Left Prague on Thursday to return home to Manchester. My last couple of days in Prague were nice and relaxing - its been nice having a good 8+ hours sleep a night, can’t remember when I last had a good night’s sleep. Tuesday was fairly low key, weather wasn’t the best (cold and a little wet) so stayed indoors when I could. Checked out the Bodies exhibition which (ignoring ethical queries over the sourcing of the bodies from China) was pretty awesome. I’m guessing it’s the same one that was shown in Perth earlier in the year. Having watched the related TV show (with the live dissections and creepy German guy), being close to actual dead bodies with specific tissue, muscles, organs etc revealed for close inspection didn’t faze me in the slightest, but the sight ... read more

The past week and a bit has been pretty hectic for me. Last Friday I headed down to London, crashing with Vaughan and Lucy again (their couch and I are becoming best of friends). Saturday night was Lee Ann’s leaving party in Soho. A good night, apparently, not that I remember much - Vaughan and I started drinking early in the day and that, combined with being tired from the bus to London and a busy couple of weeks, clearly took their toll on me. All very tragic, I don’t remember much of the night (passing out on the couch was involved) but recovered around midnight and managed to dance andhave some fun. Early Sunday I headed back to Manchester and that night started the first of 5 gigs in a row: Sunday - Editors: dark ... read more

Well the cold weather is starting to settle in here - and its not even close to winter yet … and for the first time in my life I’ve started wearing scarves (£1 each from the bargain bin at Neu Look thank your very much) and am seriously contemplating thermals. Alright, it’s not that bad, yet, but I know its only a matter of time. I finish up with Otten Penna on Tuesday. I’ve really enjoyed my time at Otten Penna, everyone has been really nice (they all want me to stay but there isn’t enough work for that) and I must admit it was nice sitting upstairs in my little attic office, listening to music and doing the occasional bit of work (Mallies workloads would shock most poms!). Definitely won’t miss writing manual cheques (some ... read more

Last weekend was a fairly tame one. Saturday I went to the New Islington Urban Folk festival which was a free festival on the grounds of a new housing development just outside the city centre - think East Perth during the redevelopment phase. Lots of random, local folk and rock type acts with a smattering of poetry, electro and other activities. Everything was well run and it was quite fun just walking the three tents and checking out random acts. Happened to run into a friend which was good as well. Favourite tent was a tiny little tent with a vintage clothing stall and a cake stall (yum) and a small stage for the performers and room for 10 or so people only, the rest of us having to listen from outside. Saw a couple of ... read more

Back in Manchester after my Bank Holiday weekend in London, and am now sitting here watching highlights from the Reading and Leeds festivals on the tele. Naturally I now wish I’d gone to the Leeds festival, but after half a day at Get Loaded in the Park, I doubt I could cope with a full 3 day festival. The Get Loaded festival was pretty good, in a way very similar to the Big Day Out back home but on a smaller scale, maybe 10,000 people max. The Clapham Common grounds are not far from London central (an easy 20 min tube ride from Kings Cross) and the festival site was pretty small which made running between the stages a hell of a lot easier than BDO (and less crowds helped too). I really only went to ... read more