Dreams Never End

It's been less than a year since I last saw New Order at the Brixton Academy but because my BBFK couldn't go then I decided to grab some more tickets for this year :)

So it was nice to have BBFK, Mr. Squiggles and another friend along for a night of London rush-hour traffic-jammery travel to the "new" Wembley Arena; basically the old Wembley Arena with a face-lift. Not bad.

The support group, Maximo Park, were pretty decent, but then came on the heroes...

...starting off with a Joy Division set, lots of jumping around and a few drunken sods in the crowd being a nuisance. And they played...

She's Lost Control
Shadowplay
These Days
Transmission,
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Atmosphere
Waiting For The Sirens' Call
Ceremony
Who's Joe
Crystal
Regret
Guilt Is A Useless Emotion
Bizarre Love Triangle
Temptation
The Perfect Kiss
Blue Monday
(lots of shouting "Encore, encore")
Love Vigilantes
Turn
True Faith

Not bad; a few bum notes here & there, some well out-of-key synths in "Blue Monday" and only one "whooo" from Barney, but a good gig nonetheless, although a little more poppy than last year's Academy gig which was darker, smaller, sweatier, more Joy Division territory...

I stood in front of my delicate little wench for most of the gig, protecting her as best I could from the staggering bodies & random fists and ended up with a few pull muscles in my arm from jettisoning the occasional retard from our little bit of space...

Then drove home, missing my junction on the M25 but eventually got us all home safely.

Thanks people, that was a good night :)

Encore!

Chemical Warfare, Warfare, Warfare!

This is the third post in a row with a musical reference... prior to this was a little Hendrix, whilst before that the words of John Lennon and Butthole Surfers came to mind. Now I rely on the Dead Kennedys to indicate my current dilemma.

And what's more, before I continue, you may have noticed that I've been a little brave about my work references of late... OK, I'll admit that the new Cat 5 lighting system has added a little more light to my working day (for there is so very little daylight) but otherwise the song remains the same...

...yes, my chair is crap (no arms, no tilt, no comfort), I'm less productive, less motivated, bored, tired, on the steepest learning curve ever (which is great) and yet woefully underpaid and disrespected, but that's not all...

...and this, my friends, bloggers, countrymen, is where I need your HELP, please?

How do I deal with having to sit in this tiny little office with a Managing Director, a businessman, a professional... who CANNOT STOP FARTING ?? !!

I have to work and breathe that noxious odour in every day, sometimes it'll happen when I'm eating or drinking... so I REALLY need all your help on dealing with this... I mean, I can't be the first one to ask is it unhealthy to breathe farts?

English Castle Magic

Its very far away,
It takes about a half and a day to get there,
If we travel by my uh, dragon-fly

So we've been to Windsor Castle twice this year, had a nosey at King John's Castle at South Warnborough, near Odiham, even though it's a ruin and getting worse, stood under the keep at Guildford Castle, spent a sunny day at Rochester Castle, Kent, and just spent some time at the most excellent Arundel Castle, Sussex.

And that reminds me... there's an oil painting I did of Dunstanburgh Castle at my mum's that I haven't seen in years... I'll show that to Becky this weekend when we're in Henlow, Bedfordshire, for the beer festival at the Engineer's Arms.

Feel the Guilt

OK, sinners, time to repent, c'mon feel the guilt... instant karma's gonna get you. Cinnamon & sugary and softly spoken lies, you never know just how you look through other peoples' eyes.

About fixing the car, bending the bodywork back into shape, getting the damn thing started... it's OK, I did it myself... I'm no mechanic but I did all that myself, so don't worry about it, I'm not...

The proofs for last ~~Monday~~ Tuesday that had to be printed for today... it's OK, you're off the hook, they're for next Monday now, so don't worry, I'm not pissed off... nor are the people I ordered it for pissed off... much. I'll just never be able to do business with them again, mate. Thanks.

My mail... stop sticking it back in the post you lazy swine, I only live 2 doors up the road... you could at least have the common courtesy to smile nicely and drop it through my door... you were all cinnamon & sugary when you bought my house and now you don't even say thankyou for your welcome card and your bottle of bubbly... well if there's one thing I hate more than fascists, it's sneaky, snidey, two-faced people...

Oh, and those tickets for the New Order gig... I'd better get them tomorrow after you turned away the delivery guy, you swine... I've been waiting months to see my childhood heroes again, so if you fuck this up for me (and 3x other people), I'll come 'round and... get my cat top beat up your rat-on-a-string...

That £700 you charged me for the camera... that I didn't receive... you know, the one that sat in a warehouse in France for a week before I cancelled the order... and then you sent it... Duh! I told you to stick it up your derriéres and, two months later, you've still got my money... MY MONEY, you hear that, Monsieurs? If you don't give me my dosh back then it's technically theft... and your name is mud on the Internet once I get my SEO cogs whirring, you useless bunch of Gallic twats...

And if I don't do anything about it, I just KNOW that your karma will get you, it ALWAYS does :) Like in 1991 when I was on my way out to dinner... and that car drove through a puddle and soaked me form head to toe... I remembered the vehicle... a metallic red Ford Fiesta, F40 MPG... I hunted for your car with housebrick-in-hand for months until I saw your motor all smashed-up in the forecourt of the workshop... Hahaha...

That's your karma, you fuckers, get some!

Happy Birthday BBFK

Now, you wouldn't catch me in a mobile wet t-shirt competition, roving across some foreign landscape dodging bullets & stepping over landmines, but believe me, if there were enough time to get out of this black hole of calcutta (aka dark, scabby little office) I'd go and get my BBFK a nice present...

...but I think I'll take her out for dinner tonight instead :)

Happy Birthday Becky :) xxx

Hog's Back Brewery

If you're ever over this way again, let me take you to the Hog's Back Brewery just a couple of miles away in Tongham, Surrey, for that's where we went last night on a brewery tour, except Mr. Squiggles who was washing his hair or something ;)

And very interesting it was too... an hour tour of a proper brewery brewing proper beer, none of that cheap mass-produced tasteless crap churned out by those faceless corporations...

No, this was stirling stuff. Starting off with a 3.5% session beer, some of that "Hair of the Hog"... then a few jugs of T.E.A. - Traditional English Ale, a 4.2% best seller... then some very tasty "Hop Garden Gold" at 4.6% and finished off with a few "Rip Snorters" weighing in at 5%. Yeah, we got to see the brewery too, see the various grains and the hops, hear about the 11,500 pints they brew every day and... drink beer.

And then we went out for a curry... which was nice.

Right, gotta go, gotta hit the Cove Tandoori now... for more curry and more beer :)

I hate my fucking job

Actually, that's not true... I don't hate my fucking job... I just hate the company I work for.

And that's not really true either... I don't actually hate the company I work for, I just think their name is fucking stupid.

And, what's more, they're lucky I don't blog so much about them either because, believe me, there's more than a novel's worth of crap about them... and that would earn me FAR more than they pay me!

You see, you may have noticed that I've not been blogging so much of late, and for that I apologise. It's just that we've been really busy with adjusting to a new house & a new life and there's tons of stuff to do. And after staring at a PC screen for some 8+ hours a day, the last thing you want to do when you come home is stare at the screen some more. So what I'm really saying is: blame them for my absence, for spoiling my fun on the Internet, for not being around so much, for not visiting my friends as much as I'm used to and for not spilling my guts here as regularly as I'm needing.

4 years ago when I started working from home, it was all cool. Work from home! Sounds great! Well, it is and it isn't.

It's good to get up "when you want" and to have cups of tea whenever you need... to sit in your underwear all day, to be on the phone chatting to clients butt-naked, to take a little longer than normal for your lunch, watch the lunchtime news from the sofa whilst tapping away at your laptop and maybe falling asleep at your post 'cos your so damn tired.

Conversely it drives thee up the wall being in the same place for work, rest & play, blurring the edges of the "9-5" with the geekdom of the thing you love the most, the thing that earns you a crust and yet craving some human interaction, even looking forward to receiving goods you brought off Amazon or eBay because you'll get to speak to the postman or some random delivery driver.

But then it's all not so bad but when you have the novelty of being drawn into work to do the same job from the office that you do from home, to see the sights & sounds on the way to work, to whizz by the airport that brings so much business to this town and yet nobody local sees any change in lifestyle or any increase money, to get stuck behind some arsehole on your 4-mile commute, to be greeted by the cheery receptionist every morning, to look forward to breakfast turning up on the chuck-wagon, the friendly banter of the unknown workers from another company in the same building, the drive home in rush-hour...

And it's that bit inbetween that really pisses me off... It's not a problem rolling in at 9:15 after the school run, it's just that the 4 mile drive takes so long in this busy commuter town. Out of the office I used to start anytime between 7 and 9, now it's 9:15 every day. I could be at home by 9am but no, they want me in the company HQ so I waste a quarter hour battling roadworks & sleepy drivers, roll in to a dark tiny office and stare at the same magnolia-covered, claustrophobia-inducing walls for as long as my sanity dares me.

But then I'd naturally finish at about 7pm or later, depending on my mood. Sometimes 5:30pm but only if I'd accomplished 8 hours of work. That's the nature of being in the Internet, of being into computers... You do what you must, even if you don't get a decent wage or paid any overtime! 20 hours days were known a few years back...

And for that very reason: the poky little office, the magnolia walls, the masses & masses of paperwork that, for some bizarre reason, litter the home of an Internet company, the tiny little windows, the lack of natural light, the absence of a lush garden or a street of suburban activity that inspire the soul by gently reminding you that you're alive, that you too are part of the human race, no kiss from your girl or cats on your lap, and then that scramble to get home....

Yes, it wears me out, yes, it gives me a headache EVERY FUCKING DAY, yes, my eyes hurt, yes, it pisses me off, yes, it grinds me down.

No, I don't want to work past 5:30 in that shitty little office, no, I'm not any more productive, infact I'm far LESS productive, no, I don't want you to skip my pay review for another year, no, I'm not happy earning the same as I did 4 years ago, no, I'm not keen to know far more and earn far less...

You'd be forgiven for thinking I'm pissed off right now, but I'm actually "as happy as a pig in shit"... and yet it's the forced nature of my working environment that's now messing with those 8 hours of my life everyday...

For fuck's sake just let me stay at home and work on a 2/3 day rotation system, you'll thank me for it... Otherwise I'm just going to have to publish my journals... And I don't think you're going to want that... !

P.S. The choral harmonies of the track "Wish (Komm zu mir)" from "Run Lola Run" were embedded in my head until I wrote this post... now it's...