[193] V festival February 27th, 2006 – 8:34pm Posted in Events 1 comment

To get tickets for Glasto last year I

spent three years on the phone
harnessed the power of a million computers to repeatedly load a single web page
lost three close family members to stress-induced suicide.

To get tickets for V this year I

got a phone call from Angie saying she’d bought six.

The aura surrounding Glastonbury is why Eavis could headline 2007 with a French farmer milking a goat and still sell out in a shorter time than your average 14 year-old takes to whack a quick one off before mum gets back from the shop. Still, it’s good to know I’ve got something to look forward to around that time of year – it’ll be a week after I move house and having that to think about should help ease some of the usual insanity I get when arranging house moves.

[191] Humble pie February 21st, 2006 – 11:56am Posted in Thoughts 2 comments

Sometimes, admitting when you’re wrong is the hardest thing to do.

Standing up and saying that what you previously thought to be true is in fact false isn’t easy.

But when you realise your own actions and beliefs are indefensible, admitting that you’re wrong is the only way you’ll ever manage to change things for the better.

I make mistakes all the time with Lois. She’s the first woman I’ve been out with and I’ve had lots of obstacles to get over as we’ve got to know each other so well – I had a phase of treating her like a mate, a phase where I felt like a dirty old man, a phase of panic and doubt. But now I’d like to confess to putting her through my worst phase yet, of exposing her to me when I’m very drunk and act like a clown. It’s never mattered before because I’ve always …read more.

[170] Walk On By February 15th, 2006 – 8:18pm Posted in Memories 1 comment

I got into The Stranglers during my last few months at uni in Preston entering the spring of 2004. I’d been slipping into failure since Christmas and the hard-edged, uncompromising sound seemed to fit the mood of everything around me. My time at uni was wrapping itself up uncerimoniously with no airs or graces; people were leaving, letters of failure were dropping in the pigeon hole, contracts were coming to an end. In this sort of environment I felt a connection with the sound of The Stranglers, who seemed to have gone through the same thing to come out the other side with this sort of “shrug, what can you do, why not forget about it” music.

When I left Kingfisher Street for the last time – a rotten, infested house only saved by its price – I was moving into a very uncertain time. I had no degree despite …read more.

[154] One of those days February 14th, 2006 – 4:40pm Posted in Events, Good Things 1 comment

Life sometimes goes a bit bonkers, doesn’t it? Just a few hours ago I was feeling fairly despondent about the whole job thing. When you feel trapped in to an unhappy situation it festers in your mind and makes everything else seem worse. But, in one of those mad-ass coincidences that sometimes crop up, I am pleased to report that despondency has once again returned to 0. This afternoon I was invited for an interview with Gregory Pennington, a debt management company based at Salford Quays (a ten minute walk from home). As dubious as we all are about debt companies of any sort, this lot seem a reasonable bunch and I’m pretty interested in working for them. I have an interview next Monday evening – I don’t expect to get it, but I hope I do.

[152] Time to move on February 14th, 2006 – 12:36pm Posted in Bad Things, Events No comments

This is what I am feeling like right about now:

This bout of eye-rolling is caused by the final nail being hammered down on my coffin of apathy. I’ve been looking for a way out of my current job for a while now because a) it’s mind-rottingly routine, b) I can do it blindfolded and c) I have to be alive in Salford for part of every day. There was always a possibility I might be able to move up and on within the company that stopped me taking just any old job for the sake of it, but that’s finally gone too. Despite doing this job longer than anyone else at the company, following a recent reshuffle I’ve now been overlooked for promotion twice. I think it’s time I got the message that there’s no future for me here.

Part of me isn’t surprised, because I’ve …read more.

[147] The passing of time February 12th, 2006 – 1:55pm Posted in Memories, Thoughts 4 comments

It’s funny how life sometimes runs in parralells. Recently, Terrence wrote about how he’d realised his youth had passed. I had a similar moment last night.

Now, despite having lived in Manchester for six months, I’ve only really been out on a night out in the centre a handful of times. It just hasn’t really grabbed me – I’ve found a few decent pubs (Victoria train station, Star & Garter, Salisbury), but the place is so damn big it’s a fifteen minute walk from one to another. Blackburn may be crumby but at least there’s some semblance of a “route” you can follow without having to get your walking boots out. This brings us to last night. Myself and Lois decided to go to a club because it’s been so long since we did something like that, and after a warm-up bottle of vodka at home, I found myself at …read more.

[146] Six years in the red come to an end February 9th, 2006 – 2:15pm Posted in Events, Good Things 1 comment

Today is quite a special day to me. I opened my first real bank account aged 19; I didn’t bother opening one earlier as the few jobs I did were cash in hand, which I loved because there are few better feelings than having a sweaty carpet-fitter reach into his pocket and reel out a big fat wad of £20 notes into your hand. Ever since that day, I have been living courtesy of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s overdraft facility, Barclaycard and the Co-op.

Blame for this lies squarely on my shoulders. I had no financial sense when I was younger, so having an enormous loan cheque dropped into my account one day was akin to giving a group of wound-up Muslims a key to the Danish embassy. I went a bit mad during my first attempt at uni and came home six months later owing my bank quite a …read more.

[6] The confusing nature of blogs February 6th, 2006 – 2:31pm Posted in Events No comments

I’m still getting used to this new site myself, and a couple of things I perhaps should have pointed out earlier are that you can register for this site (which allows you to post comments pointing out what a cock I am) but apart from that it’s essentially just like my old site. Snippets of new posts appear on the front page with the most recent at the top. Click the title of the post or the “read more” link at the end of each post to read the whole shebang. That’s really about it. You’ll get used to it. You got used to living in the same world as Pete Doherty, didn’t you?