...of 2011. I've never been big on New Year/ Hogmany, never seeing the passing of the year as anything momentous. Being brought up in a house with people who abused alcohol, it as often a night of confusion if not outright pain and disruption. The only Hogmany I remember fondly was 1996 into 1997 as I was heavily pregnant with Vee and toasted the new year with a cup of tea. Even the millennium was a nuisance as Gee's brother had decided of all days to get married that day - we went to my brother's afterwards and I think that was the last time we were all together. Anyway, this afternoon we are off to our mates Phil and Dougie's for their first Hogmany in their new home and with their rescue dog Rudi. We've known Phil since 1990 when she moved up to Glasgow from Llanelli to work in the vegan cafe where I was a co-op member and came to stay with us as we had a spare bedroom. We met Dougie about the same time as he was one of the few other young people who lived in our tower block - we were in a housing co-op with loads of pensioners. It's nice to be able to spend time with your best mates of such long-standing and I'm sure we'll have a rare old time. I've never been one for making resolutions but this year I'm making a pact with myself to write more, especially comedy, to lose weight by walking more and build up that walking to be able to go back to hillwalking again, to stand up to my various diseases (hopefully there aren't any more surprises like my thyroid of this year) and to look at maybe, maybe going back to work. I've started watching the BBC series "Wonders Of The Universe" presented by Professor Brian Cox (not to be confused with the Scottish actor from X-Men 2) which has put things into perspective for me I think - we are made up from the same basic components as the stars and every piece of us was once part of something else. We only have a loan of these atoms and one day we'll be part of something else. So while I have this collections of billions of protons and electrons whizzing about making up this mess that is me, I'm going to have a good time. I wish you and your atoms all the best with lots of love xxx
Well, here we are at Christmas Eve already - it doesn't seem like over 3 weeks ago I started this enterprise to blog every day in December up until now. I know there have been a couple of hiccups when I had the sads but thanks for sticking with me. So, we're all ready here at Andrew-Barr Towers - we're having soup and some puddings then watching "The Muppets Christmas Carol" while no doubt scoffing chocolate and cakes. Tomorrow's going to be a lazy day for us - we'll wake up when we wake up, have breakfast, watch Vari open her presents (nothing for Gee and I - we are on the naughty list!) then have a movie fest with a break at 6/7pm for our Broccoli And Gorgonzola Pie and Wicked Chocolate Orange Mousse (which I've just made)followed by Doctor Who on iPlayer and more movies. If this rain lets up we'll probably fit a wee walk down to Auchenshuggle Wood (that's a brilliant name insn't it?). No list today again (sorry) - but I promise more after the festivities. For now, bless each and everyone for you and I hope that you all have a Very Merry Xmas. What song could be more appropriate than this? xxx
Forgive me dear readers for what is once again a tardy post. I can give no other reason than I was off out galivanting in the town with my tribe then had friends over for dinner. Gee, Vee and I headed into the city centre for a wee stroll about. Gee's mum, my Mother Outlaw, had given Gee and I £20 despite being asked not to so I decided to spend it on some fripperies. I bought myself a DVD copy of "Certified Copy" which I had been after for a long time. It stars Juliette Binoche, who I have loved in an Alex-Kingston way since I first saw her in "Les Amants De Pont Neuf" many moons ago. It's going to be one of my festive treats. I also got myself some perfume in those wee sticks from Lush - Tuca Tuca and Lust, which is basically Flying Fox, so at least I will smell nice. I have a few quid left so I might put that towards Leverage Season 2 which I have had on my Amazon wishlist for ages. We went to the former continental market, which is now a global market (!) where we picked up a rather cool hat for Vee - she was a great hat wearer as a baby but it's been nigh impossible to get her to wear one in this weather - until now. She is wearing it as we speak, like some wee hipster chick. On the way home we went into ASDA for a few extras for the weekend and had to wait in a long queue. My tactic (as I had been expecting to wait) was to read a book while Gee went off to get his boot fixed (the sole was hanging off and he looked like a hobo - we looked in some shoe shops. Why do almost every man's shoe have a zip and laces? If the zip goes they're fooked). It made me laugh at people getting all stressed and to see who was buying "guilt" gifts. No "best of" tonight sorry as I am tired and a wee bit the best for wear so here is a wee song from my favourite boy singer, Christian Kane. Only 2 more sleeps people - enjoy xxx
I've had a fantastic idea. Over Xmas I'm going to offer "The Harry Potter Experience". For £100, willing participants can live in the dunny under my stairs, be emotionally abused, have their parents belittled, be starved and made to skivvy for my family. For an extra £200 adults can do it in a gimp suit.
Today's topic is "The best TV doctors who aren't Dr. Who" (who is going to get a list all of his/ their own!). I can't begin such a list without having DR. "BONES" MCCOY at the top. Played so brilliantly by the late DeForrest Kelly, his curmudgeonly exclamations and teasing of Spock made him the best doctor the Enterprise and Star Trek ever had. Beverly Crusher never came close and we won't mention Dr. Katherine Pulaski, Dr. Julian Bashir or Dr. Phlox. The holo-doctor on Voyager was rubbish too. And anyone who mentions Karl Urban's Take on Dr. McCoy in the shite "re-imagining" will get a kick in the arse! I did like Quincy with Jack Klugman as the eponymous coroner but that as more of a detective series, although I did like the bit in the opening titles when he whipped back the sheet and all the rookie cops fainted. I am too young to remember Dr. Kildare or Dr. Finlay's Casebook and although I do recall watching General Hospital (the UK one) I don't remember much from that at all except the episode where a Dutch student had rabies and was sick over everybody. I do remember the TV version of Doctor In The Housebased on the Richard Gordon books and the films. A quick search on Wiki reveals that it was written by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, which I didn't know but it must be why I did find it funny back then. I wouldn't say any of them were great doctors but I can remember Robin Nedwell and George Layton as Drs. Waring and Collier. The next big thing really as far as doctors was concerned was St. Elsewhere. It had a great cast but my favourites were Dr. Mark Craig (William Daniels - who was the voice of Kitt in Knight Rider) Dr. "Boomer" Morrison (David Morse - he's in The Green Mile) and Dr. Philip Chandler (a young Denzel Washington). Looking back at it now for this blog post, it's all flooding back - Dr. Morrison's dubious medical training and Dr. Bobby Caldwell (Mark Harmon) who was one of the first characters on TV to get HIV. I think it's fair to say they don't make them like that anymore. St Elsewhere was a big influence on Casualty and E.R. I can't for the life of me think back on any doctors from Casualty, as for me when I watched it early it was more about the frontline staff such as the nurses and the paramedics - Charlie, Duffy and Josh. I used to be an avid watcher but found that it became less about the situations (did you watch like I did trying to guess what mishaps would befall the members of the public?) and more about the characters, which descended in to soap opera. E.R. was a bit better at handling the hospital - versus-personal balance for the most part although towards the end I stopped watching as it too spiralled into the maudlin. Perhaps with some loyalty to Casualty, I came to E.R. late and missed the series with George Clooney as Dr. Doug Ross. My favourites were Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) - his death scene with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is for me a TV memory, the grumpy Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) and of course my favourite actress Alex Kingston as Dr. Elizabeth Corday. I did like Dr. Robert "Rocket" Romano (Paul McCrane) too despite his bad luck with helicopters! I never got into Scrubs - I just found the whole lot of them annoying, which was maybe the point - and Green Wing passed me by completely. I have to mention Dr. Simon Tam from Firefly as played by Sean Maher(see what I did there - Simon's sister was called River, as is Alex Kingston now in Dr. Who - this doesn't happen by accident you know! - as far as sci-fi docs go, he is up there with McCoy! Not as good sadly was poor Dr. Claire Saunders (Amy Acker)from Dollhouse - not only was she badly scarred from a run in with rogue Doll Alpha, she turned out to be a Doll herself called Whiskey who had been implanted with the memories of the male Dr. Saunders who had been killed by Alpha. Not having a TV House has completely gone unnoticed, I'm afraid. And as I said to my pal Phil on the phone yesterday, Hugh Laurie will always be silly-arse George in Blackadder, even if he is now the male face of L'Oreal. I think I have to say that my favourite TV doctor is actually a Professor and a real one at that. I love the BBC series History Cold Case and again, coming back to Quincy, the wonderful Professor Susan Black, ably supported by Dr. Xanthe Mallett (what a great name) and Professor Caroline Wilkinson. If I had my time again, I think I would have liked to have gone into anatomy and human identification which I find fascinating, although I would have been more like Professor Black rather than the too glamorous Dr. Megan Hunt (Dana Delaney) in Body Of Proof. Onto the 4th last tune of this advent medley. I know this isn't a recent song but this year I have re-discovered Evanescence and the haunting voice of Amy Lee. This one has been played to death in our house and there are no points for guessing why I like this particular YouTube video version. Peace xxx
Happy Solstice! This is the shortest day in terms of daylight but not in fun. Things seems a wee bit more festive - I don't know about you but up til today I had noticed a distinct lack of Xmas trees and lights but today, they seem to have all come on together. It made walking Vee to school and the dog around the park a wee bit more special this morning. Today's suggested "best of..." list as suggested by Google is "The Best Pasta" - which makes me smile. Although I have been told I have some Spanish ancestry via my maternal grandfather's mother, I do wonder if it was or also includes some Italian blood. I LOVE pasta - I have recently dicovered linguine after years of spaghetti. My favourite way to serve it is with finely cut/ julienne carrots, leeks and courgettes with garlic cooked in a tightly lidded pan with margarine til soft then stirred into cooked linguine and grated cheddar. I also love making lentil lasagne, macaroni cheese, pasta all Siracusana (which we had last night - roasted aubergine and red/ yellow peppers mived with a garlicky tomato sauce and penne then topped with mozzarella in an oven dish for 20 minutes. I'm not so into ravioli or cannelloni but I think that 2012 may be the year I try my hand at making some. For me, the festive season isn't complete without "It's A Wonderful Life" - one of my all time favourite movies. I totally concur with Dave Lister from "Red Dwarf" - If I could live anywhere, it would be Bedford Falls. However, a pox on you if you think it should be colourised! I'm off to watch it so I'll leave you with my favourite seasonal song. It's mine and Gee's tune - which may seems strange but then we are. Yule blessings xxx
Jings, crivvens and help ma boab - it the 20th of December already. Another early rise - 6.30 in the a.m. - and another round of baking. Today it was a cherry chocolate cake for Vee as she doesn't like fruity Xmas cake and a stollen for Gee. I also dredged up my beauty school dropout skills to give Gee a haircut - I like him with long hair but he was getting to look like The Dude from "The Big Lebowski" and he is looking for paid work outside of the business. I don't think I did too bad a job, considering it's been 26 years since I was let lose with a pair of scissors. Today's theme list as chosen by Google is supposed to be "Best of British" - I'm not sure what that means. When I was at the recording of Frank Skinner's show last week the topic came up as to whether we see ourselves as Scottish, British, European or what. As an anarchist, I see no countries and think that nationalism is divisive. But is it wrong to be patriotic? Billy Bragg has written an excellent book on the subject, "The Progressive Patriot" which I urge you to read where he argues for a reclamation of being "English" and being proud to say that you are and fly the St. George's Cross without being seen as a football hooligan or a fascist.I have written at length in this blog about how I feel being Scottish but as for British, I'm not sure. Certainly, I feel a lot of kinship for my friends and acquaintances who live in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, maybe more than I do my compatriots who live in the Highlands and islands and who speak Gaelic. But as for "British" - well I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that. Oh I have a British passport but only because it's the only one available to me. I feel that there are a lot of things wrong with "Britishness" - more than "Scottishness" I think there is a tragic "stiff-upper lip, chaps" attitude which means a lack of empathy and a tendency to buck up and be almost emotionless. That coupled with the bloody leeches who are the Royal Family - what a load of freeloading, in-bred tossers. I read the other day how this one was going off to Australia and this one was going off to the Caribbean on "state visits" and I thought what a fine example of how these cunts are so removed from the rest of us - swanning off at other people's expense while we all scrimp and save. And people grovel to them and act all medieval - sometimes I feel like challenging them to a one-on-one fight to the death, like the old days. I'm sure I could take on Liz and Chairley. If nothing else, I think we should sell them to all the people who come over from countries who aren't saddled with them. In slices. Oh sure, there are some great things that are British - we have always been at the forefront of innovation, science, art , music, invention - but the investment is no longer there and any fantastic new discoveries are piecemeal. I think I can sum it up by saying "Britain's Got Talent" - which, instead of being a showcase for all of the exciting and excellent young (and older) folks we have who can sing, play instruments, dance, act and otherwise entertain, we have a sifting process that begins as the modern day equivalent of a freakshow or Bedlam where the delusional are paraded to the scorn and ridicule of the Hogarthian baying crowd then the "lucky few" are further manipulated by a bunch of self-appointed nobodies and creeps who are really just there for exposure and personal aggrandisement. The same goes for the other sideshows that are The X-Factor and Jeremy Kyle's show. I find it hard to believe sometimes that the same country which produces "Doctor Who" and "Sherlock" is the same one which happily sits down to watch publicity seeking has-beens and never-weres tripping the shite fantastic and eating kangaroo scat and pays for the privilege by the way of "phone-voting" - he biggest scam out. And the only way anything vaguely interesting or educational gets any exposure is if it's "sexed-up" and presented by some mop-haired Northerner. I think that the sooner we follow the example of the Golgafrinchans and fire the lot of them off into space the better. I don't want people to think Susan Boyle and Kate I'm Not Humble as being the pinnacle of what we can offer. I want them to see Gwen Cooper and Professor Susan Black - that's British (as well as Welsh and Scottish). And just so you know, don't get me started on "The Young James Herriot" - THAT is a pile of shite. We. Scottish. People. Do. Not. Speak. Like. That. Rant over, have some sounds. Today is the turn of Alex Winston, a young lass from Michigan who started out in opera but thankfully has decided that indie is the only way to go. Enjoy xxx PS I apologise for the lack of piccies - Blogger is being a real twat about that recently, not letting me cut and paste them in as I used to. Buggeration.
I was up stupid, stupid early with the rest of the tribe this morning and even took the dog out. The ice is melting so maybe we'll get out later to do some shopping. I'm taking the opportunity while Gee is out on a job to do this. I'm still reeling from the news that the Krankies were (hopefully not still are, although I have nothing against elder unpleasantness - I just don't want to hear it) a right pair of swingers. I know they joked that they were probably the only couple who made a career out of their sexual roleplay but to find out that it wasn't that far from the truth in my opinion is Too Much Info. I'm always happy for people to celebrate their sexuality in all it's forms and diversity and certainly it's to be be congratulated that a couple, especially one in showbusiness, have managed to keep the fires burning for over 40 years. I mean, well done and props to you both for being so liberated but KEEP IT TO YOURSELVES. If that wasn't enough, Kim Jong Il of North Korea has popped his clogs or at least, they have admitted he has shuffled off - I always believe that when tinpot dictators go of to join the choir invisible quietly, as opposed to being hanged publicly, shot in their own homes by Navy SEALs or ripped to bits by opposition forces, they have been stiffs for a wee while and it's only being announced now that they have some other cunt ready to step up. Those old enough to remember the old Soviet Russia and the rumours that Chernenko and Andropov were kept in freezers will get what I mean. I only hope that in a year that has seen the demise of Bin Laden, Gaddaffi and now Kim may mean that 2012 will continue to see that trend *cough* Margaret Thatcher *cough*. Hint hint. Today's "best" list is an easy one for me - COMEDIANS. I haven't seen as much comedy as I would have liked this year - the Glasgow Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe continue largely to be far to expensive and even going to free or inexpensive gigs has been a challenge both monetary and physically. But having said that, here's a wee list for you - 1. Number One on my list is the powerhouse and juggernaut that is JANEY GODLEY. She is without a doubt the funniest person, man or woman, working in comedy today. If you haven't seen her, I strongly suggest that you do. She is bold, beautiful and highly inventive. She gigs all the time and also finds the space in her life to blog (http://janeygodley.blog.co.uk/) and to do one of the most hilarious podcasts out there once a week with her daughter, the equally magnificent Ashley Storrie (janeygodley.podomatic.com). Janey has a special place in my heart because she was really encouraging and supportive to me when I dipped my toes into the world of stand-up and even came along to my graduation gig. I have met up with her and she is just a fantastic and inspirational woman. Honestly, if you do nothing else in 2012, discover Janey's world. 2. Another Glaswegian, now based in Manchester, that you should try to catch is SCOTT AGNEW. Again, I know Scott from gigging in Glasgow and he is a very warm and generous human being as well as a riotously funny stand-up. I see big things for so Scott I suggest that you catch him soon before it's £25 a pop to see him, although he would be worth every penny. 3. Next up is an ensemble - the cast of MRS. BROWN'S BOYS. I had the privilege of seeing Brendan O'Carroll and his marvellous team at 2 recordings of their new series, which will be on TV soon. What is amazing and unique about this group is that they really are family - Brendan's wife Jennifer Gibney (who plays Agnes Brown's daughter - they alluded at the recording to a even racier love life than the Krankies - imagine shagging your Mammy!), his son and daughter Fiona and Danny, his sister Eilish plus a host of friends and other relations. They remind me of what an Elizabethan troupe would have been like, travelling with their show (which they do - when not filming they are always touring). Catch them if you can on TV, DVD or on stage. 4. While I was at the Mrs. Brown recordings, I was delighted to come across their warm-up (I say "warm-up" - he was more like a ringmaster, keeping everything flowing and entertaining the audience between takes) man SMUG ROBERTS a.k.a. Andy Wilkinson, who also appears in the series. Smug has written a one-man show called "FLIP" which is touring and I hope to see it in Glasgow. Another gem that you must look out for. 5. A firm favourite already among my Twitter Twibe is the excellent JO CAULFIELD. She gigs regularly in Edinburgh and is also often on your TV and wireless. Bitingly witty and astutely acerbic, Jo is also another lovely and supportive comedian who deserves your attention. As I say, I have been away from the stand-up scene for a while but I can't stress to you strongly enough that if you love comedy you really need to get out and support your local acts and the up-and-comers. Most larger towns and cities have comedy venues where for as little as £2 (if you like your comedy Red Raw go to the Stand in Glasgow on a Tuesday night or head up the road to the Halt Bar where you get in for free!) you will see some quality acts. It saddens me sometimes that when I talk about comedy with folks that they know of and are happy to pay big bucks to see the likes of John Bishop, Al Murray and Sarah Millican (who are all great in their own right). I'm definitely not slagging off comedians who are on TV but I feel that if you only get your comedy from the goggle box or at one or two big theatre gigs a year, you are missing out. make a resolution for 2012 that you will get out and see some new acts - you won't be sorry. I'm not forgetting today's music, which is from another fantastic woman. I heard this song on Janice Forsyth's show on Radio Scotland and was amazed to hear this lovely voice - another cracking Glaswegian songstress, Angela McCluskey is better known outside of the UK but is well worth discovering. As ever, enjoy and keep warm xxx
Sorry peeps - been playing at being the Domestic Godless today, what with making our Xmas cake, cooking up a korma, soaking fruit in rum for making stollen tomorrow, mending Vee's schoolbag (as part of the economy drive, so we don't have to get her a new one for next term) and generally being festive. We had planned today to go and do our Xmas food shop after me corralling the tribe yesterday and making them come up with 2 meal ideas each. For the next week and a bit our menu looks like this - Monday - Pasta a la Siracusana Tuesday - Welsh Rarebit on Baked Potatoes Wednesday - Solstice Nut Roast and Roasted Veg Thursday - Savoury Pancakes Friday - Lentil Shepherd's Pie Xmas Eve - Pea and Lentil Soup Xmas Day - Broccoli & Gorgonzola Pie with Mash & Veg Boxing Day - Mini Calzone Tuesday - Potatoes Nicoise - plus all the drinkies and nibbles. However the pavements round these here parts look like tryouts for Prancing On Ice so we stayed home. I almost fainted when Gee started hoovering unbidden "so that it doesn't get all messy like before"! My "Beast of..." list today says that today I should be recommending my favourite books of the past year. As ever, i feel like I have read so many and yet so few. I have a personal mantra that says "life is too short for crappy books and crappy movies" so I'm afraid that there were quite a few started and soon discarded. But from those I did finish, here are a few I particularly enjoyed. I do like me a vampire novel. I have read all of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris (the basis for the "True Blood" series including the latest one "Dead Reckoning") and I liked the early Anita Blake ones before it got to be all about the shagging and less about the staking. I'm also a huge fan of Buffy but I despair of the sparkly residents of Forks (I have actually read the whole Twilight series because a younger Vee wanted to and I must say, they are a damn sight better than the awful films but still too wimpy). So I was pleased to come across the Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill. Similar to the House of Night books by PC and Kristin Cast in that the vampires live in "houses" and although living openly follow strict codes, "Some Girls Bite" tells of of a student called Merit who is attacked by a rogue bloodsucker and saved but turned by another. It's certainly more adult and also quite sexy. I have read the next one "Friday Night Bites" and am waiting for the next ones to be available from the library. I'm quite well known in our library - if you have one locally, use it. I can order books from libraries all across the city as well as CDs and DVDs. Use them or lose them and I guarantee, you'll miss them. I came across "The Mistress Of The Art Of Death" by accident - but what a happy accident. Written under the pseudonym Ariana Franklin by Diana Norman (wife of Barry Norman the film critic), these medieval/ forensic mysteries tell of a woman from Italy who has been trained as a doctor is sent to England to assist Henry I in avoiding more uproar after the death of Thomas Beckett. The world Diana created and the character of Adelia and all those she comes across are rich and un-put-downable. I read all of the sequels in quick succession only to discover that sadly Diana died thsi year and there is only one left to read. I re-read "War Horse" by Michael Morpurgo. I am dying to see the movie that is coming out next month and would kill to see the staged version. however, I would urge you to read the book - it's only a slim novel and can be read in a day but if it doesn't have you finding some tears in your eyes, you have a heart of stone. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked "How To Be A Woman" by Caitlin Moran. It was fresh, funny and feisty while still being at its core staunchly feminist. A true book for the modern woman. Read it, even more so if you are a man. I also enjoyed "The Elephant To Hollywood" by Michael Caine. I seldom read autobiographies of famous peeps - the only others one I ever enjoyed was Kathleen Turner's "Send Yourself Roses" and Janey Godley's "Handstands In The Dark", both of which I highly recommend - but I loved this tale as much as I loved his movies. That was right up to the last chapter, which was a wee bit name-droppy but apart from that, it was fab. I can't say I enjoyed "Where There Is Evil" by Sandra Brown but if Peter Mullan tells you to read a book, you read it! It was really powerful but a hard read as Sandra tells of how she searched and researched to find out whether the truth about her father was as awful as she imagined. Another tale of a strong woman, "Theodora - Actress, Empress, Whore" by Stella Duffy is the well-crafted tale of how the daughter of a circus man in Byzantium rises to unimaginable (for her) heights. Not a period of history I am familiar with but earthy and modern as well as being deeply researched and therefore a richly layered world, I can't wait for the sequel which Stella herself promised for next year. Lastly, "The Good, The Bad And The Multiplex" is an excellent and well put argument by the good doctor Mark Kermode (my "go to" man for the best movie recommendations) against not only the movie studios' obsession with doing everything now in 3D (and making us pay for it) but also the stranglehold of the crappy Hollywood blockbusters, sequels and pointless remakes of good foreign languages films for the US market and the decline of the independent cinema and the skilled projectionist. That's your lot - if you find something of interest there, all well and good but whatever you do - KEEP READING! Onto today's song, which I think I chose because the band's name makes me think of the mandarin oranges you used to get in the foot of your Xmas stocking even though it's Mandolin Orange. Enjoy and remember, one week and it'll all be over - Xmas, not my lists xxx
Well day 2 of the workhouse continues. Yesterday Gee and I put our debit cards in the cashbox with the proviso that we don't use them to pay for anything, only to take out cash for shopping and purchases. When that runs out, we have agreed NOT to dip in to the money til the next week. We are giving ourselves a food budget of £40 a week. That will be starting in the new year of course because of Xmas and Hogmany where we will allow ourselves some treats. But the plan is to budget for things we need to pay for like the dog's injections and Vari's drama classes while hopefully putting some money away to pay of the loan early. We are keeping a cash book of everything we spend and keeping receipts and petty cash slips. It's funny, but we used to keep track of our cashflow better but in these days of BACs payments, debit cards and internet banking, we lost sight of things, like a lot of people I am sure and in a way, it's nice to get back to watching the pennies. Of course, finding some other income would be nice so that will be a priority as well. Enough of the money talk - I'm starting to sound like the news with all the financial reporting. Today is day 2 in the countdown of the best things of 2011. To cheer myself up basically I am calling this "The Best Totty". First up is my main obsession. Early on this year my mate Ant lent us a DVD boxset that he had picked up in a charity shop. Not only did "The Wire" become one of my favourite things to watch (more on that another time) but, despite my determination not to like "the English bloke playing the American" I found myself going all weak-at-the-knees and giggling every time Dominic West came on as Jimmy McNulty. I feel like a class traitor in fancying an Eton educated posh fella and if I am honest, despite forcing my family to watch "Centurion", "300" and "The Hour" and watching "Appropriate Adult" (a fine performance) and looking forward to "John Carter" and "The Awakening" I think that if pushed I would have to say it is that boozebag liar and utter manwhore McNulty I like just a wee bit more than Dominic, although I'd love to have seen his Iago *wink*. Second is another man I tried so hard to dislike - a wee bit of a trend going on here. I really enjoyed "Doctor Who" when it came back in 2005 - I am partial to Christopher Eccleston and enjoyed David Tennant until it started to go in my opinion a bit loopy after Donna Noble left. When I saw who was to play the 11th Doctor I laughed and recoiled. Who was this floppy-haired, big faced boy? I completely avoided the first season he was in. Then, after chatting to friends, I had a wee look. And then another. Then I watched all of season 5 pretty much in one go and I was smitten. I really like Matt Smith's take on the Doctor - funny, erratic and clumsy but also with a mean streak - but I also like him. Again a bit more posh than I'd go for but he's also sweet and funny and yes, 29 and there's more meat on a butcher's pencil. And also, as of recently, single. When I need a unicorn chaser of sorts to purge myself of this new fascination for toffs and feel the need for a working man with dirt under his nails and grit in his eye, I return to Christian Kane. Currently in his 4th season on "Leverage" as hard-man enforcer Eliot Spencer he has a way of looking into the camera with those baby blues that just melts me away. You might remember him from "Angel" where he played Lindsey McDonald and he also sings rather well with an album out this year. Strangely, for an atheist, I do like my Christians. I'm looking forward to "The Dark Knight Rises" not only for Christian Bale (although I do feel a bit pervy when I think back to him in "Empire Of The Sun") but also because it will have Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy in it, neither of whom I would kick out of bed for farting. Honorable mentions go to Alexander Skarsgard, who continues to delight in "True Blood" and Jake Gyllenhaal who has kind of grown on me. And I'm not forgetting the women too. As avowedly into men as I am, I can appreciate a good-looking woman too and they don't come much better than the gorgeous Alex Kingston, who I have loved since "Moll Flanders" and now is just brilliant as River Song. I want to be her when I grow up but fear it's a bit too late as, dammit, she only a few years older than I am. To continue with the music, here's an old-ish favourite from a band that I love and a song i feel appropriate certainly for Glasgow as the snow clings to the grass and the black ice melts. Have a wonderful Saturday with my love xxx
First of all, I'd like to raise a toast in fond memory of one of my comedy heroes, the much missed Mr. William Melville Hicks, who would have been 50 today. He taught me that "Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye" among many other things. Here's to ya, Bill xxx
Second, maybe you may remember back to Tuesday's blog when I asked for comments here on Twitter in compiling a "best of..." list to round off the year? Well, if you did then you're the only one apart from me as NOBODY else did. So, I have decided to round off the year by making my own list, basically chosen from the first workable batch of links that came up when I Googled "The Best". Leaving aside Tina Turner and Georgie, I came up with enough I think to keep me blogging til Hogmany. The first one that came up was "best songs" which I feel is being covered already so next was "best blogs". What? Apart from this one? If you look down to the right, you'll see a list of blogs that I follow. These are mostly by people as personal ones and I recommend them all. What I'll do is give you a few to check out a few subject specific ones -
The Mary Sue - A Guide to Girl Geek Culture www.themarysue.com - this is where I get most of my news about Dr Who, comics etc. from. Not just for the girls.
The Daily What - this is great for news, funnies, movie trailers and videos of wickle nanimals www.thedailywh.at and its sister site Set Phasers to LOL www.scifi.icanhascheezburger.com which is where my inner geek also hangs.
For music I always check out www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/laurenlaverne and www.largeheartedboy.com- good sources for free and legal mp3 downloads too.
The only man you can trust for honest opinion of the filmic nature is Dr. Mark Kermode and you'll find him at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode
(I do apologise for not having the proper linky thing but Blogger isn't playing - sorry)
I'm sure I'll think of more but when I'm not blogging or Tweeting, that's where you'll find me, as opposed to over a rainbow. Where they weigh a pie, apparently.
If you've hung on this long, you must be here for the music so to thank you for your patience, here's a band that I only got into last year but who have remained firm favourites since. And they have the lovely Christopher Eccleston in their videos too which is always a bonus . xxx
I must apologise again for the short and (not so) sweet blog posts. My mind has been elsewhere the past few days since I received a call from my bank manager - which still sounds frightfully grown-up and alien to me. I treated it as if I had been called to the headmaster's office and got into a major grump about it. Suffice to say that we are now minus an overdraft but plus a loan and for the first time in 10 months our account is in credit! We are going to have to really scrimp and watch every penny until Gee gets a job, as the business seems to have died a death. Thankfully we haven't made any big plans but it's it looks like 2012 is going to be a poorer year than this one. I should also say that exactly 10 years ago today, we moved from our beetle-ridden concrete multi-storey flat on the 19th floor to our wee house in Tollcross. Still, it's not all gloom and doom - just mostly. I went to see a recording of Frank Skinner's show "Opinionated" at the BBC in Glasgow. His guests were the always excellent Reginald D. Hunter and Sarah Millican and it was a good laugh. If you are reading this on the 15th, it's on tonight on BBC2 at 10pm and iPlayer for a few days after. It's still prelims fever here - there was a major upset yesterday when the invigilator for Vee's History exam started it late then chucked them out half an hour early despite their protests - including Vee who was on her last question which was worth 5 marks. I spoke to her teacher today who is obviously not a happy man - not only because he expressly told the person overseeing the exam that his exam was running longer but that he now has to set up exam conditions in his own class time. Vee got a 1 in her practical music (which was on her singing "Secret Love"), a 1 and a 2 for physics and a 2 in art (1 being the highest mark).
Today's little melody comes from my favourite female singer. Hafdis Huld is from Iceland and if you haven't encountered her before, I would urge you to check out her music. Last Xmas she gave away mp3s of her singing carols and she does free streamed live shows from her kitchen. This is one of my favourites and I know you will love it xxx
After yesterday's drama, it's back to what passes for normal here with day 13 of my Kissmas Kountdown. Again, nothing momentous to report. I was having a wee discussion on Twitter about these "Best of the Year" round-ups they have everywhere and I am mulling over mine. I don't want to do the usual - I can't pick a favourite film and I'm doing a wee selection of music already. I'm looking for ideas - what "best" things should I include? Leave a comment here or on Twitter and I'll start compiling a list.
Today's musical offering comes from Villagers, an Irish band with frontman Conor J. O'Brien. You may know of their song "Becoming a Jackal" but here is one of my favourites from them xxx
What is the number one rule of the Interwebs? In all my years of using the net to interact with people, be it via e-mail, online forums, Facebook and Twitter, I have managed to avoid being trolled (from Wikipedia In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.). Until now. And I am really, really angry. Not so much with the troll - she has been blocked - but with myself. I feel really awful that for one moment I even questioned that malicious gossip about someone I interact with on Twitter on a regular basis may have substance. I asked for more info and what I received in tardy reply was badly punctuated and worded with no reasons given and that was enough for me. What really irks me is that the basis of the gossip was around whether someone was ill or not. As someone who has diseases that continue to be discounted as malingering, just having a low tolerance for pain and symptoms of "modern living" I know how it is to be made to feel like a fraud. I try to be even handed and nice so I gave someone the floor when I should have heard alarm bells. Believe me, I have kicked myself up the arse for that. I know full well that the Internet is filled with tiger-pits and illusions - that people are seldom what they seem. We all put on a mask to some degree - there is only so much you can say on Twitter for example in 140 characters. With the black and white of type and no facial interaction, it is easy to misconstrue and take offence and come across as insincere. With Twitter however, I was beginning to feel that among my wee Twibe (I can't get my head around "followers" and especially the thought of 900+ people wanting to read my witterings and ravings, so I try to make it seem less threatening, if only in my mind) there were a few good souls that I could have some great chats with. And do you know what - I still believe that! In the past I would have snuck off and licked my wounds, leaving the group and cutting off my nose to spite my face. But I have learned that all I get from that is a metallic taste in my mouth, that my glasses fall off and that if I do that the trolls have won. So FUCK YOU TROLLS, I'm staying on Twitter. I am who I say I am and how I come across - I DO care about people, my hugs are genuine. I am mad, I can be moody (never Mad-Eye Moody though!) but by turn be annoyingly Pollyanna-ish, trying to see the best of things and attempting to cheer folks up by playing the fool or being a bawdy old mare. That's who I am. See you in the Twitterverse, armed with my own wee Elvish blade Sting to stab anyone who tries that again xxx
Nothing exciting to report from Middle-Aged Earth today. Vee is mired in her prelim exams and Gee is looking for work. Gee and I were on the bus today and witnessed the rudest man we have perhaps seen in a long time. This old git got up from his window seat and pushed past the man sitting next to him at the aisle. The man on the outer seat remarked "An excuse me would be nice" to which the old bugger replied " How about a 'get out of my fuckin' way'?" and continued to push past. Had there not been people standing in the aisle, my foot would have been stuck out to trip this cunt up. I watched him exit the bus and, as he passed the window, he gave the traditional 2-fingered salute. Nice. Also, as we were leaving the Forge today the automatic doors failed (they had jumped their track) so we had to walk over and use the other ones. As we stood waiting for the bus, we watched mystified as people approached the doors, found them not to be working and just stood like stunned mullets waiting for someone to do something. And I see lots of broken umberellas just lying on the pavement, along with the other detritus of life. Do people think that we are aleady living on the spaceship Axiom where little servo-robots will come along and clear up for us? Gee has started referring to this as "purple lights" as he is convinced that people are receiving subliminal message via the flashing purple lights that are ever present on reality shows. I feel that we are moving more towards a "Brazil"-like world, where everything is met with a cheerful bureaucracy designed to move us no further forward.
Anyway, as we hurtle towards oblivion, here is another wee song. Today, it's a cut from the latest album (can you still call it that?) by the master himself, the incomparable Tom Waits xxx
I jokingly make reference to my hair in my Twitter bio and folks seems to have picked up on that in a good way. To be honest though, I'm thinking about cutting it all off. You see, the reason I take pictures of myself in black and white is because my hair is a weird combination of white, dark brown (at the back, underneath), with strange blonde strands and yellowing at the edges, making me look like what Billy Connolly refers to as "a Turkish hooker". I don't know at what age I started dyeing my hair to hide the grey hairs as opposed to giving it some highlights, probably in my 30s. My own natural hair colour before it started to fade was a very dark brown, almost black. When I was growing up, my mother was paranoid about things like body odour and bodily functions (my dad used to say her nose was too close to her arse) and the prospect of us having nits/ hair lice would have sent her apopleptic so she never let me have my hair long. I have family snaps of me that look like a boy or a wee pixie. I (pardon the pun) longed for long hair that I could wear bunches and plaits so when I was older I grew my hair very long. When I was pregnant with Vee I used to wear it in a long single braid that I could sit on - however once she was old enough to sit in the backpack carier, the fun of having her yanking it soon worse off and it was trimmed. My hair is really thick (a lot like me) and grows very quickly so I found that even if I cut it, it would be back to the same length in a year or two. I do hate having my hair cut though - in my dark and distant past i did a college course in hairdressing abd beauty therapy and was always told off for not chatting to the clients - but I can't stand all the small talk "Are you going somewhere nice tonight? Where are you going on holiday?" - I'd prefer to be anaesthetised and wake up with my hair all finished (and knowing my luck - my knicker son back to front!). One of the downsides of my maladies is that I was finding it too sore to manage colouring my roots so about 4 1/2 years ago I took clippers to it and cut it "down to the wood" and have so far let it grow in to what it is now. In my head I imagine I look like Emmylou Harris but I have caught glimpses of myself where, especially after I have taken it out of braids I look more like the Steward of Gondor.Part of me fancies getting it cut again and maybe colouring it something like red or a proper blonde but the cost of that upkeep is beyond my reach just now, physically as well as financilly. I also have daft notions to dye over the grey in one of those "old lady" shades that you used to see in the 1970s where women tinted their shampooed and set hair with purple or blue rinses - if I say "Mrs Slocombe" UK folks will know what I mean. Another reason I don't colour my hair though is that I shudder to think how many gallons of toxic chemicals I must have been pouring down the plughole all those years and my wee eco-warrior heart (the same one that moans about lights being left on in our house "It's like the bloody Blackpool Illuminations in here - think of the poor polar bears") couldn't stand it. So I guess I'll just keep my mad old lady hair and keep on loving it, even though it gets everywhere.
Today's song is from the only band I have seen play live this year - it was at the opening show of the Glasgow Comedy Festival and I had won tickets to the O2 Academy. This band, The View are from Dundee and I hope you'll give them a listen. Look out for Scottish actor Martin Compson from "Sweet Sixteen" and "A Guide To recognising Your Saints" xxx
Another day, another door on our advent calendar creaks open to reveal a picture. Yes, I watched "Jarhead" last night but for goodness' sake don't ask me what it was about. The combination of Captain Morgan rum Cuba Libres and the sight of the Jakester running around half-naked then almost totally, apart from a Santa hat and thong was enough to give yours truly one helluva girl-boner. We were watching this DVD (craftily spotted by Gee in a charidee shop for a quid!) not only to satisfy this old mare's Gyllenhaal obsession but because Vee is now in rehearsals for a play called "Grandfathers" about a group of young people fighting in a war in the Middle East. She'll hear today which role - her first named role and speaking part - she is to play. I'm excited in a sort of proud-mummy way and maybe a wee bit in a Rosalind-Russell-in-Gypsy way as my only role on the stage was as Reuben in an almost all-female production of "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" when I was about Vee's age. I had to sing a song on my own - "Canaan Days" - and in typically supportive fashion my mother doubted my ability until the opening night when she ran up to me afterwards exclaiming "You can sing!". I know that I can be a better cheerleader to our Vee.
Anyway, enough of this guff - you're here for the songs and todays' is a doozie. Kyla La Grange is a young woman from London who puts me in mind of Melanie or Marianne Faithfull but a bit more grindcore (ooh look who's down with the kids!). As ever, much love and enjoy xxx
Boy, the days are fairly flying in now. I woke up to a sunny Glasgow with blue skies and nary a breeze. What a difference from yesterday when I wouldn't have been surprised to have looked out of the door to see a load of Munchkins singing outside next to a yellow brick road. I see that "Dishface Dave" (as Fleet Street Fox has so aptly named him on Twitter)is taking on the might of the 2 headed beast that is Merkozy at the European summit like Corporal Jones from "Dad's Army". I keep expecting to hear him say - "they don't like it up 'em." To my friends south of the border, I say come and live here in Scotland. Okay, we may not have the weather but unless you live in Devon/ Cornwall/ Dorset/ Kent who does? And we do have the shittiest football team in the world but then yours isn't much better these days so you can give up reliving past glories (1966 anyone?) and get behind Andy Murray because someone should. You can get away from all the hype around the Olympics and join us in preparing for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 instead and marvel at what in hell the people of the East End are going to do with a velodrome afterwards - probably let wee neds on tiny motorbikes race round it when the rollergirls have a night off - although you do have to agree to make sandwiches and put up an athlete in your spare room! Being realistic, you'll have free prescriptions, your kids at university won't have to pay tuition fees and when you're older you don't have to sell your home if you need to be looked after. But best of all, the Sensational Alex Salmond Gastric Band are getting rid of Trident, bringing an airforce and jobs back to places like Lossiemouth and Kinloss and because they see being part of Europe meaning closer ties with our Scandinavian neighbours, we have a deal to get "Forbrydelsen" and "Wallander" before you do.
Today's tune comes from Bon Iver,from the French bon hiver meaning "have a good winter", which I think is nicely appropriate. So I wish you un bon hiver and Happy Friday xxx
Greetings from a windswept and interesting Glasgow! The schools are off so we have Vee moping around the house, pretending to do revision and avoiding attempts to get her to do housework. Before we battened down the hatches, Gee finally went up to Asda to exchange our broker vacuum cleaner for a new one so I took the opportunity to tidy up and get the Winter tree up. I'm resisting calling it an Xmas tree as it doesn't have a star or fairy on top. We also brought out Sparkle the reindeer - maybe we should put her on the tree?
Coincidentally, last night we watched Terrence Malick's film "The Tree Of Life". It's not for the faint-hearted as it requires you to just sit and let it wash over you, making of it what you will. We all enjoyed it and took away different things from it. As a fledgeling screenwriter, I think it's a very bold move to make a point-of-view family story with few words combined with visual effects of space by Douglas Trumbull who did the effects for "2001". Brad Pitt is fast becoming one of my favourite actors, even though I still can't see what gets other gals hot under the collar and keep an eye out for Hunter McCracken who played the younger version of Sean Penn's character - a really intense young man with an unfortunate name. And yes, we liked the dinosaurs!
Today's musical delight comes from Christina Perri. It's not "Jar Of Hearts" which surprised me and shattered my cool by getting to the top of the old Hit Parade but I hope you like it xxx
Sometimes I despair and wonder why I bother. Today for example, I went to the library with Gee and he went in first while I waited in the lobby with Rox. When he came out he commented that all the time he had been in - about 15 minutes - one member of staff had been sat at a table in the middle of the front desk area, reading a newspaper while her colleague dealt with library users. Not only was she still sitting on her arse when I went in, but when I approached the desk to ask something, she didn't stir and I had to wait for her co-worker to finish dealing with another patron. I wanted to say something but why should I? Add to that, when I picked up a DVD I had ordered I noticed I was the first person to borrow it, it being a new release. The young man (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bill Oddie) stamped the new label IN THE MIDDLE, UPSIDE DOWN and WITH THE WRONG DATE. He then changed the date and stamped it the right way up this time but still in the centre of the label - no wonder there is so much wasteage in the council. The final straw was that I noticed they had a display of books by that charalatan Derek Acorah and other fakes like Gordon Smith plus books on tarot, all under a notice that announced they were "PYCHIC STORIES". I pointed out to "Bill" that in a libary they should at least be able to spell "psychic" and was met with a weak laugh and a shrug. Don't get me wrong, I love my wee local library and it's great that I can order almost any book and hire out DVDs for a week for £1. I can see however how so easily this one could be justified for closure - apart from a few members of staff, they are all torn-faced grumps who seem to be in out of the way of the traffic or until they can claim their pensions. It irks me because I would love to work in a library but vacancies are as rare as hen's teeth because of wasters like these.
In a brighter note, today's music is courtesy of another young woman singer. I have no excuse for the plethora of women in my 25 days of music, except that a) I am a woman and b) I like to hear other women sing. Caitlin Rose is from Nashville and she has been compared to Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline but I feel she has a sound all of her own which i think you will like and not dismiss as "country". As ever, enjoy xxx
Today's blog is brought to you by Beecham's Cold and Flu Powders with extra honey, lime and cider vinegar and garlic on toast. Yes folks I have acquired yet another cold so am hitting it with heavy artillery so I make no apologies if you get a whiff of salad dressing or are a vampire. I hear on the news that the budget for the London Olympics has been doubled from £40 million to £80 million with only 9 months to go. I am once again astounded that a country so close to flatlining, as one of my Twitter pals described it to me, and that is asking everyone to be canny can find that sort of money to spend on what is frankly a luxury. Being a lifelong undevotee of sport in general and the Olympics in particular which to me is an ongoing junket rife with corruption that has nothing to do with sport anymore, I am spitting mad that this happens in the same week that patients who are undergoing chemotherapy as part of their cancer treatment are now required to participate in "fitness for work" tests in order to receive benefits. Honestly this country is going to Hell in a handbasket - our private medical files are going to be made available to private medical companies, our teenagers are being made to work for £53 a week full-time for companies like Tesco who are appearing like Triffids on every corner (we have 2 within walking distance and I mean large supermarkets, not their express shops) and a film has been made about Margaret Thatcher which although I have heard paints her in her now declining years with dementia will no doubt lionise her political years and not show her out to be the horrendous politician who tried to grind we Scots under her jackboot with the Poll Tax (and failed!). To brighten my mood and cheer us all up as Winter reminds us of her presence, here's another wee tune for you. Today it's the turn of the excellently monickered Holcombe Waller who comes from Portland, Oregon (a real hotbed for new and exciting music I reckon) via California. He is a performance artist as well as a musician and I think you'll like what he has done with this interpretation of Buffy Sainte-Marie's song about her birthplace xxx
Once again - mega-apologies for the tardy posting. I was up at 6.30 a.m. to have a shower then walk the dog IN THE SNOW! After that I had to go shopping for provisions - nothing is bleaker than walking around a shopping mall at 8.55 a.m. practically on your own, listening to tinny Xmas muzak. This was mean old me maximising my all day ticket on the bus - all in all I was on 9 separate buses today. I've also been to the gynaecologist - boys look away NOW - thankfully I don't have a prolapse but I do have a weak pelvic floor so am being referred to another physio and have to return in January fo a scan as I still feel like I have been kicked in the ladyballs. I still have the thyroidal blues too so am a sad wee bunny. Tonight was also the last night of my class - I was too tired and scunnered and also too poor to go for drinks so I came home. Highlight of the day NOT was listening to Women's Hour on BBC Radio 4, which seemed to have fallen into some kind of alternate reality where the majority of us aren't tightening our belts so far that we look like some kind of corsetry fetish convention. They had some women on who apparently is an expert Xmas cook and had all these f*cks phoning up asking about how long they should cook a goose in their Aga and whether to stuff a brace of pheasants with foie gras or chestnuts. WTF? I was so shocked I nearly stabbed the radio while diceing some celeriac for ratatouille! (By the way, I am a vegetarian and I cook shit like that all the time - the celeriac was 99p from Lidl). The tree remains in the loft and I was completely unmoved by the Xmas lights and slush in the city centre so the grinchy-ness continues. I have written exactly one Xmas card. Today choon is from another lovely wee lass singer - and she's Scottish too! Enjoy the vocal delight that is Smoothieforme aka Holly and keep warm and dry wherever you are xxx
Sorry folks - not been online or on Twitter much. I'm having what I think is a thyroid-related downer - I feel really tired and blue. The Xmas tree that was supposed to go up today is still in its box in the loft and my poor tribe are making their own dinner. I wish I was tech savvy enough to post the beautiful music that I heard from my grumpy bed as my lassie practised songs for her Standard Grade Music practical prelim exam tomorrow (for non-Scottish readers - this is a practice or "mock" exam for her official exams in May 2012. Standard Grades are equivalent to English 'O' levels and are the first level of Scottish high school exams. Highers are next, which she will need for university). She is singing "Secret Love" from "Calamity Jane" and "Once Upon A Dream" from "Jekyll And Hyde" (her music teacher likes his musicals!). Anyway, to cheer me up and hopefully you here is a song from a lovely young Texan woman named Sarah Jarosz. I hope it lifts you too xxx
Today I come with a confession. Remember back to day 1 when I was bemoaning my parents' meagre record collection? They used to buy these multi-disc collections from Readers Digest or ones that were advertised on TV with sepia footage of little kids running around in gingham and denim every Xmas. Well, I actually listened to some of them and from there I do have a certain fondness for what is often mistakenly called "country music". I prefer to think of it as being more akin to a distallation of the nearest thing the USA has to a folk music - the songs of the white, blue collar working people. One of the first "albums" I ever had of my own was one I picked up from somewhere on cassette by Waylon Jennings and believe me, I played to to death. That led me into listening to Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. I love the albums that Johnny Cash did latterly with Rick Rubin and I have a song on my iPod that Loretta did with Jack White. I know that "country" can be seen as terribly cheesy - I remember Billy Connolly on one of his albums doing a pastiche of the typical country song where things go from bad to worse which he called "My Granny Died At The Fountain In Lourdes - A Hunchback Pushed Her In" - and especially here in Scotland we have had our fair share of people like Sydney Devine who realy went into that side of it. I'm proud to say though that I do now have an appreciation for bluegrass, Americana, folk roots, whatever you want to call it and towards the end of the month I will be sharing music by a man I do love. For now though, here is a wee bit of Scottish home-grown music from a really nice couple called Paul Bain and Claire McArthur and their band Raintown. Enjoy xxx
