Pieces of a Man Think it. Do it. Be it. Embellish.

67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.75.76 77.78.79.80.81.82.83.84.85.86 87.88.89.90.91.92.93.94.95.96 97.98.99.00.01.02.03.04.05.06 07.08

Gave the kids one choccie egg each before the sugar police woke up. You've got to push the boat out occasionally. Yan scoffed her whole egg and the little packet of mini ones immediately and was complaining of a tummy ache equally quickly. Oti showed remarkable restraint and was still finishing off the buttons a good hour later. I thought they must have gone off or something.

Labels: 2005

Looking for Gil again tonight - out of jail in Summer 2004 is as close as I've come so far - and I found a poem:

Chance-taker Emotion voyager Street-strutter Contemporary Spirit Untamed Proud Poet Rough Healer He Is His - Gwendolyn Brooks

Labels: 2005

A day out in Formby with Mum and the kids while the sun peeked out for a moment. Lunch was a picnic in the deserted pines woods, freshly chopped logs for seating and climbing frame for Oscar once the chicken and chocolate eclairs were stuffed into his cheeks like a gerbil.



The biting wind from the Irish Sea was absent this time and the kids played on the sand while not harassing the poor creatures that were above the high water mark. Oscar's quote of the day; "It's a starfish. Let's kill it!"

Labels: 2005

I can't fathom this exercise lark. The other week I drank nothing, ate well and the weight stayed the same. This week on three consecutive days I had chinese takeaway on day one, five pints then a kebab followed immediately by chicken wings and chips on day two, and a huge roast dinner with cheesecake on day three. Result? I've lost 2 pounds. I hope to write a new lifestyle book in time for the Xmas market.

Labels: 2005

From the top 100 greatest speeches of all time (and you can listen to all of the following);

(1) Martin Luther King, Jr. | I Have A Dream
(2) John Fitzgerald Kennedy | Inaugural Address
(4) Franklin Delano Roosevelt | Pearl Harbor Address
(7) Malcolm X | The Ballot or the Bullet

Labels: 2005

Seeing Athlete at Manchester Academy last night was pretty much as I'd expected - well executed songs delivered straight down the line, like listening to your favourite CD at high volume with lots of other people who also love it. It's probably a sensible strategy when most of the sell-out crowd is there to celebrate your Mercury-nominated classic album.

They did all the stand-out tracks from Vehicles and Animals, and they all went down a storm. The newer material is less powerful, but two or three of the tracks from Tourist stand up well in live rendition, especially the single Wires, which develops in interesting ways that I hadn't realised from just listening to the first part of it in a HMV listening booth!

The gig was interesting in a more lasting way from a sociological point of view. I read somewhere about Athlete, or at least the lead singer, being quite Christian, and there was certainly something akin to a religious fervour going on within the crowd. Most of the big songs were accompanied by a thousand person backing group that were waving, swaying, hugging each other and investing every lyric with the passion that only comes from some personal identification that I must have missed. Nonetheless, It was a bit unnerving to look outside myself at points and see a middle-aged man with his coat on, singing along with songs, only a lighter short of being a lighter-waving pratt of the kind I've always mocked.

The singer even asked the crowd to quieten down a bit at one point because he couldn't hear himself - what a pussy. Athlete write great songs but they are not rock'n'roll in the slightest. In fact, they're about the politest and humble band I've ever seen, even apologetic in places. Nice boys who probably won't be gigging tonight because it's Mother's Day.

I hope everyone enjoyed it. I wasn't sure. Enjoying Athlete is all about knowing the songs, and if you don't, I can see that it might be a slightly disconnected experience. But if it provokes another couple of bites of Vehicles and Animals until it 'clicks', then it will have been worth it.

Ironically, on a night spent with a (possibly) Christian rock band, I came off the Lenten wagon big time and sang-along all night lubricated by five pints of Red Stripe. Sorry, Lord, but you only live once.

Labels: 2005

The tale of two seasons - Palace hold Man United to a goaless draw with ten men. Norwich just defend corners like we've got ten men. How can a defence fall to pieces in the space of just one season, and how can Worthington so singularly fail to get them to concentrate at set pieces? It's difficult to begrudge Mourinho, though, when you read articles like this.

Labels: 2005

It's official. We're fucked. This was the low point of the season, euphoria to devastation in under an hour, even worse than the day in Blackburn, and Delia has probably written herself into comedy shows for years to come with her half time antics, snarling away for the cameras.

I think if I'd been at the game I'd have felt a bit miffed like many others did - you're entitled to sulk for a few minutes up to half time and then catch you're breath when you've taken hits like that. But I still think that she can do what the hell she wants when you think of the time, money and commitment she's sunk into the club. She did look a bit scary, though.

Labels: 2005

We went for a day in the Peaks today, going to Buxton and Bakewell. The park in Buxton has an ideal design for handling Oscar - a long enough stretch to roam about, but a river alongside separating it from the road. Ideal, and despite gloveless, freezing hands, we managed to make our snowman, complete with everything but a carrot.

Later on we went down to Bakewell to see what the tarts and the house prices are like. The numbers seemed reassuringly reasonable, but the tarts were a bit of a dissapointment. I'd heard they were something special and different to the exported variety there, but the reality was rather dry and lacking in substance. We still ate five of them, though.

Labels: 2005