My Birthday!!

Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee!!!

That's not bad is it...

This young guy should go far!

Just found this pic of me and Mike Randle on my computer. Can't remember where it was taken, it may well have been York as it was sent to me by the fabulous Mr Chris Jones.

Lizzy and I have met some great people and had some great experiences all the way through the Love thang - here's hoping that there's more of the same in the foreseeable future.

I was listening to something on Radio 2 yesterday about the boom in "old" music i.e Cream, Pink Floyd reformed, etc etc, and Johnny Walker came up with a quote from David Lee Roth - "We're giving people their youth back..." Well here's to all of you rockers out there giving us our youth back, and long may it continue.

Happy Birthday to me!

This is a picture of Keith and me on our recent holiday in Crete looking very cheery - it was a lovely holiday, although it seems a long time ago now. Freezing cold British weather and the stresses and strains of life have taken their toll on both of us since we came back home.

I am 52 years old tomorrow.

I don't feel good or bad about that, its just a fact. In some ways I'm in good shape for my age - some of the people I work with who are younger than me, look and act a lot older than I do (or so I'm told - it may just be flattery, to which I am very susceptible!!). In some other ways I feel about 90 years old and that I have the weight of the world on my shoulders.

But I have some really good friends, a great family, and, apart from a few minor blips along the way, good health - so lets count those blessings peeps!

Hey ho

View of Myrtos, Crete from the west.

This is the village in Crete we visited in October half-term. I feel very much at home there, its a "real" place rather than a tourist resort. People remembered us from last year - maybe the very drunken night in Katerina's taverna with a group of German bikers had something to do with that.

I'm off to see Lizzy tomorrow. Just a day trip but it'll be really good to see her, it seems like a while.

Right at the start of this blog I said that I had been on the periphery of something terrible that had happened in the family of some very close friends of ours. The whole sorry case reached some sort of conclusion this week - details are here

Its the stuff of your worst nightmares, especially if you're a parent.

Positively 4th Street

You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning

You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it

You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with

Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?" "Good luck"
But you don't mean it

When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them

And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you


Copyright © 1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music

Johnny Echols cited this song as his favourite Bob Dylan track in a recent Mojo magazine and said it was about false friendship. I heard it on the radio this morning (covered by Mick Hucknall for chrissake - even he couldn't make it sound bad) and it just made me wonder if Johnny felt it was reminiscent of his relationship with Arthur Lee.

Hey ho

The happy couple, Keith and Clare, with dogs

Keith, Tina and Jim at the wedding of our niece Clare

Forgive me father it has been two months since my last blog...

A lot has happened in the interim, some of it good and some of it bad. I can say for sure though that I feel a lot more rational and together than I did between February and July when I wrote most of the blog - but it was a great cathartic experience. I even feel better about my job! Hopefully I'll get back to more regular entries shortly, but in the meantime here are a few pictures for your delectation...

The amazingly cool Mr Johnny Echols!

My good friend Mike Randle...

Love without Arthur Lee - Stourbridge 1st July 2005

Its been a strange few weeks...

It just has been.....

I don't even know how much of it I can write about - partly because I don't really know yet how I feel about it, partly because some of the stuff is about other people and not about me.

But I will be back...

and in the meanwhile here are some pictures of Love without Arthur Lee taken at Stourbridge Rock Cafe

The angle was meant to be artistic! 

Steve's 50th birthday meal 18th June 2005

Rush of blood to the head time here, like buses there's none for ages and then two come along together...

Anyway, here's a pic of Keith and I at Steve's celebratory birthday meal at the rather fine World Service restaurant in Nottingham

Steve on the boat trip (Happy Birthday Steve, he's 50 today!!) 

Looking down on Symi Harbour from Mount Vigla 

Symi Harbour 

Tina and Keith in Symi 

Its ages since I last posted...

It is ages since I last posted - I've been trying to concentrate on my job, and to some extent have succeeded. I've also been on a great holiday on the Greek island of Symi. Love are back in the UK in a couple of weeks, first show Stourbridge on 1st July, so normal serice will be resumed asap

In the meantime, some nice pics of my holidays!!

Edinburgh skyline