41 years and 2 days old

Here we are then, another Monday morning and I am looking forward to finishing this shift at 9 o'clock, when I will have to drive through busy traffic to get to that bed as soon as bloody possible!

During the night I have been carrying on a little project that I am undertaking, which is to somehow copy everything over to external hard drives in readiness for completely gutting this here laptop, to replace the Windows Vista with Windows 7, which I have sort of wanted for a long while now, but always been scared of having to fork out to pay for all of the software I got off the internet again.  Now I am biting the bullet because I am bloody sick of the slow OS, and the fact that there is so much more that I can do with Windows 7 that Vista won't let me do - hopefully including better recordings!

I also had the chance to watch the film X-Men First Class, which I got as a freebie from Blockbuster, whilst getting Louise a film with Keanu Reeves in called Harry or something, I can't remember now what it is called, but I am sure that we will probably be watching it together on Tuesday before it has to go back.  It's about someone that gets pulled into a robbery without meaning

I eventually got to watch the film The Searchers as well over the last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I thought it was one of those times where John Wayne really gave it his all, which I don't think he does all of the time.  That's just my opinion, so don't go off on one oh devout Wayne-ites.

I still haven't got around to doing anything for that last song on Paul McCartney's first album, which I know I have to do.  I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to be bothered lately, and I can't understand why.

Over the last week there are a few dates of interest.  The 22nd of November 1997 was the day that Michael Hutchence from INXS died.  The 24th of November 1991 was when Freddie Mercury died, and that really surprised me because I didn't know that it had been that long. The 27th of November 1970 was when George Harrison released the astounding solo album All Things Must Pass, which was exactly a day after I was born, which coincidentally is the day that John Lennon & Yoko Ono left the UK for New York, with John never stepping foot in the UK ever again.  I don't think my being born had anything to do with that.  Well, I hope not anyway.

Louise made me a lovely Coffee and Walnut Cake for my birthday, and it is already finished, I am sorry to say.  Hopefully she will make more cake soon, because it was bloody gorgeous I'll tell you.

I have been looking at Christmas coming up, and surprisingly for me I am absolutely all over the place present wise.  I am usually much more organised, and in fact usually finished by now to be honest.  I can't believe how not sorted out everything is.  I will be very soon though, mark my words!  I will be giving Louise the Christmas Card list later because she has asked if I want her to write them out...  Daft question really, because I am likely to say yes to that offer.

Anyway, I can't really think of what else to write and, in all truth, I am sick of my accidentally hitting something near to the keyboard on this laptop which keeps moving the blooming cursor away from where I want to be typing, and occasionally deleting text.  This has taken far longer than I would have hoped.

Anyway, thank you to everyone on the social networking sites who wished me a happy birthday.  It was a nice day.  I may have been at work for some of it, but that didn't stop it from being nice.  I also worked at the Cancer Research shop on Sunday because of the rather boring Christmas Lights switch on at Newark, followed by this shift right now.

Thank you for reading, and I hope that you all take care.

28 November 2011 (41 years and 2 days old).

Music, Dreams, Films & Means

You know sometimes you just seem to get into gear with things.  I have just one more song to do for my other blog, to record a cover version of it and write about it.  That would be the end of that first album that I am looking at, bar a little dissection I was thinking of doing where I discuss that album in general.

I think it is probably just the fact of how the song is to be honest.  It's an experimental piece which, although I actually like it and can't fully explain why at the moment, I just can't seem to get motivated.  Perhaps I should have stuck to just learning and recording some songs and not everything?  That's rhetorical really though because the whole pushing myself could be a valuable exercise for me.  I already feel like it's making me better musically, as well as with my own composing.  I find myself thinking more about that side, rather than just picking up a guitar and strumming or riffing something that I hope I'll find the find the words for and then make up a melody, or slam it together with any set of lyrics that I already have.

I'm just basically saying that sometimes we lack the motivation to do the things that we need to do.  Perhaps I should just do something else, and maybe the motivation will come.

Another irritation is the quality of my recordings, which is basically using the built-in laptop microphone.  It's bloody noisy to say the least, and noise removal is horrendous, which is why I've not used it!  I'll be honest, the first thing I'd do with a big lottery win is buy a place and set up a home studio with ProTools or something.  That would be so sweet.  It would probably mean that I'd be in there spending time away from Louise rather than the same time spent at work presently.  For a man who can't get to a studio much (finances), I love recording in one - it's magical.  Especially when all you go in with is the basic song or even a little inkling or something, and see it grow into a produced piece.  There is absolutely nothing else like that.

Anyway, here I am gabbing on as per usual.  For a round-up of what's been going on since last time, let me tell you that it is basically the same old story.  Work for the most part as always.  Went visiting on the Wednesday of last week, basically because I needed to drop a car off that someone loaned me while mine was in the garage getting it's brakes repaired.  More bloody money!  Then there was the inevitable lift back home.

On Sunday we went to Louise's parents for a lovely dinner, which for me included some really gorgeous chicken.  It's nice to get some meat sometimes, although that may offend those who are vegetarian, so I'm sorry if I have.

I was absolutely shattered come the Monday morning drive home from work, mainly because Saturday's shift finished at midnight, and then when we were trying to get some sleep, the neighbours were making a racket until about half past five in the morning.  We had obviously arranged to go out for Sunday dinner, so Louise got up about 9 and I got up at 10 I think, which meant both of us got very little sleep.  We spent a good while at Louise's parent's house, and came back in the thick fog, whereupon arrival home meant readying my things for work that night, with that shift finishing at 9 in the morning.  It's a frightening thing to say, but I am surprised I made it home alive because I really thought my eyes were close to going at times on the way back.  I'm sorry to say this but my old trick of stopping off on the way home from a tiring shift wasn't utilised because quite frankly I didn't know where I would have stopped or what I would have done if I had stopped.

When I used to do that, it was when I was working at Chesterfield, and I used to stop at a roadside cafe on the way there that was on the road from Mansfield to Newark, where I would have a small cup of tea.  Where I am working now, I don't actually use any roads that have a roadside cafe, and a flask of tea in the car would have gone cold by the time my shift had finished.

I don't remember if I did anything musically inclined over the last week or so, but I do know that last night and the night before I watched a couple of films for the first time.  The night before this I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  I liked the film, but did think that it could have been better.  The bit towards the end with Professor Xavier was really weird because it looked like there was something seriously wrong the face and that.  There were other things that I thought were strange as well, such as the bullet in the head at the end and everything, if it was that easy why didn't they just do that sooner?  Enjoyable movie if you don't think too much.

This last night though I watched a film that people are shocked I have never seen before - The Searchers starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter (famous to me as Captain Pike in the Star Trek pilot episode known as The Cage, which I really like).  It also featured a very young Natalie Wood, which is quite topical considering the thing with her death being reopened, but I won't go there.

I really did like the film very much, although I still sense something weird about John Wayne's acting, but I don't know what it is.  The locations were absolutely gorgeous, with the mountains and everything.  The opening shot of the film where someone walks out and you see the mountains and the range around the house the people live in is just incredible.  John Ford really knew how to shoot a film.  I'm beginning to think that I should give some more John Wayne films that I haven't seen a good chance.  I have seen Rio Bravo before with him, Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson (yes, the singer), and I really liked that.  I also liked The Cowboys and The Shootist.  My favourite westerns are still Clint Eastwood though, with my mind stuck between High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider.

Saying that though, I have never considered myself a fan of the genre.  Everyone knows that I am a Science Fiction nerd.  That's why after reading a review from Moo-V, that I know I have to check out The Green Hornet, because they gave it a favourable review.  Me and Louise are both hoping to see Hugo and the new Sherlock Holmes film, money permitting, especially considering that Christmas is coming up and presents must be bought.  I could be like someone I work with who doesn't buy a present for anyone and doesn't even celebrate it, but that just wouldn't be me.

I know that me and Louise will be soon getting ready to watch Albert Finney's Scrooge film, and she mentioned last night that she wants to watch the Jim Carrey animated version of A Christmas Carol, which is closer in tone and dialogue to the original short story by Charles Dickens.  We're also likely to dig out National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Elf, to name just a couple of other films that we have.  I am tempted to suggest Oliver!  Not sure how she would take that idea though?

Anyway, have I really been going on for this long?  Blinking heck!  I had best leave it there.

Christmas shopping is late for me.  I have just started this past week and was scared to do so.  It has meant forgoing a bill or two, but I hope that I can catch that up.  As I said I enjoy Christmas and I enjoy giving people presents.  A small amount of debt in my opinion is bearable when it comes to seeing people being happy with a small gift from the heart.

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

22 November 2011 (40 years, 11 months, and 27 days old).

Memories, like the windmills of your mind

Before I start typing this, I will let you know that I wrote it yesterday, and it ended up going somewhere completely unplanned.  I will however leave it as it is rather than mess about with it.

I was actually wondering what this Movember thing was all about recently, but was stupid enough to not find out anything until about the seventh of the month.  I wish I had thought about researching it sooner because, to be quite honest, I have sported many different variations of facial growth, so a month with a 'tache wouldn't have been too much of a problem.  Even Louise said she would have put up with the discomfort for a good cause (kissing y'see).  Next year is set in stone then, but for now you can all go and sponsor my brother Mark and the team he is a part of in this wonderful charitable event that sheds light on something that is incredibly important.

Granddad, Paul, and me with moustache

My granddad (on my mum's side) died of prostate cancer and, to be honest, I try to think of him when he was the active and incredibly fit man that I and many of us in the family used to go on walks with when I was younger (and much fitter myself).  I remember the man who me and Paul invited to go and record Rock Around The Clock with, where me and Paul played guitar and he played harmonica.  He was someone who I absolutely loved and looked up to, and I am sure that everyone who met him felt the same way, even Alex who engineered that recording session at what was Bandwagon Studios.

Me with beard at Alton Towers

Sometimes I will think of him as the man I saw in the hospital at the end, and that would make me sad and cry occasionally.  That is not a bad thing I think, because it shows how I felt, and still do feel.

When we recorded that session I was sporting a moustache which I still had at the next session some time later, bringing about Alex's comment, "you're take now Freddie!"  It's probably just me, but that still makes me smile thinking about it, although I may at the time have preferred he had mentioned someone else such as Burt Reynolds, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, or someone else that was far less camp.  Now I just think that it is funny, and maybe even more so.

I remember the walks with granddad vaguely.  I remember walking down to Pleasley Vale, back when you could walk everywhere without being stopped by security gates and fencing.  I don't think that sort of thing was as in your face back then.

As a bit of an aside, I just pressed shuffle on my iPod.  The first five songs are -

Hey You - Pink Floyd
All Around The World - The Jam
Connected - Stereo MC's
Battleship - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Cold Weather - Lee "Scratch" Perry

I don't know why I mentioned that, but I just thought that I would.  I find it interesting when I shuffle the songs, because I could never ever guess what song would be coming up next.

The next song after Lee "Scratch" Perry is So Long Frank Lloyd Wright by Simon & Garfunkel by the way. There is just something about vocal styling in the sixties that has never been bettered since in my opinion.  Just look at these, The Mamas & Papas, The Beach Boys, the Motown artists (of which the next song 'Heaven Help' by Lenny Kravitz I think is reminiscent in a passing way with it's close harmonised backing vocals).

While we're on the memory thing, I think my first memory of Top Of The Pops is Adam & The Ants performing, and I remember Blondie playing on the stereo at the Marina Fish Bar at Pleasley, when they had a back room where you could sit and chill with your mates.  I'm not sure if all of my memories are one hundred percent right.

Anyway, my granddad was a musician.  He played the harmonica and had a little keyboard.  He loved all types of music, and his harmonica playing including The Fool On The Hill by The Beatles, Stranger On The Shore by Acker Bilk, obviously Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley, and a lot more tunes.  I have an incredibly wide and open minded view to music, which I believe is where I was influenced by him.

We'll finish this right there I think, but needless to say that this Movember thing isn't stupid or petty, but of importance to every man.  It is a visual representation of something that is man's.  It is there to raise funds for different things that affect men, such as prostate cancer.  The money raised will be used to hopefully come up with more cures for these things which will hopefully be stopping people from having to put up with memories such as those that I have when I think of my granddad in hospital, rather than the music, the walks, the stories, the laughs, and everything else that was him.

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

November 15 2011 (40 years, 11 months, and 20 days old)

Let's remember those...

Today is a very special day for those of us in the United Kingdom.  It is the eleventh of November, when we observe two minutes worth of silence for those who have fallen in battle.  Most of us wear a poppy as a display of our thoughts being with them.

The whole Remembrance Day tradition and the significance of the poppy is based on those who fought and died in World War I.  During that very bloody war, battles were waged at Flanders, a land known for it's poppy fields.  As that comes to mind I imagine people fighting each other, shooting from one trench towards another, and some "going over the top" to fight the opponent, blood and guts pouring out everywhere, and poppy petals flying in the air, and landing on those bodies now no longer able to go home to those who are left at home as widows, as children without fathers, and those parents who lost their children.

Recently I have heard of the FA banning any team from displaying poppies on their kits.  I for one think that that shows the FA to be people who have no feelings for those who are fighting, or for those children who are losing parents right now, and those who are still now losing children in these wars across the globe.

If I may be so bold, I believe that Remembrance Day could now keep the symbolisation, but it would not be difficult to make it a global tradition.  If we all joined together to remember those who have fought in wars, then perhaps that could show, even in a small way, that peace is attainable, even in those two minutes when all would be together as one.  We all know people who are fighting somewhere in this world.  We may not necessarily agree with war, but it is something that is happening right now.  Who are we to be so selfish as to think that they are not worth our thoughts, even for two minutes?

Thank you for reading.

November 11 2011 (with this post, my age is insignificant, those I spoke of are)

Thoughts on television programming

You know how I call this series of blogs Ramblings?  Well by that I mean that it goes all over the place and doesn't really have a specific subject.  I just ramble on about whatever comes to mind, which means to waffle.

Today I am thinking of television shows that I have watched over the years, and that I watch now.  For those of you who aren't so interested then I apologise, but I just thought that I would go on about something that is important to me.

I am a very big fan of Star Trek in it's various incarnations, even most of the Enterprise episodes I have seen.  I haven't seen all of them, which is a rarity for Star Trek, because I have seen every episode of all the other versions of Trek.  The original series of Star Trek is, in my opinion, a case where the television series was wasted.  If the studio behind that original series hadn't have tried to change things but had left it to the people who were making the programme, then perhaps the series would have lasted much longer and been better, especially if they hadn't have kept on lowering the budget every year.

At present I am watching the last few episodes of a series called Dollhouse, which was created by Joss Whedon (the man behind Buffy The Vampire Slayer).  I heard that changes were made before the first episode was even aired on American television, and that the whole idea of it was altered so much by those changes.  Perhaps if the studio had left the creative team to do what they wanted, then the programme may have been better and not had so much inconsistency, and perhaps it would have lasted longer than it was allowed to.

Another Joss Whedon show that was cancelled early on was a series called Firefly, which was a space based series.  This was a case of it being cancelled before suddenly becoming an incredibly popular programme.  Unfortunately the studio behind it had already made their minds up.  Because of that, the team behind that series made a cinematic film which has since gone on to become a very popular and much spoken about science fiction film.

Star Trek itself is another one of those television series that has proved it was finished early, because it became so popular after cancellation that it spawned a series of films based on the original series' characters, and various different spin-off's (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, the recent incredible film from JJ Abrams' fantastic team, oh and the Animated Series).

There are other programmes that I have seen over the years that I wonder about.  Heroes is a series that I wonder if the studio had tried to change too much, and if that is why it went down the pan?  The first season of that programme is genre television gold in my opinion, but then it strayed a little bit each year.  I think it has potential for revival if someone has the balls to try it, but I doubt that someone would.  I also think that it could make a good film if someone took the time, but again I doubt someone would even think of that.

I watched Lost from beginning to end but, if I am being honest, I felt let down by the ending.  I thought that I had wasted all of that time watching that series, especially when the studios let them have their own way with the series.

I am watching a television series that is from the same people who were behind Lost, and that is Fringe.  Similar to The X-Files, but also different enough as to not be a carbon copy.  What can I say, I am the sort of person who absolutely loves Sci-Fi and genre based television.  I am looking forward to hopefully watching another series that the people behind Fringe and Lost have developed, which is called Alcatraz.  That is different where I think they are looking at things that happened while the prison was up and running, where prisoners suddenly show up decades later in San Francisco, and a team have to catch them all over again.

Another programme I have started watching is Alphas, which is similar to Heroes in the way that it is about people who powers, but this time there a group of good people with these powers trying to capture those others who are using their powers for bad basically.  Slightly different, but like I said similar at the same time.

I suppose where I am going with all of this meandering chatter is the fact that I don't like it when programmes get cancelled, especially US programmes because, in all truth, if we watch the programmes or not in the UK or anywhere other than the US it doesn't really matter, because they could still can the series in the states.  It is irritating to me that it is like this.  I wish it wasn't, but there we have it.

And so ends a meandering ramble that sort of says something.  There are other programmes that people watch which aren't genre programmes but still get cancelled.  I am sure that a lot of them get just as pissed off as I do about these things.

Do you know what?  I'm just three minutes away from the very end of Dollhouse's last episode now.  I thought it was going to be crap, but it looks like the last few minutes are going to be quite poignant.  Go figure, all about how technology can go too far and the potential catastrophic consequences of such.   I'll take it off pause in a couple of minutes, but first I'll finish this, help the cleaners at work by taking the trash to the bins, and then watch those last couple of minutes.

I still haven't seen the last ever episode of Enterprise by the way.  When I do, will I be disappointed like Lost (and the original Dallas to some people), or blown away like Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country?

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

11/11/11 November 11 2011 (40 years, 11 months, and 16 days old).

Working thoughts

So here we are again at the start of a new week.  I am at work, a few hours from the end of my night shift.  It may only be a twelve hour shift, but the fact that it finishes at 9 in the morning makes it feel long in some ways.  It's the whole thing of it being daytime on my way home.  When I've worked at places before it has been from five until five, six until six, or even seven until seven.  This finishing time though is just strange.  You start later on in the night, so essentially I'm leaving home when most people are settling down, and then on my way home I sometimes get caught up in the hustle bustle of people going into work in the morning.

It's a strange one in my opinion.  I sort of enjoyed where the company I am working for had me at before, especially when I was on night shift.  There I worked from five until five, so that way my first day off wouldn't be so bad because we actually changed over at around half past four, and that meant me getting in at around quarter to five (it was near where I lived), and then I would be in bed for five.  I could easily get up at eleven in the morning after a decent six hours sleep, and then basically enjoyed my time off.  Here though that is completely useless.  I instead get in around a quarter to ten in the morning, and then am in bed for about ten, and then wake up before one in the afternoon, which makes me ratty for the rest of the day.  I can't stay in bed much later than that because I feel like I am losing a day off, and I only get two off in a week, rather than the three days off a week that I asked for when they had taken me on.  If truth be told, I'm not sure I would have worked for this company if I knew they were going to mess me about like this, because there were another couple of offers on the table.

When it first discussed in the interview stage, they were okay with it and even said that they would keep me local.  I know that I am not travelling far, but it is still not in the local area.  I am still driving 13 miles each way for work.  That isn't local in my opinion.

A big problem is though that I do actually like the site very much, and the staff as well.  I don't particularly like one of the guards, but the other one I understand and get on with.  I am just not fond of the fact that I still have to travel for work.  That really pisses me off big time, especially when this firm don't pay anything towards your fuel because they apparently don't make enough from their clients to pay expenses.  I think they have a problem if they are willing to take such small amounts of money to provide security.  They should put tenders in a way that benefits their guards and provides a professional service, rather than the cheapest service that can be offered.

That's enough of me trying to put all of that to rights.  No matter what I say or do, security guards in this country at least will always be seen as the bottom rung of the ladder and treated as such, even when security guards are the first people that get their faces smashed in, or get stabbed or, on very rare occasions, get shot by would be thieves and criminals.  All that in most cases for a lousy minimum wage.  Now I will admit that all of these cases are very rare but, it does happen.

Most security guards work alone on sites, so it is easy for a single guard to be caught out by people on the sites they are working, and who knows what could happen to them.  If you value what they are protecting, or you think their job is important then, in my opinion, they should be treated as such.  I will admit that in all of my years of working in security, I have never liked it when someone has treated me as less of a person, and it has happened a few times.  I go along with the "all men are equal" philosophy, and I speak to everybody on the same level.  Okay, I treat people with respect, but that is just basic courtesy and politeness.  I always call people Sir or Miss, until they say I can call them otherwise.

What is great though is that I can stay in touch with people who I made friends with at the different places where I have worked over the years.  Over the last year alone, the company I worked for before this sent me to so many different Morrison's stores to work security for them, that I have built numerous friendships with people from many stores including Lincoln, Mansfield Woodhouse, and Loughborough.  Of course I have maintained friendships from other jobs I have had over the years as well, specifically the job I did for many years in Chesterfield at The Avenue, where I have maintained contact with a lot of the people I worked with, and with some of the staff (one of the staff there in fact is one of my references when I apply for jobs).  I sort of miss that place in a lot of ways, but not the travelling there and back, because that was a bloody journey every day from Newark to Chesterfield and back again.

Anyway, I think I will leave it at that now, because that is a lot of chat about work to be honest, and I don't think that people want to hear too much about it, and I probably shouldn't be talking about it too much.

I hope that everyone is okay and has had a lovely weekend.  I have enjoyed the weekend, albeit having to work through the whole thing every week (another bone of contention there I might add, because the odd weekend off would have been nice).

Here's to a nice week ahead, although I won't be doing much because the car is playing up again, and I am always scared of taking my cars to a garage, especially so close to Christmas when I need to be thinking about people's presents and the like.

Take care and thank you for reading.

November 7 2011 (40 years, 11 months, and 12 days old).

Thoughts on important matters

Good morning, afternoon, evening, night...  Wherever you are it is obviously some time or other.  That is of course unless you are one of the Bajoran gods from Star Trek Deep Space Nine who do not live in time as we know it.  Trust me to find a link hey.  What can I say, everyone knows that I am a Star Trek fan by now, and I am not at all embarrassed by it.  I happen to think that it is an incredibly clever programme, in it's various different guises.

So, here we are then.  In the UK it is around half past three in the morning as I am starting to type out this completely made up on the spot blog, discussing whatever is on my mind right now.

First of all, let's look at who has their birthday today (4th November);

Matthew McConaughey and Sean Combs (P Diddy, Puff Daddy, or whatever he's calling himself these days) were both born on this day in 1969.  Malandra Burrows (1965) known mostly for her acting role in the UK sitcom Emmerdale, Karate Kid Ralph Macchio (1961), Chris Difford of Squeeze fame (1954),  and more.  Well, there are some names to digest aren't there?

Carrying on with the Deep Space Nine thing, the episode Trials & Tribble-ations was shown in the US on this day in 1996 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first showing of Star Trek's original series in the US.  Star Trek Voyager celebrated it with an episode linked to the events in the brilliant Star Trek film The Undiscovered Country, the last to be based solely around that original cast.  I say cast because the original crew came back in JJ Abrams' fantastic recent film, which I am looking forward to seeing the sequel to when it comes out at the cinema towards the end of 2012.  Hopefully it will come out before the world ends because I'd be well pissed off otherwise.

Speaking of films that I am looking forward to, I am also excited about a new James Bond film in the offing, especially after reading this article on line.  Javier Bardem looks like a cracking choice for a bad guy.  I like it when they actually pick a foreign actor to play the parts rather than someone doing a terrible impression a la Kenneth Williams french accent in Carry On Follow That Camel.  I know, that is meant to be a mickey take, but you see where I am coming from.

Another Deep Space Nine episode shown on this date in the US was the great Season 7 episode Treachery, Faith, & The Great River.  The Next Generation showed the brilliant Unification Part I on this day in 1991 (Season 5).  Well, that's about all I can find on Star Trek on this day.  I bet there are a few people that are glad to hear that hey?

Anyway, what else can I speak about?  I obviously know that Christmas is coming up because once more the car seems to be playing up, as it inevitably does at this time of the year.  This time however I think it's faulty brake pads, which were only replaced for the MOT at the tail end of September, so they will be covered and won't cost me a penny.  That is of course unless they say it is something else entirely, and then money will have to be spent.  Bloody typical.  I sometimes wonder if it was worth passing my test!

If nothing else, the money I spend on the car obviously gets in the way of me buying a new acoustic guitar to replace the one that is having some problems.  I think the damp in the flat is causing the neck to go slightly off, making it a bitch to keep in tune.  If I had bought a case rather than a bag for it, then maybe that would have been better?  That's just a guess as to what the problem is.  Self diagnosis isn't always right.  Some suggestions may help.  I am thinking presently of just dropping the gauge of the strings I use to 9 or 10 rather than the 13's that I use normally.  I'm not sure whether that would make any difference.  As I said, suggestions would be welcomed.

Anyway, I have been typing this for so bloody long now and am neglecting my duties completely at work.  I had best get on.  It is now a quarter to five in the morning.  I take time on these things you see.

I have been missing the blogs of my friends Matt Blick and Drew Baxter, but I am sure that they will be back soon with more riveting matters of discussion to while away my time at work.

I will most likely be blogging again over the weekend.  Take care and, if I don't blog, have a great weekend.  If I do, erm, blog, then, err, still do have a great weekend.  Thank you for reading.

4 November 2011 (40 years, 11 months, and 9 days old).