Just PLAY damn you!!

Left it a bit late starting this one. It's currently Friday afternoon and the bullet points have failed me again.

• useless

I know! I have a bullet point for Monday that says useless. It could mean anything but I presume it refers to something I did, or didn't do.

Anyway, here goes.

Monday 02/06/14

Spent the morning in bed doing last week's blog, hard life isn't it. Got an invite to coffee from my mate Kerry. Then met Julie for mocha. Really is a very hard life. I missed a call from NatWest about a business meeting and had the voicemail: 'So if you could call back as soon as on.....' and the line went dead. Maybe that's what useless refers to. 

Did a spot of shopping. Julie needed slug pellets. I thought she said slut pellets and figured it was some kind of deterrent needed on a weekend night for the Silver Street overspill.

I went back to my CDs while Julie went back to work and did her much better and I have to say much more popular blog. http://juliecaskcornerbuckley.blogspot.com  As is the case on a Monday it's a busy one for Julie and it was way gone 10pm before she got in. Late detox salad and Scrabble. Astonishingly another win for me. By 71 points. 21-3. 

Tuesday 03/06/14

Spent the morning trying to chase up NatWest and the missing phone number and trying to get a credit report from a company that don't think I exist. This was followed up by trying to make arrangements to view another property only for no-one, including the agents advertising it, to know anything about it.

A very futile and frustrating morning. It's been a frustrating kind of week. Picked a right week to quit smoking! (11 days now and it's agony)!

Back to the mountain of CDs and another late one for Julie. 10pm again for bonus Scrabble and unheard of back to back wins for your's truly. 127 points too. I'm now wondering if it was all just a nicotine patch inflicted dream. 

Wednesday 04/06/14

Out in the lashing rain to view some premises. Not the ones I phoned up about yesterday though I did finally get a call about them and am viewing them next week. And NatWest rang back. A much less frustrating, albeit damp, morning. The premises were ideal apart from the mushrooms growing out the carpet. I suppose I could use them as a feature. 

Julie's Dad's birthday today. We were shopping in Boots for presents and I did something I've never done before. I moisturised. Only half my face. Felt kinda good. I may have to get all metrosexual. I picked up a tube of anti-wrinkle scrotum cream. I know male grooming is all the rage and that particular area is somewhat wrinkly but surely that's a step too far. I then realised it said anti-wrinkle serum cream. My eyes aren't what they once were. Saying that I used to weigh 8lb 4oz so it's all going to pot. 

Back to my flat for, surprisingly, scrotum related phone calls. This is just getting too bizarre now. Let's move swiftly on.

Back into town for birthday mocha and pint with Julie's family then met my son, Liam, for more pints and comedy night at Cask Corner. Quieter than usual this month and the first few acts struggled. It picked up though and was thoroughly enjoyable as per. And the night ended with the record for most people in the disabled toilet being broken again. It now stands at 25. 

Home where Julie, after her standard jacket potato, fell asleep during Frasier on the sofa. She's not a woman to be woken so I had the bed to myself. Worst night's sleep in months.

Thursday 05/06/14

Today was the hardest day yet of the no smoking regime. No idea why. Just gagging for one all day. I resisted. Just. 

Mr. Stiff are playing at Cask Friday and Julie normally plays bass with them on one song. She'd not learnt anything new yet so spent the whole day practising. I never want to hear Enter Sandman again. I've signed the petition to stop Metallica playing Glastonbury purely out of spite. 

Finally finished cataloguing all the CDs and the day ended with more Scrabble. Julie was taking no prisoners. Beat me by 115 points. 22-4. She did let me play Trivial Pursuit afterwards knowing my knowledge of useless facts would probably lead to victory. 3-0 but it felt hollow after the Scrabble mauling. 

Friday 06/06/14

I got all domesticated and did some washing, having first gone to the shop to get some washing liquid 'cos I didn't see the bottle in plain view on the shelf. Maybe a 

• useless

should be used here too.

A lazy afternoon writing this, watching the washing battle with the foliage as it dries and not thinking about red dresses. 

Cask in the evening to chaperon Julie's sister Mandy to see covers band Mr. Stiff. Or was Mandy chaperoning me? I'm not totally sure. As for Julie playing bass with them she did. To Gary Moore's Walking By Myself. She already knew that one. Mr. Stiff don't play Enter Sandman. I spent all day Thursday listening to it for no reason. I'm signing that Glastonbury petition again. Had a really fun night but drank far too much and can only apologise to my gorgeous girlfriend for being a bit of an arse when I finally got home. She's far too forgiving.
 
Saturday 07/06/14

Annoyingly I was hangover free. I deserved one really.  A lazy day before heading out to once more catch the quality live music Doncaster has to offer: We Lost Bravo, Fluidity and White Valentine at The Woolpack and Liberty Skank at Cask Corner. Nice and chilled for my dance home with the iPod. A taxi driver on Balby Road was very impressed with my moves. I couldn't hear properly 'cos of the iPod but I'm sure he said 'Bucking dancer'. I presume it's some kind of slang I'm unaware of.

Sunday 08/06/14


Pottered around my flat all day. It's a very small flat. You can easily potter round the whole flat in 30 seconds and there's only so many times you can potter. I'm not good at pottering. Sine FM Towers for The Other Way at 6. The beginning and ending to the show were awful. Everything in between was quality. Every button I pressed at the start of the show failed. Nothing like dead air to entertain the masses. Then two songs started playing at once. I'm such a professional. Thankfully things calmed down and my guests, the very brilliant Missing Pages, were saved from doing a two hour set. We talked male grooming, the lack of alcohol in everything and that elusive first album in between them playing live and showing just why they have been one of my favourite Donny acts for so long now. 

The incredibly talented Laura Kelly also nipped in. Sadly due to my lack of planning and professionalism, and Julie and Laura having an impromptu jam session in the green room (yes we have a green room and it is, disturbingly, green. That nasty hospital green) we only managed to get one song out of Laura with Julie on rhythm guitar. We'll try again soon. 

Every week Julie gives me a word to slip into the show somehow. In the past we've had antithesis, particulate and velour, all successfully included in the standard waffling. This week it was piebald. Ah, I'm so glad I chose this week to play Pulled Apart By Horses new single.

End of the show and again things decided they just didn't want to play. The wrong show dropped in and the whole schedule could have been bent out of shape. Thankfully after some faffing I finally sorted it. Have I mentioned I'm technically inept? 

Again, I've picked a fine time to quit smoking. Possibly out of sympathy for my nicotine free technophobia Julie agreed to play Trivial Pursuit again. 4-0. Then she proceeded to once more batter me at Scrabble. 23-4. Sympathy never stretches to Scrabble.

Quite right too.

Laters

SS

The Other Way Playlist Sunday 08/06/14


Everest - Public Service Broadcasting
45 - The Gaslight Anthem
Dog Days Are Over - Florence And The Machine
Follow You Home - Embrace
Reflections Of Summer (Live) - The Missing Pages
Letter From America - The Proclaimers
Cloudfest - Dexters
Rocky Ground - Bruce Springsteen
Jules Verne - The Clox
The Snake - Al Wilson
Webs Of Memories (Live) - The Missing Pages
VPL - Gbone
How It Ended - The Drums
Uptown Top Ranking - Althea And Donna
Rain - The Cult
Stand And fall - The Velcro Teddy Bears
Monkey Man - Toots And The Maytals
In Mind With You (Live) - The Missing Pages
(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais - The Clash
Lonely People - Jade-Lee Saxleby (Music Bomb)
Dream A Little Dream (Live) - Laura Kelly & Julie Buckley
Hot Squash - Pulled Apart By Horses
Ripples - The Coopers
Original Style - Rock To Art
Take Me Home - Fluidity
The Only Living Boy In New Cross - Carter USM
Cry Me A River - Ella Fitzgerald
Johannesburg - Bang Bang Romeo
Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers