the fa cup

The FA Cup yesterday. Manchester City are welcome to it, and United's treble in 1999 was much better.

toodle pip

the summer of love musical - darlington

I moseyed on up to see the Summer of Love musical at Darlington Hippodrome earlier this week, and it was actually pretty great song wise. All of the tunes chosen were excellent, but obviously some were better presented and packed more of a punch. I particularly enjoyed White Rabbit and Purple Haze, but there were quite a few excellent renditions. I would have guessed beforehand that they would probably finish with 'All You Need is Love', but it was a nice touch doing the acoustic singalong of 'Give Peace a Chance'.
I just wish l had been old enough to have experienced it all first hand in the 1960's, especially alongside the drugs and free love, although l did try and make up for it in later years.

And here's a short video



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mr parrot back to his normal self

Mr Parrot has not been well recently, but l'm glad to say he has made a full recovery and is back to trying to get attention from me, even when l am watching The Rolling Stones.

Hurrah! 

Maybe he will turn out to be indestructible like me. I certainly hope so.

toodle pip

record store day and bob dylan - blood on the tracks

As l was awake early and it was Record Store Day, l decided to have a drive through to Stockton and hit Sound it Out records, as l wanted the new Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks test pressing, which was one of the items on sale that day. After waiting in line for a couple of hours with all the other fellow saddos, l finally made it into the shop. Hurrah!! I saw the person who had been two people in front of me in the queue holding a copy of the Dylan lp, and asked where about they were placed, only to be told that he had just got the last copy. Yes your honour, l did indeed call him a rude name (only half in jest) and ended up leaving the shop without the Dylan album, but with new T.Rex and Van Morrison ones instead (and cursing). l then had a look around the charity shops and headed to the Boro to surprise my matey boy, only to find there was no one in, so drove back home, cursing again. Only to get a phone call shortly afterwards to say they had just got back home from shopping and had just missed me. So, a bit of a mixed bag of a day, as l came home with some goodies, missed my mate, and never got the Dylan album l was after.
Obviously l have since ordered the Dylan lp online, and it was everything l expected, and l love it. Now added to the other versions of the album l already have.
I need to get a life.

 The queue when l arrived

Nearly in the shop!

The two records l did buy

People still queueing when l was leaving Stockton

 The glorious album l was after. Mmmmmmm -  Nice (Sent from The Netherlands)

Other versions l have of the Dylan album

toodle pip

the english democrats

It's a good job that l was out when these were put through my letterbox, as l'd have told them to bugger off (maybe not so politely) and not to come back. English jobs for English workers? Good luck with getting rid of all of the Irish, Scots or Welsh for a start, although l suspect they will be too busy dealing with 'foreigners' who look as though they have some kind of tan first.

Fucking bunch of racist bastards.

toodle pip

queen / the beatles - live at wenley / wembley

I don't know about anyone else, but l would be a bit dubious about purchasing this 3 cd set of Queen live at Wenley. I've got a sneaking suspicion that it may not be 100% legit.

I saw Queen many times back in their early years, but l don't remember them ever looking like this.

Are the pirates / counterfitters demonstrating all white people look the same to them? Bloody racists!

toodle pip

targeted by funeral homes

I know l'm knocking on, but there's no need to keep reminding me. Now there's another funeral establishment sending me adverts. This one arrived today from the new place in Richmond.
I think they are trying to tell me something, not realising of course, that they are wasting their time, effort, and money, as l am indestructible.

toodle pip

going mad in tesco's

The next time l want some milk and tomatoes, l will just go to the corner shop, as l am the kind of impulse buyer that Tesco love.
It turned out to be an expensive shop for something that would have cost a couple of pounds!

toodle pip

the greenhornes - there is an end

I was reminded of this song when watching the 2018-19 end of season Match of the Day, as it was played over the closing credits and montage. Now l can't stop listening to it, and whoever chose it for use deserves a gold star.
Unless it drives me mad / madder.
From their Duel Mono album
Enjoy!



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football - bloody hell! champions league semi finals

Being a bitter and twisted Manchester United fan, l didn't watch the Champions League (European Cup in old money) semi final second leg at Anfield between Liverpool and Barcelona, just in case Liverpool managed to miraculously get through, after being 0-3 down from the first leg (which l was happy to watch). Despite ignoring it as much as possible, l then started to receive texts mocking me from my Liverpool supporting mates, as Liverpool, just as l feared, managed to win 4-0 and go through to the final. Even l, much as it pains me to say, must admit that was a fantastic result against a team who were being quoted at 50-1 on to progress. Damn their scouse hides!

Last night however, l did watch the other semi final second leg between Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) and Ajax of Amsterdam. Spurs ended up needing to score three goals in the second half to go through, didn't look like doing it, and l was busy texting my mates a picture of my Ajax shirt, saying l would be wearing it on the day of the final, when they would have been playing Liverpool.
How quickly things turned around was unbelievable, as with pretty much the last kick of the game, Spurs managed to complete their comeback, leading to (what l would argue) were even more ecstatic and deflated scenes than the night before had produced. I wasn't really bothered who went through before the game, but was crying along with the raw emotion on screen at the end of the game. Although l love lots of other things in life, nothing compares to the drama of this, even with teams l don't support.
As the great Sir Alex Ferguson famously said, 'Football - Bloody Hell'
People who don't follow the game are seriously missing out on nights like these (as l'll begrudgingly include the Liverpool one).
Here's the Nofilter highlights (until they get taken down).
Enjoy





toodle pip

danny baker the racist - now fired

I've been listening with great pleasure to various Danny Baker podcasts for years now, and although he can have certain convictions that l completely disagree with, l have never thought that he was a racist. Last night however, he made a serious error of judgment on his twitter feed, by posting a picture of a posh couple with a suited monkey, straight after the naming of the new royal baby (Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor). There was  a backlash about the picture on racist grounds, due to the mixed race parentage through Megan Markle, and Danny apologised a few times (although often with a caveat) and took it down, saying he did not mean it to be perceived as racist. He has also had years of ongoing jokes of a non racist kind about monkeys dressed as famous people without complaint. Twitter however, would not let it lie, and despite other apologies from Danny, he has now been sacked from his BBC5 Live show.
Now a lot of people may argue that as Danny comes from a working class background and supports Millwall, there may be racist connotations to the post as he may be subliminally racist. However, forget his background and the team he supports, this does not make him racist. It's actions and deeds that count.
Only Danny knows the truth, but l for one, was extremely disappointed that the following tweets from Danny could also have been seen to be linked to the one that was taken down, although no-one seems to have really mentioned this. One referred to 'Brown' being added to a drink, and the next referring to a microphone he was holding from an early show of his being in the shape of a banana. I think if there was a genuine heartfelt apology after the monkey pic, without the next couple of tweets, he should have been forgiven.
Maybe these were intended as racist. Maybe these were just poor attempts at humour and coincidental. Maybe there is nothing of note in these tweets and l am the racist one, finding meaning in them.
As l stated, only Danny knows, but these were seriously stupid posts, and this could be a sad end to a career.
Posts are below, his twitter feed is here, and there are plenty of podcasts out there for you to make up your own mind.

toodle pip

francis rossie?

I'm assuming the headline writer at The Northern Echo is on work experience, but the proof reader (or any sane person) should have noticed that the lead singer from Status Quo is Francis Rossi, especially as it is spelt correctly in the article underneath, and he is not exactly a unknown newcomer.

This sort of stuff really annoys me, as it makes you wonder what else they may have wrong, if something so glaringly obvious can be missed.

Bleeding youth of today etc etc

toodle pip

a cute raccoon eating cherries

Ever wanted to watch a video of a very laid back Raccoon eating cherries while wearing a bib?
Today's your lucky day!
One of the greatest things l have ever seen on youtube.



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scans and pics from the hamburg trip

Various scans and photographs from the recent short trip to Hamburg.
Lots of drink was taken by all (Hic).

 Manchester Airport menu

 Our room info

 Instructions from the German bar staff for the best places to buy tickets to see St Pauli (We couldn't get in but watched some of the game inside the stadium on TV in the supporters bar)

 Posh leather bound menu from Hamburg

Bill for our drinks at the top of Clouds (Robbo paid)

 My bill for a bottle of wine from Hamburg Airport which we sneakily drank on the plane, and got told off for when we put the empty bottle in the rubbish bag (Breaking the law, Breaking the law...)

A ticket for the game we couldn't get into (found in a bar later on)

 Chips on the return plane home

 Outside the St Pauli stadium

 View from the top of Clouds

Beans on Toast on stage and my signed poster

 Where we had to get off the train because one of our party was going to wee himself (It wasn't me or Robbo)

How l'm planning on looking in later life

toodle pip