German Market - Gala Opening

Howdy blog,

It is my honour and a privilege to say these words:

1. The money lasted until pay-day
2. The German Market is OPEN
3. The Beer is good
4. The Sausage is good
5. I managed a Sue Lawley, then a Moira Stewart

This also may be the last time for a while I visit the market - the rest of the cash will have to go on Christmas presents! (And seeing as I'm peckish, possibly some pizza.)

Some photos will be uploaded shortly.

Heroes (Ed. 1)

You might be getting the impression that I'm angry and never satisfied with anything, unless it's to do with the German Market. This just simply isn't true. John Gaunt got a bash. That's it, so far. 

It's time to introduce another strand onto these pages, and it's about my heroes. Let's start with Anthony H. Wilson.

Tony Wilson was an enigma, the kind of person that would at some point (I imagine) annoy everyone he had met to the point of physical violence. The anarchic outlook on life combined with an education that took in Jesus College (Cambridge, to you and me), and a passion for the dramatic arts combined to make the man I most look up to in the world of music. He was a journalist with Granada Television, capable of the light-hearted and the high powered. He was utterly irresposible with other peoples money. He was also directly responsible for Factory Records, the incomparable Haçienda and 'modern' nightclub DJ culture infiltating the UK. He encouraged, alongside Martin Hannett, the whole Factory roster to explore the boundaries of their sound.  As well as this, he was one of the few, the audience at the pivotal Sex Pistols gig in Manchester in June 1976.

I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing earlier this year. He was on my list of people I wanted to meet before I/they died. I just wanted to thank him.

I never went to the Haçienda. I never saw the bands. I'd not heard of Factory until after they went bust. I never met the man. But, unknowingly, Tony Wilson virtually shaped my late adolescence.

In some sort of tribute, I visited what became of FAC 51 in October 2005. The former cathedral had become apartments.

Tony Wilson died on August 10th, 2007, aged 57.

"Some people make money and some make history."

At the risk of adding too much in one day...

...and totally neglecting this thing for weeks, there are some things I might need to clear up.

The beer drinking newsreaders (list of the week) are all German Market related. If one is able to withhold using the toilets after one pint, that's a Peter Smith. Two, and you have made it to Moira Stewart. Three is a Sue Lawley - this is not very common, and is usually celebrated with a brief rendition of  "Sue Lawley! Sue Lawley!" to the tune of So Lonely by The Police. Four and five are almost uncharted territory. I say uncharted, because it may have been done. Four pints (really half litres) of spirited German lager is a lot. Four is a Peter Sissons, and five is a Sir Trevor McDonald.

There's a nominal raising scale of gravitas for each newsreader on the scale, although the actual reasons for choosing them have been lost in the midsts of about £300 of German lager. Also lost is the reason for marking this event, and why its done in this way.

For the benefit of people who may not know (with Wikipedia links);

Peter Smith was the news person for The Big Breakfast for the first few years, and has recently dissapeared from the face of the earth.

Moira Stewart has been one of the cornerstones of BBC News since the early eighties, and has recently not had her contract renewed as she is apparently "too old". 

Sue Lawley until 2006 presented Sesert Island Discs, a Radio Four institution, and is originally from Sedgeley. She is possibly most famous for being the co-anchor with Nicholas Witchell during the lesbian invasion of the Six O'Clock News in 1984.

Peter Sissons is not only a defector from ITN to the BBC, but has been lambasted in the national press for wearing an 'insensitive' maroon tie. He is four days older than my Dad.

Sir George (Trevor) McDonald is a broadcasting institution, and will return to The News at Ten soon. Voted "Most likely to kill using gravitas alone" shortly after his knighthood in 1999.

Further Financial Update

Hello again,

Further financial update. I last had spent £1.70. On the bus home, I found 1p, so that brought it down to a more managable £1.69.

Friday saw the horror of casual dress. We pay to turn up in our own clothes, and not the usual 'business attire' that we have to wear. It's not compulsary, but if I turned up in my suit, I'd

• Look like an ungenerous twot
• Stick out like a sore thumb
• Have been too tight to give away a whole pound.

So I bit the bullet. Thanks to huge reserves of small change, I managed some treats from the vending machine (whoo-hoo!) and did my bit for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal by donating another pound to that worthy cause. Showing supreme levels of intelligence, I left my poppy at work.

Had to buy some coursebooks for Polish, however they got dumped on the credit card. No-one ever needs money in December, do they?

Subtotal: £3.69

Old Stuff

Hello again,

Here are some old noodlings from when I thought blogging was impossibly technical. Some background: I wrote this on 6 February 2007, I'd just lost 22 pounds in weight, and Karina is my other half (but less about that the better at the moment).

Hello. It’s late and about 36 hours after I finished my diet. I thought I might put fingers to keys for the first time in a long time, surprise myself how bad my typing is, and listen to some music in the process. 

I’ve always liked James Brown, but sadly it took his passing on Christmas Day to get me to listen to some sixties seven inch singles I bought in the summer. One track that really stood out was I Can't Stand Myself (When You Touch Me) which sounded like it was recorded in 2006. It could be assumed to be the stereotypical James Brown track, but it has something else – not just 75% of the ‘Good God’s’ attributed to him throughout his career.

So, that’s just been downloaded into Pan Pod and added to the platters that matter. iTunes is making me compulsively buy more singles for the first time in years.  Tonight, after six attention grabbing seconds on “You Are What You Eat”, I bought I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers. James Brown and The Proclaimers in the same night. Twenty-four hours after Nelly Furtado’s Maneater.  This two days after an apparent embolism which brought with it three Grace Jones tracks. (If you must know, My Jamaican Guy, Pull Up To The Bumper, and Slave To The Rhythm.)  All this at 79p a throw. Cheaper than the discs, better than buying an album, more revealing about how my mind works than any survey and on average, horrifying if you look back over the last ten purchases you make.

Ow! Good God!

Yes, I mentioned the diet. Probably the first thing I’ve done and been proud to be associated with…ever. In under five weeks, I went from 15 stones, (210lbs) to 13 stones 6 pounds (188lbs). Using a combination of determination, only eating fruit and veg, and drinking plenty of water and fruit juice. I totally cut out meat, chocolate, crisps, caffeine, cheese, and really scaled back on bread. After I had my final weigh-in, I ceremonially broke the diet with a chocolate and it tasted like fat. Later that morning, I had a coffee which gave me a headache and in the evening I wolfed down the biggest meatiest pizza possible which had the effect of filling my lower intestine with concrete. This morning (the day after) I had an unprovoked nosebleed. If you ever do my diet, never stop.  I also feel like crap and about to fall asleep, but must persevere with the stabbing at keys.

Music is a great thing. From the first things I can really remember there was music, and music is similar only to smell in that it can transport you to another place in a beat. Classical music takes me to Channel 4 and their test card. The Cure’s Love Song and I am in an eleventh floor flat in the centre of Warsaw, half an hour into 2005. Faith as performed by Limp Bizkit and I can feel Karina on my back in Finsbury Park.  You get the idea. Music leads me to radio, which is something I have always been interested in, and is my stock answer to “What do you want to do with your life?” I think I can do a good job, have a very effective voice-over, er, voice, and a selection of other DJ modes. There is the love of good music, which is often a block to progressing in the world of local radio.

So if anyone knows any jobs going, please get in touch.