the new hotel. I had a yoghurt with berries and granola, The Love and Little Miss E had a bacon roll and they shared theirs with Litle MIss O, with both the girls having an orange juice, me an oat latte, The Love a capuccino and a croisstant too. Not the cheapest, but the girls loved it and they were happy, which is all that matters.

Once we got back, we heard from their parents that they were on their way back. They had a restful weekend over at Herons Lake Retreat in North Wales (The Love and I have been there too) and it was nice to see them get some down time and relaxing, and needless to say when they did arrive both Litle Miss E and Little Miss O were so pleased to see Mummy and Daddy. As they left later and before they would wave goodbye, Little Miss E ran up to me and gave me a hug to say thank you, which was really nice. I think she enjoyed doing the Strictly scoring with me and it was nice that she gave The Love lots of hugs too, aaying how much she loves her Nana. Awww. It is always a pleasure having a nice time with them both and it just fills the hearts with joy.

We decided to head out later on and went over to Cheadle Hulme, visiting the home shop Homebird, which The Love adores. We did manage to get a little birthday card and present for someone, as well as The Love getting a nice print and frame that she was after too. The staff are lovely in there, and we were tempted to have Sunday lunch outside on the front of The Station House, but when I checked the online ordering, you could only have roast inside for some reason. So we had a drink there and then headed off elsewhere, and we had just the idea for later too.

We stopped off at The Ashlea near Cheadle, and what would be opposite an eventual access road to Cheadle station once it is rebuilt. Yes, there are plans for it to be re-opened and be a stop betwen Stockport and Altrincham on the line to Chester via Altrincham, which would also mean an easy reach to Manchester Piccadilly instead of the 42B / 42C buses you have to take at present. In any case, we got a table and The Love had the roast turkey, which was fab, and I had their Korean chicken, which had both chicken plain and crispy strips, both seasoned with the barbecue sauce, and also some rice, spring onion and kimchi. It was surprisingly really good and I really enjoyed that, and The Love was pleased I went for something different. After a final pit stop for a drink, I headed to Piccadilly to get the train home, and The Love and I had a lovely weekend all told.

Saturday 3rd October – Sixes and Sevens

It was an early wake up call this morning, as after The Love In My Heart had got Little Miss E and Little Miss O off to bed last night, they were up relatively early, and I woke up to find Little Miss O looking at me with the most adorable little cute face saying “Hi Warren!” and being all happy. Little Miss E had got up too, and they allowed me a little bit more sleep whilst The Love kept them entertained and they had some cereal. Once up, we all had some breakfast, and it was nice to see that they were taking turns to watch cartoons, which included some Peppa Pig as well as Lego Friends (of course) and also some mermaid film which was on Netflix too so they were both super pleased and happy all round.

The Love’s sister and niece came round later on, and so that meant some painting and drawing with the girls as well as preparing some lunch – helping Little Miss E grate some cheese as they were having mac and cheese together with some extra ham on the side, because both of them love ham. It was nice to catch up and have a coffee together as they were all happy and playful, and we thought of a plan. The city centre would be busy due to the Rugby League grand final at Old Trafford, so avoiding that would be sensible, and instead thought to head to a local park as well as then off somewhere for some tea would make sense, then getting back for Strictly Come Dancing, which Little Miss E is enjoying these days!

We headed off towards Didsbury but first of all did a little pit stop over at my Mum’s for a little while. Little Miss O was a bit whingy at first but soon settled in when she realised when she was with us and that my Mum generally is very nice. In fact she was making an old black dress into a Halloween outfit for herself as she had got these lace table covers which had spider patterns and so could embellish and sew it on to the dress, and as there was an off cut of it, she gave it to Little Miss E who was super happy wth that. All was well and it defintely was a nice surprise for her that we popped by, and onwards we went, stopping off at Sifters on Fog Lane so I could mooch at the records and that they could all see the Oasis mural on the side wall (of course the shop is mentioned in Shakermaker by Oasis in case you wondered.)

On we went to Didsbury Park, and after getting a space to park in, we walked along where there was a wooden nature trail. Little Miss O hadn’t been here before so she loved the fact there were dogs, a squirrel, a rabbit, a hedgehog, a snail and so on, and insisted on sitting on most of them with The Love and Little Miss E, which was nice. We got to the playground and that was busy, but we managed to get Little Miss O enjoying the slide (she loves a slide and Little Miss E on the swings as well as the bigger slide, and the mini trampoline too. They did also both go on the see saw which was great fun for them both, so definitely made sure they spent up some good energy on play and keeping active!

We then headed over to The Gateway for some tea, and Little Miss E insisted to me on having the standard sized fish and chips (they do not do a kids size anymore). She did say she would eat it all and despite The Love pnching a bit, so she could share that and some of hers with Litle Miss O, and she gobbled hers up too, we were both impressed that she did manage to eat it all. I think in hindsight we should have got a separate side of beans too as Little Miss O was wanting to scoff those! We did get a little ice cream tub for dessert, as they had been good, and they loved that and enjoyed it – with me having the millionaire shortbread ice cream which I could see Little Miss E thinking to herself “Hmmmm I might have that next time!”

We got back and once all washed and settled in, it was time for Strictly Come Dancing, and movie week quite early on, so that all fifteen couples could do a dance to a song from a film. Some were more obvious than others, such as Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, or Oh Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison from Pretty Woman. However, two surprises were Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley doing the Godfather theme suitable justice with a waltz, and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr, on last, storming a salsa to You Should Be Dancing by The Bee Gees from Saturday Night Fever (and therefore tune of the day) It was a massive improvement on last week and hopefully he will be safe from the dance off. The Love had these giant playing cards so gave Little Miss E the hearts and me the spades, and we could do our own scoring. Little Miss E was impressed when I said the dance by Dame Sarah Storey and Julian Caillon was a 6, and they got four sixes across the board.

Friday 2nd October – Hersh at the Hallé

I had the day off work today, which is always a nice thing, and so that meant that I was able to head up to Manchester on an earlier train for the weekend. I would of course be spending time with The Love In My Heart, and she would have the little ones for the weekend too, but I also had a gig to head to tonight – the first one of five I’ve got this month, two of which are in Manchester, the rest are in London. Of course, because it happened to be Kristin Hersh tonight, and she is one of my all time favourite musicians, naturally that would already fill me with excitement, and it was nice just to relax on the train this morning with a coffee (more so because it was free with a Club Avanti loyalty perk) and so be all good for the day ahead.

I got the tram over to The Love’s place, and Brian the cat greeted me for a few fusses. I did feed him some of the Scrumbles treats, which are supposed to be calming, and he loved that as well as the dry food. He alternated between being sat on the bed so he could see out through the window, or be sat on the pouffle in the living room doing the same there too. He was being all cute and adorable and I was half tempted to see if he wanted to play ball or not. I did head out at lunch time and get The Love some coffee as it was on offer, as well as get a few bits in for me too. It was a relaxing afternoon all told and it was just nice before I would head out later.

Not long before I was getting ready to leave, The Love arrived – earlier than planned – which did mean I got to say a hello to both Little Miss E and Little Miss O, who both gave me a hug and were happy because they had been to McDonalds and got a happy meal each for their tea, so they were enjoying that. The Love did say she would have got me something, but I was going to eat out for tea anyway so it was all good. It was nice to see them both and I told them to be good girls for their Nana when I left, and that gave me a spring in the step as I left to get the tram to New Islington, as I could walk to Ancoats from there and on to tonight’s venue, the Hallé St Michael’s, the smaller of the two venues. Last time Kristin Hersh did one night at Hallé St Peter’s, so made sense to do two in a smaller, more intimate venue.

Before all that I went over to Rudy’s Pizza by Cutting Room Square to have some pizza for tea. It was all good and the staff were lovely, and I had a nice pale ale complete with a pizza which was their mushroom one, but with extra cotto ham and indeed a white base, to make it feel like I was more in Naples too. I also had the tiramisu for dessert which was really nice, and when I sent a picture fo The Love, Little Miss E was genuinely displeased that I was having it without her being there, so must have looked good. Notably, no service charge was added which is a pleasant surprise and welcome to see, but I did 10% tip anyway because they were lovely and thoroughly deserved it. Definitely one place I’d not been to for far too long and one I’ll be heading back to more often – not least the one in Shoreditch as it’s down the road from Hoxton.

In any case, I got to the Hallé St Michael’s around 7.10pm and there was a queue of people outside with the doors opening 7.30pm. As seating was unreserved, the plan was to get an aisle seat near the front for a good view, and that plan paid off – third row in and got the aisle. As the floor was flat, sensibly the chairs were arranged to help aid viewing, and a quick check showed 8 on one side, 7 on the other, with aisle in the middle, to 15 per row, and 9 rows, so 135 seats in all. Intimate and tiny it is. I did note on the door that there was no support, and it would be just Kristin Hersh alone, no band, no Cello Pete who she had last time. She was having the folks at El Rat Designs going round with her as they were handling the merch and they do some cracking t-shirts, so nice to see that.

The set was in two halves, and so it was nice because the first half used electric guitar, with some acoustic and then electric in the second half. Naturally, with the new album Sugar on Blackstone getting critical acclaim, it was nice to hear the songs from that, not least a blistering opening of Dark Eye Junco, and later on Snow White Lies which was really good, as well as some of her earlier works including an excellent version of Teeth from the Hips and Makers album as well as the debut single from that, Your Ghost, which was a very welcome surprise. There was also a nice smattering of Throwing Muses songs too including City of the Dead and also near the end, Cottonmouth, both of which are B-sides, so definitely both for the fans.

Of course, it would be remiss not to have some bona fide solo classics during both halves of the set, which did include the wonderful Mississippi Kite, but for me the highlight was Ticking from the new album which sounded so full of room from just one guitar, it filled the place with some delightful sounds, so tune of the day for me without question. Bywater is another solo classic I love, where she sings about a goldfish who gets flushed down the toilet with a moustache looking like Freddie Mercury. The time passed by way too quickly, complete with nice storytelling from Kristin between certain songs, and it certainly was a lovely gig – not least because there were proper fans present and no one talking whilst she was playing, as it should be. My sort of gig that. As the end of the final song, her version of Cuckoo, completed, I reflected as I walked back to the tram stop and was just so happy to be seeing Kristin Hersh live once again.