Yo
In case you weren't aware, I've been travelling around South East Asia since 9 February, and hope to get to Aus in June sometime.
Ayway, I'm blogging my experiences (good, bad and banal) over at travelblog.org.
Come check me out - I need to see the hits and to boost my self-esteem (ego morelike).
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Murtaghj/
Anyway, that's yer lot.

In case you hadn't heard, I managed to cycle from London to Paris a few weekends ago. Yes, in a weekend! I took Friday off from work and got back Sunday evening.

In planning I thought about going to Calais and then onto Paris via the famous battlefields of the Somme, Agincourt and Crécy but thought it would take a lot longer and actually the countryside isn't that interesting along that route. So I decided on London to Newhaven with a ferry to Dieppe - a 4 hour channel crossing.

London (Friday)

Setting off!


The route I followed from West London I would record on bikely.com or myride.com but it never takes into account cycle routes or paths. Anyway, no matter, I essentially followed this route from somebody called "Dr Rob" who it seems did the L2P in July. I liked the sound of this route purely because it avoided the main roads and also avoided any NCN nonsense routes with seriously rubbish routes and signage. This did not prevent me from encountering morning rush-hour idiots in Richmond (various hand signs, aggression, speeding, getting very close to the bike etc.) You know the score. It was stressful but held my own and concentrated on the fact I was off to nice France.

Bikely.com



Bikely.com is rubbish mainly because you can't print routes from it. Instetad you have to make screen shots of the route and then paste it on to MS Word and afterward printing it off. In order to save paper I did screen shots of the route which didn't have enough detail on it and I got lost at around Horsted Keynes.

However, I ditched the route and just got onto the A275 and then the main Lewes Road (A26) which headed down to Newhaven. It wasn't pleasant, fumes, speeding cars, no views - plus it rained. But it got me to Newhaven about 2 hours before the ferry embarkation.





Dieppe

I got off the ferry at Dieppe about 11.30 pm, went up the wrong road, turned back, spoke bad French to a copper then went into the town proper. And on first appearances I thought it was very pleasant - went over a few bridges and saw lots of people mingling outside bars. I then took a route up a long hill to a campsite. It was closed when I got there, but lots of people hanging around at the close of a bar next door. I asked a British couple and they said just camp up. I did, in the pitch dark beside some other tents and cars. Woke up, had a shower, left the campsite the next morning without paying.

Avenue Verte



The Avenue Verte, which starts in Dieppe - is a 40 km cycle route following a disused railway line. Unfortunately it took me a good part of an hour to find the beginning of it. Despite havin a good map it was NOT well signposted and I actually passed it a few times and some cyclists. It didn't help that a French guy misdirected me. But there was just no decent entrance signage anyway, you know Departee or Velo this way.... Anyway here's a route map:


I found it quite boring to be honest as I preferred riding through villages and seeing the sites and locals. Interestingly there are plans to extend the route all the way to Paris by the 2012 Olympic Games in London. I just hope they decide to take it through some nice places, but cycle paths divide people I suppose.

Here are some pictures I took along the route...




From Avenue Verte to Paris (Saturday)

The cycle route ended at Forge-Les-Eaux so I then followed a route given to me by a guy called Jack from the online CTC Forum. Having done the trip twice before he's been very helpful in giving me advice abut my trip - so he gave me a map route from a professional lot doing it a while back.

From Forges to Gournay I avoided the main D915 and Jack suggested I do the D921 to St Samson and then the D21. Highly recommended, some really tranquil countryside and great French villages.

From Gournay I headed to St Germer de Fly (pronounced Germay) which has an important and very ancient Cathedral/Abbey.


A bugger of a hill then followed and I took the opportunity to take a rest by the side of the road, eat a little (alot in non cycling terms) and enjoy the view and my achievement so far...





...and after that hard slog I got to Le Coudray-Saint-Germer which was where I camped for the night and it was onl 6 Euros.

The Last Day - to Paris! (Sunday)

On Sunday morning I finally left the campsite at 07.15; later than expected because the campsite had locked us in and I then had to carry bikes and panniers over some fences! It was a bit of a downer with the rain being so heavy for most of the morning but I grew to appreciate the deserted roads and the literally sleepy villages. They ominous grey skies also gave a stark beauty to the Frech countryside, sometimes quite an eerie experience! You can see this in the video I made:



Here are the next places I next went through...

You really have to pay attention to the route map all of the time otherwise you do what I did. I took a wrong turning at Saint-Crépin-Ibouvillers and was in Lormaison before I realised my mistake. I turned around and took the longer route onwards to Villeneuve Les Sablons and then passing through Hénonville and Haravillers. It was by now about 10 am and up to this point in the morning I had been eating bananas, strawberries and chocolate, good high calory stuff for cycling. I ended up getting some breakfast further on at a boulangerie in Grisy-les-Plâtres. Some bread with melted cheese on it and a Suisse cake thing which was nice and sweet. The rest of the journey...

You know you're in Paris when you see this...


Summary

Overall it was a nice route, the weather played nice too until Sunday morning going towards Paris, but hey ho, I was prepared and it ended up being a pretty atmospheric ride what with the ominous clouds.



I cycled around the city streets and it was a real delight to be honest. The roads were practically deserted and the new cycle lanes incorporating the wildly successful velo system separated me from any traffic there was. I had a gander at the Paris map and cycled from the Arc De Triomphe to Le Trocadéro.



And yes that is a baguette in my hand and a bottle of Kronenbourg Red holding down the map.

I had a few hours to kill before my Erostar train so I spent a few hours hanging out at Les Invalides which is where Napoleon is buried, having never previously visited it.



And 'ol Boney himself ...



I think L2P is probably one of the highlights of my year and I'm sure I'll look back in life and have fond memories upon that first trip to Paris. I disappointed myself with no visits to churches (they all looked closed anyway, the French disinterested in the Church I expect).

People at work are impressed by what I've done - my fitness, stamina, audacity and also lack of any charity involved! I'm impressed with myself I have to say, quite chuffed really. France is very geared up for touring – I think I'll need a new saddle before anymore trips, my backside got sore and I might get double handlebar thingys (butterfly handlebars) for any other business.

Sounds a bit strange - a one day music/comedy festival curated by The Mighty Boosh - but then they have probably been one of the funniest TV shows on British television since I'm Alan Partridge. I say that in the past tense because their third series was absoutely shockingly bad. Anyway I'd seen their brilliant live set and this time it was an excuse to soak up some rays in the Kent countryside, see some bands, stand-up comedy and of course The Mighty Boosh boys strutting their stuff.


The Kills disappointed to be honest and they didn't even play my fave tune of the moment which is "Monkey 23". It is on the soundtrack to the great French movie -

Here's the trailor with it on...

Jarvis Cocker was cool, we spotted him hanging out with his family on the grass. before he got on stage and DJ'd. He played a good set playing "My Sharona" when we this bloke dancing in front of us.


Quality mental dancing

Har Mar Superstar was just ever so slightly Ha Ha, still overweight wearing y-fronts on stage. I missed Polar Bear - great British funky jazz but seen 'em before at The Vortex in London.

The Charlatans and Tim Burgess - totally off his face...which was great because I was off mine.. Here he is rocking the crowd:



It was a top day really, the sun was out and I was with me mates, Dave and Mark. Here's a pic of Dave in front of the main stage.



We swapped hats as well...subversive huh





Me and, well, half of Mark...


As for comedy, a big name Ross Noble - I just get bored of after 5 minutes. But I wish I was there at Latitude Festival when he started a massive conga line towards a small burger van - startling the solo male burger-flipper. Why the hell didn't he do this at the Mighty Bossh Festival I wonder - mainly because the tent was too fucking small. Frankie Boyle was on top form - funny and rude.

As for the Boosh themselves - the live set wasn't brilliant to be honest, although Vince Noir on guitar was pretty impressive I have to say, and The Moon's appearance was hilarious as was Old Gregg (he of Mangina and Baileys fame).

However alot of it just turned into sixth-form college slap stick, people running about on stage etc.

It was a good day out though, so many people dressed up into Boosh characters as well. Some real effort put into it, although some of it was bordering on anal teeenage middle-class fandom. I'm probably just jealous I'm not as dedicated.

So I went to Italy recently, Trieste in fact. Where's that? I hear you ask.

Well, here's a map it's in the top left of Italy, right next to the country of Slovenia.

Trieste is perhaps most famous for having been the home of Irish writer James Joyce who lived here for about 12 years. In fact it's where Joyce began to write Ulysees in 1914, his most famous novel - either brilliant to some or unreadable to most.  Here's a sculpture in Trieste of the great man himself:

Trieste has an interesting history in terms of population and ownership (the Austrian-Hungarian Habsburgs - Trieste was the seaport of the vast Austrian empire). Indeed, the local Berlitz School hired him to teach English to immigrants - German, Slovenian, Italian, Greek, or Croatian. It gives you an idea of what kind of place it was like back then. But it was turned over to the Italians after the First World War and so today, it's just plain Italian, just ten miles from the Slovenian border and Istrian peninsula.

Not a lot of people think Trieste it's an exciting place to visit, but I found it to be pretty chilled out; so did Joyce of course. It has interesting Austrian architecture and because it's pretty northern and on the coast, it has a cooler climate; much more agreeable to me.



The Town square, the main piazza:



There's an old castle that overlooks Trieste - the Castle of San Giusto- below it are the remains of the Roman forum with its ruined pillars. I made a visit inside the castle which had great views over Trieste.



Here's a pic of me from the Castle fortifications:



And a short little video atop the Castle overlooing Trieste:



Inside the Castle itself was a rather good museum with armour and artifacts as well as a very good Roman section.



Late afternoon by now I went for a further walk about the city and took a  few pictures on some very nice back streets, alleyways and this from some steps.



On my way back to the hotel I had a delicious gelato - the usual treat when I'm in Italy. I don't know why we can't have decent ice cream in the UK. Surely globalisation should have brought Italian ice cream to Blighty?

Anyway I wanted to catch sunset in the harbour so I quickly took a shower and headed back out. This is a little video of my approach to the harbour and of course the sunset.



I took some pictures as well:

So it's been a few weeks now since the gig, but it was probably one of the highlights of the Summer and so I've decided to blog it and provide some photos and video.

I've been a fan of Radiohead since I nicked a taped copy of The Bends from my sister back in the day and played it on my walkman (remember those!?) on the way to football. But, despite  them being one of my favourite bands of all time - I've never seen them live – I blame "Kid A" album myself.

I was pretty psyched up for the gig, although perhaps put off by the location. Played over two nights in Victoria Park, East London- I wasn't really sure where it was nor indeed why it was there. I overheard this opinion by a few non East Londoners on the way home; no one seemed to know how to get to a tube station.

I'd originally bought my tickets for the Tuesday show but as I was returning back to London from Slovenia on that same afternoon I didn't want to take the risk of their being a delay and me missing the gig. I exchanged them for the Wednesday gig with some guy off Last FM. Good call by me as I was delayed 8 hours at Trieste airport. I ended up getting home at 2.30 am!

Mark and I walked in at about 8ish and it was a really nice sunny evening. The first thing I noticed were the festival food stands, the usual suspects plus the bars. It had a real festival feel to it. Then suddenly I could hear The Reckoner being played....

and I made a dashing surge towards the stage, through quite a few people who seemed to be just milling around. The Reckoner is probably one of my favourite tunes off the superb In Rainbows album.

We got to a respectable distance, not too far, not too close. The sound was a bit crap (in and out) because of the pretty strong wind but it was still great. The band was really tight and it sounded like they were playing the cds on loud speakers. Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing really. Less tight is good? Don't know.

The other thing I noticed and people were talking about it avidly on the Last FM shout boxes from the night before, the amount of people who weren't listening, and even talking and chatting to their mates on the phone. It was a bit weird, I am not saying everyone was like that but as someone commented on You Tube, it was like a bunch of office workers had just crashed into the gig on their way home. It killed the atmosphere a bit.

Anyway, we had a bit of smoke half way through and things got really nice and mellow. By all accounts the previous night wasn't as good a swet, we got some real corkers...including this one, my own personal favourite No Surprises - sorry for my jerky camera work trying to get Mark in the shot!

..

I was impresseed by the encores too, really much better than what the previous night got.

19. The Bends
21. My Iron Lung


24. 2+2=5
25. Paranoid Android

This is my recording of Karma Police, I have to say, it was a really touching moment. For the vast majority of the crowd to sing along to the song, and espeically for a London crowd, which is usually a bit uptight and concerned about looking cool.



Anyway, it was a good gig, I wish I had been a bit closer to the action, it was a class set list but also just to get away from the nutters; they were by now starting to freak out and the drunkards who were by now not paying any attention about the gig. Mind you, at the front and within tighter confines, I heard it was pretty bad if you were shoved in with the idiots.

Overall, opinion, In Rainbows is a great album and the 'head are on top form live. Mark said it was well up there in his all time top gigs too. Result and I'm glad I chose the Wednedsay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_6begaAXMg

My favourite song by Radiohead.

Got a hair cut and stuff. A serious one, so the long hair has now been shawn. I'm not missing it really. I've been overwhelmed with positive comments, about how smart I look, even comments like "you look gorgeous", really smart, "who's that handsome devil?". Curious really, was I an ugly fucker with the hair? At least Mark was surprised adn thought it was a good barnet. It suits me apparently.

Anyway, even colleagues at work have said I look very smart so that is slightly freaky. I don't want a bunch of librarians liking the new look. Make your own mind up.

Anyway we need a before and after I suppose.



-----............................
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.



There you go, for the record, I've had my hairpretty long for maybe close to three years now.

I'm using wax on my hair now to style it a bit better.

The new John - welcome me back.

So I finally did it. I cycled to Brighton. It took fucking ages, it was tough going towards the end and I had major problems with the bike. But I did it and I now have that sense of achievement. Not that I'm the only person who's ever done it or anything...see here

Here's me before I headed off. Note the general greasy grubbiness of the bike frame, courtesy of two frustrating nights trying to replace my bottom bracket because for months it has been making a clicking sound. No luck however.



What looks like a bottle in the holder is in fact my extremely loud horn for commuting into work. Here's the beast itself - ugly as sin.



There are just too many people not paying attention when they cross roads. Mainly due to them just being STUPID and also the mp3 players they have attached their ears to. I have an evil grin when I use it when cycling. Some of the scared dancing that occurs when I do is too fantastic. I'm smiling now as I type this. However, the downside is that I've accidentily pressed the horn several times whilst working on the bike as well as at traffic lights - it is so loud that I'm actually a bit frightened of it. I've decided to disattach it for the time being until I feel that a taxi driver has cut me up one too many times or a pedestrian runs across me without looking. Then it'll be out with a vengeance.

Bike problems

I ended up gong solo (no surprised there to regular readers) - my housemate Dave couldn't come in the end. He'd taken his bike to the petrol station. Used the jet spray to clean it and broke a crucial part of his rear derailleur. He couldn't get a spare part in time. It was a stupid thing to do because the Cycling Maintenance course had told us it was likely to damage parts. So I had to venture out by myself. Well done Dave. Wasn't too bothered really, I felt like two fingers up at the general chaotic and ramshackle way he leads his life. I was gonna do the ride regardless.

Anyway, I left at about 10.30 in the morning. My front mech wasn't going into the lower gears since the bottom bracket had been replaced. And since I am rubbish at front mech changes I was in low gears for about 10 miles. Then my pedal bottom axyl starting feeling a bit weak and disjointed. Fuck it. I passed a cycle shop in New Malden and went by it, but fortunately for me I decided to stop and turn back. Lucky I did, the two young guys came to me and had a look at my front mech and also my bottom bracket. One of them said I needed to replace the front mech which was not my idea of fun. It had seized up apparently. I was sceptical to say the least - it had been working fine up until my bollocks attempt at maintenance. Even worse was the prognosis that the bottom bracket was loose adn that there was no way I'd get to Brighton with it loose as it would eventually get worse.

Anyway they helpfully let me tighten the bottom bracket outside with one of their tools and one of the guys helped me with it, he also had a look at my front mech and fixed it. No new front mech needed! Here's my bike outside the shop. They were so much nicer and more helpful than the cunts at Ealing Cycles. I'd gone there at 9.30 in the morning and they looked at the front mech and the short cable and said I should look at it myself. Customer service!

Mapping the way

I returned to the road and carried on through Worcester Park area and then I came to the end of the London Transport cycle map - roughly where 9,10 and 12 boxes merge below.

What lay ahead was unknown but the night before it didn't look too far to get from the end of the TFL map to Redhill which was where I was due to pick up the National Cycle Route 21 down to Brighton. So I just kept riding and got to experience some very picturesque countryside. Here's my blind route

Redhill ended up being a nightmare mind. I popped into a cycle shop and got talking to one of the guys who said that five minutes earlier a guy cycling to Brighton had come in explaining he'd been cycling around Redhill for an hour!

Of course I ended up lost myself with climbs up 14 percent gradient hills, then turning back, repeating the route, frequent references to the "National Cycle Routes map" and Route markers/signs that failed to appear. I must have cycled about an extra five miles and perhaps wasted an hour in trying to find the NCN route out of Redhill. Very frustrating and I'm afraid I've lost all confidence in the people producing the maps (Sustrans). (And I'm not the only person who thought the NCR weren't up to scratch.

To Crawley

The route was unremarkable after Redhill, the best countryside I'd saw was in fact at the beginning of the journey from Worcester Park to Redhill! Some parts were in fact pretty weird, in that they made the route longer just for the sake of slightly less busy roads. Horley, Gatwick Airport and Crawley were not very interesting and so I wish I'd taken the main A23 road south. In Crawley I got lost by the split of NCR 21 and 20 despite the map. I had some lunch in an incredibly depressing town centre.

Lostness

From out of Crawley was again difficult with my having to ask a fellow cyclist how to get to Tilgate Forest on the map (there just weren't any signs). He led me to the forest even though he didn't know the entrance and I managed to pick up the route markers but some were pretty dodgy in their positioning between two paths. I then got seriously lost somewhere in the forest with no signs. I ended up taking some sort of track path that just went on for ages and was not for cycles. It was really tough and I should have had a mountain bike really.

I ended up exiting the mud path and knocking on someone's door to ask for directions. I'd gone wa over away from my inteded route and it was a good 3 miles through thesun lit countryside along narrow wooded roads to get to Handcross to get back onto the route. It took a long time and so on arival I stopped into a pub to have a larger shandy to keep my energy up. 10 minutes rest there and just a hard long slog to Brighton. 18 miles in all.

It was getting past the afternon by this time and the lat 8 miles a long the A23 were pretty darn hard on my legs. I've never ever felt that before an it was a bit of a shock to the system. Plus the last leg was literally alongside the busy A23 road which wasn't that nice a ride.

Brighton

However, when I got into the outskirts of Brighton my spirits were raised and it was pretty nice. The city seems very pleasant with an interesting mix of seaside statelyness/drab, youth and funky cool shops. I got to the pier and ordered some fish 'n' chips and went down to the pebbled beach...

And of course I had to get my picture taken with the famous Brighton Pier - made infamous indeed by Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock where Pinkie gets shoved off.



I got shoved off by security who don't like bicycles and I wasn't the only one, some wide boy was giving the security shit for being forcibly removed. Oh, what a day.




There was no way I was going to get back to London by bike so I cycled to Brighton train station and got on a train sharing a carriage with two other cyclists who got off at Clapham.

If the map hadn't taken me off routes and hadn't been so poorly sign posted this would have been a thoroughly good day. As it was it was something of a minor trauma although it could have been much worse with the possibility of my bike malfunctioning.

Ambivalence

So I've been a fair few music festivals over the years. I can't say that I've had an amazing life changing experience at any of them. I think I'm too neat and tidy a person to actually enjoy living out of a sleeping bag and canvas tent.

The crowds, ooh the crowds, not a big fan either. Too many people to look at, too many to disregard otherwise your brain will explode with hyper-activity.

Anyway, despite this, I still continue to go. Even living in London, where I can see any band I would want to see, I always miss a few, am skint or just wait to see at a festival instead. Depending on the festival, you often get a very good view and pretty close too.

However, if I was to make the ultimate festival experience this would be my lineup:

Saturday - Day

Something easy listening and folky for sitting out in the sunshine with a drink.

Bert Jansch - Guitar picking British folky extraordinnaire with a support by legendary British folky-recluse

Davey Graham

Martha Wainwright

folky princess of

Loudon Wainwright III with her very sexy stilettos.

Devendra Banhart

the great beardy weirdy one...and what a surprise this is... the wonderfully eccentric.

Cat Power jumps up to do some duets with him.Before it gets really hippy and weird

Sufjan Stevens American choir boy and illegitimate child of Pet Sounds

jumps on stage and each of them do a song covering several hours. God I'm being self-indulgent now.

Don't stop me now...

Donovan turns up to show them how it really was...

The big daddy himself crown the day off with choice cuts from the back catalogue (hoping it's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan , John Wesley Harding and

Blonde on Blonde centric) yes it's the mighty

Bob Dylan

So we’re leaving Winter behind and travelling forthwith into Spring, and so this is the time for looking into the future and the next season. Before Summer makes us aware it was here after it has come and gone.

A good scurry around in the imagination for what dreams you may wish to have under a warm sun, a plan and some dates. Human company is an option - lisfe is too short to wait on people’s imagination to catch up.

Here’s my ideas for a Summer break/adventure before I forget.

South of France (Provence) - cycling trip

I’ve been thinking about this for about 6 months now. One half of me really wants to get on my bike in foreign climbs. I use it practically everyday and it’s become a part of me, and on some near misses quite literally. It woudl be great to sping those wheels on a hot sunny day cycling the hills and valleys of Provence. Get that nice sun tan and drink lots of red wine whilst gettting really fit and cycling up and down those hills. I can see the sweat dripping into my eyes already.

It would require some training, a spruce up of the bike or dare I say it the purcahse of an actual new racing bike. Setting a date which wasn’t toooooo hot for cycling. Planning of funds and storage of tent and other good on the bike itself.

Here’s the state of my bike so far:



Another trip to Italy:

The last place I went to in Italy was around Mount Etna (see my pic of it from the air) in Sicily which was really great. It’d be awesome to fully explore the island of all it’s history maybe on a bike or motorbike even.



Here’s a picture of the Cathedral in Syracuse, set in amongst its baroque spledour is an ancient Greek temple.



A few years back I also made a week long trip to the Eternal City - Rome and because it was Rome I didn’t feel the need to go with anybody. It was a personal trip I had to make. I had a great time even with 3 days of pissing rain (but 3 days of absolutely glorious sunshine). I did a few walks and tried to fit in as much as possible, but a real experience of the Eternal City. Here’s a couple of (freaky) pictures of when I had short hair and looked a lot younger.





After visiting Milan, Florence, Rome and Sicily over the years if I was to go again,Iit’d have to be something pretty different, either some kind of tour, possibly around Sicily or maybe go up to the Italian Alps or the Lakes.

I used to play a lot of football as a kid, I'd be on Hendon playing fields nearly every Saturday morning, playing for hours at a time with my school mates. It was a passion that was partly fuelled because I was pretty nifty on the pitch, and I even played for my local team (Watling Boys Club), local Cub Scouts team (1st Edgware) as well as my school and even representing the Barnet schools Eleven. Anyway, that all changed when A'levels started and I left my Secondary School to go to a separate Sixth Form College after my GCSE exams at age 16. I had very few friends from school there to play footy with and the serious work took over in order to get me to University.

Since then, I've not played much football nor have I even followed a team, which back in my younger youth was an obsession with Liverpool FC and Tranmere Rovers. Both things make me look back and see how much I've changed as a person. It makes me sad that I don't play at all these days. I tried to rectify it recently when I played a game in Regents Park during the Summer and that was great, if very sore the following day. (Mark couldn't even move at work)

So with this in mind I'm proud to say that I've managed to get to a hell of a lot of football games recently and I thought I'd share some of the photos and experiences.

Wycombe Wanderers Vs Chesterfield,
Saturday, 26 January 2008

The first was with Mark, my housemate Dave and Mark's old work colleague - Aussie Jamie. We drove up to relatively local Wycombe to see the Wanderers play Chesterfield game at Adams Park. Both were near the play-off positions in the league and it it turned out to be a good game to watch. Arriving about 10 minutes into the game we paid something like £12 on the day and stood in amongst the Wanderers' fan on the terraces. It wasn't long before we got caught up in this effectively low flight fixture - really a Division 4 game of the English football League, now known as "League Two" after The Premier League (old Division1) and The Championship (Division 2).

Wycombe played well and we saw a cracking goal by their striker Scott McGleish - who according to Wikipedia is a bit of a lower league star:

Scott McGleish (born February 10, 1974 in Barnet) is an English footballer, currently playing for Wycombe Wanderers.

McGleish has been top goal scorer at 3 clubs including Colchester (twice), Northmapon and now at the Wycombe which he has his first chance of achieving promotion having moved to the other clubs after the clubs were promoted.

Anyway, here's the brief report of the game from the BBC Sport website.

Brentford vs Shrewsbury Town
Saturday, 9 February 2008

The second game was from the same division, but from my local team Brentford. This time it was only I, Dave and his brother Martin who went. The main appeal was its proximity and also the fact that the home stadium Griffin Park is unique in British football in that there is a pub in each corner, one of which is owned by the club.

It was a pretty bad game, scrappy and despite the unseasonably warm and sunny day, we faced directly into the sun. It was pretty expensive too; paying £18 for a 4th division side is surprising to me. The Ealing Road end terrace was busier that Wycombe and there was a lot more Cockney effing and blinding as well as inventive and constant terrace chanting. One of my faves was directed at Shrewsbury Town (an English border town with Wales) - "Your Welsh and You Know You Are!". :)

It ended all square, with Brentford probably deserving to win: A riveting (read: boring) report of the game is here.

Liverpool vs Barnsley
Saturday, 16 February 2008

A number of firsts on this weekend trip to Liverpool. It was my first time in my sister's new house, first time seeing the Reds play at Anfield and first time seeing a live FA Cup fixture.

I made my way to the stadium by bus and found my seat in the "dot" of LFC marked on the world famous Kop Grandstand. It was a privilege to witness the singing of "You'll Never Walk Alone" as well as have one of the gigantic canvas Liverpool banners fly on over my head.

My own footage of it here:

Unfortunately/fortunately, in a shock result and one of the biggest in FA Cup history Championship side Barnsley dramatically beat Liverpool with an injury time winner.

I sat on the famous Kop, as astonished gasps gathered alongside the celebratory roar of the Barnsley supporters. Nobody could quite believe what had just happened. I couldn't quite believe that Liverpool had just been knocked out. What a way to end an FA Cup tie. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7224063.stm

The next day I got to see the real Anfield with a tour of the Stadium including getting to touch the famous Anfield Sign:

Inside the museum is the stuff of legends that make Liverpool Football Club one of the great clubs of the game. 5 European Cups:

I spent the rest of the weekend with my sister Mary, having a Chinese meal in Chinatown (Britain's oldest) and also checking out the Anthony Gormley sculptures at Formby Beach just north of Liverpool. "Another Place" makes the pretty beach a pretty amazing site and conjures up all kinds of responses to the 100 sculptures: Here's a picture of me with one.

Just a little snapshot video footage of me snowboarding on one of the blue runs in French Alps in Januray. After a couple of days practicing (being hungover really not helping) I nailed it and was going off piste and red runs like a mad man. Check out the vid!

So Reading Festival 2006 has come and gone and I suppose a strong indication of my feelings towards my attendance is the lack of any immediate inclination to write about it. I'm not in love with it and I'm not despising it either. I'm just a bit nonplussed by the whole English summer festival thing that it represents. The town which it is named after and is located in is a featureless and soulless place which also extends to its so-called festival. What exactly is Reading being festive about? I'm sure Carling is celebrating in getting its utterly dull and cow piss product on the top of its billing. (no offence to all bovines out there I'm sure youve all got different wonderful types of piss that are much better than Carling). But to all intents and purposes it is just another bloody musical three-day event in the dodgy English summer of camping with noisy and obnoxious teenage neighbours, and straining to hear something tuneful in a field. Fuck me, that sounds great!

I got bored after about an hour. The only thing that kept me mildly interested is people watching, but that soon loses its appeal as, depressingly, everybody looks the same. If its not thousands of the same ruddy skin colour, the over-dressed summer wear which involves silly straw cowboy/girl hats on Thames Valley Californian wannabes and bloody sun glasses. (Oh how those items must gather dust on the dressers back home waiting for the Holy Grail of Britain the hot and sunny day.)

If its not that then its just the cliché ridden nature of the place, its middle of the road music for middle of the road music fans, now I dont wanna get snobbish about it, but the people there were either hyper active teenagers, finally let out of the house in order to dance to My Chemical Romance or some other teenage rawk group. Or it was late 20s peeps who finally have a bit of money and in order to get out of their dead-end jobs and mortgage repayments they go to a music festival in order get in touch with their youth again and reassure themselves that they're not old and fucking dead. It's all a bit depressing.

Oh, and the food was locally produced football match grub, which needless to say was extremely disappointing and utterly shite.

Obviously it's meant to be a festival of music so the occasional moment of strangely beautiful yet never heard before melody bouncing back at you is always joyful. I thought the UK rapper Sway was pretty good, if only for his interesting take on British hip-hop versus American hip-hop. He's definitely shrewd on what works and what doesnt and he could be very big if he steers clear from The Streets slant and Miss Dynamite preachy-ness. Here's my picture of the gig:


 
But Reading, the music, was well, depending on your musical taste of course, a little, well, unadventurous shall we say? It wasn't exactly inspiring more predictable but not in a good way of putting big bands on when theyre on top form. Muse headlining now theyve got some good tunes but headlining? Theyre hardly the bloody anthem-stormers say of Oasis, Radiohead or Led Zeppelin. Franz Ferdinand are overexposed these days and theyre music just doesnt speak to me in any exciting way, lyrically or musically. Kaiser Chiefs were a hit last year, and they are still playing those bloody songs over and over again so they've played the energy out of them. Pearl Jam I know fuck all about but its the musical metaphor of a stew, it just cooks for hours on end and by the time your ready to eat its still not cooked and you end up thinking, was it really worth waiting all that time for one fucking song?? I was barely Still Alive through it. Placebo were, you'll be glad to know were, Placebo; droning, nasal, thrashy and not a stitch on T-Rex.

The Arctic Monkeys were very good, with an exciting sound, but their front man didn't really create any banter with the crowd but then again would you want banter with a Reading crowd? The set was also surprisingly short. The Raconteurs were the surprise package, but mainly because of the choice of cover songs which included Nancy Sinatra's Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)and The Undertones' Teenage Kicks. Jack Whites voice is also less grating when he shares the vox duties. Good Shoes, who Ive seen before in London, were very tight and very good, and I think they are going to be pretty big judging by the crowd they pulled in. I think all they need is to get that one hit thatll take them off to new heights. Ill be cry that day, when theyll no doubt turn into the irrelevancy of Franz Ferdinand.

I've not mentioned work at all, mainly because it is bloody hard standing up on your feet for 6 hours working behind a bar.



It was repetitive, tight-lipped work dealing with the God-awful official beer of Reading. I never want to drink another Carling ever again. Here's a picture of some of the punters we were serving:


I was quietly pissed off by the nonchalant arrogance of its so-called anti-warm beer campaign and the damned t-shirts we had to wear. What a load of bollocks from that pasteurised pish. Ales and bitters are ten times better than that load of fizzy carrot juice. And no I haven't joined the Campaign for Real Ale, although would happily have served proper beer if I had had the chance.

Anyway, the people who I worked with were all volunteers and hard workers, plus a few nutters, which dont include the socialists and Troskyists who are just lost. Here's a pic of the crew I worked with and here's a picture of Dave Gray whom I worked with (top bloke if a little mad):



I had a humourless/amusing (depending on your POV) conversation with a pvc mini-skirted, ripped tights posh girl from the Young Troskyists for Revolution or some such ridiculous name. I broke the ice by lowering the conversation whilst she woman- handled the 12 pint pouring machine. I asked her whether she was a punk or into Vivian Westwood. Not sure if she got either reference, but, she replied somewhat hesitantly that she was kinda into punk. I corrected her and said that she was in fact kinda into neo-punk because punk occurred in 1977 of course, ho ho ho.

My lesson of Reading 2006: pretty girls can get pissed of very quickly when they don't have a man fawning over them with petty drivel as they are usually so used to.

It was a bloody long shift on our last night and so we were in pretty high spirits

 
and tried to pilfer as much booze as we could.



We ended up watching the majority of the headline act Pearl Jam on the main stage which was right next to our beer tent. Pearl Jam as I've said were a band that never really took my interest when they were first around.

After the end of that we had some pyro antics, mainly burning as much rubbish as we could find.



We also watched some pretty cool animation and films on the big screen tent:

 

However, despite our high jinks, this was a conventional music festival and so nothign was going on after Pearl Jam ended, no parties, no discos in tent, nada. We ende dup back at the worker's campsite adn drank beer and pretty much stayed up all night. I still dont' know how I did that. maybe it was Mark that did it!



I wouldn't do Reading again, work or as a punter, there has got to be better things in life, festival wise and volunteer wise.

So, I finally got to see the great Ryan Adams alive and playing music - with the Cardinals of which we must of course mention. Official artist name: Adams and The Cardinals Ryan Adams and The Cardinals

Let's get the unimportant if interesting stuff out the way first. Sartorially again he's borderline irritating. A cool black leather jacket and then a bobble hat. A bobble hat. I knew it was fecking freezing in London this weekend but inside it aint.

The first quarter was a bit of a rush through to be honest. Ryan didn't say anything in between songs. And to be honest his musical variations of the recorded to the live put me off somewhat. I can see why the critics latch onto this, he's so damn good that he can completely change the essence of a tune but because it's never better than the original it's irritating. In fact I'd say it's borderline showing off. Fair enough if it's good and not just bathetic.

It picked up after the somewhat silent first quarter with some very good versions including Cold Roses, When The Stars Go Blue, Let It Ride, Mockingbirdsong.

The Set list:

Peaceful Valley
Beautiful Sorta
The Rescue Blues
When The Stars Go Blue
Off Broadway
Goodnight Rose
Nightbirds
The Sun Also Sets
Halloweenhead
Let It Ride
Freeway To The Canyon
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Bartering Lines
Mockingbirdsong
Wild Flowers
Cold Roses
Why Do They Leave
Everybody Knows
Goodnight Hollywood Blvd.
Two
You Don't See Me Crying
Rip Off
A Kiss Before I Go
Shakedown on 9th St
I See Monsters
=======================
Dear John
Blue Hotel
I Taught Myself How To Grow Old

Easy Plateau was pretty good as a last tune, although they went all white noise on us and I wished it would end, not a feeling you want in an encore. I'd have to say though Ryan's voice was on top form tonight especially songs from Easy Tiger and the simply wonderful new EP follow the lights.

There were dull interludes to be honest, a few Neal Casal songs really made you think about how good Ryan's songwriting really is in comparison. Although because I was stuck in the middle of a row I didn't feel I could go for a piss. I was dying by the way.

Some thing's a bit rubbish about sitting down at a gig, especially for an artist who has a devoted fan base as RA.

The Cardinals cannot be faulted for their back up job tonight it has to be said they accompanied his playing wonderfully and in fact I've grown to like them with their nice Cardinals version of This Is It on the new EP, particularly welcome as the album Rock 'n' Roll is bloody weak.

Way too many arse holes shouting out inane things to the band, which they've obviously heard loads of times before. There was a rehearsed skit involving the keyboardist messing up a joke plus Ryan introducing (read dragging out) his 17 week number one hit Rip Off.

I personally enjoyed a lot of the acoustic stuff which I wish he would do more often, just Ryan and a guitar, plus more front man stuff would go a long way I think.

All in all a good gig, he's got tonnes of great tunes to choose from and I couldn't fault any of them to be honest. The omission of Come Pick Me Up makes me wanna see him again at least.