Just for the record

So now it's the best albums of the last ten years (that I own!!!!). This was quite a hard task initially as I thought that there were many that I could include, but when I actually looked at them there were some tracks that I didn't like, so the list was fairly straight forward.

1. Testimony – Neal Morse; a double album from the ex lead singer and keyboard player from Spock's Beard. It tells the story of his life and how he became a Christian, hence the title. It's a complete "prog fest" as well and features Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater on drums, who is the finest rock drummer in the world bar none. Morse has released many good albums since this one  but this remains his finest hour.
   
2. The Crane Wife – The Decembrists: An American rock band from Portland, Oregon, they are named after the Russian uprising of 1825. This was their fourth album released in October 2006 and I first heard of it via the mighty Word magazine. It's a glorious amalgam of indie rock, folk and prog, with each song being well crafted and produced. The subject matter is wide and various ranging from the murder squads in the N Ireland (the Shankhill Butchers), an old Japanese story about a Crane producing incredible silk from its feathers (the Crane Wife) and the 900 day WWII siege of Leningrad (When the War came).
   
3. 12 stops and home – The Feeling; a genuine pop album from this a 5 piece former covers band. Led by Dan Gillespie Sells, who sings and plays guitar, this was their debut album and there's not a bad track on it. It's very 70's influenced with touches of both ELO and 10cc in parts. There is also a Queen influence on some vocal harmonies and the guitar parts as well. It produced three hit singles and never tires from repeat plays.
   
4. OVO – Peter Gabriel; this was the sound track to the show at the centre of the Millennium Dome and was performed twice a day. As well as drawing on many references within our own folk traditions, the music also draws on the cultural origins of the many people's that now comprise contemporary British culture. It layers Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Australian and European elements against a mostly contemporary British backdrop. From 12th century hurdy gurdy to didgeridoo, from the pulsing rhythms of the Dhol Foundation and the nostalgic brass of the Black Dyke Band, from Arab laments over drum and bass to meditative moments with string section - the soundtrack is a really eclectic mix. Gabriel's finest moment to date!
   
5. Outrospective – Faithless: The only dance album in this list, Faithless is the brainchild of Rollo Armstrong, along with DJ/keyboard player Sister Bliss and singer/rapper Maxi Jazz. This was their third album and is their most consistent. It includes hit single "We come 1" and also "Tarantula" a version of which was used by the BBC for its 2002 World Cup theme. Faithless have always featured "guest singers" to support Maxi Jazz and this album includes Zoe Johnson and Rollo's sister Dido, who went on the record two of the decade's UK biggest selling albums as a solo singer. Best played loud.
   
6. The Rising – Bruce Springsteen; Inspired by the events of 9/11 when allegedly shortly after the attacks a passer-by told Springsteen "we need you now". The 15 songs are his response to the horror of the day and to my mind as an outsider, hit the nail on the head as to how he could support those involved or affected by the disaster. It's a full band record with the E-Street band and marks both a reformation with them and a real return to song writing of the highest order.
   
7. Absolution- Muse; A rock trio from Teignmouth in Devon (a less likely sentence to write will be hard to find!); this was their third and lift-off album. 15 songs in all all played with great skill and dexterity. The band is lead by Matt Bellamy, who sings, plays guitar. piano and writes most of the music (show off). Large Queen influences are found together with prog-metal and Rachmaninov type piano pieces. It rocks.
   
8. Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds; Alternative US singer songwriter, this was his second solo album, his previous releases having under the banner of his trio "The Ben Folds Five! His song-writing is excellent and this album cemented that reputation with stand out songs such as "Trusted" and "Landed" His band (which is still a trio if you include him) support him wonderfully, but it is his song-writing and piano playing that make this such a great album.
   
9. Continuum – John Mayer; better known of late as being Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend, Mayer is a brilliant guitarist, who has developed into a main stream song-writer, who also has a jazz trio he tours with as well. An album full of break up/-broken-up songs,. He sings sadness vey effectively!
   
10. Experiments in mass appeal – Frost*; A British prog rock band lead by keyboard player Jed Godfrey (the only rock star to follow me on Twitter!). Godfrey has a parallel career writing and recording jingles and pop songs (he co-wrote Atomic Kitten's "Whole again"). This was the band's second album and while it is a prog rock album it's very much at the heavy end of the spectrum, with also great vocal harmonies and production. Another to be played loud.
    

Happy New Year.

The Film of my life

So now we move on to my top 10 films of the last decade. To be in the list I have to have seen the film, so if you're reading this going what about this film or that film and it's not in the list, it means that I haven't seen it!!! These are (again in no particular order):-

1. High Fidelity – Two of my best friends (who also both read this!) have owned record shops in the past and this film was homage to them. Try watching it & NOT then wanting to do what I'm doing now, i.e. making lists of your favourite things, it's what we men do!
   
2. Love Actually – has its faults but for the "Emma Thompson scene" alone, where she gets the CD instead of the jewellery, worth an entry. I do also like Richard Curtis films and this has stood the test of countless repeats.
   
3. Sideways – A brilliant film about two friends and a road trip they undertake in to the Wine country of California, before one of them gets married. One wants to give his friend a good send off the other wants a final fling! Funny, sad, thoughtful and a good reflection of two men entering middle age with regrets and trying to face up to the future.
   
4. Gosford Park – a glorious "who dunnit" written by Julian Fellowes, based on an idea from director Robert Altman. It stars the cream of British actors playing both the "upstairs" and "downstairs" staff in an English country house in 1932. A murder takes place & the films deals with both the solving of the crime and the many complicated relationships involved as well.
   
5. Curse of the Were-Rabbit – Nick Park's transfer of Wallace & Gromit to the big screen could have been a disaster, but instead he produced an epic comedy, which looked like a proper film i.e. it was well lit and well filmed.
   
6. School of Rock – Jack Black's finest hour in which he plays a failed rock musician who takes a part time teacher post (illegally) and passes his love of rock music onto a class of "posh kids" with hilarious results. The music used is great and any film that recommends a child listens to a Yes album in it will always get my vote.
   
7. Lord of the Rings - Took "epic" film making into a whole new area with CGI of the highest standard which brought this almost "unfilmable" book to the cinema. Made stars of many of the cast and did New Zealand (where much of it was filmed) tourism the power of good as well!
   
8. Atonement – I hadn't read the book so this was a real treat when I watched it. Wonderfully acted and a great recreation of war time England and northern France. There is one 5 minute steady cam shot of the beaches at Dunkirk which was done in four takes as they only had two days to film the scene and the tides would ruin the continuity if they took any longer. The story is one of lies and betrayal over a number of years involving a rich English family and their eldest daughters love for the son of one of their servants.
   
9. Juno – an American film about a 16 year old school girl who gets pregnant and has to deal with all that follows. It stars Ellen Page and she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as she struggles to know, what to do and understand her feelings for the father of the baby.
   
10. Casino Royale – Bond returns in a performance by Daniel Craig that shows the more human side of the main character. Gone is the humour and bedding of as many women as possible. In its place more of the grit and determination from the original books. Craig was praised for his performance and kept many women happy as he emerged from the sea in one now iconic scene. A good return to form for a franchise that was looking one its last legs.
    

So there they are my 10 best films of the last decade. Next....albums.

Book of brilliant things

It's probably 20 years since we solely looked back on the last decade, as ten years ago we were distracted by reviewing the previous Century! This will be the first of three blogs, reviewing my favourite books, films and albums of the last ten years.

I read all the time and have therefore have read hundreds of books since 2000. Many of these have drifted in and out of my life, but some have made an impact and here are my top ten books for the last ten years.

1. The Crusaders - Richard T Kelly: One of three books in this list for which the Books Podcast from the Simon Mayo show on Radio 5 Live is entirely responsible for me reading. It’s a huge book 500+ pages and tells the story of an Anglican Vicar who is sent to “plant” a church on a Newcastle estate. It mixes corruption, gangsters, the miner’s strike and Christianity into a story that flows beautifully and is well told with rich use of language.

2. Salmon fishing in the Yemen – Paul Torday: Another Books podcast entry. This is was a first novel for Torday, who took up writing in 2006 aged 60 having previously worked in industry and engineering . The book is a satire on modern politics and revolves around as the title suggests the unlikely premise of being able to fish for Salmon in the Yemen, which it appears becomes essential for Anglo/Middle-East relations to continue. A middle ranking Whitehall career civil servant is given the job and the book follows his efforts to show everyone, unsuccessfully, how completely unrealistic the task is. It has a love story in it, pompous politicians, Middle East billionaires and Salmon fishing! The book is written in part as an exchange of e-mails and in part as evidence from the resultant public enquiry! A great mixture of politics and gentle comedy

3. Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell: Bell is a hero of mine who runs a “mega-church” in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a rare thing in the American church, a liberal Christian far more at home in the UK than parts of the US. This was his first book and it is sub-titled “repainting the Christian Faith”. It is a series of chapters in which Bell explores Christianity and how he sees its relevance in the post modern age. It is a very “modern” book with its look and printing style having a very “Apple” feel to it! It makes you think but is also a book you can dip in and out of as well.

4. Past Mortem – Ben Elton: One of two of his books to make my list. This is essentially a murder mystery “detective” novel with a love story thrown in. Elton co-wrote the successful BBC series “The Thin Blue Line” which looked at a local police station and starred Rowan Atkinson. This book is its big brother. I like detective novels and comedy and this book is a glorious mixture of the two.

5. How to be good – Nick Hornby: One of my favourite novelists, this is, in my view, his best book of the last ten years. It follows the lives of David and Kate. David starts the book as “the world’s angriest man” but decides to change his life completely and be “good” to everyone he encounters. There then follows a series of amusing events which includes inviting a homeless man to move into the spare room. This is met with incredulity by Kate, who as a Doctor, always considered herself to be doing “good” and the book explores how the two views of “doing good” relate to our modern world. It’s funny, well written and thought provoking.

6. The Lincoln Lawyer – Michael Connelly: A well known American crime novelist, who started as crime reporter on the LA Times. This is his 16th novel and was published in 2006. Most of his books are crime novels based around Detective Harry Bosch, but this one is a departure as it features US defence lawyer Mickey Haller, the “Lincoln Lawyer”, so called as he lives in his Lincoln Continental. The story is fairly straight-forward legal drama, but it is Connelly’s writing and storytelling which make this a cut above the rest. The “hero” is down on his luck, but has an ex-wife who “can’t live with him, can’t live without him” and a daughter who dotes on her father, fairly standard legal fare, but Connelly draws pictures of the participants which bring it all to life. The story involves defending a Beverley Hills “rich boy” who beats up a woman, but all is not as it seems!

7. Tell no one- Harlan Coben – Another US Crime novelist, he has sold 47 million books world-wide, which is a good start to his writing career! His first seven novels featured sports agent “Myron Bolitar” (and his best friend Win) and their involvement with crimes which his sports stars get caught up in. This was his eighth novel and the first “stand alone” one. It’s an “everything is not as it seems” book, based on the story of Dr David Beck, whose wife is abducted and murdered while on holiday. Eight years later he receives an e-mail, which when opened shows a picture of his wife, who appears anything but dead! The story then follows his pursuit of “what the hell is going on?” It was also made into a very good French film starring Kristen Scott Thomas, worth seeing for no other reason than she is in it!!

8. Ghost – Robert Harris: This is Harris 6th novel and revolves around an ex-Prime Minister, his memoires and the truth of what really happened when he was in power and in charge of the countries fight against terrorism. (Sound familiar?). The “hero” is a journalist who is drafted in to take over the “ghost-writing” of the memoires after the original ghost writer dies in suspicious circumstances. The ex PM is holed up in a borrowed home on Martha’s Vineyard and that means that the Americans can also keep an eye on what is being written. The story follows the revealing of secrets which mean that the writing of the memoires becomes a matter of life and death!! A great contemporary novel and soon to be a film, starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor. Oh and it’s the 3rd Books podcast entry.

9. Exit Music – Ian Rankin: Rankin is a Scottish writer, best known for his series of “Rebus” novels that all feature D I John Rebus, who is based in Edinburgh. This is his 17th Rebus and to date his last. That is mainly as it features Rebus retiring from the Police and while Rankin may use him in the future with him looking after “cold cases” at present he has no plans to do so. Rebus is a hard drinking, divorced, rock loving; loner and his fan love him for it. After reading one or two of the novels, reading a Rebus novel takes on the familiarity of a comfortable pair of shoes. This story involves the last few days before Rebus retires and the death of a Russian dissident, which he believes has more to it. More that is, than his superiors, who are trying to keep a visiting group of Russian businessmen happy, want him to look into? There is a good backdrop of rotten Bankers (RBS thinly disguised???) and Rebus manages to get himself suspended, yet still solves the case.

10. Chart Throb – Ben Elton: Finally another Ben Elton book. This one because it changed the way I watch the X Factor and Simon Cowell must have hated it being published. The story follows the TV series “Chart Throb” (X Factor) and how its judges and production team manipulate the entrants to provide the top ratings it requires. It tells of the fights between the judges (one of whom is a “former Rock star” partially through a sex change operation into becoming a woman”) and builds to the climax of the winner being announced. Along the way you get to meet all human life and it’s all told using Elton’s caustic humour.



So there is my list, it’s not perfect and in reality for at least half of the authors I could have chosen many of their novels. This is also my list of my favourite novels of this century!

Hackett to pieces

I'm some what embarrassed to say that until last weekend I had never been to the Brook in Southampton. This is a music venue in the Portswood part of the City. I guess that it holds c500 people in both a downstairs area and an upstairs balcony. It's in an old pub and therefore has two big bars to keep the audience refreshed.

The diary of bookings is made up of good "past their best" artists, local well known bands, tribute bands and some comedy.

So last Sunday saw my mate Gray & I go to see Steve Hackett and his band there. Hackett will always be known as "ex-Genesis guitarist" Steve Hackett, although he left the group in 1977! Since then he has recorded a substantial back catalogue of his own material and is recognised as still one of the best guitarists in the "prog rock" genre.

Gray had been to the Brook on many occassions (he'd been to see the illeagal Eagles two nights before), so on his advice we got there 30 minutes before the doors opened and were close enough to the front of the queue to secure (again on his advice) a position in the gallery with a perfect view of the stage.

The band appeared on stage about an hour later and were an interesting mixture of players. Hackett himself has aged a bit but still looks good for a man in his late fifties. Accompanying him was his usual band of keyboards, drums, bass, reeds and for this tour a female backing singer (and occasional guitarist) BUT the bass player was no other than Nick Beggs from Kajagoogoo! His stage costume consisted of blonde hair in pigtails, with LARGE can style headphones on top, a leather waistcoat, leather kilt (skirt?), knee high black socks and black DM's!!!!!!! That's him in the centre of the photo. So I've now seen one fifth of Kajagoogoo live! He's a very good bass player and also plays the "Chapman stick" on which he played a solo piece at one point. If you want to know about it, you can here

The concert itself was really good and clearly shows that Hackett knows his audience very well. There was some new stuff - good and shows he's still relevant today. Some older stuff - shows he knows which parts of his back catalogue his fans want hear and love. There was some acoustic stuff - Hackett is a brilliant player of classical spanish guitar music and has recorded two albums with the symphony orchestras. Finally there were the Genesis songs - again well chosen and clearly those that Hackett had a large part in writing. Including the encore it was a two hour, twenty minute set.

The highlight for me was a Genesis song - "Firth of Fifth" which included the full piano introduction from the album, which I've never heard Genesis themselves ever play! The band were very tight and it was clear that having toured together for a number of years, they were a "band" rather than Hackett with backing musicians.

All in all a great evening and I'm already scouring the Brooks website to see who to go and see next!

Don't believe a word

As a Saints fan, Pompey sacking their manager should be a good thing and indeed on many levels it is!

But Paul Hartt being relieved off his duties yesterday was something that saddened me as well. Hart was appointed initially as caretaker manager following Tony Adams departure having previously been the Youth team coach. He had previously managed Nottingham Forest and that hadn't ended well. Despite that he did ok and eventually the caretaker part of the title was removed. Eventually he kept Pompey in the Premier league.

During the last five months Pompey have become a laughing stock amoung the media as the ownership has changed three times and in order to avoid administration virtually every decent player on their books has been sold. (Last weekend Spurs beat Wigan 9-1 and seven of the goals were scored by three of those players). During all that time Hart must have wondered what on earth was going on and been tempted many times to let them get on with it. He didn't, however, he carried on with quiet dignity, facing the media and giving the impression that he was "as one" with the management, what ever the reality.

Yesterday he turned up, trained the first team squad in the morning, met the media to discuss the weekends pending game against Man Utd and. after all that. was then called into to see the Chief executive and "let go". Why on earth they couldn't do it either when he first arrived (or the night before?) only they know, but it was a shabby thing to do to someone who had represented them in a way they had no right to expect.

While he may not be the best manager in the world, he seems a decent man and I hope that he finds another job soon.

Editions of you

I went to see Roxy Music play live in 1979 at the Gaumont in Southampton and have been a fan ever since. It was a concert I mainly went to because my friend Nigel had a spare ticket, but they were brilliant that night.

I have all the albums and all of Bryan Ferrys solo stuff as well. Earlier this week I stumbled upon three remix EP's on the Amazon MP3 store (they're also on iTunes). Each EP takes classic Roxy songs and as is the way with a re-mix album, presents them for a new audience. "Virginia Plain" and "Same Old Scene" are the best, sounding like they might have had they been written and recorded today on modern equipment. "Editions of you" rocks but is more of a re-mix. "Angel Eyes" (which gets two different remixes) and "The Main Thing" have been remixed before when 12" remixes were released at the time of the original albums. The new remixes do add to those but don't sound that different. "Finally "the Thrill of it all" is a complete re-working of the original.

Some Roxy fans will hate them as they do mess with classic songs, but to me it is good to hear a re-take on these tracks. After all there is meant to be new Roxy album somewhere in the future.

Another record

Yesterday one of my favourite bands "Transatlantic" (yes, I know "who"?) released their latest album.

Tonight I diverted my journey home via Southampton to buy a copy. The only option was HMV, who didn't have it. Now some of you may say " that was lucky you were saved from having to listen to it" but that would be cruel and unnecessary.

What struck me, however, was a city the size of Southampton has only one music store where you can buy anything that isn't chart music (and even then it's only Smith's and ASDA!)

Time was there was Virgin, Our Price, Smith's, Fopp, Debenhams and various smaller independant shops. Now just HMV. No wonder iTunes etc do so well!!!

Down in the park

I grew up in Shirley in Southampton and a large part of my life between 8 and 15/16 was based around Shirley Recreation Ground (Shirley Rec). It was here I played football during the winter, cricket in the summer (although the football usage during the Winter didn't make for straight uneven bounce!). In the summer, as well, we regularly used the 4 tennis courts (except during Wimbledon when you couldn't get near them). I climbed my first tree there, rode my bike there and hurtled down the sloping paths on home built go carts.

Over the years it has declined as generations of local children increasingly abused it, with vandalism and graffiti and it has a tired look.

We've still visited it, to use the play park when the boys were younger and to play sport as they've got older.

More recently it has started to show signs of new life, with a cafe opening and a friends of Shirley Park (as it now known) group forming to keep in a tidier way.

Well today they've hit the jackpot with the Lottery announcing that a £1.5m grant has been given to them and all sorts of things will now be carried out to "the Rec" so that further generations will be able look back and smile when they think of it.

Everybody wants to rule the world

World cup qualification for next years tournament in South Africa ended tonight. For England that meant the unusual feature of England playing a largely meaningless final tie against Belarus at Wembley, having already qualified last month against Croatia.

Having lost in Ukraine last week-end there was some added pressure for some players (Rio Ferdinand?) as to lose two games on the trot would make Capello a very unhappy man and that is not something that I would wish to experience.

It also meant that some of the "fringe" players could play, a fact helped by injuries to Gerrard and Rooney. So Crouch, Agbonlahor, Lennon & Bridge all got a game and with 35 minutes left Beckham came on. At that stage we were 1-0 up from a very early Crouch goal. It finished 3-0 and Beckham made us look a much better team, having a hand in both goals and hitting the post with a shot.

What did we learn tonight...not a lot. Will we win the World Cup..... maybe? Next year? Who knows, it'll be winter in South Africa next June/July, so maybe the weather will help us. We can but hope.

Loser in the end

Expenses are something that I have claimed for most of my working life. I have always erred on the side of caution as, to be honest, I was always certain that some kind of banking "big brother" was going to measure how far Wimborne was from Bournemouth and reduce my mileage claim accordingly (or worse....)!!!

I know that some colleagues claim for absolutely everything ( as I'm sure happens in most businesses), BUT the yard-stick for me has been what is reasonable, not what is possible. Sorry but that's just how I am.

Our British Members of Parliament have, however, made claiming expenses an art form whereby our Prime Minister has overclaimed by £12k and thinks that paying it back makes it all ok. The fact that he claimed all that extra money for cleaning and gardening seems to only make it worse. I know that he's far from the only one but he's the PM and if he is not above reproach then hell and handcarts come to mind.

"Sighs deeply"

We will rock you

Last night I made my second appearance as a singer in a choir (not counting school boy times).

It occurred during the Roger Jones musical "Rock" which is touring the South west. This is a semi-professional set up who augment each performance with a local choir.

This means that for the last 3 months we've been practicing singing the 16 songs so that come last night we look like we've been part of the show all the time! Except that of course everyone in the audience knew that we were only performing that evening.

The musical is based on the story of Simon Peter (the one in the New Testament) and the show was excellent, with good acting, singing and music. The music was a professionally produced backing track, with some live instruments and the staging, sound and lighting were all again of a semi-professional standing.

It was a pleasure to be a small part in such a great production.

Peace at last

The announcement today that this years Nobel Peace prize has been awarded to President Obama, took many by surprise, including to his credit the man himself.

The announcement was so unexpected that when one US journalist contacted the White House for a quote, they thought that he was joking!

It is a surprising decision in that he hasn't really done anything significant in this first year of office that instantly springs to mind as an action or series of actions after which we all said "well that's the Nobel Peace prize sorted this year". What he has done is take the USA back onto the world stage as a country who are prepared to negotiate again. The BBC correspondent, Mark Mardell, said on the radio this afternoon that  he thought he had got it for "not being George Bush!"

Any way well done Mr President, it's good to see your efforts (???) are being acknowledged.

Paint me down

One of the "ahem" benefits of relegation to League One is that Saints get to take part in the mighty Johnstone's Paint Trophy.

The competition is divided into two halves, divided North and South (to reduce traveling) and the winners of each half meet in the final at Wembley. Each half is also divided into east and west to further cut down traveling although that's less logical as tonight for example in the South west section Bournemouth went to Northampton!

Saints naturally are also in the South western section and after a bye in the last round, tonight they hosted Torquay from League 2 at St Marys. Tickets were very cheap and allied with a 7pm kick off meant that over 9000 turned out to watch.

The game itself started badly with Saint going in at half time losing 2-0!! The second half produced the required comeback to that at full time it was all square at 2-2.

Penalties! We scored all five, they didn't. Wembley is slightly less of a dream!!!

Perfect

Tonight's TV.

1. How I met your mother.... (Which ended with Roxy Music's "Mother of Pearl")
2. 2 brand new episodes of  "Two and a half men"
3. Chuck
4. 30 Rock

After a day like today I really need to watch and not to think!

Movin' on up

Will and I went to St Mary's this afternoon to witness our biggest win of the season , 4-1 against the mighty Gillingham.

We also went last Tuesday when a late injury time goal gave Bristol Rovers a 3-2 victory. To be honest we played slightly better on Tuesday night than we did today, but today the big difference was that we took our chances. On Tuesday when 2-1 up we had agreat chance to make it 3-1 but the Bristol keeper made a good save and then later when 2-2 another good save kept the score line level.

Today having taken an early lead, we let Gillingham back in through sloppy defending, but this time two chances were converted and eventually we eased to a fine victory.

This means that, at last, we have a positive points score (+2) and hopefully we will start to clear the gap on teams above us and begin to climb the table. After all we're only 16 points off of a play off place!!

Rio

Today the IOC selected Rio to be the venue for the 2016 Olympic games, which means that with Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup, South America (or more accurately Brazil) is going to be THE place to go in the next decade.

Some thoughts:-

• Obama has been snubbed!
• Girl/Boy from Ipanema will be either BBC or ITV's theme tune for one of the events?
• They're 4 hours behind us so we could be watching sport at midnight quite regularly
• Let's hope that the inward investment brings lasting change for the country and it's poor.
• "Samba" will be the most over used word for a while each summer. 

October

Or should I say "blogtober", as this month I'm going to try to turn my blog into more of a diary?

Today's highlight's. Car had a service at Nissan Westway who hang out at the end of the Totton fly-over. This meant that, having planned my diary so that I could be in the office all day, I could drop the car off and then walk the mile or so across the fly-over to the Bank. The Nissan dealership looked after the car when Dad owned it and are very helpful and not too expensive, so I've carried on using them and the closeness to my office is the clincher. I also quite enjoy the walk to the office. Everything went like clockwork and a cleaned and valeted car was ready at the end of the day.

After that, tea at Mum's mainly to retune her freeview box. She actually had done a pretty good job herself, thanks to both the Daily Mail and her brother (down the phone!). A free meal is too good an offer to overlook, however, and I wanted to just check what she had done and make sure that she still had all her favourite channels (BBC1 & 2)

Finally..Pompey players haven't been paid. If they could only go into administration that would be a great start to the month.

Proud

After we went to the Greenbelt Festival, my son Matt, rather than write a blog, recorded a video blog and posted on his blog. You can see it here

That was good on it's own, but now...now Greenbelt have only gone and put it on their website, next to the official podcast and apparently they all stood around and watched it together. Genius! You can find the "greenbelt version" here.

Resistance

It's rare these days that a group release a collection of songs (what we used call an LP!) that requires me to buy it on the first day that it is available. The last one was Dream Theaters' "Black clouds and silver linings" back in June, but before that...I really can't remember!


This week Muse released their new album "The Resistance" and I actually bought it twice on the day of release! The first time was the CD version, which was for Matt, but being a parent I made a contribution to the cost! As it was absolutely vital that without a seconds delay it was delivered to him, so that he could listen to it (remember those days?), I didn't get to hear it!
Following a new version of iTunes being released recently, you can now buy some albums (about 5 at present) in a "new" LP format. Not the most original name but they are an attempt to overcome the "lack of something to read while you listen to the music" challenge that downloads present. I have lots of friends who dismiss downloading for that reason and this is Apple's answer to that problem.

The initial LP's on iTunes were by Bob Dylan, The Doors, Nora Jones and Grateful Dead so I left those well alone, but then iTunes advised that the Muse album would be available in the LP format and so that was how I purchased the second copy of the new album.

 First point to say, no extra charge, usual £7.99. Second, you get

• the lyrics (to read why you listen to the song)
  
• artwork
  
• Matt Bellamy's notes on each song, the inspiration and what it's trying to say.
  
• sleeve notes (i.e. who played third violin on the last song etc...)
  
• three videos

The software in iTunes goes to full screen so reading the lyrics and notes is easy, even for varifocal wearers like me. In fact I find CD notes quite hard by comparison!

All in all a good attempt by Apple to bring back some of the emotion attached to opening the LP cover and taking in every facet of the new album by your heroes. True you still have nothing to hold, but in reality since the CD replaced the LP we have missed the true impact of the physical experience. This is actually more like that, than a CD ever was. The LP is back!

World in Union

The Rugby Guinness Premiership season started again this weekend and to celebrate, part of the opening weekend, was the "London double-header" at Twickenham. This involves the four "London" clubs playing two local derbies against each other, one at 2.30pm and then one at 5.15 pm. The first game was Saracens vs. London Irish and the second London Wasps VS Harlequins.

My friend John and his family are massive Harlequins fans and he suggested that a crowd of us go along and he arranged the tickets. Now I agreed not really thinking about the cost, but when he asked for £35 for me and both boys (£15 for me, a tenner each for Matt & Will), I was, frankly, amazed!

We got to the stadium at about 12.30pm and parked in a local college for a further £10. As the college had a large playing field we'd agreed to meet up there and have a picnic, before moving on to the stadium, where a small village of food and drink was set up. The major part of this was the Guinness village with food and drink stands, big screens and live music. Inside the stadium were even more bars! We had a perfect view although we were in the middle tier and behind one end

As John is a Quins fan we naturally supported their main rivals, namely London Irish in the first game. Now I've not seen much live rugby, but I know enough to say that "the Irish" started slowly and were 18-3 down by half time. Saracens who were the home team played good attacking rugby and scored two quick tries. The second half though was a different affair, with Irish far more focused and they slowly cut the deficit, by scoring two tries, but importantly missing one of the conversions and two penalties, all of which were fairly kickable. 18-14 down with four minutes to go, we were treated to a grandstand finish, but sadly no more points were scored. Kicking practice required this week as the missed points (8) cost them the game.

As our hosts' team were playing in the second game we, of course, all supported London Wasps (who used to be just Wasps, but as they play their home games in High Wycombe, needed to add London to their name!!!)

Quins have had a fair amount of publicity recently over the "blood gate" scandal, whereby their director of rugby, Dean Richards, initiated a scam where the Quins full back took a fake blood capsule from his sock, bit the end off and squeezed the blood into his mouth so that he had to be substituted and the replacement, a kicker, could take a vital kick. This would have worked perfectly had 1)Sky cameras not filmed the capsule being taking from the sock, 2) the full back hadn't winked at his mates as he came off and 3) the blood coming from his mouth was enough to have killed him if real! All has now been revealed and suspensions and sackings followed. Dean Richards's rugby career is effectively over.

This was Quins first game since the scandal broke and within 45 seconds of the start they were involved in more blood injury headlines! Clearly their Prop forward Robson decided that everyone should know what a real blood injury should look like and therefore proceeded to head butt one of the Wasps players in the first minute. Blood did flow, so we're now clear what the real stuff looks like and this was quickly followed by a red card!! 45 seconds into the season and Quins are down to 14 men! And now the bit you couldn't make up...the referee's name that sent Robson of was Dean Richards! I kid you not.

Somewhat surprisingly the 14 men played some great rugby and took a 12-5 lead. Not good for us Wasps fans, but slowly but surely the extra man started to have an impact and the lead was firstly reduced and then eradicated as Wasps took a game winning 26-15 lead.

As a football fan I was amazed that:-

• Four sets of local rival fans could all sit together in a stadium, drink copious amounts of beer and all get on well! (Imagine Arsenal, Spurs, Wet Ham Chelsea fans in a similar position, the end result would send the Newspaper editors into a tail spin)
  
• Drinking was actively encouraged with a bar no more than 20 yards from you at any time!!
  
• Returning to you seats with a drink was a good thing, not a criminal offence which would get you ejected from the ground.
  
• Two games of rugby only cost £15.
  

Salvation tambourine

I've just been to my first outdoor festival, namely the Greenbelt Christian Arts festival at Cheltenham race course. It was brilliant!

Here are some thoughts/highlights/comments.

• Getting up at silly o'clock on Friday to drive in convoy proved worthwhile and we managed to all camp together in an area not too far away from the action.
  
• I walked miles over the course of the week-end.
  
• The site was split into two main sections. The first was based around the main grandstand and facilities it enjoys. The second area was in the middle of the course and was made up entirely of an area of tents, stands and marquees. The main stage was adjacent to the grandstand in a large area where all could comfortably view the acts.
  
• Over the four days I saw (in no particular order) Athlete, Duke Special, Royksopp, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Sixpence None The Richer, One EskimO, Foy Vance, Martyn Joseph, The Apples, Reem Kelani (three times!), Cornershop, Peggy Sue, a classical concert of 13 pieces by Sir John Tavener and Foreign Slippers (including a girl wearing a hat with a tree on it!). That was just the music.
  
• I went to talks, comedy, a film, the pub (The Jesus Arms), drank lots of coffee and managed to eat and share great times with friends.
  
• I had not expected the range of food available to buy.
  
• Rob Bell was great to finally listen to and his talk ("Drops like Stars") and the "in conversation with..." were both excellent. As a liberal Church leader in USA, he said he was amazed at how free-thinking and ahead of the States, he found the UK.
  
• I didn't get to see either of Simon Mayo's items.
  
• The theme of the week-end was "Standing in the long now" which is a Brian Eno phrase and he was at one time keen to attend but in the end unable to be there.
  
• Robert Beckford has shaved off his dreadlocks.
  
• Both Beer and hymn sessions were hysterical. Imagine "Lord of the Dance" a la Chas and Dave!!
  
• We were very lucky with the weather, although waking up at three thirty in the night to put on another layer to keep warm, in August, is surreal.
  
• I decided before the week-end that Reem Kelani's Palestine folk songs were something I could do without but ended up seeing her three times while waiting for other things.
  
• You need to see the film, "the age of stupid". It's very scary re climate change.
  
• It's amazing in a crowd of 35000, how many times you bump into your children.
  
• What did we do before mobile phones?
  
• The toilets were ok, helped by also being able to use the "proper ones" in the grandstand!

Livin on a prayer

Fun day today at Bournemouth Air show.

This is a fairly new incarnation, devised by Bournemouth Tourist Board and others to generate income for the Town, during the "credit crunch". It is free and uses one of the Town's best features, i.e. the seafront to host a series of aircraft and helicopters to entertain the watching crowds.

I went with my friend Vicki, her friend Tina and six boys (including my sons). As the traffic was likely to be somewhere between "bad" to "stopped sufficiently to play football in the road" we decided to go by train and therefore the nine of us turned up at Chandlers Ford station at 10 am this morning. First surprise was the deal we were able to agree as a party of nine. Not too sure the rest of the queue were quite so impressed, but we all got tickets before the train departed, so no harm done.

All trains were on time and so an hour later we disembarked at Bournemouth station and after a stop at Asda to purchase lunch (and hoodies – it wasn't as hot as first expected) we walked the 20 minutes or so down to the main park to eat lunch.

Suitably refreshed we then wandered over to the seafront, just in time to see the start of the show, namely the Red Arrows. Now I've seen them before, but they are still amazing and the skill they use to avoid each other is incredible. Their display lasted 20 minutes and was riveting.

There then followed various other displays, including a Lancaster bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane, a helicopter display team, two bi-planes (with wing walkers) and finally a Typhoon Euro fighter.

The helicopters, while sedentary compared to the Red Arrows, was just as skill full and the pilots showed why, as a military weapon, they are so vital. After all, as the announcer was quick to point out, the Red Arrows can't fly backwards!

The Euro fighter was the final plane and was by far the loudest. It came sweeping across from the eastern end of the beach and then as it reached the pier turned out to sea, its engines burning orange as it shot out to sea and the noise was incredible. A further 5 minute show ensued, built mainly on how loud and fast it is, but impressive none the less!

The seafront and surrounding areas were packed and along the front were a good mile and a half of displays and attractions. In terms of bringing much needed cash to the area, it must have been a success.

We got the train home, I guess some people in their cars are still somewhere on the A31.

Stop making sense

Saw an interview with David Byrne on BBC this morning. Never really been a fan, but he was fascinating.

The interviewer, Sophie Rayworth, best known as a news reader, did an excellent job in letting him do most of the talking. The BBC also seemed to understand the size of star that they had and also devoted sufficient time to allow us to get to see the man underneath the image

At one point he admitted that when younger he may have had personality traits close to aspergers syndrome He also seemed fairly sure there would be no Talking Heads reunion.

Still crazy after all these years

So winter starts next Saturday as the Football League re-commences. The season starts at 12.45pm as Saints take on Millwall as St Marys in the first live game of the season. So before anyone else kicks a ball we may only be -7 points!

So how do I see this season? Well I have none of last season's hope, but as we were relegated, I also expect to be less wrong than I was then!

We start this season in a completely different state (& league!) than a year ago. Then, we frustratingly played some great pre-season football especially against West Ham (and again a bit later against Birmingham in the Carling Cup). All too quickly the cynics were proved correct, however, as the youth and inexperience (and some injuries) proved that we were too weak for the Championship. While JP seemed to talk a good game, in reality the financial peril that club was in (and of which we were mainly unaware) meant that he, and latterly Wotte, had little option than to opt for youth. That it had an unhappy ending is an understatement.

So season 2009/10 starts with Saints in League1, but now we have a proven English manager, no financial worries (but a 10 point deduction) a new wealthy owner and a fairly threadbare squad. Some of last season's problems remain in that defensively we still look vulnerable to crosses (no jokes) and scoring goals looks dependant on adding to the squad. The charade of administration and funding the overheads while we found a buyer has robbed us of one quality player and a striker who did know where the goal was. There is also no guarantee that others won't leave before the end of the transfer window. Both Saganowski and Rasiak have been expected to look elsewhere, having spent part of last season out on loan. While the financial need to reduce the wage bill is gone, sensible financial control may suggest that we could get either younger or better strikers for the same or less money. Time will tell.

Our new manager Alan Pardew has put his back room staff together and his main priority will now be strengthening the squad and, for once, some money may be available, again time will tell.

In reality this should be a season of consolidation, with our first task to get to 0 points as quickly as we can. Thereafter mid-table mediocrity seems the best we can hope for, but who knows. If we get a tall defender, score some goals and confidence begins to build then maybe, just maybe we could squeeze into the play-offs and that, as we know, is a lottery thereafter!!!!

Show me

I'm not sure that Twitter is fully understood as the concept that it is.

Too many cynics are writing it off as a waste of time. The comment most heard is " why do I need to know that so and so has just driven to work". Well true you don't, so don't follow that person. As Twitter gives you the right to follow who you want to then you're in control.

Where it really works however, is in following the news. Most media outlets have a Twitter feed that you can follow. This means that you can keep up todate across a number of websites through Twitter (especially useful if using a phone). The tweet will give you the bullet point headline (& maybe a bit more) with link to the website if you want read the full story.

You do need to review who you follow as some people do tweet too much and can be a pain. But that is easily solved by stopping following them!

After all without Twitter I would never have heard this joke. "my mate's wife has left him. Took his Bob Marley CD's and his satelitte dish - no woman no sky!


-- Post From My iPhone

Carry on my wayward son

Earlier this week it was announced that the major supermarkets had reduced their carrier bag usage by 48%, which is an excellent performance.

My involvement in this achievement has been to build up quite a collection of "bags for life" which I have acquired by accepting free ones and paying for some. They sit inside my front door in a box for usage. But sadly that is all they do. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I end up in the queue at the checkout and remember the pile at home.

I would like to say sorry to the world, I will try harder.

Starting over again

I've watched the events unfolding at St Marys over the last 97 days with a mixture of dispair, fear, horror, laughter and finally relief!

While the "Pinnicle" groups takeover had, on the face of it, lots of things going for it, in reality it increasingly became "the foolish man built his house upon the sand". When they pulled out, however, it did look pretty bleak until Markus Liebherr re-entered the bidding. It does appear that he was close to securing "exclusivity" before Pinnicle beat him to the punch.

Now Saints have a new German owner (who live in Switzerland). He is worth over a billion and says he is in it for the long term. But who ever says anything else? He's already sacked the manager and the press release is couched in words of quiet Germanic efficiency.

This time last year I was quite taken by JP and is youth policy, look where that ended! Now I'm a bit more circumspect.The choice of manager will be crucial to our progress next season, it may even be the good old director of football/coach scenario, who knows?

I'll watch the next few weeks with interest.

Bring me sunshine

Next Wednesday the Ashes start and for the two months we'll be gripped by what we hope will be a titanic battle, resulting in the victory for the England team (or should that be England & Wales)

Here are some of my thoughts:-

• KP is not scoring runs as flowingly as he should. He will need to change this, but is capable of rising to the occasion
  
• Cardiff as a venue for the first test match is, as "Yes Minister" would put it, a brave decision. It could be even courageous!
  
• Sky Sports have given me the ability to watch the "action" live on my laptop. As I'm a Sky Sports subscriber, for free.
  
• We appear to have better spinners than the Australians; it's a long time since we've been able to say that.
  
• This series will either make or break, Andrew Strauss as England captain.
  
• Ricky Ponting needs to have a great series with the bat for the Aussies to retain the Ashes, if he doesn't the effect on the rest of his team could be terminal.
  

  It's all very exciting and let's hope at the end, like Eric Morecambe, we've got our hands on the little urn.
  

Bargain

Yesterday I bought one of these, a Revo "bLik" radio station, which there's not much it doesn't do, apart maybe from make a cup of tea .

Firstly it's an internet radio. This requires a wifi connection, but is very easy to set up and within seconds you'll be scrolling down the lists of stations available (including BBC radio stations). Given my friends Luann & Steve's connections with Woxy in America I found that first and marvelled at the sound quality. There is also a web site where you can find favourite radio stations on-line and through weird science involving the radio's i/d tag it drops them into your favourites on the radio!

Secondly it's a DAB radio which means you can listen to Radio 5 Live in crystal clear reception, as well as Planet Rock.

Thirdly it's the good old FM radio.

Next, it streams media from your laptop, via the wifi, so you can play music through it. True it only plays Windows Media 11 files, but still...streaming music!

Finally you can plug your iPod into it and it will play that as well!

Oh and it also has an alarm clock in it, can be played through a stereo and brings you wealth and fortune. (Ok maybe not the last one, but enough already)

Normally they cost £177, but yesterday Currys Digital in Portsmouth (yes my job means I have to work in that City, sorry) were selling them "priced to clear"" at £49!!! To say I skipped back to my desk would be an understatement.

The Invisible Man

The Southern Evening Echo is today reporting that there is one wealthy individual behind the bid the buy the Saints to which the administrator has given a period of exclusivity.

In an open letter to fans, Tony Lynam, the public face of the prospective buyer, says that the individual has "SUBSTANTIAL wealth - several hundred million." Now that is exactly what we needed to hear! He also indicates that Matt Le Tissier will be involved in the club in some way as well. More good news.

Suddenly there is hope. Now all we need is to get those 10 points back and hope that the new owner is not a mate of Rupert Lowe!!

The road not taken

So league football is over again and the ups and downs are all decided.

The Premiership has lost WBA, 'Boro and Newcastle. It has gained Wolves, Birmingham & Burnley. That doesn't make it stronger, merely a bit more nostalgic for those who remember Burnley and Wolves battling it out for the League title. While Stoke and Hull (just) survived, they will form, together with the three promoted teams and Sunderland (unless they inject lots of cash and employ a good manager), Portsmouth (please) and Bolton the bottom third of the table. It could be a bumper relegation battle next season!!

The Championship will have the three relegated teams, Sheff Utd, Leicester, QPR (world's richest club???), Reading and Cardiff. When you bear in mind that any team in it could beat any other team, it could be a far closer league than the Premier League.

 

As for League One well that has at least four teams in it who were recently in the Premier league!

 

Roll on August!

Lust for life

Is this the scariest magazine cover ever? If someone on the tube sat opposite you is reading Word magazine, you might just want to move somewhere else.

I think Word magazine is a mighty fine read, but they may well find that this month's circulation numbers are a tad below the norm.

Get with the programme

Listened to an interesting Podcast* this morning on the future of Radio and DAB in particular. It raised some good points about how DAB is fast becoming the bridge between FM and the internet, the latter being the eventual medium through which we will listen to "radio".

This got me thinking and here are some random thoughts.

1. Does DAB exist in America? If it does, what's it like and what does it broadcast that FM radio can't?
   
2. If the answer to 1 above is no, then DAB surely never had a future!
   
3. Once the BBC puts either an App on iTunes or flash on the iPhone then streaming BBC content could become so easy that why would you want a DAB radio?
   
4. The Car. While podcasts, music and silence offer good alternatives, listening to the radio in the car would still be a good percentage of driver's first choice. Listening to DAB radio in a car is, in my experience, at best frustrating, at worst downright dangerous. I have both a portable DAB and one that that attaches to my iPod. That latter is so cumbersome as to be almost impossible to set up. The former just plugs in to my car stereo via the same lead as my iPod. The reception with both is patchy at best, which is mainly down to ariel issues. I haven't ever been in a car with DAB "plumbed in" so that may be a completely different experience, but if DAB radio is to have a future, good in car reception is vital.
   
5. Commercial radio in this country is doomed if it doesn't realise that "personality" is still a big driver in peoples listening habits. Look at the listener figures for Moyles, Wogan, and Ross etc... Commercial radio is mainly made up of pre-recorded segments dropped into playlists. If therefore you work in an office which has one of these stations on all day (which occasionally I do) this means that you will hear more or less the same songs throughout the day. Let's be honest Chris Moyles can go 10/15 minutes without playing any music and we love him for it.
   
6. It is possible to still do the cheaper pre-recorded version with personality. Planet Rock uses Rick Wakeman on Saturday morning to broadcast from 10 until 1pm. It's clearly pre-recorded. Last Friday & Saturday he was at Hampton Court performing "The Six wives of Henry VIII" live, so I guess he was tucked up in bed, while his virtual self was on the radio. Still a good show though with great music and lots of humour. But I tune in to listen to him.
   
7. DAB only really exists for me to listen to Radio 5 live, Radio 5 live sports extra (i.e. Test match cricket commentary) and Planet Rock. Put them on FM I'd be happy to see DAB filed under Betamax & HDD.
   

   
    

   *Guardian Media podcast available via iTunes called "Six weeks to save digital radio"
   

Never Forget

This is Pixie Lott and I predict great things are ahead for her.

She is a singer and has the voice that the 21^st Century demands of a girl singer, I.E. she has that Amy/Adele/Duffy "smoked too many cigarettes" sound.

Her first single comes out in a couple of weeks and the song is well chosen and it's easy after a couple of listens to find you're humming it. One of the producers involved on her album (out in September....yes they have her career planned out in military detail) is Daniel Bedingfield and the single does sound like his sister could be singing it. A video that looks expensive and will find itself being played on all the right channels will only underpin the music.

Today she's featured on the BBC home page (how I found her) and she has recently both appeared on Radio 1 and performed a "Saturday Session" for Dermot O'Leary on Radio 2 where she covered "Never Forget" by Take That. You can find the video here

As you can see by the photo she is very pretty and allied with her voice and music I expect to see her featured heavily in next year's Brit awards!

Down down

I'm off to St Marys this afternoon. It will be a strange afternoon. In reality our last game as a Championship team until who knows when?

I've not really been able say what I think, as to be honest, I don't know!

All I do know is that the worst place to be told you've had 10 points deducted is Portsmouth!

-- Post From my iPod

Easter

The family has been together this week-end at my Sister's house in Somerset.

Highlights included :-

The chocolate fountain being unboxed and broken in. The front lawn now has lots of chocolate in it!!

A trip to Weston to play a round of putting, which got quite tense towards the end. I came third, a 5 on the 13^th ending my hopes of lifting the "Weston Open" title in 2009. Then we sauntered down to the other end of the beach where the "Weston Eye" now dominates the sky-line. I gave Matt my camera to take on board and close to 50 photos returned on the memory stick!

On Monday after a trip to the Clarks Outlet shpping village, we de-camped to Glastonbury, which is weird and a bit scary. At no other point during the weekend did we pass anyone in full frock coat accompanying a lady in full length Edwardian dress!

Talk, talk

Football punditry is not great on the BBC, but it drops a number of levels on ITV.

Tonight we have Andy Townsend (ok ex-Saint, but wouldn't get a job on the BBC), Teddy Sherringham (dull, dull, dull. One for the female viewers is the best I can suggest) and worst of all... Joe Cole.

Now he would be playing tonight (or at least on the bench) if he wasn't injured. So what's he going to say? Hmmm..." the lads done good/tried hard/were unlucky" is the most insight you're going to get from a current member of the squad, whose mates are playing! What we need is a proper impartial pundit, hopefully a journalist to give some balance, but there's little chance of that happening. The main attribute you seem to need is to have played the game, not be able to string together an original or "whisper it" critical opinion.

That's why Baddiel & Skinner or most football podcasts are so good...no ex-players!!!

I want to tell you

Hmmmmm...it's been a while since I sat at my keyboard & wrote something to go on here.

So what's been going on? Well my 50th birthday celebrations actually seemed to last well over a week.

They started on the Friday before with a Chinese meal with friends. It was that night that I learned that this was a "big" birthday and that badges and wacky cards would be the order of the day (I've always tried to duck that sort of thing!!). It was a great evening and got the celebrations off to a good start.

The next day my Sister and her family were staying with Mum so we all went out and had lunch near Romsey. It was the first we had all been out like that without Dad so there was an element of sadness, but I still got presented with chocolate cake with candles.

The Sunday was quieter until the evening, when my friends Steve & Luann, who live in Cincinnati and were over visiting, held their normal "at home" at the King Rufus pub. I went along to see them, but friends we have in common took the chance to bring helium balloons with my age on them! On the actual day (a Monday, which I took off of work)) I had lunch with my Mother and then took my sons for a meal in the evening.

The big finale was on the following Friday, when my friends Diana & Roger kindly hosted a party at their house for me. There were about 40 of us there and yes I added another balloon to my collection. It was another wonderful evening, with DJ Matt providing suitable 70's and 80's music. No Yes though, he drew the line at that! Lots more rude cards, some fine conversation and even some dancing (of the Dad variety).

The final post script was last Sunday, when at church, before the service I received my third and final balloon!!

In between all that has been work (challenging to say the least) and dealing with Dad's estate which is nowhere near a conclusion and will need a few more hours yet! Why are tax forms so confusing?

Born in the 50’s

If you drew a Venn diagram of two groups comprising "People born in the 50's" and "People who have not had their 50^th birthday" the overlap would be very small, but I, as I write this, would still be in it!

After Monday however I will only be in the first category.

But thanks to the excellent "Word" magazine I can tell you that I'm not alone in reaching this milestone this year. The following are also 50 during 2009:-

• Simon Cowell – slightly wealthier than me!
  
• Hugh Laurie – I'm the same age as Bertie Wooster
  
• Morrissey – So I can play "Heaven knows I'm miserable now" and connect to the man singing it.
  
• Morten Harket – well let's face it he's not old is he...and I'm the same age as him!
  
• John McEnroe – hmmm thought he was older than that!
  
• Susanna Hoffs (lead singer of the Bangles) – I've taken the day off so it won't be a "Manic Monday"! Ta-da!
  
• Sheena Easton – female version of Morten above.
  
• Ben Elton – no longer "alternative" then.
  
• And finally....the Mini and Barbie - I've only owned one of them.
  

So I'm in good company and actually not old at all!

This is the modern world

"The only constant I am sure of, is this accelerating rate of change" Peter Gabriel from the track "Downside – Up".

Recently two new "concepts" have reached me, namely "Spotify" and "Twitter". Each has had large amounts of media coverage. But my instinct is that both have still not really been understood as to the impact they could have, on both the way we listen to music and we receive the news.

Firstly Spotify. This is a music service where you can "stream" music to your computer, for no charge, and listen to whole albums or if you want, put together a playlist and listen to all sorts of things. . The only price you pay is that every 20 minutes or so you have to listen to an advert, which appears for 20 seconds or so between songs. Last weekend I listened to the new U2 album, before its commercial release. Ok we've had services like this before, but this one is legal. Yes, Spotify are working with the record labels and legally offering this service.

Now I'm of a generation which has a physical attachment to owning music, buying that vinyl gatefold album, reading the lyrics and liner notes and the smell of the vinyl were a large part of the "listening experience"! Those days are largely gone, however, CD's diluted that and downloading music has moved us further away. There is still some demand for a product to hold, but Spotify will allow you to have your music when ever or wherever you want (subject to a broadband connection) and you don't have to pay for it! It has the ability to completely change the music industry. It also raises a number of questions if you are a musician as how you get paid for your art but increasingly live work is where an artist makes any money rather than the music itself. Will a generation ahead look back at us and laugh at how we either owned copies of music or paid for it?

Secondly - Twitter. This is a web based service where you can post "tweets", which are messages of no more than 140 characters. Other uses of Twitter can follow you, and thus read your posts. Then they can reply to you, if appropriate, or post tweets themselves. Following is very easy, you find the person on Twitter and then click on the "follow" button and you're connected! As a technology it transfers easily to mobile phones and iPods and means that mobile tweeting is fairly simple. Out of that has grown a whole phalanx of "Twitterers" mainly well known TV and radio stars, which we can follow and know either what they are doing or what their shows etc are showing, doing or what guests are coming in. In addition media outlets now have twitter accounts and it is becoming the best way of receiving the news as quickly as possible. The Hudson River plane crash was all over Twitter far quicker than the news broadcast media could achieve it. You can also post photos, via a link to twitter, so there were also photos of the rescue on twitter, via mobile phones on the shoreline, while the TV director was ordering his film crew to go there. The potential is unknown, but in an age of hunger for knowledge as soon as possible, Twitter will be, at least for the moment, an important technology.

My Father

Yesterday was Dad's funeral and thanksgiving service and it was all that we hoped it would be.

The burial at the cemetery was, as you would expect, fairly emotional but the sun shone brightly and having all of the family there really helped keep us all strong. One strange thing that i didn't expect was the box of earth offered to us all to scatter on the coffin. Especially as when previous asked by my boys whether it would happen had replied "you've been watching too many American films!"

The timing worked well and we arrived at the Church with five minutes or so to spare. As we were welcomed, I glanced into the church and was amazed to see that the church looked nearly full. We had no idea how many people would turn up, but we hadn't really expected that number!

The service comprised four hymns, two readings, my tribute on behalf of the family and prayers (some of which were written by Dad for services he had taken). My sister and Will did the readings and Matt read Dad's prayers. They all did very well and my tribute seemed to strike the right note. Apart from losing my place a couple of times (don't ad lib!) I got through with no problems, but I had written it and ensured that there were no emotional land-mines!

Afterwards there was tea, coffee and a huge spread of sandwiches, nibbles and cakes and a chance to say hello to lots of friends and family. It was a good hour and half later before we were able to pack up and head back to Mum's, where even more cake was available!

Dad would, I know, have thoroughly approved!

Ghostbusters

The latest 118 118 advert features the boys reinacting a version of the Ghostbusters theme song. It also features Ray Parker Junior and includes the classic line "I ain't 'fraid of no goat" just as a goat appears from the back of a car!
Comedy genius.

Father, son

My Dad passed away last Sunday evening after he could no longer fight against the blood disorder he had had for the last eighteen months.

I'll blog after the funeral and thanksgiving service (which is not until Feb 20th - it's a busy time of year!) with my thoughts about how much he meant to us all.

Mum , Jane and I were with him for the last three days of his life and while we all knew how it would end, it was still a time of love and hope.

He's at peace now and while we will all miss him terribly, we couldn't be happy seeing him struggling with the illness that slowly took all his energy. He fought it as much as he could and late last year after a 6 week hospital stay recovered sufficiently to have Christmas and New Year at home with us all.

This week has been hard for us all but has been made so much easier by all the love and kindness we have received. Mum's house looks like a florist and she has more cards than space to display them. The comments about Dad have been truly amazing and on more than one occasion moved me to tears. I have also been very moved by all the cards that my sons and I have received. All the thoughts and prayers have really really helped.

What's going on?

So here's the story so far.....Saints appoint Jan Poortvliet (JP) as manager at the start of the season and we play good football and on occasions (Birmingham in the Carling Cup) play really good football.

Then it all starts to go wrong and as Steve Claridge (ex-Pompey football pundit) put it "they play great football in the middle of the pitch but can't defend or score goals!" Slowly we have sunk down the Championship and now reside one spot off the bottom. Last game we lost 2-1 at home to Doncaster (!) and the fans started fighting amongst themselves. Most fans want Rupert Lowe and Michael Wilde off of the board and JP had lost the fans support as well, mainly due to one home victory all season.

Last Friday, a couple of days after a board meeting, from which he appeared to emerge unscathed, JP resigned.  I'm sad to see him go but he had in reality only made things worse, despite, for a short time, playing the best football we had seen for a few years. 

The board took no time at all to replace him with Mark Wotte (in the photo he's on the right, JP on the left). He was the Academy Director and Reserve team manager and appears the cheap option as we have no money.

Two things may be relevant. One, we did look at Wotte as manager, before George Burley, so maybe he was who we wanted all along? Secondly Wotte's first action was to appoint Michael Svensson as part of his back room staff. 

It's likely that things will get no better, but hope springs eternal. 

Meanwhile Spurs and Pompey both went out the FA Cup this weekend and Nathan Dyer, on loan to Swansea, scored the first goal against Pompey. In these small things we find joy.

Our House

This house was built by my great grand-father (that's my Dad's grandfather!). It's also the house where my Dad was born in 1932! 

It's on the Isle of Wight about 2 miles east of the village of Brighstone and on most journey's to see my Aunt, who lives in Brighstone, my sister and I would be encouraged to look out for it as we drove past. 

It's currently on the market for £425k! It's strange to find a house that I "know" so well suddenly being worth quite so much, even in the current market. It's not been in the family for a while now but it's still "strange".

American Idiot

Tomorrow sees the end of eight years of Republican rule in the White House, as "W" leaves office, to a deafening silence of approval for his achievements . 

Obama inherits a country engaged in two wars and with economic problems the like of rarely, if ever, seen before. 

So what did President Bush achieve while in office that he can look back on with pride?

Well he kept a lot of satirists and comedians employed and generated an entire industry of web-sites and video clips of his various gaffs and mis-pronunciations. Actually on occasions he nearly created an entire new language. 

Other than that ....hmmm....no nothing else,,, goodbye George and good night.

The winner takes it all

This is a bit of an experiment as I have inadvertently discovered while watching Spurs vs. Portsmouth that I can "blog" using Microsoft Word 2007.

This is an interesting game of football as I want both to go down, so that Harry walking out will have relegated two teams. I think that the best way for that to happen will be a draw, but if Spurs win I'll not be sad!

0-0 at present, but a long way to go yet!!

Re-make/re-model

I had my hair cut this week (thanks, yes it does look good) and it got me thinking about how the experience has changed over the years.

When I was 9/10 my Dad took me to "Price's" men's hairdressers in Shirley Road, where he too had his hair cut. This involved me sitting in the chair on a board, which rested on the chair's arms, thus raising me to the prerequisite height. My only real memory of that visit was when he sharpened his cut throat razor  and then used it on the back of my neck! I didn't go back there again!

Thereafter I normally went to Eddie Hornes Barbershop at the other end of Shirley, where I later discovered my good friend Paul also went, but well before we knew each other!! Between the ages of 9-16, despite the fashion for "long hair" I had essentially a "short back and sides" and therefore the hairdresser basically cut my hair as short as either my Mum or Dad instructed.

Once I was in the sixth form, I was allowed slightly longer hair until having started work, I first went to a "Hair Salon"! This was highly recommended by my friend Ian, who had discovered "Peter Carol's" in Bedford Place Southampton, where gorgeous, blond female stylists would pander to your every need. Suitably inspired by Ian's tales my best mate Grahame (that's how he spells it) & I rolled up one Saturday morning to have our hair "styled". This was the first time that part of a hair cut featured washing it first and an hour later I emerged from the salon with basically the hair style I had ever since!!!! The stylist had been every thing Ian had promised and i waited outside for Grahame who seemed to be delayed. And I waited and I waited and eventually I presumed that he had actually finished before me and got the bus home. The reason for the hair styling was our friend Rosemary's eighteenth birthday and so, as we did, I called for Grahame en route to the party at her house. When Gray opened the door I realised why we had missed each other at the Hair Salon...he had had a "Kevin Keegan" perm!  Laugh, I nearly died through hysterics!!!

Now, this week's experience. I still have my hair washed, but now I lie in a massage chair while that happens and I get offered (and accept) a complementary "tea tree"face treatment and an Indian head massage. Before my hair is cut and while sat in the chair, I also have a back massage and am given an Apple Danish and a pot of Tea. Then an assistant puts a black smock over me and puts a black rubber collar round my neck and hey pesto I'm Darth Vader It's all come a long way from the cut throat razor!!!