But you can probably guess.

Waiting for a super hot curry cooked by the GLW.

Kids eaten and watching tv burp

First fire of the year.

All in all well content

Drinking, Smoking, staring at a computer screen.
Generally doing nothing - which is what I enjoy most about Saturday nights

Whilst listening to the new Jayhawks album. Smoked salmon fillets with spinach, carrots, sugar snap peas, brocolli, courgettes au gratin and new potatoes. GLW on computer spending money....!

Beer on the go, naturally....

after we'd all enjoyed her 6th birthday today.

Lots of excitement this morning amongst cards and presents, and then a day out at the Cotswolds Wildlife Park. We saw everything, the highlight being the giraffes which had the little one spellbound.

I also was able to get a joke in you'll be thrilled to hear;

'Was that Rhinocerous in Paper Moon?'

'Eh?'

'That one - Rhino Neil...'

Mummy and Daddy are now puggled.

Dr. John.

The whole family.

with a glass of Viognier. Watching the X-factor with the three females of the house, still basking in the glow of knowing that Wales are in the semi-finals and the last of the home countries still standing

After a lovely day with her family - 2 yr old boy and 12 day old girl - I was standing in her very nice, very big kitchen in Leicester checking on the lasagne I've made us. Soon it will be eaten.

on the podcast.

listening to my new Doo-Wop CD.

Just back from seeing fab Gerhard Richter show(thoroughly recommended) at Tate Modern.... Have randomly been reminded of Colourbox so am listening to "Just give 'em whiskey" and consuming a cheeky Merlot whilst considering what to cook.

cutting up pieces of paper with verbs on them (teaching preparation). GLW out with friend and little one. Awaiting their explosive return and considering a Big Boy's Special Magic Drink.

...an aubergine moussaka with a side salad, washed down with an excellent Barbaresco. These delights were preceded by a plate of antipasti misti - Parma ham, two salamis, freshly flamed parmesan, sun dried tomatoes and rocket - accompanied by home baked Parmesan and sun-dried tomato bread.

All is definitely well with the world - and the port beckons!

...before logging on here, starting the dinner and opening the wine. It'll be an early night because I haven't slept properly since about midday yesterday (long overnight flight).

Idly stabbing one of four empty Coca Cola cans with a kitchen knife while listening to Smashing Pumpkins.

with the boy then coaxing him upstairs for his bath.

at my ma and pa's house, watching while she turns the house upside down while playing with her doll's house. Day not too bad, in spite of part of my car rear bumper being ripped off at the car wash. Ho hum.

Might even get chance to watch some of Living In The Material World at bedtime...

bugger all, as I can't remember what I might have been doing.

to the delights of 'Allo 'Allo, just before taking her up to bed. Hopefully no nightmares will occur.

.....the Super League Final.

Kruder Dorfmeister 'The K&D Sessions' while getting ready to go to a dinner party.

Nice bit of beef and red wine then Mrs G wants X Factor on which of course I have no interest in whatsoever so am looking here - Christ that Mischa was phenomenal wasn't she?

which I subsequently deleted, I have issues people.... Also watching Strictly which as far as camp, sexy, silly, Saturday night entertainment goes is pretty damn good. I am also slightly in love with Flavia Cacace even when she's dancing with Russell Grant, I told you i have issues...

40 minutes into a nightshift beaming MTV and associated channels to bits of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Just eaten a M&S Wensleydale and carrot sarnie while bantering about the Irish defeat at the RWC on Facebook.

It's a living.

from Silverstone and looking forward to going home!

doing too many things at once

Drinking Indian rum, writing a book, blogging, watching 30 Rock and playing slide guitar in DGDGBD tuning which makes me sound better than I am.

tonite's gig was cancelled at Hammy Apollo because of a burst water main in the Fulham Road. So at 7.30 pm I was standing in The Trout Pub near Hammersmith tube station drinking a beer.

After a historic late lunch at the Hand & Flowers in Marlow. Mrs B, me and her cold are catching up with the final episode of Billy C's Route 66 prog. I'd watch BC read the phone book. The fact that there's the Grand Canyon to look at makes it a double delight.

I was watching the second season of "Dead like me" on dvd, a not well known american series, that lasted only two seasons, obviously because it was too good.

Actualy, I was noticing, that I'm watching mainly cause of Ellen Muth, the central character George, who is seriously beautiful and talented and intelligent and charming. Not very many women are like that. I know. I've been searching for one all my life.

... to "Uh Huh Her" and thinking it might be Polly's best record whilst drinking Franziskaner Weissbier.

I was watching a movie I had recorded awhile back on Sky Movies. It was World's Greatest Dad with Robin Williams and it had me laughing like a drain. Then I settled down to watch this week's Sky Movie Premiere Skyline that was utter tosh. Why was I not warned beforehand. At least the Haggis-flavoured crisps and Spiced Apple & Honey Magners lessened the pain.

I'm at work in Phoenix AZ, but, I was able to sneak the Florida vs. LSU football game on the TV, so not a wasted day then?

Home now though.

... minestrone & chicken cacciatore for Ms Stoke (who has the most UNcommon cold), while watching a box set of Frasier...

The Fella watching BB while I occasionally take my headphones off to remark on something while I make a 'Raaaaawk' playlist on Spotify.It's my best yet!
Booze: Wife Beater (me) cider (him).Food? Grazing on crap from the treat cupboard in the kitchen.

Happy days.

I was walking around a fun fair with my family, trying not to breath in the smells of hotdog, teenage hormones and weed.

I'd just finished doing a wee bit of decorating and was frying up a couple of burgers to eat in front of Anvil: The Story of Anvil, which has been sat on my shelf waiting to be watched for yonks. And well worth the wait it was too!

so having consumed some pan fried salmon, veg and a few glasses of fermented grape juice (and done the washing up) I settled down to catch up with a selection of goodies recorded over the last few months - at 7.30 it was Hard Day's Night (bloomin' marvellous) but followed by Elbow at Glastonbury, the Floyd at Pompeii and episodes 13 & 14 of The Killing.

a seriously hot chili stew which I then ate in front of a couple of old episodes of QI on YouTube.
Now listening to new albums and getting ready to watch a film before I go to bed.
Work tomorrow. *big sigh*

While writing up a whole bunch of synopses for classic films like Mr Popper's Penguins, Horrid Henry the Movie and Ice Age 3.

...that started at 7:30pm when two friends of my wife who I hadn't met before turned up at the door.

Several bottles of good quality red later, I can confirm that they were thoroughly splendid people who like Wilco and can come again.

Been out to see Tommy Tiernan in Reading. He was absolutely bloody brilliant. I parked the car pretty well as well.

*EDIT - review here -> http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/tommy-tiernan

At 7.30pm I was welcoming a couple of friends in for an evening of takeaway and TV. One of my friends had had a facial - apparently this makes you tired so it wasn't a long night, but the wine went down very well.

Being rowdy with some fellow Irishmen, drinking James Squires 150 Lashes Pale Ale, cheering on the French and trying (and failing) to be charming to some marvellous Welsh women.

three short programmes on the iplayer of Myles na Gopaleen's The Brother, which ran this week on Radio 4 (Tue, Wed, Thur at 3.30) marking 100 years since he was born. Well recommended if you like humourous Irish writing and well-performed audio adaptations.

At 7.30....

Me: cooking spag carbonara
Mrs.T: bathing Twang Jr
Twang Jr: running his highly developed set of moves to drive Mrs.T insane whilst trying to run bath.

This all building up to a strange scenario....we are going out locally, with a bunch of pals to see a band. TJ has achieved "leaving with nice teenager down the road for babysitting" age so the vague promise of a life is waving at us from the end of a long tunnel.

We went to see a friend of a friend who is in a four part harmony girl vocal group backed by a jazz trio doing 40s jump jive standards with the odd more recent (well, not that recent) number such as "One love" or "Walk on the wild side". Four pints of Charles Wells' Eagle. They were fucking great. The girls, and the pints.

I was at the Crawley Campaign Against Racism's international social evening, celebrating their 35th anniversary.

More specifically, taking loads of photos with my new 50mm lens and wondering if anybody there would be disappointed to find that Polish dancers are not quite the same thing as pole dancers.

Yellow card reports and the match report...
And enjoying a rare weekend where Norwich didn't lose (so we didn't play... so what?)

I am celebrating the fact that the Forces of Darkness got a gubbing off Les Blues with some bangers 'n beans and a Rogue Gin 'n Tonic.

Updating here as I eat, with a game on in the background. I shall be watching The Year Of Living Dangerously later

... by the Western Harbour in Leith (where the Britannia is, coincidentally), sitting around, chatting during half time of Liechtenstein v Scotland ... There was popcorn, mixed nuts and tea.

In ten minutes time I will probably kill myself.

Ask me in 2hours 20 minutes.

***Edit...Holding my daughter's ponytail back as she puked into the toilet, as it turned out. Somebody's brought a bug back from school

in my hotel room in Boston making comments on blogs like this one, considering going down to the bar and looking forward to going on a whale watch tomorrow. I know it's fifteen minutes after the specified time but I've been sat here a while.
I'm also looking forward to being at home for a while.

before going next door to the Live Theatre to see Alejandro Escovedo (with his wonderful guitarist David Pulkingham).
What a great gig !

Walking up to the Royal Albert Hall for the Crosby-Nash gig.

And it was superb.

double bass, and great fun it was too!

which will be in about 45 minutes, I will be settling down in front of the TV with the GLW to watch the San Jose Sharks crush the Phoenix Coyotes in their season-opening game. Go Sharks!

just about to tuck into a pre-pub dinner of Chicken, Chorizo, Peppers and rice and a piece of corn bread. Prepared by good friend J Sainsbury I should point out. I was reading Record Collector Magazine which has the most mind bogglingly grumpy and reactionary 'readers letters' page of any music magazine..I'm convinced they have a stock of unopened letters from 30 years ago which they open and print as some sort of elaborate joke. Either that or they only print letters from people residing in HM Prisons. This month a gentleman was complaining about the lack of coverage in the magazine of 50s Rock n Roll/Rockabilly in favour of what he describes as "60's rubbish like Beatles/psych/Zep".

I'm ghostwriting a book, so I was cheerfully getting on with that... shortly afterwards, I headed into town to meet with some of the lovely massive before a gig (the mighty Primevals, featuring this board's fine El Hombre Malo).

with The Hollies just coming on stage. Some of the vocals were a bit wobbly but it was an evening choc full of great songs.

At 7:30 p.m. last night, I was watching Criss Cross a film noir starring Burt Lancaster and steadily working my way to the bottom of my second large glass of red. Just now I'm typing this whilst listening to The Bright Mississippi by Allen Toussaint after finally getting the Aged P settled down for a few hours.
*Looks like my watch is fast.
*After that edit now it looks like my watch is slow. Doh!

bedtime story to my daughter.

home from a day out in the camper van with my 5 year old son.

.Sat in a pub getting my way through some Guinness, having just watched the Rugby League grand final. Great game and exciting finish to the end for a neutral fan like me.

I was sitting in Leon in Bluewater enjoying a nice cold beer & watching lottsa people spend lottsa money..

Down in Southampton with the GLW, in a cheap and (very) cheerful Chinese restaurant, wine poured and starters on the way.

Then, replete, back to the flat for more wine, Dexter and Wossy.

My wife's niece's 30th birthday party in Birmingham, which was great fun. A band called Aranka's Cackle played. Some excellent covers (My Girl Lollipop, Monkey Man, etc) and possibly the rudest song about the wife of the owner of a certain cornershop near Bristol that you'll ever hear! Lyrics were censored for the party, but we heard the real version later at my sister in law's house!

Mr El Toro Calvo Grande and his good lady wife Jo. Good food, good company and reasonably good selection of tunes played on shuffle for the 5 hours or so. Girls moaned when one of the wailing songs from the more recent Ethiopiques discs came on. I was secretly pleased that I got away with hearing Edgar Broughton come up and not get any complaints.

in the boozer

Stackload of £2 goodies from the astonishing basement at Huddersfield's Wall Of Sound, all getting a session on the Disco-Antistat washer. Pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord on the go and the first on the pile, Steve Miller 'Fly Like An Eagle', providing the soundtrack to my labours.

Give me a break. It's over a day ago.

about to eat pizza & drink Peroni, chat with JoLean, Doods, KatyG, HorizontalsRich & Caroline before heading to a pub, meeting Hannah and eventually going to the Monto Water Rats for Jock 'n' Roll with the excellent Primevals. A good night out. Go and see Primevals if you can. They are fiercely good!

wathcing my twins win at under 10s ice hockey near Mansfield. Or lying down trying to shake off a cold whilst they played hockey. One or the two. Oddly this "away" match was closer than home games.

Having just left Mrs D who'd just had an operation.

A night alone with the whole of Solihull at my disposal eh?

I went to bed....

And pleased that she booked a ceilidh band instead of a disco!

In the Plough & Harrow near Brownhills, killing time, before going to my wife's cousin's daughter's 18th birthday party, at the Struggling Monkey in Aldridge.

Yom Kippur ended just after seven. Tea, a soft-boiled egg and bread and butter never tasted so good. Followed by a few fancier eats later in the evening while watching an episode of Madmen Series 4.

with an old mate over from Aus who I haven't seen in years. Felt like just the other week we'd seen each other which is the mark of a good friendship. Started, in the lovely Scarsdale Arms, couple in The Hansom Cab and Duke of Clarence. Lovely curry at Star of India and just to round things off a couple of glasses of Otard XO back at the ranch. Great night. Fearsome hangover. Light unsympathetic. Lids relentless. Frisbee in the park - testing. Reading about Rugby and Rooney - depressing

on the go myself and Mrs Preston74 were attempting to watch "West Is West" on the cheapy Tesco DVD player but everytime it went through the ads for "The Way" and the latest Jodie Foster/Mel Gibson movie we got a blue bloody Tesco DVD screen and no menu
As I have lost the remote control it came with, it then involved getting on one's knees and attempting to load the bugger manually but after four or five failed attempts we gave up.
Seven-year-old daughter Olivia unimpressed at dad's lack of technological know-how and consequent abandonement of Movie Night
More red wine, a couple of Black Velvets (Guinness and Strongbow) an hour or two flicking around Sky Sports News and whatever else frustrated that there had been no Premiership footy to watch
Bedtime, woke up about 2pm worried that 17-year-old daughter Millie hadn't come in, Mrs P mildly amused and mildly annoyed at being thus roused as said daughter had apparentley assured me she was staying at her mate's on departure at around the time I was on the floor trying to get the film on

Playing my lovely Fender Tele into Garageband. Then twiddling and tweaking.
Happiness.

In a social club in Widnes.
I can think of a lot worse ways of earning a few bob than singing and playing Hank Williams, Buddy Holly and Beatles songs.

and wondering whether I could get through a Saturday night of socialising without a drink; and discovering that it can be easily done, without any obvious loss of wit or wisdom; and them waking up this morning with a clear head after a proper night's sleep, rather than spending all Sunday lost in the fog and moaning on the sofa. I recommend it.

Attacked by what I thought was gonna be RealFluTM and very nearly went to bed at 7.30. Struggled over to GF's house and went to bed anyway at 11.00pm. What a waste.Mind you, I am knocking on, these days...

Sitting with Mrs Specs_Beard and two great friends, waiting for Kathryn Tickell and her band to take the stage.

Brilliant evening.

buying strawberries and cream with the GLW at Morrisons in Wolverhampton. We were due at our friends Sian and Ed for a meal at 7.30 so I'm sure I would have tutted or commerated the time in some way or other. The GLW insisted on stopping at said supermarket as she didn't think her cheesecake would be any good. She was wrong. It was. And a very pleasant evening it was too.

I was meeting friends for a bite to eat before the Primevals gig at the Water Rats (lovely to see so many of you there, thanks very much for coming along).

The place we had intended to go was closed for a private function (although their website didn't mention this).

So at 7:30 we sat down in an Italian restaurant on Pentonville Rd and found out that it doesn't serve alcohol. By this point I was really needing to eat, so leaned on my friends to put up with it as the food looked OK. It was a good meal, and the rest of the night was great fun, too.

...I was sat at a very nice table in Ronnie Scott's, sipping prosecco with my love, awaiting the arrival of Todd Rundgren. Having seen him play something of a greatest hits set at the Jazz Cafe a few nights previously, and suspecting he'd do a bossa nova set (as he took a straw poll at the JC gig), I was really looking forward to it. In reality, the band sounded like they hadn't played together before and it was all a bit ropey.

Totes amaze to see him sing so close up, though, and his voice is still a thing of wonder. I got a bit emoshe.

Tucking into a very good Italian meal laid on for the speakers at a conference on a rare genetic disease. All the more enjoyable because my own talk was done and dusted!

in a pub having dinner with three of my best friends and assorted wives - a great night that started off with a pint of Flying Scotsman and ended with a glass of Highland Park in tribute to El Hombre in way of apology for missing his gig!

...Bladerunner, as it happens.

have a go at the recommended recipe for the Guinness and Cider concoction.
Was chatting to the next door neighbour last week he has various fruit trees which overhang my garden and occasionally deposit an apple or pear atop our car but I am prepared to overlook that as he was telling me he makes his own beer and makes pear cider with his own pears - 16% proof!
I have indicated that I would be prepared to give him my opinion on his next lot, with or without feeling the compunction to mix it with Guinness or anything else

Ok no I wasn't I was sat on the sofa watching strictly eating chinese after a heavy DIY day which sucked (the only saving grace was I didnt end up spilling my own blood for once)and listening to 5 year old daughter giving her opinions on whether pink went with red on one of the ladies dresses. I know how to live.

Ok no I wasn't I was sat on the sofa watching strictly eating chinese after a heavy DIY day which sucked (the only saving grace was I didnt end up spilling my own blood for once)and listening to 5 year old daughter giving her opinions on whether pink went with red on one of the ladies dresses. I know how to live.

I was finishing off my second bottle of wine as the Wales v Ireland game was drawing to a close. For obvious reasons the ol' memory is a bit vague on exact details but I can guarantee I was shouting, sweating and swearing rather a lot. At 8pm I was running up and down my street waving a Welsh flag. Not that I got carried away or anything.

...my new bass guitar. I'd bought it an hour earlier.

I was having a decent enough Nepalese curry in Shepherds Bush with Cropredy friends (including another occasional poster) which resulted in us missing the first few songs from Curved Air at the Empire. Frankly, they edged a Caravan lacking in Sinclairs.

Watching current family obsession Horrible Histories prior to bath and bed (for the younger ones) and a well-earned beer for the slightly older.

I was holed up in my apartment in Baku with a just about palatable bottle of local red, catching up with some telly on iplayer ! Yeh, sad i know but it could be worse....!

Getting lost and grumpy on the way to see The Feeling with my FPO.