Hello you,

This is something I've been wanting to do for weeks now. And I am kind of terrified of how long it could get if I go for it in an unfettered, uninhibited way, but I am also well aware that some of you will be at work so can't be seen to be too distracted for too long, in which case I would recommend, checking it out in chunks or making yourself very comfortable! But there are pix to look forward to if you make it to the end.

The last time I did a proper one was back in December, and then I very quietly blogged a poem in January. So what have I been upto? I've just ordered the new Nick Cave and Beach House album of Music Wow, which to my knowledge is the cheapest CD seller online. Both of them came to less than £13. At the moment I'm taking a break from freelancing, and it looks like my combi microwave oven, monitor and washing machine are dying on me, so gotta cut costs! On top of that I broke my Bosch hoover last month ( the one funded by the sale of my bras on ebay) and I need to get that sorted as it's still under warranty.

There's loads of stuff I need to tackle, including a gig review for Powerdown, but I am utterly guilty of having thrown myself into the world of fiction, played a lot of Scrabulous on Facebook, gone to a lot of great gigs, cooked well, finally watched Queer as Folk series 2 on DVD, and discovered how much fun you can have bouncing up and down on a pilates ball while also toning your tummy to boot.

It's just grand to be home again properly, have the place to myself, lie in my bath, enjoying the candles casting shadows in the dark and chilling out to the awesomeness of PJ Harvey's ' White Chalk and soak in song after song after song. I am very open, dark horse if that makes sense and I kind of like it that way, though ultimately I love people too much to want to be some anti-social creature. It's just nice to have the option to vanish off the face of the earth if I wish to.

I am really looking forward to getting my mits on the new Beach House album. I noted they used a few of their songs during ' Skins' last night. Yes, I watch Skins!! It's my guilty pleasure, but I think it's a fantastic show and I am always moved and amused by it. So far it's better than the first series (unlike the mediocre Ashes to Ashes, shoot the writer now!). I read a feature on it in the Torygraph mag and they're going to be using new cast members as they're sticking to filming it in real time. So Tony's sister Effy, her with the precocious knowing eyes and silent lines will be the next generation they focus in on. But I watch it and think, 'nooo this isn't aimed at you Yasmin! You could be their ma's!!' But what the hell, I like it and in reality, I have friends who are practically half my age anyway as well as ones who are well into their 70s. Age is irrelevant, if I like you, you will be for me.

Let me see when I last did this properly? I was talking about perm roles and adoption. Well to cut a long story short, I didn't go perm, the adoption/babies idea is still a desirable for the future, workwise my January was hell thanks to my 'superior' who was a control freak with the empathy of a rock. So I didn't apply for my role, which she claimed I had on a plate and then did a U-Turn on without telling me first, but announced in an Xmas team meeting ( nice touch eh?) so I left at the end of January with tons of well-wishing ringing in my ears, which was lovely and HMV vouchers – which so far I've spent on getting the Beirut album. I fell in love with 'A Sunday Smile' after hearing it first on Ella's page. Stephen Ellis from Revere thought I would like them too and mentioned them ages ago.

My friend Trevor collected my stuff from my brothers in early Feb, and I felt sad on locking the door. Change can really freak me out if I don't have time to mentally prepare for it sometimes. Though a nice Thai lunch at Yum Yums and a visit to the organic farmers market in Finsbury Park certainly softened the blow. I had organic buffalo milk for the first time since I was seven

My team were gutted I left, but she was impossible and never listened. I cannot emphasise how important it is to truly listen when someone is pissed about something. I also wrote HR a mail as long as your arm revealing what had gone on, and now it's upto them to either turn a blind eye or do something about what's going on there and save the sanity of those I left behind.

I am still glad I worked there as so many people were just such a pleasure to work and hang out with. It all happens for a reason. On my very last day I practically ran out of there with adrenaline coursing through my veins, it was crazy to feel that joyous, like Tim Robbins in the Shawshank Redemption at the pay off, but I bloody well did and I mean that with no disrespect to my colleagues at all. In fact I was back a week or so later enjoying some food with some of my team on their lunch hour.

But when I got back to Stokey on my last office day, my brother cracked up laughing at the sheer smiling relief on my face when I walked through the door. I wanted a cake to celebrate. It was really cool to stay with him though, and I took him, Shirl and Ritson out to dinner at Lemongrass on Church St one eve as a thank you for keeping me upbeat. It was a great meal and my brother had us in fits, talking about how funny my ansaphone messages were and how I always got cut off by the beep. In January I just felt so demoralised and unlike my usual self it actually scared me. I resent being wronged, it will sap away at me if someone tries to exert too much control.

But there was good stuff too. Ritson and I would head off to the cinema across the road and argue about the ratings of movie's awarded by IMDB.com versus our own. We saw Sweeny Todd, which wasn't nowhere enough bloody enough for me, and I actually found a little dull and disappointing. He didn't realise musicals involved, that degree of singing. I enjoyed John C.Reilly's 'Walk Hard' - The Dewey Cox story, which Ritson would not touch with a bargepole, despite imploring him. Last week we watched ' Be Kind Rewind' – which was his choice but I actually ended up enjoying it more than he did. I thought it had real soul and it was also eccentric as most of Gondry's movies are. And Mos Def was hot in a nerdy kind of way esp when he did the blind test to see if this girl had facial fuzz on her upper lip. It was a charmed moment trust me.

Also, 'Enchanted' with Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey was a real surprise hit for me, there was tons of non treacly humour in it, which was great like when she calls on the city animals to help her and a swarm of flies and cockroaches come to her! It's a genuine family film, not a tit in sight. I can see I am going way back now, as I watched that on New Years Day. God, I really need to do these more often.

The movie that has really rocked me for six, which I think everyone with some modicum of taste and a hardy constitution should go and see is Eastern Promises. I've not seen Daniel Day Lewis's Oscar turn in There Will Be Blood, and I am a huge fan of his ( Last of the Mohicans…swoon! But Eric Schweig who played his Red Indian brother was hotter, here he is in make up for the role. He was fantastic in it too)

..but I thought Viggo Mortenson was extraordinarily good in Eastern Promises. The photo below was taken from it.

It was a subtle, nuanced and intense performance. He alternated between being the angel and the devil himself. Naomi Watts has never been cack in anything I've seen her in, and she was reassuringly great in this. All I can is WATCH IT. And that I would love to know what you think. It's out on DVD now. But if you can't handle blood and viciousness and men's willies…then erm, don't.

Since I've been home I've also been catching up on DVDs. My brother is a huge fan of oriental cinema and despairs of the length of time it takes me to watch the DVDs I've borrowed off him, but I finally watched 'Memoirs of a Geisha' which was really good and I have Hana-Bi to watch still. I saw Deepa Methta's ' Earth', it's about the chaos and pain the partition of India and Pakistan caused for the civilians. I massively admire the director for the risks she's taken as an asian woman in such a patriarchal society, it's earned her a death threat or two. You can read more about the movie here, it's subtitled in English and well worth seeing. http://www.filmeducation.org/secondary/Earth/index.html

Ritson gave me The Nines which kind of bamboozled me, I need to see it again. And there is so much stuff I've taped and not seen yet like ' Pan's Labyrinth', ' Enduring Love', 'Somersault' and ....'Elf'!

The show I am gutted they've taken off ( for a bit only I hope) is ITV3's re-runs of ' Wire In The Blood' – they were repeating these from the start. I was in the Maldives I think when these first launched and I never saw the point of Robson Green, but I've got to say, he is awesome in this as the criminal profiler Tony Hill.

When I watch something I am really into, I am oblivious to everything and you won't get any sense out of me until the commercial break.

There were a few weeks when I was out at gigs on a Wednesday eve, in fact even during the first Hush The Many one I went to as part of their residency I was texting my brother reminding him to tape it. Sad I know lol, but that's how good it is.

I love how tight the plots are, and how you can't see where they are leading and the sheer, apologetic humanity of the anti-hero. They've made the poor bugger impotent and obsessed with computer games. And I also dug out my library card and went down the road to get out as many of Val McDermid's books of the series as I could find, as well as a rather fine book on Johnny Marr (The Smith's guitar genius) I spotted. I am always reading or writing when I travel. That's the thing I guess I resent most about working is it takes me away from the creative stuff.

The librarian was wearing a Muse sweatshirt and was delighted to engage with a chick who seriously knew her music and could recommend gig venues to check out in west London, so that was really nice. He bent over backwards to try and find a book that was listed, but missing on the shelf, bless him. Hillingdon, Borough of thieves..

I am doing all this from memory, hang on I need to go and make some hot chocolate or locate my fingerless gloves, it's got dead nippy in here.. right I am back. Actually chocolate, yes.. divine substance. I actually did without it in any shape or form in January. Like a detox, I just can't believe how much of it I put away when I was working in Wood Green. I blame Poundland down the road with all the Lindt stuff. It was shocking.

I made two key resolutions in January, well one was more a bet. My friend Steve who I spent a lovely Xmas with in Cambridge, (though ripped open my knee getting there, ouch ) wanted to see if I could go a whole year without actually buying any chocolate. He believes I will come across enough of it via presents, visitors, friends , family etc to keep me in the cocoa.

So far he's proved right. It's now March and I've stuck to it. I've resisted seductive special offers and while at Wood Green, Dan and Ritson would bring me the red Lindt ribbons and bells as I enjoyed wearing them round my wrist and tinkling as I walked. I also use them around my flat to control my feather curtains in the study. But I didn't touch the chocolate itself.

Tell you what I have bought a load of…Boots tartware!! They had like the best new year/xmas sale. 50-75% off loads of good stuff. Even if I starve I will be clean, moisturised and fragrant. Have you smelt 'Gold' by Donna Karan? Well, you should…and Dior's Midnight Poison is so going on the birthday list..

And the other resolution? Wear frocks and skirts at least once a fortnight. And except for a really cold spell earlier this year, I have stuck to that too. I just want to revel in my femininity more and stick two fingers up to the freaks who follow me down the street around here. In fact the first time I wore a dress to work back in January, it was really sweet how many people commented and men were suddenly more attentive. It was a wrap dress from Next I got off ebay with peacock eyes all over it.

Helene was here when it came in the mail and we both sat in my bedroom laughing at how Dolly Parton like my chest seemed in it. G cup breasts make the most innocent of things look pseudo pornographic. I have since sewn a stitch into the wrap portion to ensure there are no 'happy accidents'. I wore dresses a lot when I lived in the Maldives, loved it, but I ran around barefoot a lot there too.

Did you know you can fly to the Maldives relatively cheaply via Monarch airlines? Okay it's the dodgiest airline I've ever flown with, and you'll probably be charged £5 for a sarnie, but worth considering still I think. I saw that at Thomas Cook. I once flew to Greece with Monarch and we had to land in Italy in the small hours to offload a drunken buffoon from Liverpool and then had to refuel and it was such a mare. My brother said it made the local news! My friend slept right through it with her head on my shoulder.

Helene and Marm are probably reading this, going, 'noooo don't encourage people to fly!' but travelling to foreign places is enlightening and reminds you that the world is bigger than what goes on in your city and backyard. Talking of those two, since they've joined musical forces things have been burgeoning. There have been some really good musical shenanigans as a result including most recently Powerdown, which I am writing a review of for Tourdates magazine . I will blog that when it goes live. This is Marm's labour of love and he was a great host on the night.

I was most impressed by the event, it was an eco friendly, electricity free showcase of great musicians held at the Islington Arts Factory, which is a converted church near Holloway Road. I wrote a note to a friend about it and am going to be super lazy and paste a portion in, as I think I described it so well there. "The place was packed and despite the lack of heat, really cosy as everyone was wrapped up in coats and scarves sitting knee to knee, surrounded by little lights and pillar candles. The church acoustics were lush and no one who played sucked. And there were organic beers and food too. This girl called Sara Mitra had us all singing by the end of her set, it was lovely"

Helene with her guitar and and some cowering racist chicks, not really there's Jen and Kazumi

Citizen Helene and her band The Racists were ace, and I found them singing away in the very romantic ladies toilets when I arrived. Not often those words go together but they were! Stone lit by candles is romantic. Helene was most glam in a slinky frock. They all looked lovely. I've never taken a pee to such sweet musical accompaniment. All toilets should be like this! Josephine Oniyama who we met via Ed Harcourt also provided a fine set. It was really good to see her again. ' I think it was love' is a smoky, cool love song. You should hear it on her MySpace page. Ed was AWOL, but was meant to be there, not sure what happened there.. by the way there is a Saturday extravaganza called Retreat From The Greek at the Paradise Bar on Kilburn Lane on April 5^th. I have no idea who will be there, but it will be hosted by Ed Harcourt and Nick De Cosemo and it's free. It's a secret gig if you will, that lasts all day, it will probably kick off at around 4pm I think? Come. Say hello.

I do need to hone in more on my writing. I still intend to do that, write more, until I am in gainful employment again. In a way this is my precursor. Gigwise it's been pretty busy, I saw The Mooche headline at The Constitution, Explosions in The Sky at the Astoria , that was a thrill as I've really enjoyed them a lot lately on the stereo and despite arriving late secured the perfect view, but was shocked they didn't encore.

Merz aka Conrad Lambert ( my friend Jo got me into him, but when he took to the stage I didn't recognise him which was embarrassing! He encored with 'Presume too much' which has graced this player a lot ) at the Roundhouse supported by the fantastic, dulcet voiced Jacob Golden ( who recently appeared on Jools Holland) and I met this wee, opinionated artist called Yasemen – yup same name, diff spelling – her stuff is so different to anything I've seen before check her out on http://www.yasemenhussein.com That was a really good night.

Morrissey was on next door. I also caught the eye of an intense photographer with the pointiest elbows ever, who gave me his card before vanishing into the night. He works for Base.ad magazine but their website was up the spout the last time I checked, shame as he was very intriguing.

..And thanks to a good bloke called Rob on the Monkey Swallows The Universe forum, I saw said band at Bush Hall. He gave me a free spare ticket after Chris pointed the offer out to me. This was one of those gigs were I had neutral expectations and they were blown out of the water. It was their last London date as a band as they've now split up, but what a last gig! People had come from all over Europe for it. It was sold out. A Sheffield band called Champion Kickboxer were the support, and reminded me a bit of XTC and The Teardrop Explodes.

I have Chris Iddon to thank for going on and on about MSTU, he's seen them a LOT. But melodically they had a real freshness and charm, and I stood at the front to the side of the stage marvelling at the love and party atmosphere this band had incited. Balloons rained down, these fashionistas at the front kept wailing ' we love you, don't split up!' and every time a place in Sheffield was referenced in a song this whoop came out of the crowd.

This song called Science is especially lovely. I love it when a band can impress me like that. It was a Friday I was still in the contract from hell, but going home I was really cheered by that, that night. And it was nice to revisit Maison Sousse in Shepherds Bush and indulge in a fine tomato and onion pancake again. Chris has a fondness for that café too now. It's near the Central line tube station, walk upto the KFC and you'll see it. I interviewed Headland in there for The Times. They're open until midnight. Get them to heat it the pancake for you, it's nicer hot.

So musicwise it's been full on. The day after my job at Haringey ended I lined up a day of high quality freedom and indulgences. I saw Eastern Promises at the Prince Charles Cinema, I had a free mini facial at The Sanctuary, bought some tartware, and saw a free but very sexually explicit art exhibition called Insomnia at the Photographers Gallery near Leicester Square.

It was seedy, dark, sad and kind of arousing all at the same time. It was I guess, if you want to pontificate and stroke your chin about it, about that time of night when inhibitions come down, people do whatever it takes to feel good, and the need for sleep takes us to extremes that we wouldn't contemplate in the cold light of day, a sexual anything goes, some real love and tenderness, some bartering for flesh and some disbelief that this is where you've ended up in life. I liked the exhibition. I fet like a fly on the wall.

After my culture fix, I used my Boots card for a free supper and then I headed over to the Union Chapel and enjoyed Revere and Gabby Young putting on an amazing eve of music. It was excellent. They couldn't go mental as there are sound restrictions there, but I know Stephen had been dying to play this place for ages and he was thrilled at the packed venue. The turnout was well deserved and they went down a storm, and at the end of the night pulled out a choir to accompany them on Maybe In Time.

A lot of people gave them a standing ovation, and Stephen was buzzing about that gig for days. After the gig I discovered my friends Lydia, Wayne and John were in the audience. I had meant to tell John about the gig, and hadn't realised Lydia (Rosered) was a fan, so it was a really pleasant surprise to see them all there. Their friend Tamara had been filming the whole set too. You should check out Joe Lee's pix from the set on his Flickr account. The band had family members down, and it was the first time I'd seen them gig since reviewing them at The Spitz?

Afterwards Trevor and I went to the bar to have a wee catch up and I marvelled at the impressive state of Jon Fletcher's hair and told Nathanial to check out this excellent Russian shop in Acton, which sells great chocolate and spiced aubergines in a jar. They've released an EP beautifully wrapped in paper called ' A Soundless Tree' with four tracks on it including the extremely special 'The Escape Artist' but to really get the best of that song, see them perform it with a full band, it's just stunning. They recently did an acoustic set with Hush The Many at The Wilmington Arms. Stephen's voice sounded huge in that cosy corner of London. Both bands have been in the studio working on an album. Revere went upto Scotland and Hush are in west London.

At the moment as I am writing this I am listening to KING OF HAY by SWEETBRIAR. Gosh I've gone all capslock on you. But this is a fantastic song. Some of you will know some of the band by the monicker of GoldSounds, but I've been loving their back catalogue. Please, please have a listen to this track and a song called Prints. I have played both them a LOT since discovering them, and also the keyboardist James Johnston has some of the most exquisite poetry in his myspace blogs, go see. The ringlet haired one really has a way with words. Sweetbriar's myspace is on my front page.

GoldSounds did a gig at Hungamunga for Valentines at the Bethnal Green Working Man's Club. It's a chance to paint, craft, knit and get arty and messy and have fun. You should go to one. Take a couple of friends and go and then you get to watch a band at the end of it all. Or go on your own and make some new friends, It's organised by Lloyd Ellis.

GoldSounds are a band I've been meaning to see a lot more off live as I really like them. So it was a nice hanging out with them before the set, and having a proper chat as we've never really done that. George Napthine ( dude who did the Hush The Many band sketch on their myspace) wore what I can only describe as a bonnet during the set. I have a little clip of them here. It is very noisy and I suspect I might have been dancing a tiny bit when I took it.

James admired my finger painted effort and surprised me on his sensitive, gentle vocals on the song Blue Moon. William said it had taken them ages to persuade him to sing. Matthew tried to teach me chords and have me hold his guitar so I could see the strings over my breasts, which has been a genuine headache in the past. I also met Ellen McGee who plays in a psychedelic folk outfit called Saint Joan, she has a lovely smile and taught me the A chord.

The gig was fun, I hoped they'd get to play along with F.Lunaire in the Hush residency but it fell through, it would have completed my dream line up. F.Lunaire played though in the end, as a v. late replacement for Fields who are holed up in the studio finishing up their second album so that was pretty cool, but it was a shame to lose them off the bill too, as they are really great and I was excited about seeing them.

I got to road test my new digital camera at my friend Kully's birthday do at Detroits in Covent Garden, which was great as it had nothing to do with music, sometimes I think I am in danger of drifting off the radar. It was ages since I'd seen her and she has a good crowd of folk and fab siblings. I have a list of old friends who I am in dire need of a proper catch up with, but now that I am in my own home things should get better. The camera is 8 million megapixels and better for low light conditions, but with that comes the fact, that file sizes are too big for You Tube and MySpace unless the clip is about 3mins long, so that's a downer.

I recently filmed SonVer at Café 1001 where they played this great, great gig – (come and see them the next time they gig, I INSIST on it – you get to see Ruban play his gorgeous Chet so hard his fingers blur, it's quite a sight) and the Turkish sounding song called 'Atlas Tree' clocked in at about 6mins and I could only share it with the band via sendspace and it took like an HOUR to upload the file. Darn. Jo loved that gig,

SonVer being hot. L to R - Ben, Al, Jo and Ruban

I watched curled up in a sofa, and it was worth freezing my ass off getting there. My body was physically shaking inside, I was seriously suffering even when on the bus. Yet I was well wrapped up in coat, cashmere, hat and gloves, so Mr Byrne was a bit puzzled. Bizarrely it was warmer by 11.30pm! It was really good to catch up with Jo and Ben as it had been a while. We met a weird bloke in there who wanted to stick a roll up that Jo had given him on his mums forehead. Strange.

I made clips of the Hush The Many gig recently too, but same hassle with file sizes, as well as when I filmed Helene in Racist band mode, which bizarrely came out silent, not sure what the hell happened there?! So I get to make better clips, but you don't get to see them which is poo, I'm still getting to grips with the camera though, I only figured out the lowlight setting button halfway through the Tallulah Rendall set at the Wilmington Arms. So there might be a setting for smaller pixel sizes when filming. Hope so, as I do like to share these clips and can't afford to faff uploading stuff an hour at a time. But you can see the photos on my Facebook photo link here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29480&l=5b391&id=69900581

Ah Tallulah. She is really cool. This should bring us upto speed. Hush The Many played a three-week residency at The Wilmington Arms dramatically titled ;The Force of Thousands in the Hearts of Tens'. I went to two of the shows. In fact one of them was the day after the SonVer gig so I got a double dose of some members of the band. Jo Quail played with Tallulah Rendall on her set after Florian tinkled the ivories on a handful of his songs.

There was a big turn out for the gig. Helene came along, as did Pete, Joe Lee the photographer, Helen and my poor friend Fran who was positively feverish, but pleased to have got her wish of hearing Paper Doll and The Knife. Nima initially hadn't had Paper Doll on the set list. Going back to Tallulah. Jo reckoned I'd like her set and she was right. This realisation popped out when a song suddenly ended, the venue went silent and I heard myself announcing loudly to my friends ' I like her!' Jo said from her cello laughing ' I told you, you would!' I was so embarassed, but it was funny.

Jo Quail and Tallulah Rendall at The Wilmington Arms

Tallulah had flu but gave a great show, and the song ' Black Seagull' was absolutely hypnotic. You could have heard a pin drop during it. She has a launch event on April 3^rd at the Soho Revue Bar. That's shaping up to be a busy week as Hush The Many play 93 feet east on April 1^st and Ed has Retreat from the Greek on April 5^th. Blimey…

In truth, I found it a bit hard to immerse myself in the actual Hush The Many set as I had stuff on my mind, but it was an utter delight to hear Story End performed for the first time since ooh June 2006? They did it at St James Church on Ed's Beautiful Lie tour. Hearing this gorgeous song made me very, very happy. It's lush, sad, romantic and unashamedly wistful. The gig the week after for me was a lot better for me. I approached it differently with the mindset of being there just to think about the music and ignore everything else, and also I decided not to film anything or take photos during the sets. So I lost myself in listening to Revere and the Hush set

What was also special for me was having two friends of mine seeing the band for the first time. Kirtan's just observed MySpace/Facebook ravings and wanted to see what the fuss was about. But Akeela has been a fan of the music for quite a while. I was excited for her, she'd never seen them before, and I knew culturally where she was coming from. So I wanted it to be brilliant for her. Well in reality, it was brilliant for me too. I had a really lovely evening.

Joe Lee was back taking photographs again. Helen, Lloyd Ellis ( Hungamunga) and Mark came along. Alex Brown had been round facepainting the audience in her own distinctive way. Florian was there enjoying himself off duty. Revere were in the house, and Nima was in really fine fettle and it was just nice to enjoy him.

He was really pleased with how this last night went. It was reassuring to see some things don't change, like how he gets wildly embarrassed when you produce a camera for an off stage photo. Tonight with the band there was a girl called Stephanie playing an acoustic cello, and a boy called Matt on violin. Oh and I should mention how enjoyable Stephanie Steer was, I've heard some of her stuff on MySpace, she did a nice cover of Mozzer's Suedehead using a harp and keyboard.

Actually, the day before this gig for a bit of context, I'd had a job interview for a role paying almost £40k based in Tottenham, I had to do a presentation and everything, and though it went well, it hit me I didn't really want it, as the chemistry between me and my would be boss hadn't felt right, and I was utterly scared they might give it to me, and I knew I couldn't really say no without feeling like a fool and to cap it off, it was also permanent.

I wanted it for stability and the chance to move home and show on paper I could be reliable if I proceed with the adoption. Luckily though I was in the final selection I didn't get it, God was I relieved. I was actually nauseous until I had that phonecall. So when I went to this gig I was still calming down from that. I need a job that suits me ultimately, no point otherwise. It's out there, I am sure of it. But I also intend to finish my novel too..

Ruban was ill that night, but I could still hear his guitar parts in my head, which was weird in a lovely kind of way. The violin and cello were used to compensate for him where possible, and it made me more aware of Alex's bass and Nima's acoustic. It felt like I was seeing them anew with fresh, appreciative eyes, which was an interesting feeling. I guess it was because I was relaxed and happy with everyone around me.

I remember thinking Hush The Many are actually better than chocolate and the thought made me laugh inside, because it seemed ridiculous but true at the same time. Nima took the band into the crowd, to perform an unplugged version of The Man – I stood on the stage to watch this, last week he did it solo in an impromptu fashion but this way was better as the band were in on his little trip.

Nima singing into ears

(photo courtesy of Akeela Bhattay)

Due to the night starting late their set was cut short by a couple of songs, but it was cool to hear StoryEnd again, and let myself be seduced and soothed by it like a lullaby. That was probably the song that captured this here heart for keeps I think. We hung around afterwards chatting and I went round bestowing hugs and took a couple of pix. I was shattered in truth.

I'd had a busy few weeks of interview prep, errands, birthdays, gigs, travel and very poor sleep and a lot of reading. I've never understood people who get bored outside of work. I am never ever, ever bored. I kept saying to Joe Lee I was terrified of dark circles setting in and he was kind and reassuring that I had nothing to worry about.

So here we are now. Few last things, if you are ever in Southall be sure to visit the St Josephs Fast Food607/427/207 bus stop and have an Onion Dosa. The food is to die for and that Dosa costs £1.75 and I once met some boys from Oxford in the caravan who'd driven all the way from Oxford to have one! I've taken Pete, Helene and Trevor there in the past, and I am looking forward to taking my friends Steve and Kirtan when I hook up with them. I had this desperate craving for one a few days ago and despite the windy chill; flew out of my flat to head up there to have one. Mmmm. The sambar and chutneys are really delicious too, it's simple wholesome food cooked in front of you.

And also Hampstead really... is real. I passed through it back in August on my way back home and yet couldn't trace the bus route back there when I wanted to return for a leisurely browse. I discussed my bewilderment with Helene and she couldn't recall the bus for it either. I had a long chat with a man who worked on the buses and he couldn't work out how I did the journey either. It was like the twilight zone! Well you need to get the 46 bus from Lancaster Gate, last week on Sunday I just took a chance as I vaguely recalled getting off along Bayswater Road.

It's a swish, pretty place but has this cool shop devoted to all things fairy, and you will be served by winsome girls wearing pink tutus if you go there! I bought a beautiful mobile that has ' Bloom Early, Bloom Late, Just Bloom' written on it surrounded by coloured glass pendants it feels very apt at the moment. It's comforting.

The last word for once goes to Nima. He's looking for animators to help out on a video the band are working on for their new single Revolve ( or Resolve as BBC Radio 6 once called it online, haha) and he would love to hear from you if you have some free time. If you are not an animator, but you know someone who is, then please do pass this on, drop your mate an email or something, it could be good for the band and for them/you. They can contact him via MySpace or via Googlemail on HushTheMany@googlemail.com.

This is what he said:

'We have a really exciting music video animation with all illustrations finished and ready, and are now looking for about 9 people to each animate a different scene of 5-15 seconds, in their own style but working closely with the directors.

The timeframe is pretty short so we're looking people who have a few days free are able to jump straight in for a short intense burst, and with a natural sense of taste and ability to do justice to the beautiful illustrations and storyline on some challenging scenes.

For a couple of clips to get an idea of the illustration style you can click this link...

http://uk.youtube.com/user/HushtheMany0

Go for it and do spread the word..Wow, this was a biggie, but you can't say I didn't warn you. Hope you are very, very well and that you enjoyed this epic of love

Yasmin xxxx

p.s. Why are people comparing Juno to Little Miss Sunshine?! They are both great movies, but Juno is nowhere near the laugh out loud feel good flick Little Miss Sunshine is. It's just a lazy comparison. Juno had great taste in music though.x