Well christmas and new year sort of faded into one as per usual. Call me Scrooge but I normally cant get that excited about Christmas but historically I’ve always found a way to enjoy Hogmanay.

On Christmas Eve we went down to an italian restaurant in Cambuslang for Dinner with Vonnie’s mums side of the family. Was very nice but I think the food didnt agree with me as I felt a bit dodgy on Christmas day despite not eating anything else by then. Funniest moment was Davie accusing folk of drinking his wine despite noone else touching it. He’d been constantly topping up his glass and didnt realise how much he’d actually drank by the time the meal was finished!

Christmas day was nice but very stressful. Managed to make it down to the parentals in the morning but by the time we made it back home I was struggling to make dinner in time for Finn going to his Dad’s. In the end Finn spat carrot soup over the table and Vonnie was that worked up about alot of things she could barely eat anything. The food was nice though

Boxing day meant the annual family get together which this year was at my Uncle’s in Hamilton. We made it down there for about half 5 and had a very nice night. Its a complete change these days now that the kids have all grown up and don’t really come along and now they’ve built a conservatory theres space for everyone for a change.

With my week off the idea was to get the house completely sorted but between Christmas and New Year my sleeping patterns been completely off and although Vonnie’s only worked a few days we’ve really had very little time to get anything done. Made a start on our bedroom the other day but we got half way through it and had to leave it for the next day. The problem with this is that we never managed to do it the next day. The house gradually got worse until I had to redo the kitchen a wee bit in order to get my work surfaces back. This meant the living room wasnt tidied though for New Year. We werent expecting anyone over though as our plans were changing right up until the last minute. First off we had to go see family and then round to Daves to see the bells in but at first we didnt have a baby sitter. Then Dave’s party was cancelled just as we got a sitter so we decided to go into Glasgow and see our friends band play in Rockers for the Bells. It came to 7pm and Vonnie was feeling ill and I could barely stay awake so we cancelled everything and decided to chill in front of the TV. That was until Heather came in to say that Georges parents had an open house and wanted to know if we wanted to go over. Finn got his shoes and jacket on and dissappeared with Heather and Kylie over there until 1am while we stayed at home. At was at this point that Vonnie started to Worry about first footers. We spent the 45 minutes before the bell cracking up trying to tide the house. We managed it though but there was several fallings out before collapsing on the couch knackered. And no bugger first footed us!

New years day was round at my mums for dinner where Sasha snarled at Nairn. Shes snapped at him once already so we really need to get something sorted.

Now that christmas is over and done with its back to sorting the house out properly. First up this year is the kitchen. Ours is currently crap and we have no storage space or work surfaces. This has to change so we got the designer guy round from Vonnie’s work to see what he could do. Has he put it there wasn’t much he could really change but he’s fitted in a few extra bits a pieces so it should be all good. Hopefully we’re ordering it within the next day or two so we can get it in the sale. The only problem with this is we can’t afford to get someone to fit it for us. Thats just giving money away so hopefully between Vonnie’s dad and a few folk we know we should be able to get folk willing to help us out for beer hopefully. I’d intended on trying to get some leave to help out over the next couple of weeks but Jenna in work has broke her foot and has a sick line for the next 3 weeks. This means Im by myself until then as Ians got a line until then as well for his broken ankle. I’ll need to talk to my bosses about this as soon as we start thinking about delivery and installation dates

And now onto the bit nicked from Dave Hogg…

Favourite Moment of 2006 – No hesitation its got to be Nairn’s birth. Was a very strange and long few days runing up to the moment but walking out the front door to phone my parents to tell them the news was the first time I can honestly say my face hurt from smiling.

Favourite Book of 2006 – Fatherhood: The Truth by Marcus Berkmann. I can honestly say that without this book I think I would have cracked up. Its a no holds barred look at kids right through from conception to thier first birthday. All the bad bits he actually manages to make you laugh and when they happen to you you end up with a smile on your face. If it wasn’t an audiobook I’d have chosen Bob Brier’s History of Ancient Egypt thats speard over 48 lectures. I need to have another go at that btw as I’ve yet to read/hear anything thats so well done on the subject without getting too technical.

Favourite Gig of 2006 – I went to a gig in 2006? Actually now I think about it I did manage to one gig. The Bloodhound Gang at The Garage was fantastic. Seen them before but theyre support Electric Eel Shock made my night!

Favourite Website of 2006 – I struggled with this one. It shows just how much time I spend on thte internet these days when I pick Alternative Nation for this. Its not that its my favouite its just that thats where I spend most of my time when I am online. Hell I even gave up my supermoderator status in there and I still put it as my favourite. Someone shoot me

Favourite Country of 2006 – Would have to be New Zealand. Looking to the future and emigration is a definate possibility in the coming years with NZ and Canada being the front runners with Cananda edging it in the doability stakes. New Zealand has stolen my heart though in regards to my choice.

I’d originally intended on adding a few more categories but it’s taken me about an hour to type this up so far and i’m fecking knackered. And besides I’m supposed to be dong work

Tags: Bob Brier, Boxing day, Canada, christmas, Christmas day, christmas eve, Dave Hogg, food, food didnt, Glasgow, Heather, Kylie, Marcus Berkmann, Nairn, New Year's Day, New Zealand, the Bells, Then Dave's party, thte internet

Aha…you all thought I’d forgotten about htis place hadnt you?
Well your wrong. I’ve just been worked off my arse for the last week!

Eurovision
I think last year was the first Eurovision that I’ve missed in many a year so this year I had to watch it. Its like a car crash and you just can’t help but be a goul and look at it. You know its going to be horrendous but its always terrible in a funny way and Terry Wogan’s patter as more drink goeas into his system is always unmissible.

Went through to Kirsty and Mo’s in Paisley to watch it. I knew Lordi would be the one to watch but I never thought they’d come even close to winning but the one to watch we’re Lithuania. I’m still singing that damn song today!

Changes
We’ve just started getting the flat the way we wanted it and a house comes up for sale within out price range. Lots of work needs done to it but the sellers are looking for more than the 10-15% over the asking price that most places go for. At that price its way way way to much but hopefully they’ll see sense when they realise that we’re the only ones interested in it thanks to the the amount of work needing done to the place. This has meant that we may have to sell the flat way ahead of schedule (I’d hoped to last another couple of years there if we could get away with it) so we’ve spent the weekend going crazy and ripping the flat to shreds to get it in order. The livingroom is covered in stuff as Vonnies been going through everything in an attempt to either box it up in the right order or bin what we dont need. Meanwhile I cleaned the kitchen and decorated our bedroom. I’d forgotten how bloody awkward using coloured paint as the main paint on a wall is. Combine that with the paint already on teh wall having a silk finish and you get me putting on 3-4 coats of paint just to the it looking even. I’ve not even had the time to gloss the doors or skirting!

The Wedding
Clare picked up the kilts on wednesday night but never made it home for us to pick them up to try them on as it was all hands on deck apparently to get the favours sorted for friday. Mark dropped it off on thursday morning but I didnt get to try it until thursday night. Panicked a bit when I found out there was no belt but then realised you dont wear a belt if your wearing a waistcoat. The kilt itself was a bit to big. Either they’d gave me the wrong kilt or I’d lost weight…not sure which to be honest. This meant that whilst it stayed up I’d have to be careful as it was to late to take it back to get it fixed/changed. Kept having to hoyk it back up every to minutes when I was standing though

After a few arguements with Vonnie over map reading we made it to the venue on time and Stoo and Dave managed to finish getting ready in the back of the car. The ceremony was cool and I’ve got the feeling I left my order of service thingie with the leftover pile

The meal was great although I ended up eating haggis which made Vonnie laugh as I hate the stuff. I didnt know there was fruit instead so as a matter of principle I hate the haggis instead! Everyone looked great although I didnt get teh chance to dance with Vonnie. I’d just got back from the first dance when she wanted to go up for the next one and I couldnt do it thanks to a combination of sore feet, lose kilt and embaressment from dancing. By the time that was overcome there wasnt anymore songs she wanted to dance to

Headed home at the back of ten so that we could relieve teh babysitters as soon as possible. Jen and Steph had took turns looking after the kids so we were very grateful for that Went past Lyndseys flat on the way home and as she was heading off to Canada we dropped in for 5 mins to say hello then we’re back on the road.

Good night was had by all I hope

Getting the kilt back was another ordeal all together though. Vonnie was out from early on on the other side of glasgow and I had to get the painting done before I could go anywhere as it needed to be ready for monday morning. I couldnt find anyone that was heading out that way to drop my kilt off so I eventually managed to get Vonnie back to EK after a whole load of wrangling so she could actually get home and we headed off to find Cameron Kilts and drop the kilt off. At 3.25pm we gave up looking for them and I phoned the office only to find they’d hsut at 3pm and the guy was just setting the alarm to head home. It seems the address on the website doesnt match up with where they actually are. The website says they are on oneside of the dual carrigeway when in actual fact they are on the other side at the far end of the estate! Grrrrrr!

Tags: Cameron Kilts, Canada, car crash, Lithuania, main paint, paint, Terry Wogan

so…the weekend of much merryment…

Actually I’ll recap a few things from before that i missed out on. The End of the Month Club was probably the biggest thing that I’d done socially for a wee while thanks to lack of pennies. Went along with Vonnie, Dave and Steve for what would be somewhat of an eyeopener. After listening to a lot of people recommend it and Dave’s choice of music of the last 18 months or so I was a little worried I wouldnt enjoy myself. The first band had a couple of good tracks but there was just something about them that made me want to shout “Earsplitting Art Wank” at them. I dont know why. Bozilla we’re next up and despite the big english guys accent sounding a little out of place at times they were damn good. The girl has a fantastic voice and they have Wolverine with an afro wig playing bass guitar for them. The headliners were a bit different. I mean that in a sort of good way. They murdered one of my all time favourite GnR tracks but I could see how some folk might like it. I think they were called Schmoof or something along those lines…I cant be arsed checking and if I’m wrong im sure Dave or Steve can correct me. After all they did run up front to get a swatch when they came on but im not sure if it was the pvc clad female singer Steve was drooling over of the 6′ blond surfer type guy dressed the same on keyboards he was interested in

I seem to recall a night out in the cathouse on the Friday after that after an ok night at the bowling. There was drink involved if I was out so tthats no doubt why I remember very litle of the night…if it happened.

On to the Download weekend.

I’d somehow managed to get the Thursday through to Monday of on leave from work thanks to some nifty behind my back cheating from Vonnie and my mother so my plans were to get the last minute things on Thursday morning and then head off for Donington around 2pm-ish. It never worked out like that. Between having to go to Asda, struggling to find someone to catsit for the weekend and rush hour traffic we didnt make it to hamilton to pick Andy up until almost 5pm. We also had to pick up Shawsy’s ticket as he’d forgotten it and only remembered when he hit Carlisle. He made it to Andy’s before we did! We hate the Kingston Bridge. The journey down was a good laugh with Craig doing the hockey Cokey to Mary Manson in the back seat and Andy drinking the red bull substitute and talking at 90 miles an hour all the way down.

Arriving on site was a bit strange. Vonnie joking passed comment on the fact that the car was actually a disability car and it said so onthe tax disc. So chancing her arm she asked the parking attendant if we could use the disabled parking site despite not not booking a ticket for there. They were happy with it although it took a bit of blagging once we got there especially when we told them we were just parking the car there to join our mates in the proper campsite. I’d have felt bad about doing all this but the disabled parking/campsite was half empty and we werent nicking anyones space. And besides it had the cleanest toilets and was literaly 30 yards from the front gate. After walking through the entertainment area and the leaving Craig and Marie to go find their mates we headed down to the arse end of the site to set up camp in the space Semp had kept for us. After about 10 mins the tent was up and Vonnie was away to bed and most folk followed suit right after her. Except for the arseholes that had a loudhailer and insisted on using it until about 5am right next to our tent. It somehow mysteriously disappeared about 8am though and i dont have the slightest clue where it is now…

The first day was pretty quiet with there really only being two or three bands I wanted to see play. First up was the first band of the day in the Snickers tent, Flogging Molly. They were fucking fantastic and should have been put on just a little bit later when there were a few more drunk folk in the crowd. Caught Garbage on the main stage who played a not bad set despite attracting about 10% of the crowd…and the were second ont he bill! Other than that I was only looking forward to Billy Idol and the end of Feeder. Mr Idol was the highlight of the festival for me…it was like a REALLY good cover band until you realised it was actually him on stage. Highlight of his set was a cover of Van Halen’s Jump. Everyone was loving it and he played on well past when he was supposed to finish before throwing a huge party in the guest area which we couldnt get access to Because he played on longer than he was supposed to we missed most of the Feeder set. In fact as we came out we heard them on stage and managed to make it to the main stage before they got halfway through thier last song of the night. A successful start to the festival.

Saturday was the day for exploring with us finding the market which ran under the Dunlop Bridge on the race track. I honestly can’t remember who I seen that day other than a bit of Bowling for Soup who still make my head bleed but were actually quite funny and the songs went down well. Id spent most of the afternoon in the queue for the O2 tent to get the phones charged. My phone is now capute…or rather the sim card is…as I spilt cider inside it. Went on the Topspin ride with Vonnie and the both of us spwre never to go on another ride ever again! Velvet Revolver were something else entirely…They dont even pretend to be a new band…they just get up and play the GnR/STP classics and get on with putting on a damn good show whilst throwing in some new ones they wrote recently. Highlight of Saturday had to be their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”. 70,000 folk singing along to it just as the sun was starting to set just described the day perfectly. Sabbath then came on and whilst I like them I’m not that huge a fan…ie I dont know the lyrics word for word and felt a little out of place amongst 90,000 folk that did. Still, I know guitars when I hear them and I’ve long been a fan of Mr Iommi and his plastic finger. Went back to the tent and had a few ciders with Andy and Vonnie until we all had to go to sleep.

Sunday morning was the main reason why I was looking forward to this festival. Henry Rollins Sunday Sermon didnt let me down. From talking about Sabbath right through to preemptive strikes on France and Canada just so we’ve got more room and a few clean rivers whislt talking about his experiences of hating Gearge Bush he had me laughing so hard at times I was crying. I’d have been happy just to leave for home there and then. But we still had Therapy? and SOAD to see later that night. Since I first bought Troublegum all those years ago ive wanted to see Therapy? play and never had the chance. I seen them on Sunday night and I wasn’t disappointed. They were a little slow for my taste on the classics but they rocked the place and I’m convinced the bass player was pissed out his skull or on some mad happy juice and he just couldnt stop smiling and jumping about. SOAD were strange. Ive not really listened to any of their newer stuff so was a bit surprised at some of the songs they did but the classics rocked. Unfortuantely nature called and I had to go try and find a usable toilet….I didnt….so I missed the end of the set

All in all a very good weekend and I’ll be going back next year I hope!

By the way…you havent experienced a gig until you’ve got 70,000 folk singing a song like wish you were here and a 747 comes in over the stage so low you can see the pilot and flys ove the crowd to land at east midlands airport which was right beside the campsite…when your half cut on cider thats surreal enough but if you were high as a kite on whatever you had then god only knows what that would have been like!

Tags: 747, Andy, Billy Idol, bowling, Canada, Carlisle, Craig, Dave, disability car, disabled parking site, drooling, Dunlop Bridge, Flogging Molly, France, GnR, Henry Rollins, Iommi, Kingston Bridge, Marie, Mary Manson, Month Club, Pink Floyd, Steve, Troublegum, Van Halen, Vonnie