We'll Burn The Sky

I had to change the pace of the blogs, life had been shit and I really didn’t want to infect the blogs any more than I had, so I drew a line in the sand and I took a stand. My intention is to stand and fight and if I have to I will take life and its four horsemen down with me, together me and the wife intend to Burn the sky (hence the title and yes the name game is very much in play).

I was happy that I had blogged and had got it out of the way, but I was running on empty and the vapours were not something I wanted to smell, something was rotten and for once it wasn’t me, but life itself, and for once I wasn’t going to be beaten, I had a cunning plan and I intended to put it into operation. Thankfully I was back to work and even that wasn’t cutting the mustard, well that’s not exactly true, it was, but I was listless, the days were just bleeding into each other, each day becoming just a mind numbingly boring slog, even coming through the front door to see our hell hound bouncing about because he’s happy to see me (WTF) didn’t kick start the motor of life, but at least there was a spark, that at least was something, I’m not used to being the centre of attention, ha go figure.

I had yet another Dr’s appointment actually it was meant to be with the practise nurse I started to panic when I saw a Dr sat in the room (oh dear now what?) as it happens   it wasn’t as bad as I thought, the super tanker that is me is slowly but gradually being pulled back on course, I was presented with a new medication (that was to have ramifications more of that later) I thought they were going to just call me fat! however I had lost some weight (again WTF!) nothing over the top but certainly baby steps,  the worrying thing was the fact that my test results for my heart weren’t back (I did try to tell them I didn’t have one!) ah well I have another appointment soon so maybe that will present me with some better news, back to more work and sometimes the wife is on her duty shift on a late shift and it would appear I have become accustomed to sitting in the dark at home, now not in a miserable or miserly well (well actually I’m not sure on the last part) I have used the cover of dark to sit and try and have a working plan for life in general and it has seemed to work (so far) it might not be perfect, but I’m getting there, baby steps boys and girls baby steps!

I have also spoken to the youngest on the odd occasion usually about food and how to cook something (seeing as how I’m the home Marco Pierre White……cough splutter not!) it’s nice to make contact even if for a little while, as I keep saying the world keeps turning and she is growing and starting to spread her wings, she is no longer our little girl anymore (try telling the wife that) for once it appears I am thinking of myself and giving myself some space, funny how that works, I need to be careful I might get to like it!

Again back to work and the 17^th audit of the year thankfully the last one that is aimed at specifically me, not that I mind, my average is sitting at 96% I know I’m doing something right, if I’m not that’s what the audit is for, so unlike other people I never panic about an audit especially when the nearest person on the audit trail has a 71% rate (oh dear) I’m not perfect but I always try my best. Thankfully it is helping me come back to an even keel! Hopefully as you read this that you might realise I’m getting better, I’m not “happy” or “fixed” but I am fighting the good fight. Some people are having some very heavy times in their lives, I hope I can offer them the support that they have offered me over the last couple of months, this year has been decidedly shit for friends and family through sickness and health, Life will win in the end (it always does) I just have no intention of giving in or of going quietly (that’s the new me go figure) music has as always been helping and I have been playing even more music (if that is even possible) but it’s always the classics, but what the hell, I’m having fun with the stuff that I’m listening to and that’s what music has always been about!

We had a jolly jaunt to take the youngest some food supplies at Uni, I checked the weather forecast, “there’s going to be some rain but we should be OK” famous last words a journey that takes just over 70 minutes one way took a little over 150 minutes (you do the math) to get there, we didn’t stay long because of the condition of the rain soaked roads on the way there, but it took us over 390 minutes to get back with many diversions and downed trees with a smattering of drowned policemen doing a valiant task of getting us on our way home, the worst weather we have driven through, my hearts go out to the people in Cumbria and all of the support people who endured though that long night.

The next day although we were drained we had arranged to go and see G & E, who because of our situation we felt that we had neglected them, we simply hadn’t been the best company and G had enough on his plate without us adding to it, we even turned up on time ………..well for us, within ten minutes of the arranged time, we set off to The Rattler and had a wonderful Sunday lunch, but as always it ended way too soon, the previous days adventures were taking the toll, the wife had pulled something (ooo er missus) and was struggling with her breathing, we came home after a lovely meal (and even better company) like the old couple that we are and snuggled on the settee with the hell hound at our feet.

The following days have moved on at a swift pace, back to work and a brief respite with SMOR and his good lady, Whitesnake hit the toon and we were hooked up with brilliant seats (thanks man) and passes for the after show, we missed Black Star Riders (on purpose) after seeing them a half a dozen times in 18 months we wanted the company of a likeminded lunatic ( I can hear him now shouting “how very dare you”) we watched the band (no review I enjoyed it, I know I was surprised as much as you the reader hahaha  end of story) met with some peeps and missed loads more, we then headed out as Def Leppard were getting arrested for throwing a bag of cats down some stairs ………………..oh no I mean as Joe Elliott started singing, to be honest the last time I saw a full Leppard concert the drummer had two arms (High and Dry Tour if you were interested)  they have done some nice stuff, they just don’t interest me enough to want to watch them, good luck if you want to but no thanks for me.

The next day I was Duty Dog, I know me in in charge of a billion-pound shopping centre, it frightens me as well, well not as much as it used to. It’s a long shift which I usually while a way dealing with stupid people who should not be allowed out of the house, never mind their street without a carer! A quick turnaround after a late night does not make me a happy camper, but I got through the day painlessly and without killing or maiming anybody, a low profile was the order of the day, once home with the wife back indoors we were soon ensconced watching all the crap on the TV that we had recorded but not watched, I made a killer sweet and sour chicken meal and then we drifted off into a TV stupor, then we climbed up the wooden hill as we were returning to Carlisle to pick up our youngest and bringing her home so she can serve in servitude over Christmas or something similar, that sounds so wrong written but it still strikes my funny bone over and over again , mind you as I pull this particular funny out, I discovered that so far all university has done is to teach my youngest how to drop the F-Bomb with monotonous regularity………..go figure my tax pounds working for the good of the country, but as always I get ahead of myself!

We were able to drag ourselves from our pit at a silly time (I was going to say at the crack of dawn but the wife kept asking who the hell is Dawn?) of the morning at a time when darkness still ruled (I know its December I was trying to paint a picture) and headed westwards as more heavy weather was heading into Cumbria and we didn’t want a repeat of the previous weekend, the wife still wasn’t well, ongoing health issues no not me, mind you I do believe I am the perfect tonic! So I was concerned for her, we got there in record time announcing to the youngest that the eagle had landed, we were like UN peacekeepers going to get refugees out of a war torn country once on board we got the hell out of dodge with Charlie firing all they had at our Chinook……………………. hang on I’m having Vietnam flashbacks for some reason! We got out ahead of the bad weather although we could see it coming in, at the half way point we stopped at a Little Chef for second breakfast (well we were hungry Hobbits) the weather caught up with us and it was a steady downpour as we crawled back into Gimpsville, stopping briefly to pick up the hell hound (who the Kraken was looking after just in case that there was a repeat of last week’s debacle) we headed the last stretch with a hell hound going mental as he was really happy to see the youngest, the wife was working up a head of steam as she thought she was going to have parking issues (don’t ask, we could live miles from anybody and she would still get annoyed bless her…………..it’s good she has a hobby so to speak!) thankfully there was a spot and we gratefully retreated indoors before the snow arrived!

As it happens the snow kept falling, I took great pleasure in resumption of my kitchen duties and cooked for the family, and yes still it snowed then just as we were getting ready to snooze (I mean watch TV) the was a knock at the door (ok it was the doorbell, but the doorbell ringing just wasn’t as dramatic as it needed to be) it was keeper of the royal hounds and his good lady wife what a surprise, the whole of Gimpsville covered in snow and they had travelled all the way from sunny Shields to see “real snow” a wonderful surprise as we don’t get many visitors (let’s be honest who the hell visits Gimpsville especially in winter) as always with any visit it was over way too soon and they had to fight their way back to the land of the living (well sort of). Sunday was exactly what a Sunday should be, nice and quiet Monday was a return to work with some worrying problems, my new tablets were stating to give my kidneys problems and I was considering to stop taking them, then the flood gates opened quite literally, damn I had to be quick and there was (and as I type) still a few issues, tablets stopped being taken unfortunately I was told that wasn’t going to be the answer as it would take roughly the same length of time to flush them out of my system (damn that’s nearly ten days, I’m on day eight as I sit here) Tuesday was even worse, not funny and then there was the burning as well, I’m a bloke I’m crap at being poorly the wife was as always an angel of devotion (at least she didn’t say suck it up buttercup)I struggled on and at times I felt I was stuck in a pension queue at the post office, once home I tended to crawl into my spot on the settee, just me and the wife (as the youngest had been dragged off to the Kraken’s Lair) we were watching a programme (I can’t even remember what now) and it was describing the effects of PTSD, and wallop I was blindsided, thankfully it didn’t last long, I was more than impressed in how I dealt with the attack, the wife helped, but the black cloud ran away with its tail tucked between its legs, that’s a good sign although at the time it wasn’t.

The week progressed with major fallouts and an attempt on the Krakens life, I won’t be going into details simply because I wasn’t at either incident mind you if I had been for the falling out, I do believe the police might have been called to cart me off, I’m not a happy bunny some people (including Family) are a waste of skin. The week crawled towards the weekend not before the pit stop at the quacks, only for him to tell me that my heart is fine (WTF) and I’m doing all the good things for my other problem and to keep it up. Friday arrived and I came home as the wife went out to work I didn’t even turn on any electrical device I simply sat in the dark and brooded, again it wasn’t all good but it did get better, thankfully by the time the wife got home I had put the side lights on and was at least “cheery” I think it was the continuous running backwards and forwards to the loo that had me down, but the new me dusted myself off and I got on with it and I didn’t mind not being connected to that other world you know “the internet”!

Saturday came and I was duty dog again and it was funny watching people who didn’t get the bus go pale when they realise how much it is to get “public transport” ah well I hope you enjoy your Christmas parties later on in the day, I didn’t attend mine although I have been on an upward turn I still wasn’t anywhere ready for some social interaction, I was a good boy and came home and enjoyed an evening of Queen taped on the Sky box from the previous evening, and if you don’t mind me saying it was ………………………………………..AWESOME!

Saturday night we also had the Hurricane who was as always a handful (girls are so much easier to deal with) Sunday has been more of the same and at the moment we are getting our gear on to try and put some that’s crossed with a mink (vicious little critters) and a Tasmanian devil, and that’s just to get him up the stairs, I’m sure it will all work out in the end. Back to work for a short week in the run towards Christmas, the last shift being a duty dog shift the rota always goes pear shaped at the end of the year although the wife was on time at the end of the shift well I say on time for her 40 minutes isn’t too bad, according to her she can do no wrong, well would can I say to that well I can think of a few things but surely they are not printable in a family blog (WTF) Christmas came and went with hardly any issues, the dinner I cooked was nice and on time just like the Kraken who didn’t stay too long, Santa wasn’t kind because I’m told I’m too old for that shit, although I did manage to get myself some CD’s ( an Al Di Meola box set, a couple of Supertramp classics a Black Sabbath album that I didn’t have a bought copy of, all classics) now I just have to get through my holiday and go back to work (I’m dreading what I have to go back to but hopefully it will keep my brain occupied) just the wife swearing at technology (and she is our geek squad) if I put a swear box in the living room she would be owing the box a few million pounds I kid you not!

So there you go the last blog of the year, I intend for them to be written by a happier (fingers crossed) person in the new year and my intention is to post 52 blogs next year, some may be small but they will be posted whether I like it or not, misery will not be allowed to have company, life’s too short and I don’t want the few friends and readers that I have to get the idea that I’m an old misery (old yes misery no). Times have been crap and hopefully this year we might (although I gave up holding my breath years ago) just get some good times, I’m sure there will be tears after what’s gone before us but hopefully less and less and a stronger stride in our pace as we take on life at its own game, I’m not asking for much, just a little sunshine to peak out from behind the clouds every now and again, so until the new year keep spreading the disease (I really do mean word) watch the skies for incoming I wish you and yours all the best and a fabulous new year until then……Toodles!

Oi life come and get me ya Bastard, I’m ready and waiting for Ya!

This is the picture

Now don't be alarmed, don't panic I'm going to say a few things here that some might think that I'm being controversial, I'm not really its just depends on how you view the big picture!

Firstly this is going to be the penultimate blog of the year, there I said it, I loving writing but I'm not in the right place to publish anything, too much going on in my tiny mind to comprehend, nobody can argue with that, as nobody knows what's going on in my head! I'm totally sick of publishing bile and although I have a ton of ideas that aren't bile, I'm not happy posting stuff that's not 100% I'm struggling with the big picture and I feel disconnected from the wife and all living things, so I believe that I have to at least offer her some support, this is not goodbye but quality control (at last) or so I would have myself believe.

I need to get some traction in my life, I have nobody to blame for this malaise but myself, if I don't get some traction people are going to get fed up and will cut the ties that bind, I know I have had a load of offers of help and I thank you all for that, however its something that I need to do, no matter how many offers of assistance I receive its something only I can do, so don't think that I have hit rock bottom (nearly but not quite) I know that I have to dust myself off and get on with it, I have done it before I'm sure that I can do it again.

I just had the crappiest birthday with only my brother really remembering it, not that I normally celebrate it, but the fact that the kids have to be reminded by their mother kicked me in the slats just a tad, adding up to my (imaginary ) tale of woes, so today I shall begin the long haul back to normality, if anybody wants to have a pop you can, just try walking a mile in my shoes then you might understand why I have become such a fucking misery, maybe it will shine some light on to why I am wired the way that I am.

So as I have said I am trying to right the displaced ballast (I'd love to know why I use all these nautical terms) in my rusty keel so if you see me on the street trust me I am trying to do my best, the blogs both old and new have being doing great business, and I have no idea why! over 15000 this year alone, go figure, keep spreading the disease I will be back hopefully better, but if all is equal I doubt before the new year, maybe a year round up and then to kick off the new year in a better frame of mind, I love all of the people who read and comment so don't panic its just a speed bump in the road, until the next time Toodles!

Silence amongst the static

This has been the longest darkest week of our lives, thankfully it begins to drew to a close tonight, huge amounts of damage have been done, however with the love of good friends we appear to have arrived at the other side battered but not bowed.

We lost a beloved member of the family this week and at such a young age, none of us were prepared for the despair that followed in its wake, the loss is terrible and although I have to admit to being a cold fish, I’m destroyed for the loss, I’m destroyed for the wife as I seem to be able to do little to console her although I won’t give up trying! Thankfully he is now at rest, not suffering anymore after that horrible disease claimed him way too early in his life, thankfully that “C” word meant nothing to him, it did nothing to shrink his happy go lucky demeanour.

There been a family fallout earlier in the illness, something which could have been avoided, but that’s not what the blog is about, it’s something that should have been avoided, it didn’t help either side, both sides suffered, us from not having as much access and the other side not being able to take up our offers of support, we bimbled on as best we could with short outbursts of emotion, totally debilitating  the wife when it hit, but she is made of sterner stuff and soon got back on the horse and rode on.

I attempted to bury myself at work, it worked to a degree but I was always easily distracted, the bear was not available for any meetings I hid more than I did work, my boss and work mates were fantastic, I honestly probably would have slid back into the dark old ways if not for them, I’m sure they weren’t aware, but they really did save the day for me. Music has as always been a constant, helping my many moods, especially when I didn’t want to connect to the outside world, which was often if I’m being honest, we got to see the little man one last time and he directed us to where we had to stand, the happiest point (for me) of the last few months, we had been told not expect much but as soon as he saw the wife he sat up happy over the moon to see her even the morphine couldn’t rob him of that happy moment in time, that will live with me for the rest of my natural life!

We were going to see him the following week but it wasn’t to be he slipped away, but we were there within five minutes and the wife got to hold him one last time, he really did love her, he loved being cuddled by her. Then our world tilted and ground to a halt and we had to try and keep it together for the sake of our own sanity, I was fine until I had to phone my boss and then I blubbed like a girl, work again was fantastic and I rallied all of the defences to come to the wife’s aid, it was agreed that the Hurricane would stay with us over the coming weekend, I’m not going say why I think it happened this isn’t the forum for that, we were just thankful to have that little bundle of dynamite over the threshold once more.

The week passed and we did what we were supposed to, we grieved, even me, we had arranged for the youngest daughter to come home and for once the house would filled with joyous noise, the Hurricane arrived and he was so excited to be here within a minute of being here he launched himself to the bottom of the stairs, stopping all of our hearts at once, I honestly thought he had broken his neck, thankfully he sat and grinned then realised he needed to cry for some sympathy and sweets, crocodile tears flowed for all of about 12 seconds and then he took off like a hurricane through the house, which he demolished and rebuilt over the course of the weekend several times, shouting at the top of his lungs his favourite word of the moment ”POOP” we soon cured him of that, every time he said his favourite word aunty kissed him, yup a typical little boy he stopped almost straight away. We did our usual yomp around Gimpsville, well he went on his scooter and I limped behind! More cards and flowers arrived and again I was doing really well until a card arrived from work with lots of people’s condolences “damn I sprung another leak” thankfully my defences were built tall and strong it was just the odd freak wave that got me from time to time.

The weekend finished quicker than I thought and soon he was heading home, the wife and the youngest had arranged a night out with friends to cheer themselves, me I sat in the house in the dark, I enjoyed it and not in a bad way, it just gave me time to think good thoughts, which was strange! Monday a last day to sort out things for the coming day, and we soon headed to our pits awaiting that dreaded day, Morning soon came back over the hill and I was up and making breakfast just like any other day, no matter what happens the world never stops turning. It started to rain, was this the littles man way of saying he was happy, I’m not sure, but he was ever present at the forefront of my brain for the rest of the day, I busied myself with cleaning shoes so that we could look nice and clean for inspection, the rest of the day went by in a blur and we were soon heading home and thankfully the wife didn’t turn into the Kraken, it was close but not close enough.

We got home and again we said we would look after the Hurricane, once again straight away he is into the sweets (we have taught him well) and the little blighter has only swallowed a bloody cola cube damn he is putting us through the hoops, crisis averted the youngest heads back to Uni, I sit here and my heart breaks as he looks at me and tells me he misses his brother, nobody should have to go through this at his age. Now we have to pick ourselves up and get on with our lives, they won’t go on as before, but we will do our best.

The blogs will hopefully now be able to try and return to some kind of normalcy, can’t promise but I will try, thank you to everybody in my life who have helped us over the last few months, I know thank you might not seem a lot but it’s all I have left, so once again thank you from the heart of my bottom (well I did say I was trying to return things to an even keel) so watch the skies there will another one along soon so until then Toodles!

I Am A Wildebeest!

Honestly I thought I was a rather “large” person until I saw Vince Neil on stage last night in Newcastle, again as always I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s pretend you are Tommy Lee strap yourself in, it could turn into a bumpy ride!

The night didn’t start out well with a large number of texts between me and the wife regarding conversations that we had had with each other in the run up to the gig:

No I don’t want my Jeans

The camera is on the video cabinet

Will you be on time??????????????? Yep you know she wasn’t!

Now if she had only listened the first time around…………………what am I thinking why on earth would she listen to me for!

A very busy day had me crippled (dodgy knees will do that to you) so my mood wasn’t the best, when she claimed that she was going to be at least another forty minutes (GRRRR) I did what I do best and I waited. She finally turned and thankfully we weren’t too off with each other (well for us) so we soldiered on as we do, and got parked up in our desired location I jumped out and stripped off (down girls down)  into my “gig” clothes (t-shirt and hoody- woo hoo) we then made contact with SMOR who was in the town with his good lady, so we said we aren’t far from where you are we will wait for you and meet up, well we waited and waited and waited it turns out SMOR had lost his sense of direction (WTF) once we finally  located him we ensconced ourselves on the ground floor  at the mile castle as SMOR had been to his regular ballet lesson and put his back out. Captain Bluebeard played a flying visit with his lovely lady and the night looked like it was going to be a good one.

Food consumed, we galloped (yeah right with his back and my knees) to the venue I told SMOR he couldn’t get lost he just had to follow the tribes of freaks heading towards the venue. Soon we were chatting and waving at lots of people who we knew (alright 95% of them knew the wife and thought I was just tagging along as a carer) and we chuckled as we watched SMOR climb the stairs to the venue one painful step at a time.

Now if you are a regular reader of the blog you know I won’t do a song by song account of the gig, I will give you the juicy bits, first the night was almost ruined because me and the wife couldn’t catch a battery falling through the air the same speed as an African sparrow, this really was a game changer and to think that we were about to go to war over a battery sums up our night (stop buying shite battery’s) thankfully the crisis was soon averted when we finally discovered it in the changeover, Alice Cooper was as always great, he had 50 minutes and he pulled out (most of) the stops, he always has a top notch band, although the fact that the bass player had half a sheep around his neck was just a little off putting, my only complaint was we didn’t need a drum solo a bass solo and a whammy bar exercise, we come to see Alice not the band, and yes in a two hour show he might need a breather but in 50 minutes (no thank you) how about another song? if you ever get the chance go and see him it’s well worth it.

The changeover was well coordinated but it looked like chaos at times, we then settled down for the main event, now I will admit to not being a fan, I like John Corabi and I would have preferred to have seen him, I have blogged about the band before (back in the mists of time in a blog entitled “A wet and soggy muff” don’t ask) to be honest when the stage was finally all sorted I was surprised and it was a pleasant surprise, it turned out to be a great show (the sound wasn’t fantastic where we were) but a full blown rock extravaganza, a drummer on a roller coaster and enough explosions to send someone with PTSD back to the beaches of Normandy!   Although I am positive that when he started singing “Anarchy in the UK” the opening line that he sang was “I am a Wildebeest” boy he certainly looked like one as well, I get why people like the band, and shock horror the singer even sang (kind of) but to be honest I’m glad that I won’t have to panic that the wife will melt the credit card whenever they announce dates, a great gig with great bands with only a couple of tweaks it would have been a top ten gig. The ladies were nice not for any other reason than it annoyed the wife, she can drool over Nikki Five or whatever you call the bass player but I can’t appreciate two energetic singer’s/dancer types, there no double standards there at all is there (oh have you not met my wife) and will somebody please don’t let mick mars do another guitar solo, I could throw it down the stairs more tunefully1

Then we took our own sweet time to leave (8000 leaving at once we weren’t going anywhere quick) and bumped into tons more people (well ok the wife did, I’ve never been that popular) but we did bump into G&E which really did make my night, finally my battered knees made it to the car and we drove home in some of the thickest fog of my life, duty manager today meant I could have a lie in, erm actually no I slept in first time ever, what the hell happened there, another musical blog anybody would think life is normal, it will be if we keep bumping into all the lovely people that we did last night, until the next blog  keep watching the skies………..INCOMING ………..for now Toodles

Angel and me

Ok lets try and do something with a positive spin for a change, with all the shit that's going on we desperately needed a win, thankfully we got one!

The wife rang me to tell me she was going to buy Glenn Hughes tickets for Newcastle I had no issue with this as I believe that the man has the voice of an angel, he has a tendency to wander off the beaten track but a simple rule of thumb if it has Mr Hughes on it I will like/love it (with the exception of his Christmas album..........really...........please lets not go there.......ok) tickets bought I went into panic mode as I soon realised that I was duty manager on that particular day, damn I was going to be popular (or travelling home alone after my shift) if I couldn't do some fancy footwork and get a swap, thankfully someone who normally isn't helpful, was, so I only had three minutes of panic, now we just had to count the days down to the big day!

Work continued in a westerly direction, I had a jolly jaunt away from home where I discovered one of my many bosses was coming to visit me at work, he turned up the day before Glenn arrived in Newcastle and his parting words on the Monday were "oh yes by the way I'm auditing you tomorrow" don't panic, I'm not prepared, deep breath, don't panic, try not to swear, I arrived at work the next day and just plunged straight in, if there was anything wrong, it would serve as an indicator that do I indeed need assistance, grrrrrr (carried on @onemandoingtheworkofsix.com) and to say it was a roller coaster would be an understatement, the first point that we took a break was eight hours later when we both realised that it was quarter to five, damn how did that happen, he seemed pleased and we reported back to my Ops Manager, the wife turned up with spiffing red hair and then promptly picked on me, I simply said it had been a long hard day and that I hadn't had anything to eat, she kicked off big style, I get where she was coming from but it was one of those days, if I had noticed the time during the day I would have drawn my boss's attention to it, he didn't eat either, so the toys were thrown out of the car and we were barely out of the car park............not a  great start ho hum!

Thankfully we both knew it was a storm in a tea cup and thankfully we were soon sat with SMOR and his good lady, munching our way through some good old fashioned Scampi, and then the shenanigans started, a few more pubs and lots and lots of familiar faces, simply the best tonic in the world although I was suffering (my knees just don't hold up as well as they used to) we ended up in the Bodega and SMOR's drink of choice wasn't available, cue much consternation thankfully crisis averted as soon as he had a pint thrust into his empty hand, A (who had been in the venue earlier on in the day) and lots more people (who in reality are the wife's friends but they are gracious enough to accept me as a Jonny come lately .....lol) who it was fantastic to see, lots of short but oh so sweet conversations, it doesn't take much to feed the soul but this was so good!

Then off to Tilley's by this time I'm bloated, Lime and Soda will do that to a man and then even more people, a few who I didn't know, some I knew a little bit and one person who I seem to think is a bigger dick every time I meet him (although I have never spoken to this individual) he might be lovely, unfortunately he just acts like a dick, or was it the fact that I'm sober these days, hey ho he moved on and was promptly forgotten about!  we headed on to the venue and then bumped into even more people and Big G, a brief conversation and G knew what the set list was going to be and he claimed  it was going to be strange, I was happy to take whatever was given, then even more people in the bar, by this time my knees were shot I needed a rest, and unfortunately I missed some people who are always gracious enough to say hello, more of my fave people and by this time I do believe I had a (happy) silly grin on my face, damn is  this what its  like to be happy (hell yeah).

Off to our seats in the circle which were perfect viewing but tiny (Victorian theatre seats) and mine was wrecked I don't think my fat ass helped (oops!) the gig was (again I'm not here to review it) good, although I did have a few niggles (me with my reputation) there were only two songs I didn't care much for one a Whitesnake song that Doug Aldrich (Glenn's current guitarist) wrote, ok I get it but there are better songs within the Doug Aldrich cannon (musical term look it up) and one Deep Purple song (mistreated) which although it was played to perfection at just under nine minutes (including Glenn's impression of a whale) we could have  had two more Glenn songs, from any point in his career (how about something off Black Sabbath's Seventh Star............oh controversial) the set list was a tad strange but I think it would have benefitted from being played in reverse, less widdly less solo's, looking at the description you might think it was a shit gig, it wasn't it was good but not a patch on the potential that it had, three really good musicians finding there feet, come back next year and it might just be "F***ING AWESOME! allegedly the sound downstairs wasn't the best but in the circle I didn't have any complaints.

Then came the obligatory meet and greet SMOR(in a nice way) being in the game wants to meet the people who he is friends with and works with, we again bumped into friends who we waited with while we waited for the gracious Mr Aldrich to turn up and take a heap of abuse from SMOR, we headed  out into the street only to be greeted by a huge wall of rain where the hell had this come from time was slipping away we had to say our fond farewells, not before cunning plans had been devised (watch this space) we drove back through the hills to Gimpsville and at some ridiculous time of night had a cup of tea and said thank you to our gracious host and his good lady!

The next morning I was up for the quarterly bloods that my life disease dictates that I must do, then off for a chest x ray as the Dr seems to think that I have a heart and not a swinging brick! back home to get ready for work but not before our cunning plan was put into place (Hotel booked for the end of January, its only a night away but I have the feeling the weekend has the potential to be fab) then off to the asylum to take charge of the inmates in what turned out to be national twat day as we were swamped with twats all over the site and it made my most hated shift into a long pain in the butt! the wife turned up to carry my weary body back to the home of our hearts (not) and then a quick rise and back to work for yet another day, thankfully one more and then nine days off to do nothing but small chores and long hours of butt scratching!

The only negative that has come out of this blog was a conversation with SMOR and for some reason that I was under the impression that the Electric boys supported 24/7spyz at Newcastle Riverside but SMOR corrected me and reminded me it was actually Stevie Salas and his Colorcode, which now leaves me scratching my head who the hell did the Electric Boys play with on that night way back in the 90's at the Riverside I'm sure somebody will remind me, I just remember being disappointed as they treated it like one big jamming session, which bored my drunk ass, I wanted to see this tight ass rock band, thankfully I saw them support Thunder at the City Hall and they were so damn good, and that brings this to a close hopefully not the misery fest that these seems to head down the road, life isn't perfect but I know I have so many good friends out there who are so damn supportive, I met a friend this morning at work who I know has been going through some rough times (much worse than me) I was happy to give him some much needed love (calm down) he is a really good guy, who hasn't got over the death of his father, hopefully I helped even if just a little, it does help if you can help somebody it costs nothing to be nice! so until the next time enjoy and spread (the blog far and wide remember to watch the skies........incoming!

Until then Toodles!  

Just what i needed

Life as it happens always tries to drag you down the side streets of oblivion, throwing up road blocks of unhappiness, pain and misery, now our responsibility to ourselves is to try and drive over these blips in our life and enjoy what time we have on this blue pearl called planet earth, oh a dark and mysterious beginning, unfortunately anybody who knows me in the real world will know that our family life has been turned upside down, not something I intend to go into any detail here, I will at some point, just not right now, so the tray with all our teacups has been upended, but you know what I don't care and I'm certainly not going to give up!

 Blogs like seeds of happiness will be in short supply for the coming weeks, I have to admit to being devoid of any willingness to write which is a shame as numbers have picked up and some of the responses have been so damn good, I will when I can, however they might end up being like buses (either they don't turn up or you might get three in one week) I am increasingly fighting many battles on many fronts, at some point I will be worn down but I will never be defeated.

Work and health issues have been one and the same, but I have to admit to being disappointed that my get up and go has got up and fucked off (pardon the expression but it fits its purpose) and although I am putting on a brave face, I was in desperate need of some cheering up, cunning plans were many in the mix but very few were coming to fruition, the finances as always kicking us in the slats , but the wife and I thought sod it that's what the overdraft is for!

We have been missing our youngest (who has buggered off to university) not that she adds much noise to the family household, but her presence is always a positive thing, she is appearing(starring) in the latest version of Macbeth with Michael Fassbender supporting her, so we hatched a plot to go and see her at our local boutique cinema in Newcastle (the big city) to see her immortalised on the big screen, the day came and I had a real busy day at work teaching five courses in one eight hour stretch which requires me to be on my feet all of the time, I like to get people to interact with me, standing behind the podium is not for me, rather than travel back to Gimpsville I stayed at work at the end of the day and suffered in silence as I waited for the wife to arrive from the future with her amazing time machine, once picked up we arrived in a city brimming with people there to see a freak show where grown men fiddle with odd shaped balls!

We got our tickets (how much? do you not realise our daughter is the star) we had time to kill so we wandered off in search of sustenance avoiding the overfull, overpriced venues, we were on a budget here, hells bells the wife was going sneak some popcorn into the cinema (I felt like a Victorian street urchin sat with toffs once we got in there) we finally ended up at the American Embassy (McDonalds to the uninitiated) and munched our way through our really appetising meal (not) and we took a slow meander back to the venue (that's all I could manage by this time) stopping off to watch some Tonka's and blacks doing strictly come dancing (again with strange shaped balls) I do believe the Tonka's won the dance off, although we only saw the first five minutes of the game.

We then joined the wine brigade as we waited patiently for the appearance of our daughter on the big screen, and literally within the first couple of minutes there she was, bang in the middle of the screen, we very nearly jumped up like two Newcastle United supporters in the wrong section of the Stadium of shite surrounded by Orcs  (well it is in Mordor) it was all I could to keep the wife from going off like a roman candle (obscure Marillion reference) in the dark, then I drifted to the land of nod for five minutes which didn't impress the wife, at least I didn't snore (did I?) damn it had been a long day for me, but I was soon ensconced watching the fabulous scenes but being bored by the dialogue (hells bells do it in modern English so we can at least decipher what is going on) out spot out, really ah get away for fucks sake and then again in an even bigger (longer) scene there's the youngest again , proud parents your darn tooting we are, the film finished and we quite gleefully headed home to Gimpsville.

We fell into our pits a happy couple (probably with shit kicking grins on our faces) sure that the next day was going to be even better, the wife had to go to work and then head to a reunion of The Tee Hee Club, the day sort of dragged for me in the house (researching German Fire classifications what a rock n roll life I lead I hear you say) the pooch put in his cage I decided to head out for the plague carrier to meet up with the wife (please do try and keep up Plague carrier = public transport in this case a bus) and I was happy that the look of panic on staff at work  when they saw me arrive on site still warms the cockles of my heart (bless them) finally the wife finished work and we headed off on a route approved by Securicor as the wife never ever takes the same route twice, a quick pit stop for motion lotion and we soon in our old familiar haunts of South Shields to be met by the faces of E & G and KC tables dragged together and then more faces turned up (more letters of the alphabet but you should be able to work out if you have read the blog a cast of millions) A & C and much to my surprise the ninja pairing of P & G and to be honest it was a little overwhelming for me, but I was a good soldier and literally half listened and just soaked the atmosphere in (£43 for Christmas cake ingredients, do you not know how much drink you can buy with all that LOL) soon there was too many people to talk to all at once and there were many handshakes and man hugs all around, this was the best night in such a long time.

Then it went sideways (in a really good way) it went sideways thanks to alcohol (not me I'm a lime and soda boy these days) KC's lovely wife and sister and law turned up and  then for some reason we needed our ears measured, which we all gladly did, size isn't everything (LOL) then more chat and more drinks for peeps and then it was decided noses needed to measured and again we all sat and went through the process willingly, I could see where this was going (silliness third stop  after sensibility) then one of the ladies went off marauding for supplies and came back with large provisions of (borrowed/stolen = delete as you think appropriate) cold garlic bread (erm no thank you) we all were to frightened too ask by this point and unfortunately we were struggling with the broken (drunken) English responses we were getting to our questions, at this point Time stepped in and reminded us of our real life responsibilities and just as quickly as it started, the night was breaking away, melting like a snowflake in a child's hand, we said our farewells and got the hell out of dodge before anything else needed to be measured! a great night way too short and me and the wife felt so guilty because we didn't really get to go around the group as we would have liked, but it filled our (emotion) tanks with happiness what a great day after so many shit filled ones!

Then we headed back up the mountain to Gimpsville and sat and watched the google box, doing things that we normally do, before heading off to bed still happy, we were awoke earlier than we thought as the wife was asked if she would do a shift today (the curse of zero hour contracts) so all of our plans will be rammed into a short space of time tonight with me planning a lovely Sunday dinner for when she gets home, waiting for the new week to begin. and that they say is that, I am sat here feeling cheerful (well for me cheerful) especially considering I have just fought (and lost) yet another battle with technology, hey ho that's the way the cookie crumbles, so if you are a regular reader I can only apologise for the lack of consistency from me for the blogs but life is stamping on my head at the moment and me supporting my wife and family is what comes first, I take delight knowing that I have fantastic friends who know how to cheer us up, I hope you enjoyed the blog watch the skies for more to come soon ................incoming............until then Toodles! 

oh and yes the name game is in play I actually have the 7 inch single.................go figure!

Emotional Rescue

For once this blog isn't about me, well in a way it is but only in a slight way, this blog is for my rock the person who for the last nearly 25 years has kept me on an even keel for most days, she just about dresses me, she points me in the right direction, we may fight like Al and Peg Bundy, but I love her with all of my heart, she is my light, my day, my one true constant.

I love my wife and although she might not read this blog, as she has a lot more to do than read the scribblings of her lunatic husband, I feel as though as though I don't say it enough, usually because I'm working my nuts off or I'm in a deep dark hole and she is as always hauling my ass out of the fire, well figuratively speaking, she has a lot to contend with, what with Me the Kraken and the rest of our so called family she is like a harbour wall she has bore the brunt of way too many storms, I do try to help as much emotionally as I can for her, however I always feel as though its never enough, the woman has the broadest shoulders I know, but I think I need to give her more.

I know she rarely complains, I know I wind her up most of the time (mostly unintentionally) and I know as our journey goes on she has a quiet weep from time to, as she tries to cope with the burden that the entire family puts upon her shoulders, I know I will always be at fault, I don't mind that I just want her to have some good fortune, for her to have some peace not all the heartache that seems to be poured her way of late.

I know today has not been the kindest for her, but she has picked herself and her worries up with great dignity and decided that like the world we all have to keep on moving, I love her with my whole being even after the worst fights that we could have, I still love her and I don't think I can stop telling her, my life is all the better for her being in it.

Not much of a blog I can hear you say, I  had being trying to put some distance between the last couple of blogs and go somewhere a little bit more upbeat, I know I have failed miserably, but all I can do is put one foot in front of the other and see where it takes me, as long as I have her by myside I know I won't fail, I know I have to repay her loving kindness, this is not designed to solicit sympathy its just a man expressing his deepest love for the woman of his dreams over the last 24 years, if you know her personally give a little bit of love, lord knows she could use some, if you don't know her say a little prayer from which ever deity you support, I know its a cliché but I love her, until the next time Toodles.