[429] Late-night revelry November 26th, 2006 – 1:55pm Posted in Events 3 comments

I’ve woken up to some funny situations in my time – opening my eyes to find myself curled up under a table at a barmitzvah in St. Petersburg with a bloody Kippah next to me wasn’t one of my best Sunday mornings – but turning on my computer today to find an e-mail from Amazon telling me I’d bought Clive James‘ memoirs was almost as baffling.

I had no idea why I’d bought Clive James’ memoirs for a good five minutes until I got round to reading my Livejournal friends page and read one of Christopher’s entries mentioning the book. Clearly, whipped up into a consumer frenzy by five pints of smooth and a vegetarian pizza I decided to take his advice and buy Clive James’ memoirs.

Of all the people on Earth whose memoirs I would think of reading, Clive James is one of the last, just after that …read more.

[427] Student bastard 1 – 0 Royal Bank of Scotland November 23rd, 2006 – 1:17pm Posted in Events, Good Things No comments

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across the Money Saving Expert website, a link to which is permanently in my “Worth a look” links section now thanks to its all-round excellence. I came across the article on claiming back bank charges for refused direct debits and so on, and sent off the initial letter last week, November 15th.

Today a letter dated November 22nd from my bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, arrived. In summary, they ramble on about how they believe their charges are “fair, reasonable and transparent” (£30 for a computer to notify you you’re 1p overdrawn!) but “as an exceptional matter” they’re willing to refund the £90 (plus interest) they’ve charged me over the last six years. Exceptional matter, my arse. They know full well their charges are unlawful but they continue to hide behind legalese and hope people won’t bother complaining.

The only caveat is …read more.

[425] A musical epiphany courtesy of Paul Heaton November 19th, 2006 – 12:29pm Posted in Good Things 4 comments

Who’s been hiding The Beautiful South all these years? What a great band. They’re like a musical of Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. I remember my uncle Andy playing one of their CDs all the way to Scarborough when he gave me a lift to uni there in 2000. At the time I thought they were horribly MOR, but I wasn’t listening to the lyrics, and that’s their forte. Honestly, give them a listen, they’re a very witty band. I think it’s Northern humour but that’s no reason why anyone couldn’t like it.

[424] One from the archives November 18th, 2006 – 2:38pm Posted in Daft No comments

On a Saturday afternoon like this, with nothing important to be done save a load of washing and a pan or two to be scrubbed, I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane courtesy of YouTube. I had intended to sort out my anarchic collection of papers and documents, but once I put this on I only managed to rearrange them into a different brand of chaos:

How good is that? A brilliant Beautiful South song with an awful video, and then straight into Sydney Youngblood, Black Box and Technotronic! Brilliant. This is the birth of that magic genre, early 90s dance. Loads of big black divas wailing away in the background and guys with those synth-guitars flapping about all over the show. And what’s that video by A Guy Called Gerald about? Does anyone remember it from the time, because I don’t. I have vivid memories of most of the …read more.

[422] Somebody’s just got to say STOP November 8th, 2006 – 2:53pm Posted in Events No comments

On Monday I was on the news and it turned out alright. I say this because my grandma said I was brilliant so I must have been. I was on for about fifteen seconds and my performance will have De Niro quaking in his boots; the conviction in my voice as I stated it’s just got to STOP was so powerful. That everybody else who saw it either laughed, cried, called me a homeless or a bullshitter or asked where my cider was doesn’t bother me… it was worth it for the laugh.

Things have been a bit quiet around Blackburn recently so those of my friends who aren’t living around here these days aren’t missing too much. I’ve had a lot on recently, with college, life back around my friends and family and sorting my finances out after moving. Our old landlord still hasn’t returned our deposit from the …read more.

[421] THIS IS THE NEWS November 3rd, 2006 – 12:20pm Posted in Events No comments

Last night I went to watch the Rovers against FC Basle, a rubbish Swiss side we’ve been drawn against in the UEFA Cup. Courtesy of Mark, I spent the evening in the hospitality suite which is essentially a night of free wining and dining with a football match thrown in for good measure. After an introductory glass of wine the free beer flowed, paired with a three course meal and the company of a semi-famous Asian businessman who is always in the Telegraph for something or other but I can never remember the name of. The lifestyles of the rich and famous, eh?

I had a very good time and it was, all in all, pretty much my ideal way to spend my life. I don’t like socialising in the sense of being around people but they always seem to be in the places I want to go to, so …read more.

[419] BBC interview November 1st, 2006 – 7:44pm Posted in Events 3 comments

This afternoon I went over to Nelson to film a short interview with this man…

…who is the BBC’s Hugh Pym. He has a thinner face in person and is quite tall; he would make a good army sergeant. For reasons I explained here a while ago, Hugh asked me questions about my experiences as a first time buyer of finding a house to buy and I blurted out whatever came to mind about the great difficulties and woes we face these days. This was all done on top of a very windy hill in a park in Nelson on possibly the coldest day of the year, so I had no use of most of my fingers and my numb cheeks felt as if they’d just come back from a visit to the dentists. I may have dribbled while talking but I hope the camera …read more.