Netball

It's a girls sport, but last night, me and a load of other fellas gave it a go in our firm's mixed competition. Needless to say, I played well, but our team did not reach the final, despite some fantastic performances from yours truly in Goal Defence! Actually, it was more running around like a loon and whoever was in Goal Attack on the oppossing side from getting the ball - apparently, I performed well, but did not move with much grace, according to one eye-witness...

I actually played on a rival team too as they were short of numbers - so ended up playing twice as many games as anyone else - I was thoroughly knackered by the end of it!

All this exercise meant less time to be here (the best match of the evening!) Getting back on true form, tonight as I'm off here to see a band and meet him.

Speaking of gigs.....

Carry on Camping

Tried to escape London this weekend but not for long enough!

The plan was for Jess and I to meet up with friends in South Wales for a few laughs and a mini summer break, and both things did happen. There were plently of laughs and good times to be had by all and the good old British summer (the nasty Welsh variant of this phenomenon) turned up too!! (100% success!) This might have ensured that laughs were confined to tents as we hoped and prayed that we would not be either blown or washed away, but this was okay!

What wasn't planned was the 8 hour journey to Pembrokeshire... Perhaps it was sheer lunacy to attempt such a journey on the businest of all summer weekends anyway, but events here in London and accidents on the M25 caused autogeddon in the whole of South London, ensuring those of us unlucky not to have RDS or the latest sat nav systems in our otherwise futuristic hire car would spend three of those hours trapped between Bromley and Croydon...

Departing at 4.30pm and reaching Reading at 9.00pm, our surreal experience thus far only served to reaffirm our commitment reaching Wales and escape the magnet that is London (like Royston Vasey, in situations such as ours it felt that we would never leave...). By Bristol, the Percy Pigs had run out (tried to find a decent link here but couldn't - cannot believe these sweets have not yet created an emotive debate on t'in'ternet yet) but by Swansea, we had certainly picked up a pace, covering the intermediate distance in less than two hours. A

Another hour or so later, we would eventually find our goal, in the dark, only to then face the challenge of erecting a tent, also in the dark - glad Jess and I practised the weekend before, on a very sunny Sunday afternoon - this real life situation was anything but!

The next day proved equally bizzarre - after an excellent breakfast served under the morning cloud (but open air, in true camping sty-lee, with gas powered portable stoves and those multi-purpose mugs you only ever see on camp sites that whilst they hold tea, they could also serve as a dinner plate for an entire feast) we then departed dressed for scaling down a cliff path in the inclement weather, only to find by the time we got to the beach the summer had returned in all it's glory -South Wales was now more the New South Wales of Home & Away (obviously, during their Xmas episode, what with seasons being the oppossite way around to ours in the calendar in the Southern hemisphere.... gosh, now I am boring myself....)

In the evening, headed out to nearby Saundersfoot - was very busy - so busy in fact that all the pubs/restaurants were full... Except for where the locals headed, where we found some pretty fine grub. And then the rains came again, only this time for real.

Woke at 8am to the sounds of the campsite being blown away - we collectively headed back to the sunnier climes of Bristol for late brunch.... ...entertained via the means of radio by the fruity baritone of this chap on the way, playing Welsh records and seducing the women of the valleys too. Excellent stuff!

All in all, a success! Oh yes! If a little shorted than planned...

Roll out the barrel...

In these times of crisis... cup of tea, anyone?

A message

I think this says it all...

Legless

Can hardly walk today - well, walking is okay once I build up momentum, but getting up and sitting down is difficult...

Been showing off my medal though!

(Anyone would think I have run a marathon...!)

Ten Kay

Have completed the British 10K around the London first thing this morning. Needless to say, my legs are tired, and my brain is following suit. Was fun though (if you like inflicting pain on yourself in the name of health and fitness...)

Apparently I was in quite a state when I finished - Jess found me at the finish line, and spoke to me for five minutes before I began to take it in...

First major trial of the iPod Suffle was a success! This was the soundtrack to my run:

Shout (12" mix) - Tears for Fears
Train - Goldfrapp
Blinded by the Lights - The Streets (approx. 2K - had to fast forward after a while as it was spaced out and I my mind was already wandering dark recesses for sources of energy by this point)
Strict Machine - Goldfrapp
White Shadows - Coldplay
Somewhere only we know - Keane
Na-na-na-na-nah - Kaiser Chiefs
Turn up the Sun - Oasis
Get the Message - Electronic
Why don't we do it in the road? - The Beatles (REALLY, I'm not making this up, as I hit the 8K mark, the irony was not lost on me!)
The Hand that Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
Utopia - Goldfrapp (rather a lot of Goldfrapp actually, but it was easy to run to)
Do you remember the first time? - Pulp (yep, and I beat my time by over six minutes!)

Coldplay - the fans

Got to get this one of my chest although concious I sound like an old fogey but still...

What was with the crowd at the Coldplay gig?

Maybe it was because it was non-restrictive standing/seating or maybe it was because we were on the edge of the inner core standing at the front, but I spent most of the gig fending off people (mostly teenage girls) from trampling me underfoot in a chavalanche of mobile phones and fried chicken cartons...

...and who takes an umbrella to a gig? Come on! As soon as it rained, they all went up, ruining the view for the hundred odd people stood behind.

I was initially amused when earlier in the afternoon, the Palace local was well and truly Islingtonised by wanderers from the north of town, exaserbated at the lack of Pizza Expresses (plural!). But by the end of the gig, I was fed up - the problem with a band like Coldplay is they appeal to everyone, including a good number of people who do not regularly go to gigs and consequently don't know how to behave. That's it, now I sound like my Dad...

...oh well, it seems these people have aged me... next time I do an outdoor gig, I'll do Glastonbury again as at least the threat of mud and the great unwashed is enough to put the casual fans off.

Or I'll just join all the other old farts in the park sat around the band-stand in their deckchairs mumbling how the youth of yester-year had more respect for etc etc etc...

(So it has come to this.)

Coldplay - the gig

Must improve my reviewing techniques (not that there is much to add to what people have already said about Coldplay) but after my shoddy Star Wars review, I think there is definitely room for improvement, so here goes:

Coldplay must be approaching the peak of their powers right now. The third album has finally won me over. I was to be honest a little apprehensive over the last two albums, although the track "Warning Sign", which could so easily encompass everything I hate about whining soft rock and all the other mini-Coldplay/Travis style bands there are out there at the moment, is probably one of my favourite songs. They have just completed Glastonbury, are beginning a world tour, and are about to do Live8 - whatever your feelings on the latter, I'd rather have a cosy chat with Chris Martin on making trade fair than Bono clicking his fingers to make poverty history...

The gig itself was good and almost great - I say almost because the songs almost lend themselves to stadium great-ness (but not quite - they are often too soft - although has to be said the better stuff was the new stuff) and the technical side of things was almost right, except the weather (thunder and lightening accompanied by the odd severe cloudburst of rain) seemed to be wreaking havoc with a few bits of equipment, including the end of show fireworks which were practically non-existant. But the music, and that's what counts, was what we had come to listen to and the crowd got what they wanted... Also, as front men go, Mr Martin does the job, wiggling his hips (at times, a cross between Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison), joking with the audience (at one point, getting a song completely wrong and stopping play, with hilarious concequences!) and keeping the crowd going ... Highlights included opener Square One, Yellow, Warning Sign, Everything's not Lost, everything else from album X&Y with In my place, The Scientist and closer Fix you thrown in for good measure

(Also of note, support band Interpol were also very good - despite the weather, which they got the brunt of, and also that no-one was really there to see them - I actually thought they were better live than on record)

Definitely the highlight of our week, and as it was at Crystal Palace, five minutes walk from home at the end...