2005 hasn't been one of my best years infact it's probably my worst, first my Grandma was diagnosed with dementia, then my Mam had a heart attack, then my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and to top it all off I've split up with my wife. I'm trying to look on the bright side as hard as it is . I just think to myself well my Mam has survived her heart attack , my Dad was given the all clear two weeks ago , I just wish I still lived full time with my beautiful daughter , I hate not being able to go into her room and kiss her goodnight everyday. I also really wish I could have a proper two way conversation with my Gran.

I'm going to have plenty of time on my hands, so I'm sure I'll be making frequent visits to my blog. I'll try and be a bit more cheery and upbeat next time.

Played the Pipettes single 10 times in a row tonight, both sides had me and Neave jumping around the room , maybe she is their youngest fan 17 months old today? I feel guilty because it's been sat on the kitchen bench since Monday and I delayed listening to it until tonight because I didn't want to be dissapointed, Alistair had really built them up into something big , so I was really pleased that they lived up to his 'hype'. I should have known everything would be alright.



The sleeve was almost enough to convince me , I'm a sucker for band names written in sand. I love that feeling of taking out a 7" single from it's sleeve for the very first time, it kind of clings to the sides as if it doesn't want to come out then when it does and you play it and this sound explodes around the room for what seems like little more than a minute , you have to dash back to the stereo and play it again and again.

My favourite is 'it hurts to see you dance so well' it's one of those songs that would have appeared at the end of those compilation tapes that I used to do for people when nothing else would fit on, just as an alternative to the Dentists "The Turquoise Castle" .

The best record so far on unpopular, buy it now before they are all gone .....unpopular records only 500 copies.

Just uploaded some new photos to my flickr account, they are of newton aycliffe, I took them while I was out walking with Neave a couple of weekends ago. I'm going to try and remember to take my camera everytime we go for a walk and take different shots of the town and build up some sort of archive.


the boating lake

Geoff came over last night , first time I've seen him in 6 months, he's been doing stuff with Robbo, Nev and his drummer mate next door, on his digital multitrack. I'm just going to concentrate on my electronic stuff on my laptop. I really should get in touch with Marc and see if he is up for doing some recording sometime this year.

Been listening to a lot of Field Mice lately, bought all 3 of the LTM releases and I am rediscovering one of my favourite bands.

Really dissapointed that 6 music has demoted Andrew Collins to weekends and replaced him with Steve Lamaq one of my least favoutite dj's. Now what am I going to listen to while Neave is having her milk? Stuart Maconie's show on a sunday afternoon Freak Zone is becoming essential listening.

Once again it has been an age since I wrote anything here, this time I really have been busy, well I have been doing something worthwhile for a change. It must be over 22 years since I last did a paper round, I never thought I'd have do it again, but the goverment and their privatisation of council houses policy is forcing me to walk the streets again . I work for Sedgefield Borough Council who are currently trying to sell off their housing stock to a private housing association. They are spending a fortune on trying to get tenants to vote yes to transfer and I have been helping distribute a newsletter trying to persuad tenants to say no. You can have a read of the newsletter here SedgefieldBroadsheetFeb2005 .


There is about 10,000 council houses in the borough and we are slowly but surely getting to all of them. Through snow, wind and attacks by dogs. I'd forgotten how much a shock to the system it was when a dog starts barking at you and you are locked in a garden with it, it makes your heart jump out of chest! The worst injury I've had so far though is a paper cut, which is better than being ravaged by an alsation.

Neave is 16 months old today. My Grandma was 90 last Thursday.