Relaxation

Yesterday my cousin Janet, our friend Linda and I went for a pamper day at High Head Spa at Ivegill on the edge of the Lake District.  It's part of a place called High Head Sculpture Valley, there's a working dairy farm, a great cafe, art gallery and shop.  There's also a lovely walk in the valley that you can take which has various sculptures along its path.  They have just opened holiday rental accommodation too.  And at the back of the complex there's a large log cabin which houses the spa.

We arrived at 11am, the cabin was warm and cozy and we were shown into a room that had a hot tub, loungers and a sauna.  We had the room to ourselves which was really great and we could relax in there for an hour before our treatments. We got in the hot tub and chilled in there for a while.  Then we decided to try  out the sauna - none of us had been in one before.  Wow it was hot!  We didn't last long, I can see why they plunge into ice cold water afterwards normally!  However here there was no icy pool here, so we drank lots of cold water to cool down a bit.

We had two treatments each as part of the deal, you could choose from a back and shoulder massage, a facial or a manicure.  We all went for the massage and facial and they were fabulous!  I especially enjoyed the massage and felt really chilled afterwards, the others enjoyed their treatments too.  The girls who work there were very professional and friendly.  Afterwards we had a delicious lunch in the cafe was included in the price of the deal.

All in all it was a wonderful day and well worth the £45 cost, we'll definitely be going back.  You can visit their website here: http://highheadsculpturevalley.co.uk/

Bono's Birthday Treat!

This is one of the reasons why I'm a fan of Bono, you know I wish some of his detractors could see how lovely he is to fans.  Here he is in Mexico (where U2 are playing tonight) yesterday sharing birthday cake and champagne with fans waiting outside his hotel.  Love where he says, "Stand back a bit" when he's about to pop the champagne cork!  Bless.  Mind you, if I'd been there I would have wanted Veuve Clicquot!

A Bit of U2 in Falkirk

I've purposely not travelled anywhere this year because I was lucky enough to do a lot of travelling last year and needed to recoup some of my finances.  I've really been getting restless and pretty desperate to have a trip away though, and this weekend my friend Debbi and I went on a trip to Falkirk in Scotland.  The purpose of the trip was to see our friends in the U2 tribute band NU2 play, they are the best U2 tribute band we've seen.

Debbi came up from Stoke on Thursday, it was great to see her again and catch up.  As we are both on diets I made a very sensible, low calorie meal and we didn't have a lot of wine - almost unheard of for us!  Next day we drove up to Falkirk, a place neither of us had been before.  It only took two and a quarter hours to get to our Travelodge on the edge of the town.  My room really took me aback, very clean and obviously new, but very sparse.  No drawers, no bedside table (just a tiny niche in the wall), the "wardrobe" was just a short pole with a few coat hangers, a small wall mounted table with a white plastic chair, On the pale grey walls were a small TV and small picture and a mirror.  There was only a roller blind on the window, a duvet on the bed, but no bedspread.  It felt very cold and clinical and there was bags of unused space as the room itself was a normal size for a hotel of that kind.  But, having said that, it was fine for our purposes.

We got a taxi to the Behind the Wall club in the centre of Falkirk where the gig was being held.  It was a pub, restaurant and gig venue, bustling and loud with lots of different seating areas.  We found a table in the quietest area, the conservatory.  Our friend Alan, "Boner" in the band, came from the gig room upstairs to have a chat.  It was nice to see him again, it had been a long time since we'd met up as NU2 actually disbanded three years ago as one of the band members moved to the south of England, and we hadn't seen Alan since.  The band hadn't played at all during the last three years, but had got together again for this one off charity gig.  They were nervous as they had little opportunity to rehearse for this gig.

Later Deb and I went upstairs and caught the end of the Bladdered!, the first band of the night.  We could hardly believe our eyes to see middle aged men in make up dressed as schoolgirls in P.E. dress playing punk songs! (complete with wigs, vest tops, short white gym skirts - thank God they wore shorts beneath these! - and white socks, a sight to behold I assure you LOL!   Apparently this band has different themes to accompany their set, they've done the royal family and Dad's Army amongst others.

Later NU2 started their set with Vertigo.  During the first few songs the band were a little rusty, but by time they got to In God's Country they were in their stride and all the NU2 magic was back.  Alan's voice is so good and like Bono's that at times you think it is Bono himself singing, and though Mark (Edge) had not played guitar in three years he did amazingly well and the rhythm section backed the other two up very well.  I especially liked hearing In God's Country as U2 themselves never play that any more.

NU2 got the crowd behind them as they did a mainly U2's greatest hits set and went down a storm, Alan dedicated With Or Without You to Debbi and me which was really nice - I think Debbi must have travelled the furthest to be there and it's nice that was acknowledged by the band.  But it was well worth the trip, and it made us realise how much we'd missed seeing them play.  We had a chat with Alan afterwards and he said it was probably the last performance by the band, but perhaps a yearly reunion could happen, let's hope it does!

At 1am we ran the short distance in the pouring rain to the rank and got a taxi back to the hotel.  Once back we had generous glasses of wine and some Quavers.  The Quavers was like the best steak, we were so hungry, having not had a lot to eat that day because of our diets!  We chilled and chatted eventually getting to bed at 3.30am.

Next day we laid in as long as we could, leaving just before the midday checkout  - we still have the stamina to stay up a long time, but we don't bounce back to normality as quickly!  We had a light lunch at a place beside the hotel and drove home and then went to bed for a nap to fully come recover LOL!

By 7pm we felt relatively back to normal and looking forward to our forget-the-diet treat night.  I went to get a Chinese takeaway, we enjoyed that and then opened a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne.  We'd been looking forward to that for ages and it was well worth the wait!  Nectar.  I love the good things in life.

I really enjoyed my little jaunt into Scotland, great to see NU2 again and spend time with a good friend.  It's only 55 days until my next jaunt - a holiday and U2 gigs in Canada - not that I'm counting.......

The Wedding

Well, The Wedding has taken place.  It is a public holiday in the UK, but I was working and so watched it with one of the old ladies I visit.  Neither of us are particularly into the royal family, but there's no denying William and Catherine  are a lovely young couple so obviously in love. It was so sweet when William said, "You look beautiful" when Catherine arrived at his side in Westminster Abbey. I loved her elegant dress, classic and a touch of the medieval about it, just what I expected from her.  And I must say William looked very handsome in his Irish Guards uniform.  The British are very good at putting on a traditional pageant and it all was very grand and went perfectly.  I loved the trees in Westminster Abbey, it was so different and a brilliant idea, nature in the city.  I remember watching Charles and Diana getting married 30 (yikes, how time flies!!!) years ago and it felt very different, more formal and without the obvious love.

I think in these hard financial times the country needs something to celebrate and enjoy and this wedding has come at the perfect time.  It is nice to be happy about something when the news these days is normally full of gloom and doom - even for non-royalists!   I am amazed by the degree of international interest in The Wedding, the Americans especially seem so into it.  There were worldwide best wishes which included the Dalai Lama, and even out of this world best wishes from the International Space Station!

In the future William and Catherine will be King and Queen of the UK.   There are signs that they will herald a new era of royality in this country.  A royality that is less formal and more in touch with the people, and that can only be a good thing - and maybe I'll end up becoming a real royalist then!

It's Summer!

Well no, but it feels like summer anyway!  Our wonderful weather continues with sunshine and temperatures way above normal - my car thermometer showed a high of 20 degrees centigrade to day.  The blossom is out early, near me there are lots of trees covered in pink and white blossom, so beautiful.  Let's hope this bodes well for the real summer months.

I've been busy in the garden tidying up the autumn/winter debris, putting in the bedding plants.  Also started my vegetable gardening, got the potatoes in,  planted new a new apple tree and raspberry bush. Tomatoes, beans and onions going in soon.  I've grown to love gardening, there's a real sense of satisfaction of seeing what you plant grow and bloom.  And there is nothing like eating your own home grown food!  You get fresh air and exercise too, so it's a winner all round!

U2 Karaoke

After the gig on the 13th U2 went to the Bar Secreto in Sao Paulo for a bit of karaoke.  Nice to see the lads relaxing and having fun - Larry definitely wins for enthusiasm LOL!

Sao Paulo 10 April - What a Night, What a Show, What a Set List! (Spoiler)

For the first time I watched a live feed of a U2 show, it was from Sao Paulo in Brazil, isn't technology amazing?  Not perfect though as the feed died about halfway through the gig, still, it was good while it lasted!  But, hey, what a night ,what a show, what a ZOOROPA!  Yes, they played Zooropa, which has hardly ever been played - in fact I think (though could be wrong) it was only played live in the UK, twice in London and once in Glasgow and I was there!  Fabulous to hear it again and very brave of the band to do it as it is a lesser known track and not a particularly commercial song.  But songs don't have to be commercial to be good do they? It took me back to those wonderful Zoo days, a time of brave, daring new songs and clever, entrancing gigs, a brilliant time to be a U2 fan, ahh memories!

But Zooropa wasn't all that was special about this gig, it was generally a great set list with Even Better Than the Real Thing, Out of Control and North Star were also played amongst the usual songs.  One of those gigs you wish you were at! Please, please U2 play Zooropa at one of the Canadian shows in July and I'll be in heaven!

PS Apparently Zooropa was trending on Twitter, amazing, and amazing that I now know what trending is lol!

Sunday in Hawick

I have a friend, Alison,  who lives in the beautiful Scottish Borders and about once a month we meet up at some point between where we live.  This month our meeting place was Hawick, an ancient mill town famous for its cashmere and the Pringle label.  It is the largest of the many mill towns in this area which was the perfect location for weaving due to it's fast flowing rivers, being on the main road (and later railway) between Carlisle and Edinburgh and having ideal grazing for sheep on the surrounding mountains.

We first went to Beanscene cafe for lunch.   It's pleasant place, a light, airy modern building within an old Tower Mill building, some tables look out over the millrace.  Part of the ground floor is glass and you can see the old waterwheel still in place there.  The Kenneth McAllister Quartet was playing jazz.  Now, neither of us are big fans of jazz, especially the singing, but the music was not too loud and luckily there was only a little singing.  It made a nice change.

Turnbull Statue

Afterwards we headed out to explore the town a little.  Just behind Beanscene is the Turnbull statue.  Turnbull is the prominent local name and the family was one of the main Reiver families of the Border country, also known as the debatable lands.  The statue was impressive, a man grappling a bull by the horns.

We went on to the town's main street and came across the Borders Textile Towerhouse Museum, The Knitwear and Textile story.  The museum is in a beautifully restored building, part of which is Drumlanrig Tower, built in the 16th century by the Douglas family and is the oldest building in Hawick.  The rest of the building was previously the Tower Hotel until that closed and became derelict.  The £10 million Heart of Hawick project saved the building and created the museum.

Town Hall

It tells the story of weaving in the town, with parts of machinery on show, audio-visual programmes, photos and interactive displays.  It also looks at the future of textiles and there are examples of work done by students at the acclaimed School of Textiles and Design in the town. The old photos show many mills and smoking chimneys in Hawick during the boom time for textile production, people at work at the looms, factory parties etc.

One thing I remembered from the exhibition that had nothing at all to do with the mills was the uglie bonnet.  A strange hat with a wired, wide brim over the face worn by female agricultural workers to shield them from the sun.  They were not very fetching hence the name LOL!  All in all, it was a small, but interesting museum.

We walked down the main street of the town, most of the shops were shut as it was a Sunday and as this is a relatively small town that's quite normal.  We passed the lovely Town Hall with all it's turrets. Then, at the Memorial statue (which commemorates the victory of local youths over English raiders just outside of Hawick in 1514.  the English flag was captured and taken back to the town) we turned left and walked along the banks of the fast flowing River Teviot back towards the car park.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the wind strong, bracing - good fresh air!

Memorial Statue

Hawick is a town I've passed through many times, but this is the first time I've taken time to walk around it.  It obviously has had recent difficult times with demise of mills which then became derelict, they couldn't compete with overseas competition.  But the Heart of Hawick scheme seems to working well for the town as some of those wonderful old buildings have been beautifully renovated and have moved into the 21st century benefiting both local people and visitors alike.  It's always good to see old and new managing to live alongside each other in this way, well done Hawick!

Bono's Driving to Midnight Mass Poem - the Inside Story

I've always loved this poem, and now thanks to @U2 we can hear how it all came about.

Bono's Driving to Midnight Mass Poem the Inside Story

Trying to Have a Quiet Night Out ......

Bono trying to have a quiet meal out whilst on tour in Argentina.  Of course that's impossible for him and fans and photographers were waiting for his exit from the restaurant.   What a strange way to live your life, always recognised, never anonymous.

Must say though the B-man is looking pretty good for nearly 51!


More photos at the following link Bono's Meal Out in Argentina

U2 360 La Plata, Argentina (Spoiler)

This is the opener from the second gig of the 360 Tour in South America.  What a surprise!  Lovely new version of an old favourite which gave it a very different feel.  It brought back a lot of memories.  I hope that they do more things like this, surprises are good!

Radio 1's Big Weekend - in Carlisle!

Our small city of Carlisle is well off the usual tour circuit - even for the smaller bands.  Seeing a big band always means a long journey, often an overnight stay, so on top of ticket prices it's an expensive deal to go to a concert.  So people here were very excited to hear yesterday that the city has been chosen to host the Radio 1's Big Weekend, an annual event by the BBC to be held over the weekend 14-15 May.  This festival is deliberately held in places that normally don't get the chance to see famous acts on their doorstep, which I think is a brilliant idea.  Amongst the many, many acts performing are Lady Gaga, The Foo Fighters, The Black-Eyed Peas, Ellie Goulding and The Script.  You can see the full line up here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/bigweekend/2011/

Another great thing is that it is completely free, you register for tickets and win them by ballot, with the greatest percentage given to local people.  Even though I'm not a mega fan of any of the acts there are some I'd like to see, especially The Foo Fighters, who I've never seen live.  And it would just be a great experience close to home.  So I've registered - let's hope I'll be one of the lucky ones chosen!

- 12lbs

I haven't updated how I'm doing on my diet recently so I thought I'd do that today.  It's going slowly, I've had weeks when my weight has stayed the same but none where I've gained so I am happy with that and my waist is re-appearing yay!  It's going to be a long slog but I'm still well motivated and will stick to the diet until my holidays in the summer.

U2 Tour to End in North America?

I've not written in my blog for a while, things have been quiet here and compared to world events (natural and manmade) my little life didn't inspire me to write.  But U2 reared it's head today and ahead of the opening South American Show in Santiago today Edge did an interview for Phantom Radio in Ireland. Points that came up:

-  The 360 Tour will "probably" end with the show in Moncton, but Edge was not 100% definite on this -  as of now "That will be the end", but "Never say never"
-  They have lots of projects in the air all going in different directions and are not ready to commit to any one just yet.  They will "Sit back and figure it all out" after the tour ends.
-  They are looking forward to Glastonbury and want to "shake it up" song wise there
-  Edge playfully joked about Bono's height (or lack of it!)

It's strange but when Bono says something you take it with a pinch of salt but somehow Edge is more believable!  But a lot of the interview does show the usual  U2 dithering and inability to just give facts.  Surely they know definitely when the tour will end considering all the organisation such a big project needs?  Lots of waffling about an album release too, but in reality U2 usually only release an album every four years and it's only been two since the last one so I'm not expecting anything soon.  Glastonbury?  Almost bound to be greatest hits, rather than shook up.

I'm actually partially relieved that it looks like there will be no further 360 UK/Irish gigs because this tour has cost me a lot so far and if they played here I'd just HAVE to go!  Give the old credit card a chance to recover lol!

Listen to the interview on the link below.

Phantom Radio Edge Interview

Japan

On Friday morning I was up early for work.  I was my usual early morning grumpy self.  I got my Cornflakes and tea and plonked down in my chair in front  of the TV.  On the screen I saw a brown wave full of debris sweeping across land at great speed, ripping out everything in its path.  Whole houses, cars, lorries, trees, were caught in the sludgy torrent.  It was in Japan and there had been an earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami.  It was dreadful to see everything being swept away by the wave.

As the days went by more and more images were brought to us via the Internet and the brave reporters who travelled there to tell the story.  The scenes towns literally being taken out of existence by the tsunami reminded me of the grainy black and white images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bombs were dropped.  In Minamisinraku only the hospital survived amidst the devastation, looking much like the domed building that still stood amongst the ruins of Hiroshima. Only this time the destroyer was nature not man.   And there also may be another nuclear danger, this time with the threat of meltdown in the reactors at the Fukushima power station.  The Japanese have asked for help from specialists to work with them to prevent the unthinkable happening.  Let's pray they manage to avert further disaster.

A lot of the people look dazed and worried, searching for family and friends.  Many have lost everything, there could be half a million homeless, at least 10,000 dead, the infrastructure severely damaged.  Japan is well prepared  for earthquakes, but there's nothing you can do about a 25-30 metre high tsunami.  It just shows how quickly the thin layer of a modern society can be swept away.

The Japanese are very resourceful people, they recovered from those nuclear explosions decades ago to become a leader in the world economy.  There's a typically Japanese stoicism and orderliness evident amidst the chaos and, in time, and with the help of the rest of the world, they will recover from this.

Harvey the Dog

I've just seen the Harvey the Dog ad. Almost everyone in the UK will know what I mean, It's an ad promoting the power of advertising, showing a rescue dog in a kennel trying to impress potential adopters. Very funny, and Harvey just has "something" about him.

I was curious to find out more about Harvey, so in this age of finding answers easily in cyberspace, I Googled "Harvey dog ad" and up popped lots of info. Harvey is actually called Sykes and is seven years old.  He was a rescue dog, as a pup of seven months he followed friends of the current owner and their dog home.  No one claimed him so he went to live in Oxfordshire with Gill Raddings who runs a company called Action Stunt Dogs and Animals. She quickly recognised his good temperament and intelligence, and a legend was in the making!

Sykes was a star pupil and took to training well. He has appeared in many TV programmes - and he has even starred in two films with Johnny Depp, sigh....!

You can read an article all about Sykes (though I think Harvey suits him better) that was in the Daily Mail a while back here.  Below is the advertisement that made him famous.

Greatest Frontmen and Women Poll

NME are doing a Greatest Frontmen and Women poll.  Bono's one of the people on the list but so far he's not in the top 20 - Robert Smith is the surprising number one at the moment. So get voting for Bono here.

Crocuses, Starlings and Weather

We've been having some nice, bright and sunny days recently and Spring is bursting out everywhere. There are great swathes of crocuses across my city, our council planted them years ago.  I did a work visit today and the large patch of grass outside my client's house was full of thousands of blue and white crocuses, beautiful.  On the way home I noticed starlings starting to roost.  Once home I watched as the groups of birds joined together to form a huge cloud of thousands that swooped, weaved and turned as one. The movement of the flock reminded me of the undulations of the Northern Lights. They came so low as to almost skim the roofs of the houses, I could hear their wings flapping but there was no other sound from the birds.  How do they know which way to turn so suddenly?  Eventually the moved into the distance and settled for the night, but what an amazing show they had put on.

At this time of year nature comes alive again, the buds fatten up, birds sing more, even after the icy winter we had nothing stops the rebirth.  But people seem to come alive again too. The DIY stores are full of enthusiastic folk raring to get decorating or improving their home.  You see more of your neighbours as people re-discover their gardens, tidying away the winter debris, planting bedding plants, sighing at the thought of having to mow the lawn again.

Bright colours, tee-shirts, summer dresses, swimwear and sandals appear in the shops, the winter woolies are in the sales.  Holidays plans are made, I've got a holiday in Canada to look forward to.  Hopes for a hot summer abound, definitely not a guarantee in the UK, "We've had three crap summers, surely we'll have a good one this year!" People say, me included.  Our weather is never boring and we are obsessed with talking about it.

It's a good time of year, almost like coming out of hibernation, and I love the buzz and energy that is always around at this time.  Now, where's that paintbrush.........