Woke at 7.00 this morning. the gadren rubbish collection team flashing their orange lights and mechanical reversing voice into our consciousness before any of the children. And we had nothing out to collect. They come without fail, every second Tuesday - a shining example to the similalry noisy recycling collectors, who seem to neglect our street (at least our house) on a regular basis.
We have a BIG recycling bin now, and a SMALL waste bin - which has only about half a dozen bags of rubbish in it. So I'm all in favour of fortnightly collections of rubbish as there really shouldn't be so much of that now surely? Doesn't everyone recycle or reuse everything???

When was it announced that domestic post would only be delivered twice weekly?

In the office this afternoon I received an email from a Russian choir, seeking to perform a concert in our church during a UK tour in May. Well, OK - they have mailed a dozen or so churches in this area, but its an interesting development.
I doubt that we can host them though - we haven't anything in place yet.
But its a target surely, and a sign that we CAN DO THIS.
How difficult can it be to find out a good price and knock up a few ticket sales…?

Valaam singers

Pancakes. Very yummy - but they do take rather a long time to make when the kids are sitting at the table waiting. Maybe four minutes each? Mutiply that by a dozen pancakes and that's time enough.
Maple syrup and icecream, with Blueberries on the side.
I had an apple...

Snow. Today. Twice.
Twice it snowed? Within four hours - unfrozen hail.
Balls of polystyrene froma cheap film set.
But spectacularly cold.

I've convinced her to go to Alpha.
And pray. It will help.
No news is not so good when you're waiting by the phone.
I've got the kids up and over to school.
And home in time to cook dinner.
Knackered now of course, but they're asleep.
She frets. Being tall, there are lots of places inside she can go.
Some are Far Away.
You should go out.
And eat.
A pancake. Good.
Water? See you later.

And there's the phone. Let's find out. Deep breath...

Had a great afternoon at home with the girls while Trx took the little ones to a birthday party. We did some cooking, which is always fun and something I don't do nearly enough of these days.
Flo found two recipes she liked in a book she got for Christmas, so we walked out and got the "greedy ments", then spent a couple of hours baking Crunchy Muffins (with white choc and blueberries) and then blueberry pancakes. Delicious!!

Been talking a lot about Lent today - and at church this morning picke dup a whole host of ideas for things to do this year.
We are going to try and "Give Away a Thing a Day".
I have a box ready now and the kids made a label for it. One of us (not necessarily in turns or inorder) will put into the box everyday something they either don't need or want any more, or just want someone else to have. Then we'll donate to charity.
I'm going to take up reading the Book again and try to do a random chapter every day.
Put 2p in a jar every time you turn on a tap.
Try to live on £1.50 a day

We have a whole list with one or two things you could do each day through Lent. I'm sure they are posted all over the net..
Inspiring and thought provoking things.
Last year i also successfully managed to give up coffee and (almost) tea, but I drank bottle dwater by the gallon instead. better for me maybe, but that f*cks up the environment and the global economy much worse! What is wrong with tap water?? We have the best, freshest and cleanest in the world more or less.
I'll do that instead this year. Just coffee though - it wasn't worth going without tea. And we drink fair trade now, so its slightly less of an issue.

Been also looking at 'Random Acts of Kindness'.

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a few days.
Nothing to do but catch up with odds and ends at home . Always means that we end up busier than ever of course!
Stan went off to a friends house this morning and the rest of us went up to say goodbye to the allotment. We feel we gave it a good shot (just going into our fourth year) but we've never really worked hard at it and there are others who could do a better job. Kate and paul will be taking on the plot once baby comes along - which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks. Nervous?
but of course, that's part of the excitement.
Cleared out the shed so we now have tools at home, and brought back the gooseberry bushes but left the strawberries and apple tree. There' snothing planted yet and the beds are dug over, weeded and look generally very lovely.
Cleaning and stuff this afternoon, bit of this, bit of that - and now I'm in the office catching up with the 'domestic' side of that. Haven't done it since Christmas and the place is looking a bit shabby. Much better now tho - the recent company to leave one of the rooms have left not only the notice boards (which I'm having for church!) but also a hoover! At last we don't have to bring one in from home any more and carry it up three flights of stairs.

Trivial pleasures: Tesco this afternoon and I paid! With money from my own account!! Perhaps things are picking up. It felt good when the cashpoint gave me £100 and I enjoyed handing it over at the checkout.
Paid everyone at work on Wednesday too - which might even mean the money goes in before the mortgage bounces again. What is the problem with realtime banking?? That would be great - but of course the banks would lose HOW MUCH money on all the interest and sharedealing that goes on while money is between accounts...

I've been working on this piece for a while. Practising with it if you like. Cutting bits from the biography, paraphrasing myself. Editing, cutting. Reworking lines etc - proper, serious ttention to actually writing.
In the early hours of this morning (late last night) I finally came up with the line.

I'm pleased with it now.
My first paid review.

**

He swam along the channel until it became too shallow then stood up, dripping and naked, emerging into the air again, blowing the water out of his lungs in a fine spray. He looked down at his reflection in the water. He looked down at his hands.
Turning, he stepped into a tiny 8-track studio in North London, hooked up with a Freudian BBC dropout and morphed into a machine. Surfaced, politely dressed in a second hand grey suit. A New Kind of Man.
And with a new kind of sound. Unless you happen to be German… For this is England's personification of Kraftwerk; the nation's first electro pop album. Metamatic - adj: Primitive, minimalist technopunk.
Foxx is damaged, exhausted. Drifting. Severed from Ultravox and wounded, still bleeding. His world is anti-personal. The songs are anti-singing. Guarded. Detached from his surroundings maybe, yet not entirely from his former self. There are vague European folk melodies here, elements of dub. An awareness of that which is yet to come. John Foxx knows the risks, but he's not afraid to take them - it's 'Touch and Go', one of several songs written while he was still with the band, riding the crest of a neo-wave less than twelve months before.
But now the cold, grey landscape of contemporary London is inhabited by ghosts, meshing with concrete, steel and fog. A stage set, designed by Burroughs and Ballard. Figures from the Quiet Man story drift in and out of focus: the Blurred Girl is here, and the mysterious Lieutenant 030, flickering in grainy black and white. There is, in the politic climate of despondency, a sense that there really is No-one Driving, and Foxx has cut himself off from it all. Standing inside his bulletproof, invisible room, watching unseen behind smoked glass.
Making music to crash cars by.
But the great thing about not being fashionable, of course, is that one can never go out of fashion. This album sounds as crisp now as it did when the world was unworthy 25 years ago. Heavily sampled in the early 90s acid movement. Remixed in the 21st century. Only some things have changed. There are those who argue that we have moved forward. But so has John Foxx, and the rest of us still have a lot of catching up to do.
Plug in, switch on - this is a good place to start.
© birdsong. 2006.

Really tired now.
Three late nights have got to me. I can't sleep and I'm not going to bed until nearly 2am most days now.
Writing prolificlly. The media archive is coming on well, but I'm beginning to lose patience with the webmaster and wondering if he really is the right man for the ob. he's too busy with other projects and needs to take on a more overseeing, editorial and advisory role to let the site actually develop. Still nothing new updated since Christmas. I am sending snippets of info all the time.
I suspect its a big deal because there is no content management in place.

Good cell again last night - Jill is easily our best host. Incredible to learn that she's 80 in a few weeks time. So busy & and she looks great on it.
We shared, wine, homemade cake and discussed the Mark's interpretation of the Transfiguration.
Then I came home and wrote stuff. Lots of stuff.

Looking forward to a weekend off. We are going to handover the allotment tomorrow, and start cattching up with our house. Looking rather neglected of late.

My father-in-law has cancer. Aggressive and already well advanced. Diagnosed Tuesday during a routine visit to the hospital for a blood test.
He had previously told them concerns about his health that none of us knew, and the doctors picked it up immediately. It is mainly in his prostate, but has already spread to his bladder.
However he is in no pain, and was in the best of spirits on Saturday when we saw him.
Dave has found out some information about things from the hospital,and it seems that without urgent surgery and intensive chemo-therapy, the prognosis is not good. We are talking perhaps only 'a matter of months'.
But there are of course complications involved in any operation,and they can't gaurantee that it will be total success. In fact, given the advanced state of the disease, it almost certainly won't be. So there could be lots of unknowns and uncertainties. He may have to be permanently catherised, he may require reguar if not constant nursing care. He may not...
he certainly doesn't want any of this, and none of us want it for him.
Trx has been talking to her brother and sister about it, agreeing betweent hem that it will be G who goes with him to hospital on Sunday to ask any other questions and sign any consent forms.
Does the fact that the hospital have already booked him in for surgery mean it really is that serious??

All our thoughts are with Dave especially, and The Wedding in three weeks time. He doesn't need this. He flies off to Cyprus for ten weeks the day after gettng married.

It's therefore been a difficult, tense and tiring week. I'm not sure where Trx head has gone. Poor thing is desperately upset, confused and helpless. She's drifting around somewhere and has been sitting on the sofa for the past three days.
For my part Lord, I would really like to see a quick decision and an end to it as effectively as you can. If it is time for him to be taken from us, let it be done without too many complications. This baby is testing us in the strangest ways. Two of our closest friends have miscarried in the last month - making Trx more confused and generally feeling more unworthy than ever. Neither of the couples have other kids yet.

And none of this of course stops everything else going on around us.
It brings things into focus a bit, and has immediately helped us realise how lucky we are to have fertility, happiness and opportunity in abundance.

We've been talking babies this evening, now that the last of the difficult calls have been made announcing the news. Trx has finally managed to tell her older sister and, of course, was really worked up about it. Thats why she's been putting it off. It helped a lot to tell her Dad at the weekend. He laughed, and made jokes about coping and general madness, but didn't seem to be negative about it at all. To be honest, hardly anyone has been. We do worry, but prayer and general openness with people has allayed those fears and I think we are beginning to settle into a period of calm.
It seems she's beginning to get over the worst of the crappy feelings too, though the emotional instability is still causing some rather delicate moments around here.
She's sleeping early (in bed just after 8 tonight!!) but tends to wake up about 4 and is then exhausted by lunchtime! Convinced (this week) that its a boy.
We're throwing names around at the moment and have come back to Frederick (one of Trx grandfathers).
And there is a good chance that we will use my family name John this time around. I wish we had with Stan really, but its great to perhaps have another chance. Walter is in there (after my Grandad), and others not ruled out yet are Monty and Dennis. I'd go for the latter - would be very touching, and really cool, to have a son named after one of the most innovative artists of our generation - but I think I have some work to do.
Girl-wise, Connie is front runner at the moment. Bessie has been and gone I think (again very cool after the Empress of the Blues) and Minnie has a nice ring to it. Too many "ies"? Maybe, after Elsie.
"Is that Kelsey? Or Chelsea?"
No. It's Elsie.
"Oh. Right. Anyway, like I was sayin…"
I think, as this really is going to be our last child (please?) a one syllable name works well. Like Fred.
Actually, LC is beginning to develop some nice tantrums! It's the Terrible Twos of course, but she's proving quite a handful and is more deliberatey naughty than any of the others have been. She's as bright as a button and has a really strong character - typical of a small person!! She is not afraid to fight her corner, and being the youngest of four is certainly all there when it comes to making her presence felt and getting her own way. Stan especially is such a big softy and adores her to the extent that he just gives her everything she wants! Not ideal of course, but that's just him.
They play together really nicely now, and I think she's going to miss him when school starts again in the morning. Which might make her more of a challenge at home, of course. Oh joy!
AND she is at the age now where a daytime sleep is becoming unpredictable. She still needs it, but more often than not goes without because life is just too much fun! Then she's tired by teatime, kicks up during our meal and generally doesn't eat anything. Then she's grumpy when she wakes up until breakfast...
They all eat so well at breakfast - Stan esp becomes an Incredible Eating Machine. At least three bowls of cereal and often four. And toast if there's time.
There should always be time for toast. It's as important as sky.
We're nearly up to two supermarket trips a week, but at the moment still resisting and filling in with local shopping. But the quality of the greengrocers stuff has gone down a lot since it was taken over last summer, and now most of their organic stuff comes from Europe.
Choose your issue. Organic - or local? To get both, we have to go out to the farm shops (mainly at Beaulieu, or Lymington) which of course involves a drive and some organisation.
And unfortunately, price is still an issue for us. The bread machine is working over time, and the Bursledon Mill flower is fantastic
We also discussed the allotment at the weekend. Growing our own fruit and veg hasn't been very successful. My heart isn't really in it, and Trx finds the time difficult to come by. Especially now of course, when this was to be the year she planned to make a real go of it. We have only been up once this year, so that proves we can't make it work!!. Kate and Paul will get first refusal to take over the whole plot, but I doubt they will as they go even less often than we do. The kids have never been very bothered about it, so we are going to put that down as an idea that didn't work and I'll talk to the Council about giving it up to someone who can make a better job of it. Shame really because its a great plot. Run by the same guy for over 40 years before us so the soil is in fantastic condition.
I wonder what we should do with the apple trees Dad gave us?

The office.
Surprisingly only took me until about 2 pm to catch up with all the paperwork - it was releatively quiet week here last weekit seems.
Quiet today too, which was a relief (mainly as D is now off sick) So how come he phoned in twice for phone numbers and other information???
Don't ask.

you bump into a friend you haven't seen for a long time

Had a good long chat with Athol this morning (I know - not in the office, but hey - a man's got to have some distractions!!) and offered my praises on her last couple of songs. I know have five to put an EP together with (under the title "Lovesongs to a Dalek") and she has also sent me a live set which I can start pushing round the pubs and venues I have contacts at.
Her dad is managing her and is OK with this, so it will be interesting to see what turns up. The most recent material has a lot of maturityand depth - I really think there's genuine talent there. Think Eva Cassidy and Nick Drake. Elizabeth Fraser and Pink Floyd. Add a slice of early Bowie and stir with Kirsty MacColl. She's now adding strings and a few samples of Indian chant.

On my way to the bank I note with some frustration that Essential Music in East Street is closing down!! The only place in town to buy independent, non-chart "weird shit" music. OK we have a new Fopp which isn't amazing for range but good on price - they have a new branch in the same street. Hence the closure of EM.
Of course I had to go in because EVERYTHING is only a fiver.
Picked up Bowie's Low (only had it on tape), Nick Cave's last albums The Lyre of Orpheus and Abbatoir Blues , and Bill Nelson's Quit Dreaming from 1981.
Comments will follow.

A relief to see my father-in-law on such good form today. Clearly enjoyed our visit and interacted with the kids more than he has done for a long time.
It's as if he is coming alive as spring approaches, just like his amazing garden. Everywhere flowers are coming out of the sadness and cold and into early bloom. Only simple things like crocus, snowdrops and primroses - but together they present a blaze of early colour. There was a bumble bee floating about (what an exceptional year for these. Early sightings have even made the national news in recent weeks!) and birdlife all around the place. I'm not sure I recall ever hearing Skylark singing in mid-February and while its refreshing and inspiring to hear, all this does show quite clearly what a mess we are making of the seasonal extremes we used to get.
It really isn't cold very often these days, or for very long, and nature is showing signs of its confusion all around us.
There are at least two pairs of Robins at the farm, scouting for nest sites and in just half an hour this afternoon we had Blue, Long-tailed, Great and Coal tits on the feeders as well as Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Hedge Sparrow…
He commented on the lack of House Sparrows he's seen over the last couple of years, showing that while some species are clearly coming back (Lapwings, Skylarks and Bullfinch - two beauties in the hedge before we left) others are in serious decline. I haven't seen a Bullfinch for a few years now such is the distant between me and the birding world these days.
I've noticed this with Spadgers too - as older houses and barns are pulled down and replaced by Legoland newbuilds (why do ppl buy these low quality cheap shit that is costing the earth??), the birds have less and less places to nest.
And then, in two years time when the cracks appear in the rubbish houses and the boilers go wrong etc the houses don't sell because, lets face it, who wants a pre-owned 'new' house? The people that like new properties want NEW. Maybe that's when they should stand idle and become overgrown for a few years.
Ivy and Virginia Creeper could move in, colonising the cul-de-sacs and re-establishing wildlife again...
The houses crack and sweat because they don't breathe. Insulation has gone mad.
Without the nooks and crannies for Sparrows, Starlings and spiders there is no life in them.
Rant over...

We left earlier than usual today and stopped at Fleet Services for a meal on the way home, which has worked out really well all round. Kids in bed now and we still have an evening. More often we have to wake at least two of them up from a sleep in the car which means they are awake and grumpy etc for an hour or so until often well after 9.

A relief to see my father-in-law on such good form today. Clearly enjoyed our visit and interacted with the kids more than he has done for a long time.
It's as if he is coming alive as spring approaches, just like his amazing garden. Everywhere flowers are coming out of the sadness and cold and into early bloom. Only simple things like crocus, snowdrops and primroses - but together they present a blaze of early colour. There was a bumble bee floating about (what an exceptional year for these. Early sightings have even made the national news in recent weeks!) and birdlife all around the place. I'm not sure I recall ever hearing Skylark singing in mid-February and while its refreshing and inspiring to hear, all this does show quite clearly what a mess we are making of the seasonal extremes we used to get.
It really isn't cold very often these days, or for very long, and nature is showing signs of its confusion all around us.
There are at least two pairs of Robins at the farm, scouting for nest sites and in just half an hour this afternoon we had Blue, Long-tailed, Great and Coal tits on the feeders as well as Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Hedge Sparrow…
He commented on the lack of House Sparrows he's seen over the last couple of years, showing that while some species are clearly coming back (Lapwings, Skylarks and Bullfinch - two beauties in the hedge before we left) others are in serious decline. I haven't seen a Bullfinch for a few years now such is the distant between me and the birding world these days.
I've noticed this with Spadgers too - as older houses and barns are pulled down and replaced by Legoland newbuilds (why do ppl buy these low quality cheap shit that is costing the earth??), the birds have less and less places to nest.
And then, in two years time when the cracks appear in the rubbish houses and the boilers go wrong etc the houses don't sell because, lets face it, who wants a pre-owned 'new' house? The people that like new properties want NEW. Maybe that's when they should stand idle and become overgrown for a few years.
Ivy and Virginia Creeper could move in, colonising the cul-de-sacs and re-establishing wildlife again...
The houses crack and sweat because they don't breathe. Insulation has gone mad.
Without the nooks and crannies for Sparrows, Starlings and spiders there is no life in them.
Rant over...

We left earlier than usual today and stopped at Fleet Services for a meal on the way home, which has worked out really well all round. Kids in bed now and we still have an evening. More often we have to wake at least two of them up from a sleep in the car which means they are awake and grumpy etc for an hour or so until often well after 9.

Last night (this not sleeping thing has its advantages!) as well as work up a couple more media pieces, I found some great things:

An interview with Warren Cann on the Electrogarden Network
A piece of Leigh's art from a digi-gallery in New York
Two book cover illustrations that are hitherto unlisted
Two recorded interviews with John from 1980 on the Metamatic singles.

Everyone is so obsessed with Google. I do use it most of the time, but you really need to learn how to search effectively. Who needs 1000s of returns?? I narrowed it down to about 600 and supplemented with Yahoo and then spent THREE hours actually checking most of the links that were unfamiliar. Most I'd seen before or were in a 'language your computer doesn't recognise'. The recorded interviews are real gems. Wrote an email to the guy listing them on his website (among skwillions of UK 80s band boots and stuff) and expressed suitable interest. He has offered to send me a copy - just like that.

Most people I've tried similar tactics with during this project have been similarly fantastic. Even musicians. Tahnks to Eddie Reader, The Psychedelic Furs, HMK, Astrea Redux, Martyn Ware, Miles Copeland.The only exception is those directly involved that are proving rather more difficult to get hold of. Not that I've tried. My interview template is coming together but I need to be ready and not make a complete arse of myself.

Blimey - that all sounds very egocentric!
But I do find myself constantly amazed at how relatively easy it is all being and it baffles me that no-one has done this before and got the information together. People are asking for it ALL the time, but, it appears, they are not willing to look for it. I get emails asking questions that can be answered by spending just an hour or so on the net, or down the library!
Its like everything else tho really - you have to be prepared to do it properly to get the best results.
No compromising on time or expense.
If a result is worth achieving, surely its worth working for?
Mind you - I'm actually quite happy that people don't do this particular thing for themselves, otherwise there'd be less of a market for the result in the first place!!

There's a magic about Oxford. I feel it every time I pull into St Thomas Street, or park in Walton St as today.
In the early hours of a Sunday walking alongside the misty canal under Hythe Bridge; listening to the choir at Christchurch college, or Magdalene; in the crisp winter fog with Christmas lights; browsing around the Covered Market with the smells and sounds there; the bustle of Cornmarket on a busy Friday afternoon.
Wrote two poems there today and will be posting them once I've typed them up.
Glos green Bus Station has a special place in my heart and is one of my favourite places. Over twenty years ago I remember the experience of meeting (War Games With) Katherine Howard off the bus from Leicester there, and numerous other moments of pleasure, now being relived as I meet and despatch the girls there. Biscuit went off well, and it was especially good to be there with Flo today and pass on the place to another of my children.
Soppy, or what?
But there is nothing like it…

Last night's website hits are listed as being "Earlier Today" in the history file...

Had a crap night and couldn't sleep when I did get home at 1 am. Which made me fidgety, which disturbed Trx which is never a very good idea.
Things were difficult this morning also because for no apparent reason the cats woke us up at six am! Good idea then to have a quiet morning at home and catch up with a few domestics, especially as its been on and off raing all day.
Spent a fun afternoon though out with the kids at Bursledon Windmill. Places run by enthusiasts on a shoestring budget always fascinate me, and this is a really interesting place which Stan of course loved. He now has a poster proudly displayed on his wall and knows all about where the mountain of wheat grains go that he loves to climb up and slide down in his Grandad's barn!

I'm done here too, at last. It was quite a challenege to make the spec work on all four Holiday Parks, but they've gone off now along with two proofs of work for first grooup.
Not only but also a new quote request has come in for a map showing coach access and facilities in the New Forest.
Easy peasy - the database is paying for itself at last.

Tired. I feel this entry is clumsy. Bear with me.
Someone is - loads more hits in the last two days than ever.
Oxford tomorrow. Always look forward to a trip up there.
We have found a stagecoach bus that runs several times throughout the day so I dont have to get there at either 8am or 6pm and should be more convenient for all of us.

Though I really should be home by now. I've got the Swanage Coastal Park map all done but its such an uninspired place. remind me never to take them up onthe offer of a free pitch...

That was an hour ago now miind you. Since then I've sat around online just diving here and there looking for stuff. Checked out Guthrie's blog again and found a reference to his project with Foxx. Seems he regards it as "unintelligible". cool! But it is among five or six albums he has recorded in the last two years that still haven't been released...
I like Robins blog almost as much as I enjoy his guitar playing.
Inspired me to try and wade through Diary of a HyperDreamer too, Bill Nelson's blog which is, to say the least, 'verbose'. Not an artist i know anythng about (shame on me) and I will henceforth add his name to the list of people whose work I need to give more time and respect to. This includes Yellow Magic Orchestra, Philip Glass and...
thats it so far.
Hung on MSN to catch up with no-one at all (athol seems to have fallen off) until J came by all too briefly. Whatever's going on there is confusing and worries me a bit - if you're reading this m'dear thanks for the confiding in me bit. I just hope it helps somehow and you can see things more clearly.

Nothing I can see looks like an exit
So I'm making you into a door

© Foxx 1981. Dancing Like A Gun

I'm in one of my crazy wanting to stay up all night moods again, but sadly I have little music here in the office on the Mac to inspire me. I've played thru a download I whipped off the net earlier (the link has now been removed!!) of Ultravox with MIDGE URE in Oregon, November 1979. Thought it would be thus.
His versions of Quiet men, Hiroshima and Slow Motion and Can't Stay Long are laughable dire. OK the quality of the recording is a bit crap, but that's not the point. And he has the audacity to say "This is from Systems of Romance" as if it was one of his album's! king Cheek.
I also would doubt the claim that the boys played NINE consecutive dates in LA at the end of the tour. NINE??

The office is looking tidier than I expected, but there is so much stuff pile don my desk. Jo has given me a copy of our e.newsletter to read through which has already been marked up by D. Its CRAP!!!! The spelling and grammar are appalling, phrases are used inconsistently to refer to the same thing, several points are repeated and several are missing altogether. I should go over it now, but I can't be bothered.
Next door's ringtone still pisses me off beyond all reason.

Coffee? Or home? Hungry. I have 24p in my pocket and there are, as Stan would say "none biscuits". That'll be toast then.

Climate of Hunter again when I get home? Or Biosphere?
Not the right time for Walker I don't think...

Taking some time this evening to catch up in the office. There is a lot to do…

German bands of the early 80s. It's not through lack of talent that neither Astrea Redux of Xmal Deutschland managed to crossover and achieve success here. Why does this happen to so many good bands worthy of a far greater place in the History and Development of Things? They don't get a decent record eal, get no marketing and publicity and therefore are deemed "rubbish" because no one has ever heard of them and they never had a hit single.
Both Fractals and language deserve better - the sound is very Joy Division and very ZTT. Ian curtis singing for Propaganda. Ian McCulloch and Bauhaus.
And the three Xmal deutschland albums I have on tired hissy tapes really rate among my favourites. I sat and palyed all five of these in a three hour marathon last night.
Alone in a darkened room wwatching the small hours through a bottle of JD…

No surprise then that I'm tired now, though a bit more inspired than of late.

We bought Stan his new outfit for the wedding today and he is very proud of it. Looks fantastic, and will fit in beautifully with his three sisters.
Then went to the local library where the lovely Finula(???) was holding a craft session to celebrate Chinese New Year. Made lanterns and dragon masks. Read LC a million stories - she is getting madly into books now and seems to love Maisie Mouse and Postman Pat.
Three more bags of cartons were waiting on the doorstep when we got home. I have five boxes worth to send off now. Do this. Make a difference.drinks cartons

Spoke to Cerise yesterday and reinforced my intention to sort out the Media and Live archives. Well, live until mid 79 anyway. I have amazingly turned up another THREE new gigs since I last wrote in here. Seems the band definitely DID paly Hollywood on 15 March even if no recording was made. They may also have done a gig in oregon - unless this turns out to be part of the Midge sessions. And Bristol University archive has a gig listed for january 1977 - which, if it proves to be correct, would tie in with the one I found at Southampton (the same week) a few months back.

Good feedback so far on the Shorefield Holiday Parks. I MUST now get on and draw up the Swanage Coastal Park

Sometimes, I get so pissed off with D. 3pm yesterday I left the office for a few days holiday, having told him twice last week of the plan.

If you're not talking about an Alpha
They're not listening

This is infuriatingly true.
"Friday?? But what about all the work we've got on?"
"It doesn't have to be done this week?"
"But there's loads of stuff. What if people ring and what things doing?"
"Tell them to call next week."
"But I wanted to get those mailers done this week so that I can start selling next week"
"Why next week. You were going to start selling at Easter?"
"I want to move things forward. i was in all weekend setting it up, doing costing and stuff"
"Why?"
"Why?? To get the project file started and all that. Y'know all –"
"Yes, but why over the weekend?"
"To get ahead. And I had nothing else to do..."

And therein lies the problem. He has nothing else to do and no life. Tends to be resentful of my balance and relative freedom.
Trouble is, he twists this round to blame me for lack of commitment.
And again we had the difference of opinion about things being the wrong way round.
We are sending out a mailer promoting ther room folders which shows a mock-ip of the front cover.
The front cover is crap and won't look anything like this. We haven't met or discussed the cover at all, and I'm down to design it anyway. SO why send out the mailer now, and not wait until we have designed the cover.
Work out time scales for the project when we are ready...
It really annoys me, and scares me a bit sometimes how different our expectations of the company are.

Apart from that, everythings grooveh. The bunk beds are proving a big hit! The kids dint even get up before 8 this morning, and have made a camp with the two friends who have been round today. We had 12 people here for lunch - all the food bought on Monday at Tesco is gone.
Homemade bread and soup for tea then. Yummy

Been out with Biscuit this afternoon checking out the first route for this year's St Denys Treasure Hunt. Third time I've done it, and this time going to take in the Windmill and one of the Country Parks. Always fun to do, but like evrything else worth doing, takes a lot of time and effort to work properly.

She's brought a ton of homework with her, so hopefully this evening I can have some time on the computer to work up a couple more interviews. There are still several I know I don't have, so need to get them from somewhere.
BUT I have found perhaps THREE new gigs!!
Seems Ultravox played Doncaster Zigzaggers(??) in 1977, a year before the better known and listed gig at Outlooks in August 78.
They are also among the bands listed at the 'Caravan' festival in Aug 77, in Oostende.
AND Black Phoenix has turned up a gig sometime 1977 in Singen, Germany that isn't listed anywhere else. No dates tho. I've PMd him for details.

Alice arrives home, with her grandparents and Biscuit, both excited and tired at 3.30. I had got in from work about 10 minutes earlier, and Trx had only come in half an hour before that from Tesco. My doing the Big Shopping hasn't worked out yet - I just cannot seem to find the time.
She's been swimming and to the cinema during her stay, and has been really silly and annoying since she got home.
No doubt made worse by seeing the new bunk beds and her transformed (and tidy) bedroom. Mum and Dad seemed tired but have obviously enjoyed the experience. They seemed impressed by our bedtime routines and the organised, efficient way things just get done. We can't really be anyhting else when there are so many of us!

All is quiet now. I can get down to reading some stuff I picked up from the Church warden yesterday on redundant churches.

Listened to Enchanted inthe office today, selected at random on iTunes. Its never been one of my favourte of Marc's albums and is 'shallower' than some, but there are as usual, some really clever and beautiful songs on there. Like Death's Diary, and the beatuiful Toreador in The Rain. ALways liked Widows Weeds too, which I imagine to be a very difficult song to sing. The lines seem too long and go right across the bars and stuff, apparently all over the place - but the effect is amzing and proves his talent again. A Lover Spurned is an epic single.

Bunk beds up in Alice and Stan's room this afternoon. Suddenly there is space for a wardrobe - the whole plan is going to work. Stan looks tiny in his first big proper bed though!!
Alice rang from Grandma's while we were in the middle of setting it up - she had them up at half past five this morning!!
She's been nervous and excited about staying over for the first time, and they seemed a bit anxious about it themselves when we dropped her up there yesterday. It's the first time they have ever tried this kind of hands on grandparenting and was always going to be a Big Deal. Seems ot be getting on fine tho.
And they have agreed to bring Biscuit down with them when they come tomorrow afternoon for what will be her first visit here on her own. She's excited about that too and really pleased she can stay till Friday, although I will have to work myself a couple of days in between times. I was rather hoping to get in this evening too, at least to clean up a bit if nothing else, but that isn't going to happen now. We only got in from pizza Hut an hour ago after a meal that took 2 and a half hours! The service was really crap and it took 40 minutes from being seated until someone came to take our order. Luckily, Kate and Fin turned up just after us so we had someone to catch up with in the meantime.
Too slow tho - just not enough staff.
Not like Kuti's on Frdiay night. Too many stuff - creepy waiters hanging round the table all evening throughout what was actuallya very disappointing meal. haven't been in there for two years, and now I remember why. Massively over-rated I think and the food is never particularly exciting. I did go with the wrong attitude tho. It was a night out with as many of the 'men from church' as wanted to come and there ended up being 13 of us. I don't do male company very well as a rule in numbers other than one or two, and it was difficult.
My problem I guess is that I don't really do engines or sport as I know diddly squit about either! Not desperately hot on computer games, or world affairs. Much more at home in a group of women talking about more 'trivial' interpersonal things.
Does bring Steve Biddulph's philosophy into focus tho' and makes me realise how much I need to work on this...

I need to read something. Since I kind of decided not to do the Book Group, I have wandered a bit. Still have two or three biogs to read but can't start them either. Finished the Book of Acts a couple of days ago, but that doesn't seem to count. It's Graham Swift's Last Orders for the first Wednesday in March and then, apparently, its my choice. I'll maybe go and pick it up from town tomorrow.
Unless I can find it online?

Found a good set of half a dozen pics of John at Camber Sands last April:

How is it that the last thing you want to do is very often the very thing you need to do the most?

My children bring to me every day more than I could ever give them in a lifetime.
One day I will grow up to be worthy of them

And then today an apparently random payment from the Inland revenue for overpaid NIC contributions. £300! Seems I will be able to get the jacket and overtrousers after all.
Funny how things work out…

Called in sick to work today for what feels like the first time ever.
Waiting in for the cavity wall insulation to be done and have a doctors appointment at midday to check out my ears. Again.
Alice also went this morning and is now waiting an appointment from the specialist.
How long will that take?
Cavity wall cancelled today - the team have called in sick!
I can hardly complain about that.

Playing catch up today. And Barbies. With LC. She seesm to love having me around. We've just been shopping and done a couple of cosmetic things on the kitchen.
This afternoon I have everything set up to spend a few concentrated hours on the Media Archive. Second package arrived on Tuesday with many many more bits in - but fewer longer interviews. Have I said this already.
Particularly interesting one from FM magazine 1997 when Foxx first started working with Lee Norris.

Rumours are rampant at EV now about the "two big projects" that RH and C are working on. Everyone has sussed that Anthology is one - due out in the summer. And it is apparently "imminent" that tour dates will be announced.
Lol - as if anything is ever 'announced'. Things just happen - like the interesting if whimsical new pages at
Cathedral Oceans

Great graphics. Of course. But rather romantic and idealistic.
As if we should expect anything less ;-D

Yesterday I received a cheque for £104 from the insurance company to compensate for the loss of "various items of safetywear" when my bike was stolen.

Yesterday I received a fixed penalty fine of £60 for a speeding ticket I picked up in Northampton two weekends ago. 34 mph, accelerating out of a 30mph restriction. That's nine points now. I need to be more careful
And notice from C&G that the mortgage payment wasn't able to be paid in January and they were charging a £31 penalty.

In £104 - out £91. Profit £13.

That's two Parent and baby magazines and a coffee at the swimming pool.

Had the pleasure of The Bedsit Tapeson the return journey from Oxford last night.
What an extraordinary collection of songs this is, sinfully overlooked and underestimated. There's Joy Division in there, lots of Human League (and I hitherto have accused Oakey et al of picking up on Soft Cell's lead...sorry guys) and of course Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire etc. But with a unique mix of both industrial bleeps and general weirdness and some foot-tapping Northern Soul melodies and infuriatingly catchy rhythms. Dave Ball will surely go down as one of the unsung musicians of the 80s until its too late.
Almond's lyrics are a little naive in places, but then at the same time excruciatingly honest and often frighteningly bleak and disturbing. Bearing in mind some of the tracks were written to accompany bizarre works of performance art (Excretory Eat Anorexia Nervosa, Cleansing Obsessive) its no surprise they sound a little disjointed when listened to in isolation.
Industrial and minimal is the order of the day
I tell you bleak is my cliché
A masterpiece. Need to read the parts of Tainted Life again that describe this period. I know Almond knew Peter Chrispherson very early on. This stuff must have come from the same sessions as DoA at the very least.

Local crime.
Worsening.
Everywhere I know, and now its coming to St Denys.
Last weekend there was a public meeting at the church centre to discuss this, particulalry the local nutter-on-the-loose peering in at windows, exposing himself and occasionally 'gaining entry' to houses and assaulting women. really is the talk of the town. The police advised us all to report 'anything suspicious' in our gardens (his preferred route for getting around) like moved flower pots or disturbed things in sheds etc.
So Mat & C did pr