I Didn't Throw Up!

Managed to secure tickets to Ben & Jerry's Sundae on the Common... I only paid £10 each, though they were going for £50 on ebay!
The two Miss S's, Mr B and I meet up to listen to bands mostly unknown to me - though I did know The Ordinary Boys and The Proclaimers, eat oodles of ice cream, go on the helter skelter, people watch and just enjoy the afternoon. And miracles of miracles it did not rain, not once, not one little rain drop!
Last year I fared rather poorly on the amount of ice cream I could eat, just five, so this year I was out to beat that... you could say I did... I thrashed it! I ate nine ice creams! I had, ready for it... Cherry Garcia, Caramel Chew Chew, Fossil Fuel, Peace of Cake, Chocolate Therapy, Phish Food, Berry Berry Extraordinary, Lemon Sorbet and 'wich (well ice cream sandwiched between two biscuits - should be made criminal!).
At one stage I had three ice creams in one hand and a can of cider in the other, hard core or just plain piggy?!
In amongst all the ice cream licking, cider sipping, chilling and people watching we all went down the helter skelter. And I must say that was brilliant!
And, I didn't throw up!!

You can check it out at:
http://www.benjerry.co.uk/sundae/

Clean Bill of Health...

... well nearly.
Miss Yo Yo had her yearly check-up, the meowing all the way there, the silence in the vets, then the meowing all the back as per usual.
Then is was the usual purring so loud that the vet couldn't hear her heart, and the usual poking and prodding and weighing (again her usual 3.76kg weight) and then it is was a teeth check... oh dear...
After Miss Yo Yo's last visit I bought all the fibrous biscuits and seaweed tooth cleanser for her sharp little pearly whites. Unfortunately I've been rather remiss at restocking and keeping up the cleanser in her food... so she's lost a tooth and has one that's rather angry and if not sorted (hopefully they will be sorted with the regime starting up again) it's going to mean under the anesthetic and scrapping the tooth and maybe a removal... damn!

Body Vibrations, £8 pints and Head Banging Music!

Miss S took me to see an unyet heard by myself band during the week & I have to say it was fabulous!
Sommerset House is currently hosting various bands in it's courtyard.. I was lucky enough to see not one but two great bands... The Black Angels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. There was about 1000 people there, many spent £8 on a pint! Though Miss S and I indulged ourselves with wine (only £3.50 a glass!), and all of them appeared to be tapping their feet, nodding their heads and generally enjoying the sounds of these bands... as well as being vibrated head to toe from the bass!
It's also the only time I've ever seen a guy in a hooded top and leather jacket play the piano!


http://www.theblackangels.com/
http://www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com/
http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/

Bleurugh!!!!

Don't you hate that when you hear the last syllable of your train stop, realise you've fallen asleep, have drooled all over your shoulder, jump up, banging into people, "excuse me, excuse me" to get to the door and discover that yes, you have only been asleep for five minutes, and yes they have just started announcing the stops the train is making, and yes you either have to look sheepish and re-take your seat (strategically placed to get off at the stairs out the station) or find an empty seat on one of the last rains out of London so of course it's packed or stand the twenty-five minutes to your stop and hope that everyone has forgotten all about you 'mad' moment!
Ahhh... aint train travel wonderful!

Perfect World!

Not!!
Wouldn't it be great that after digging up the road / footpath, having them blocked off for two months (at least) and finally finished that all the various road / utility / etc companies had got together and finished it correctly?
Now that would be in my perfect world and unfortunately is just aint so!
That's what's happened outside work.. whole section of road dug up, cycle lane added, bus lane added and traffic redirected. All just finished and guess what.. came out of work this evening and the road / footpath has been spray painted for them to dig it all up again!
Sheesh, after two months plus worth of work you'd have thought they'd done it all!

Woo!

What a fabulous day! Mr S and I were up nice and early, well for a Saturday, to catch various trains to Manchester. We were off to see Damon Albarn's Monkey: Journey to the West, with designs by Gorillaz collaborator Jamie Hewlett.
We were a bit dubious.. it was after all a Chinese opera.. and I have to say it was fantastic! The costumes, set, and music just worked so well!
Those of you familiar with the Japanese TV series Monkey, from the late 1970s, will know the characters well. And I have to say that it worked very well and definitely worth the trip to the North - were people speak with funny accents and wear a lot less clothing than here in the South!
I've put up a couple of pictures so you can get an idea and here's a news link, though no idea how long it'll be up! So don't blame me if it doesn't work!

http://music.guardian.co.uk/live/story/0,,2115649,00.html

PS: what I saw of Manchester I loved.. the buildings were an amazing mix of old and new... encountered some of the more livelier parts ("Gay Town" & "China Town"), and saw two nearly were fights!

Tassels, Heels & Balloons!

Bet that caught your attention!
Went to dinner last week... had delicious sea bass, spring bok, a lovely red wine, scrummy chocolate cake and great company. Nothing out of the norm about that I hear you thinking... apart from the fact Mr S and dined whilst lovely young ladies, for the most part and more on that shortly, did burlesque-tease while we were doing so!
The most memorable ladies of the evening being the one popping balloons to Bjork's Silent Shout, Foxy Lady (doing the tease to Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady of course), and the lady from Italy (can't remember her name) who topped off the evening with Dita von Tease style tease!
Though probably the most ballsy one of the night was by the Burlesque Grande Dame - Goodtime Mama Jojo, immensely buxom and knows her stuff, finished of the night with a tease of her own!
All most tastefully done, panties left on and nipple tassels worn!
Though it was a little worrying at the number of hens parties there!

If you want to check it out... http://www.volupte-lounge.com

Freaky London!

Well London has gone and surprised me again! At the moment a sculptor has his works on show along the Thames. Nothing unusual I hear you think... well... they're people sized and they're standing for the most part on top of buildings, with the odd one on the pavement and they're naked...
It's right freaky as you look along the skyline and see all these 'men' on the edge of buildings and you're thinking mass suicide!
In fact it's just part Antony Gormley's Blind Light Exhibition (the guy who created The Angel of the North sculpture). 31 naked sculptures of himself!
Brilliant!

It's True!

Old Rockers Never Die!
Went to Hyde Park Calling with Miss S last weekend... various music groups playing in Hyde Park over several weekends!
With about 40,000 other people we stood in the rain... booing the umbrella bearers and yaying them when they shut them... watching Jet, Chris Cornell and Aerosmith!
Despite the rain everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves... amazing how rock fans chat to anyone about anything, will stand in the pouring rain, queue for ages for a loo and then stand as one singing out the bands songs word for word, awesome!