GOFFA FROM THE BLOCK

Well I almost managed it.  I've broken promises runs of posts so many times so I didn't mention the plan.  I planned to post every day of my holiday at home and only failed to post yesterday.   Close but no cigar! My good friend Richard G and real blogger spotted there was life here and mentioned it on FB.  Daily views are now up to the dizzy heights of 6 - Cheers Rich. I've quite enjoyed doing being at the keyboard again and it's been less onerous than I remember. Then again I've been off work.  It's hardly been thrilling stuff but it is what it is circa 2017.  You can't expect the knock about stuff that was going on 10 years ago. A quick check has just confirmed that I started "writing stuff up" as I always call it  2 January 2006 .  Lots has changed since then both in my life and the outside world.  I've just had a flick through both LiveJournal and Blogger, it's all there if you too are inclined.  I used to go on about my famil...

Wolf Alice were actually quite good.  As I mentioned, I had seen them before but couldn't really remember much apart from having a female vocalist.  Long standing followers know I always remember the girls.  A good rock/pop band playing some good songs with some decent hooklines. None particularly memorable but I'm not complaining. It was really nice to be back upstairs at The Westgarth.  The sound was excellent, I could even hear the vocals, they are so often (maybe intentionally) lost in the live mix.  As I mentioned last night Wolf Alice had tagged a few smaller venue shows dates at the front end of their tour and it was very nice of them to include Boro in the "warm up" dates. I'm sure there was method behind the madness.  From my (fairly vast) experience bands at the very least get a fair crack of the whip in the Boro and especially at The Westgarth.  The bands always appreciate the respectful and usually enthusiastic audience and the care tak...

Just as well as I'm not feeling great. Things were going too good, I've been well for ages but my IBS has flared up which causes me other issues health wise. It's the sort of thing that would have sent me running to see my GP 5 years ago but I just get on with it nowadays. As long as there is a decent toilet I can run too I just get on with thing.   I know, what a martyr. I'm off to see Wolf Alice at The Westgarth tonight with Ste. They played there 4 years ago but have moved upwards and onwards since then. I didn't go but I'm pretty sure I saw the at EOTR 2013. So WA are playing a few warm up dates at smaller venues before they move on to their main tour .  Quite a coup for The Kids Are Solid Gold and the Westgarth itself. Will report back tomorrow.

We've had another busy day.  I don't know about Shamila but I'm starting to flag a bit. We planned to pick some brambles from my secret stash over the border (found Monday).  Travelling from north of the river it seemed a good idea to drive to Port Clarence and take an as the crow flies short cut over the Transporter.   What's not to love about The Transporter  (Wikipedia hyperlink for non locals)?  Still a working bridge and all that blah, blah blah.  I hadn't been travelled on the gondola for over 20 years and Shamila hadn't been over since she was a kid.  I didn't tell her my plan until the last minute and it earned loads of brownie points for such a simple trip.  Yes!!!!! We picked our brambles (more of that on Facebook) from our secret supply before heading over to Lord Stones   to right the wrong of yesterday.  Here's a photo of me giving Shamila a pre-walk pep talk. and it seemed to do the trick.  We w...

I had a bit of a play about with the design of my Blog.  I really wish I could get it to line up the photos a bit better, collage like or something. It looks crap. I took all the stuff from the sidebars (tech term which means down the sides).  It was all old stuff and I can't be bother to maintain it.  I know it's far from great.  I might have another go later. So what have I been up to today?  Once again, I am able to report, plenty. Me and Sham decided to do a walk I'd pulled out of the Gazette a few moths ago by long standing correspondent Bob Woodhouse.  It was described as "Raisdale Circular, a 6 1/2 miles from Lordstones out and around Cringle and West Bilsdale moors".  I can only describe it as an enjoyable slog.  The instructions were vague to say the least but we were still on track  4/5 of the way round until we finally had to admit to defeat after failing to find a supposed gap in a wall either at the top or bottom of Wath...

Today went just as I'd played out in my mind and unusually I managed to do everything planned.  I  had a good session at the gym, did my tour of Middlesbrough and met up with Shamila mid-afternoon. We headed off to Whitby for a game of crazy (to the unenlightened) or mini (to those in the know) golf and fish and chips for our tea. I'm pretty knackered so I'm just going to let the photos tell my story of today if that's ok?  Might do an early post tomorrow.  I've got the Boro match tomorrow night. Adious.

Inspired by a flick at a book Shamila got her Dad for his 86th birthday (3 cheers) about the history of central Middlesbrough I thought I'd have a mooch around my home town, "The Boro".  I'm a bit ashamed I've never done it before. There's not an awful left of "the olden days" in Middlesbrough to be honest.   Here's an article from the Gazette a couple of years ago about some of the buildings we've lost.  Read it and weep.  For example in fairly recent years we've lost the old St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Sussex Street that was demolished after an arson attack in 2000 and the Cleveland Scientific Institution which was demolished in 2006 to make way for a car park.  You couldn't make it up. I won't say it was a  criminal act  because I might get into trouble. In any case Mandale Properties and Middlesbrough Council had no case to answer because all the correct procedures were followed in relation to its d...

Gutted Mo couldn't double up.  What a superstar.  The best British sportsman bar none in my lifetime.  As I'm watching he's posing for lots of selfies with VIP's in the front row around the stadium,  agh.....?  Wasn't not so keen on that bit to be honest. Bit of sport going on today.  It was also Boro's first home game of the season and and we won . Though it was far from thrilling.  Almost tempted to say "are you Karanka in disguise" to Gary Monk.  We played really well for about 20 minutes in the first half when we scored but we a bit lucky in the end. Bamford and Christie were great but Assombalonga didn't look as good as Kike did on his home debut 2 seasons ago for me.  It's early days and I'll be back there on Tuesday.  It's still unconditional love for the team but I don't feel any obligation to give Boro any early season benefit of doubt after Gibson bizarre intervention in the general election campaign.   Me and Sham wen...

So the first day of my home holiday is over.  Well just my normal day off from work but it's ok to count it as the first day as it makes it up to a nice round 10 days isn't it?  Actually one of the benefits of being part-time is that I get more holidays (at least in my mind) .  I haven't worked Friday's now for over 7 years and it still sometimes feels like I'm nicking off on a Friday.  The pay I lose for cutting a day is negligible, a benefit of being so poorly paid I like to think.  Shh.., don't tell anybody, they'll all want to do it. You might have noticed I haven't been posting much for .... well a long time now.  Enough to be able to tell people "I write a blog" mind, not that I ever do. I haven't even got an excuse.  I've still got plenty to say but I've been doing other stuff.  Y'know, the gym, walking, reading the news, reading a few books, listening to music, watching TV box sets, currently Ozark  (it's pretty go...

Could be a song title? Actually just testing the water.   Always looking for options and this blog remains an option.   Eeez a little number... Night