Because most of the bands I like don't exist anymore - Louis Armstrong's Hot Seven split up in the 1920s, for example - I don't go to very many gigs, the most recent one being a Supertramp tribute band I saw with shewho in Cricklewood last November. Imagine my excitement, then, when I heard that next month the Ronnie Scott's Big Band are playing "a ( Read more... )

fille_a_paris and I are going to Cannes next week - it's particularly exciting because our flight on Thursday morning is so early that we're having to spend Wednesday night in a hotel in Luton, so it's like two holidays in one. I decided to visit the "What's On…Out 'n About" page of Luton Today to see if there were any exciting events lined up for our one ( Read more... )

I was Googling to find the exact result when I found this:


( Read more... )

Like most people I expect that when judging a person's suitability to hold public office, you want to know whether or not they're capable of running a whelk stall. In November last year the Daily Mail reported that half of all voters believed that Gordon Brown "would struggle to run a whelk stall", a deficiency which I'm sure you'll agree makes ( Read more... )

Parce que fille_a_paris est actuellement à Paris aujourd' hui, j'ai decidé qu'il était une bonne idée à écrire ci entrée de Livejournal en Francais, parce que c'est l'espèce de personne que je suis; l'espèce de personne qui decides qu'il est une bonne idée à écrire une entrée de Livejournal en Francais, et alors comprends qu'il n'est pas une bonne idée à écrire ( Read more... )

I was in London earlier this week, halfway between Marylebone Station and Vine Street, when an annuity matured and I won £100. I was blessing my good fortune when I realised I wasn't in London at all; I was at home playing Monopoly. Packing the board away I logged onto Livejournal and noticed that publicansdecoy had mentioned a one day "content strike" on LJ ( Read more... )

I was watching a terrifying horror movie the other night about a man trapped in a giant maze, being chased around it by ghosts. I got so scared I had to call fille_a_paris into the living room to keep me company. "fille_a_paris!", I shouted, "Can you come into the living room to keep me company while I watch this terrifying horror movie about a man trapped in a giant maze ( Read more... )

I was in a pub on Monday afternoon, having a quiet pint, minding my own business and not bothering anyone, with the possible exception of fille_a_paris, who was there with me, and who I may have been bothering, although if I was she didn't mention it, which was nice of her, when my mobile rang. It was diamond_geyser, to whom I must in an earlier moment of weakness have ( Read more... )

You're probably like me, and far too busy to spend your valuable time visiting Independent Financial Advisors. But you still need to know how best to invest your pocket money, don't you - I suppose one solution might be to consult the Money section of your Sunday newspaper, but in my case that's always the first section I throw away. When I get ( Read more... )

I had an email the other day from Mr Rimi Idris, Bill and Exchange Manager at the Bank of Africa in Ouagadougou, Burkino Faso. Very heavyhanded with the Caps Lock, it was. I replied suggesting that instead of me paying him an administrative fee of $3,000 so that he could send me $9 million from the account of a man who'd died with no next of kin ( Read more... )