getting stronger?

ah, remembered my password! see, im sure i typed that in last time along with the several other possibilities i remember trying, but mr. google wouldn't let me get in. ah, i feel like i'm back in the fold now, ain't that nice! been listening to cbyd's latest recordings lately, and i must say, 'strong' is a corker of a song! I feel kind of ok saying that cos i didnt write it, ya' know - i don't want to boast - but its a fine line sometimes between saying you're pleased with what you've done, and then overstepping that and getting a bit carried away with yourself, know what i mean? so anyway, i love the song, its probably our best as a band, and the actual recording of it makes it sound better than our others too - rob did a good job of mixing it.

countryside to stir the soul

this might be the shortest come-back in history. ah! I'm off to ireland soon - i've always fancied going. Dublin, in fact, home of guiness and u2. And ken doherty - current world no.1 snooker player -if you don't believe me check out www.worldsnooker.com! I'm hoping to get out of the city for a bit to see some of the proper irish countryside of yore - the hills and stuff, oh yeh. Thats what i would really like to see. Im not taking my guitar, but i can just imagine it would be the ideal place to sit/lie down and strum until your heart's content. Singing with the birds, underneath the bright blue skies, feeling the green grass beneath you- being 'out there' with nature. Y'know, its funny, but the more i start to hear myself talk like this the more i'm beginning to think ive either got that 'romantic' streak running through me, like those great romantic poets - keats, mills and so on, - or i'm a hippy.

The Return of the King - well, not quite, but you got me anyway!

Hello the blogging world, i am back, yes i am , i am indeed. I have finally got broadband at home - the preceding generations of owens would havebeen proud - so yes i can communicate in real time instead of the days and minutes that you've all become so used to! Aha! Now then. Uh, first i suppose i'd better let *the administrator* have her moment of glory as i admit that yes, dial-up is naff and this broadband malarchy is far better. Bully to you!
I would just like to say to lindt chocolate, that their 'swiss double milk chocolate' chocolate is fabulous. I was quite taken aback when i tried some just now. It has to be the singular most nicest chocolate i have tasted in many a year. Its kind of like kinder egg, but for grown-ups - although there's no toy inside. And its flat, as is most chocolate or course, but seriously, it is good stuff, and drat! I've got some over the 'b' and 'h' keys.bbbbbbbbbbbbbhhhhhhhhhhhh, mmm, there, thats better.
You know, i've been reading this book of 'silly signs' recently, and there were quite a number of amusing examples given there. apparently they were all genuine signs hung in genuine places - heres one or two that caught my attention:

DIETING GROUP WILL MEET AT 7PM AT THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - please use large double door at the side entrance. (Notice on a church bulletin board)

TRY OUR LOCAL BUTTER, NOBODY CAN TOUCH IT. (On a grocery shop).

FOR BEST RESULTS START WITH CLEAN BATHTUB FOR USE. On a bottle of bathroom cleaner.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STOP CHAIN WITH YOUR HANDS. On a Swedish chainsaw.

Particularly good advice this last one, methinks.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. No, that wasn't more chocolate on my keys, thats me getting sleepy. Tebbly solli to leaf u, but i'm going to have to get some sleep. Nice to rejoin the blogging world though.

electric heating

i have an electric blanket at home and its great. I turned it on yesterday for the first time this year, and boy does it make a difference to ones ability to get some sleep. ya'know i used to think they were a bit daft, but i got one for Christmas 2 years ago from my nan, and it has revolutionised my nights. No longer to i have to stack up 4 blankets on top of my quilt, i just switch the blanket on and ah...bliss! My advice to you - go and get one!

meaning...?

Perhaps i could write
something that would mean something to someone.
Perhaps i could write
something that would change your mind.
Would you?
Would I?

* * *


Trees bloom and grow while war rages on
undisturbed they converse with the sky
as fanatical men rage and die, their plans as nothing
while trees grow steadily in peace.

Re-cap

well, a lot has happened since the last time i blogged, and its not that ive failed to try and convey it all, its just that the internet has been playing up in both the office and the library, and then loz took a half day one time. oh woe is the blogging world, i know, its been a less bright place whilst ive been gone (please, dont correct me mid-sentence -) but now here i am, back and ready to go - Andiamo!

i got to do some building work a while back. when i couldnt get any overtime one week i offered my assistance to the builder, who took me up on my offer. so it was that on a beautiful july day, i found myself working outside, chipping cement off of about 150 old bricks so they could be re-used, and then using a half-size pneumatic drill to smash up some concrete in this persons front garden. nice!

band has been going quite well - we've had to practise in various incarnations, as different pepes have been away at different times, so its been interesting i suppose you could say. Acoustic sessions, just learning new songs really. the fun'll start when we all get back, oh yeh!

Had a birthday, phoned my sister in oz. now once more getting loads of overtime praise God, and hopefully even thrashing out a new contract in work for longer hours.

also, thinking of getting a new computer, probably a laptop. saw simple minds once more, at a gig down in ashton court, pretty good again, i'd say. jumping around a bit when the big tunes kicked in!

la-di-da. better sign off i spose, and go and buy another birthday card for the relevant person! ter-ah.

SOUL: YEAH!

WOW! Thats all i can say. WOW! I got this album recently -cheap-£5-in WHSmiths - and its great. ive seen it around before, although not at that price, and i kind of thought mmm, that might be alright. Its Eva Cassidy, and i wasnt sure whether she was from recent times, or further back, say the 50s or 60s. The album cover is kind of brown so that didnt help much. I was also under the impression that she'd died or something, which after i read the inlay, discovered that she had indeed died in 1996. but anyway, i put it on and wasnt quite sure what to expect as id only heard one of her songs before, and that was a cover -brilliantly done mind you - of stings 'fields of gold'. So i thought she might be like a kind of acoustic person. Which she is partly i suppose, but oh goodness, she's great! The singing is fantastic. She's got SOUL man! Yeah! I couldnt help smiling at various points through the course of the album, her expressiveness and range are just awesome. gonna have to get me some more soul albums - anybody know any good ones?