Rantings

Well, last night was the final night of the bank holiday, so we went out again, this time to see a band that a couple of friends of ours are in. I have to say they are one of the best local club bands I know of, and I'm not just saying that because they're friends. If you get the chance to see them, don't miss out on the opportunity ... you will not regret it. I have seen them many times and they always put on a really good performance.

So, last night we went to the rock night which is on every month at Durham City Cricket Club.



It pretty bog standard stuff ... lots of 70s and 80s poodle hair music, but about halfway through they start to play the stuff I like, with thumping base beats and attitude. Pity it doesn't last long because they're back to fecking Foreigner and Europe and Journey for the rest of the night.



Anyway, once again I was playing with my new rinky dinky little camera and thought it was time to name and shame.


Come one guys, what are you thinking? You think it's a good idea to save money by having curtains made that don't even close and have no blackout lining, and then put bin bags up at the window to cut out the light? Have you any idea how stupid it makes you look? Do you think I really want to go to this kind of establishment again?!

So, Saturday evening we went over to O'Neill's Irish bar in Durham to see a band called Malarky. They were quite good as cover bands go. Place was full, got most people up dancing after a few pints of Guiness.



So, I got to playing with my new camera again. It has a high sensitivity setting so that you can take pictures in darkened situations without a flash. Handy if you want to capture the atmos including lighting effects, etc. Of course, you do lose a lot in quality, plus artificial lighting together with red pub walls made all the photos have a red cast, but I'm quite pleased with what can be achieved in such a dim place.


My friend, Rick


Rick & Mr Lisa's pints going down nicely


The band, Malarky

But then I noticed this cash machine ...


... and the onscreen message...


... then this ...



Er ... guys! You lot over at Scott Tod ... I think it was the guy that was buying pints for everyone in the pub!

Well, in case you hadn't worked it out, it was my birthday on Thursday. Mr Lisa bought me a nifty spiffy new camera which does just about everything except make the coffee, so off I went to try it out on Saturday.

My sis and I went along to this month's "Blow" event, but taking pictures while trying to blow bubbles off the Millennium Bridge is more difficult than it sounds. I spilled soapy bubble mixture down my top, dipped my hair in it, and almost dropped my camera in the River Tyne.



The Baltic Flour Mill - a wonderful place to visit if you're near Gateshead and fancy visiting an art exhibition. Those clouds were looking quite ominious before we'd even got there.



The Pitcher and Piano where we decided to have a drink before the event started.


And here we are, spreading bubbly happiness to all!

Just as we were finished "Blowing" the heavens opened and the camera was quickly packed up and put away. I got utterly drenched and was not a happy bunny by the time I got home. At least it was warm rain.

Can't remember if I've already blogged this, but it deserves a second airing nevertheless:

http://www.wingtunes.com/public/songs.aspx

Lots of Lego Doctor Who videos

You will most likely regret following this link, but here it is anyway for any trainspotting type geeks out there:

http://ithrewup.com/mt/

I'm so tired I can hardly even think. I have so many things saved to blog too, but I just couldn't be arsed to do anything about it until now. My lovely little laptop died tragically in November last year and since then I've been using my ancient elastic-band-powered desktop PC to check my email and stuff, but it's so slow that I'd be nearly tearing my hair out if I tried to type up a blog entry.

Happily my super duper new turbo charged laptop is positively whizzing along as I type this, so you can now look forward to the humour of me trying to catch up! I have the Whitby Gothic Weekend to summarize and I just don't even know where to start with that one!

Maybe I'll feel better after a good night's sleep. In the meantime, here's a bit of fun over at Pinksy's blog. Made me laugh anyway.