So, the weatherman said it was going to snow – from 4pm today, until, well .. Thursday. It is not letting up thus-far! This is the scene in RG10 at 9pm:

UPDATED: with some snaps from today.

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenly and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 19th Century American Philosopher

Eat more vegetables. Get more exercise. Spend less time sitting in front of computers. Watch more movies. Go to more gigs.

Leave the car at home and walk. Clean up more often. Don’t procrastinate. Cycle. Be happier. Be less pessimistic. Grow up.

Be social. Talk to people. Lose weight. Recycle. Swear less, talk more.

Drink less alcohol. Drink more water. Avoid energy drinks. Reduce sugar intake. Increase wholewheat intake. Just say no. Just say yes. Be more prolific. Not just in words, but in thinking, doing and being. Write more, even if it is awful. Blog, but, just a bit. Tweet. Reduce Facebook consumption. Gamble less. Lose less. Win more. Invest. Save.

Spend more time with Aimee. As often as possible. Close the ridiculous distance between us. Teach her how to write, spell, count, ride a bike, swim, read and play. Take photos. Shoot videos. Publish. Sell old stuff. Make some cash. Dream. Sleep. Well.

Aimee bashes out a Christmas classic!

A couple of photos from the latest New Order off-shoot, Bad Lieutenant’s gig at Heaven nightclub in Charing Cross. Great night – the encore of Joy Division, New Order and Electronic classics was superb!

Just a few piccies from a gig I went to a month or two ago. These photos convinced me that it was time for a new camera.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”
John Lennon, ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’, Double Fantasy, 1980.

Phew! This has got to be the most protracted house move in history! I’ve been in the flat since the 21st of July, yet most of my furniture is still in Sheffield. Most of my more prized possessions are here, as well as 90% of my clothes, but there’s still a shedload (a houseload?) back in Sheffield – not to mention a load of stuff, including my TV, at my mum’s house. Arrrgh!

Anyhow, I hope to rectify this situation this weekend. Will hire a Transit van and get some of the big items down here. If you know me, and are in Sheffield on Saturday (or Reading on Sunday) and can spare an hour or two to lug stuff about then please let me know! Keep reading…

So, on Tuesday evening all the paperwork was formalized and signed off, and the keys to my little flat were handed over to me. I unloaded all the stuff that I’d packed into my car at the weekend and brought them into the flat. I am terribly, terribly disorganised: I packed a kettle, yet forgot to bring any mugs, tea bags or milk. I brought no cutlery or plates, but I remembered the toaster. I even brought a bottle of Sheffield’s finest Hendersons Relish, yet I didn’t bring anything to put it on.

Whatsmore, I had no furniture, and as this is now ‘home’ – I needed something to sleep on, so I planned to go to the nearest IKEA (Wembley) and get a bed – which is exactly what I did. For future reference, if you have an Audi A3 Sportback, you can fit a MALM double bed and a double mattress into the back, with the seats folded down. It is a bit of a squeeze, and you do practically need to dislocate your arm to change gear, but all the doors and boot shut. That was the good part of the evening. Keep reading…

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) 35th President of the United States

I know, I know. It’s been ages. I’ve broken promises and resolutions, hearts and heads, but the blog is back again. For a while, at least. Maybe. Fuck it – who knows? The last… puhhhh…. year has been, well.. – an absolute, total and unrelenting disaster for me, on several levels, and – to be brutally honest – the idea of actually writing down and chronicling my misery at the time was just a bridge too far for me.

So. Change. Things have changed. Irrevocably. Things(tm), as they say, are unquestionably better. They are – by no means – perfect, though, this will come in time. Keep reading…

The blog, its coming back.

Watch this space…

Dear Retailers / Giftmakers,

I am a man. This means that I lack the necessary genes for success in the field of ‘present wrapping’. In the future, please can you design your gifts and presents to fit into neat rectangular boxes, as I find these somewhat easier to wrap (though they’re still sufficiently challenging!) rather than the ornate moulded plastic designs in shapes which wrapping paper just wasn’t designed to cover!

Many thanks,

James.