It started with a bad back about 3 weeks ago that came on for no apparent reason. I suspected sciatica and thought it had gone but it has now moved to my left leg with a vengeance, so much so that when it comes on, I lose motor control of my leg, every step is excruciatingly painful and the sharp dagger pain is supported by a tingling, burning sensation down my whole leg. And of course, doing the job I do where I'm on my feet all day is a great help; It's ok when I'm sitting down but after a few minutes of standing up, it comes on again and I'm ready to rip my leg off and beat the nearest person to death with it!

Yesterday, I drove to work and it took me a good 15m to walk the 300 or so yards from the car park to the shop. I was limping like an old man (which I certainly am not!!)

I can see me having to have time off with it - I'm off today and Monday, supposed to be in on Tuesday and then off again on Wednesday so I'm going to go to the Docs tomorrow to see if I can get some nuclear strength painkillers (I'm taking the strongest I can get over the counter without a prescription and they aren't touching it) and call in sick Tuesday to give me a good 3 days to try and get it at least under control.

Now today, I've been indulging in a Symphonic Goth Metal fest! This is a relatively new genre for me. I've always been something of a heavy metal fan [see my last post] but have been rather scared of some of the Black/Doom/Death Metal bands around: their harsh shouted vocals are too eerie and disturbing for me.

But then I discovered what is rather cumbersomely called Symphonic Goth Metal.These are bands with a definite Goth look and sound and fronted by a female vocalist who sings in an operatic vocal style. Most of these bands hail from Northern Europe particularly Finland and Norway and the music is often based around fantasy/mythological elements which really strikes a chord with me - that subject matter isn't new by any means as Led Zeppelin always had a mythological theme in their music.

Actually, I've known about this genre of music for some time from the bands that have hit the mainstream like Evanescence and Nightwish and it was the latter that really got me hooked onto this genre. So most of today I've been doing little else than listening to music by the likes of Sirenia, Midnattsol, Leaves' Eyes, Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, Silentium, Coronatus ... And there is a whole musical landscape of Symphonic Goth Metal still to discover! Not sure what it sounds like? Here's a taste:

I knew Deep Purple have had reunions over the years but paid little attention.

Recently I heard a song called Under a Violet Moon on the radio. It was an amazing sound; a mixture of folk played with mediaeval instruments and electric guitars! And the vocals! The female lead singer was incredible. On investigation, I discovered to my delight that the band, Blackmore's Night, was Ritchie Blackmore and his partner, Candice Night, hence the name.

I cannot enthuse more highly about their sound, Candice's haunting vocals and Ritchie's consummate guitar, supported by a range of mediaeval instruments. They play a mixture of old and mediaeval music, their own compositions and covers like Joan Baez's Diamonds & Rust. They even cover classic Deep Purple. Just watch this video for their version of Purple's Child in Time to get a taste of Blackmore's Night's sound ....

Our Managing Director is not impressed (and neither am I or the rest of the staff), so much so that he's going to be attending the monthly retailers' meeting this week to tell centre management exactly what he thinks of this idea though I don't hold out much hope of us avoiding it! More on this later when I know more but in the meantime ...

I told you a while back that I'd won £100 for a sales promotion. Well, there was another promotion running Jan to Mar as well. This was for selling Apple's extended warranty with new computers. We had to meet a minimum connect level and then the person who sold the most in each store would win an iPod Touch.