Goodness me, How long has it been?? too long, that's how long.

So much has been happening I just have not had time to sit down and write about it all. Seriously work has turned into all kinds of crazy and has been stressing me out quite a bit and I aint the kind of guy who gets stressed out so it's all been a rather weird state of affairs. I have managed to have some fun along the way so if you are sitting comfortably I shall begin.

This last weekend I headed to the small market town of Tavistock for a mate's 30th birthday, it usually takes quite a lot to get me out of the London at the weekend but the promise of 5 rugby type boy's 30th birthdays was the reason I had been looking for to get country bound. It really is a beautiful part of the world and did me the world of good to get some fresh air in my riddled lungs. There were many funny aspects to the weekend - the first thing to understand about Tavistock is that it is tiny and up until very recently the local community relied quite heavily on one shop in particular to get all their worldy goods, that shop of course being Woolworths but alas the credit has munched and cruned it's way through that piece of consumer history and now the local's are wondering round with paper bags devoid of pick'n'mix! The impact has been so huge that several locals got together to express their feelings about the closure of Woolie's - this has accumulated 3!!! volumes of poetry published locally, yes you read that right 3 volumes of poetry about Woolworths closing down - sadly I can't remember any of these but needless to say I laughed a lot at this discovery.

The party was held on saturday night at Tavistock Rugby Club, it was fancy dress and thanks to one of the charity shops in Tavistock I managed to get the Officer and a gentleman style jacket and hat….for £4!!! bring on the fake moustache and I was sorted. The party was a good laugh with a performance from The Great Shakes and a couple of other bands. I was hoping that rubgy players would live up to their drunken reputation which mainly consists of stripping off and being far too friendly with each other. I was not disappointed but then who would be with a naked rugby player conga!

In other news we had that lil thing - the presidential inauguation, I managed to miss it due to being on a train from Oxford to London but thanks to BBC iplayer I saw Obama's amazing speech and was very moved, not as moved as I was when I saw the size of Aretha Franklin, it's hard to say which was more groundbreaking! Seriously though what a tremendous day and time for us all to be a part of. I went to a teachers conference last week and speaking to a few of them it was clear that Barack becoming president is going to make their teaching of history in general a lot more interesting.




Well Madonna has announced that she will be starting up her Sticky and Sweet tour again in the summer, visiting loads of places that she didn't make it to last year. She is rumoured to be playing the o2 arena for a few nights, I have to say I am doubting whether to bother - if the tickets are as expensive as they were last time which I imagine they will be what witrh her being a single parent now, I just am not sure I can justify paying again to see a show that I didn't enjoy that much in the first place. The jury is out. If the dates are right then it is also highly likely that she will do Glastonbury which I am probably going to miss again this year due to lack of organisation on my part - boo!

Last night I went to a concert that surpassed Madonna's last effort and managed to do so without any of the stage tricks, dancers or special effects, I went to see the icon, the legend, the incomparable Miss Grace Jones at the Camden Roundhouse. I have loved her since seeing her in the James Bond film "View to a Kill" - she played a fiesty, sexy, crazy villain and I was in a trance looking at this strange creature before me. The next time I saw her on TV was when she performed her hit single (and one of my all time faves) "Slave to the Rhythm" on Wogan, she was wrapped from head to foot in a black chiffon body stocking with scarves blowing in every direction as she slowly vogued on the stage. Last night I finally saw her in the flesh and boy was it worth the wait! She is 60 years old, she changed outfit and hat between every song whilst still talking to the crowd, she pole danced and for slave to the rhythm she spun a neon hula hoop around her waist without stopping for 5 minutes and even managed to introduce her entire band as well. I have rarely been in awe so much. Shge is truly one of a kind and the world is a brighter and better place with her in it! Amazing Grace!




Well that's it for now, Good to be back and let's not leave it so long next time

xx