Monday 23rd April

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it anyway", so said Mahatma Gandhi. Presumably he hadn't spent all nearly all weekend and a Monday evening watching episodes of 'Hustle' on youtube which, while entertaining, does seem almost like I've been wasting a lot of time. But I must say I find Gandhi's quote an encouraging idea, an idea which perhaps justifies some of the hobbies I have.


I didn't spend quite all of the weekend watching Hustle - and, for those who haven't seen it, check it out it's great! - and managed to spend much of yesterday evening drinking with friends in Brighton, and had quite a few ales in the end. This served as an interesting prelude to the radio show I heard this evening where former MP Anne Widdicombe was investigating the effects and possible solutions of a binge drinking problem in our society. This seems to be the latest in a long line of reports in the media on this subject, which tends largely to be damning against those who go out and drink to excess. 


Now, I agree that in some cases that binge drinking is a problem, but I don't think it is as large a problem as is generally perceived. There are always comparisons to places like France where people, apparently, enjoy drinking in a more 'cultural' and 'reserved' manner - and this seemed to be the largest argument in this show tonight, that we should be more like that here in Britain. There is also the fact that alcohol abuse causes so much spending on the NHS, where perhaps there could be money saved if the drinking culture was changed. I agree with many of the points these kinds of shows make concerning the issue, but I think they all seem to miss the fundamental point about why people go out on a Friday and Saturday and drink heavily and to excess - they do it because it's fun. 


If they didn't enjoy it, people wouldn't do it. And it must be enjoyable, otherwise people wouldn't give themselves the awful hangovers the next day if they didn't think it would be worth it for the night out. Although, if I'd known I was going to suffer from the other side effect of a night on the beer - terrible wind the next day - I may have drunk a little less last night. Was in so much agony today, just about managing to hold what felt like several cubic tons of fart gas inside me for he benefit of my colleagues. (For reference, I think Fart Gas is somewhere between Helium and Argon on the Periodic Table.) The more I listened to the show, the more I wanted to take Anne Widdicombe out one night and get her really drunk - although not for romantic purposes. She could even teach me a few of her famous dance moves. 


Right, back to Hustle I think. Imagine in this episode Mickey Bricks and the gang will manage to set up some witless thug in a mind-boggling con that will look like its sort of gone wrong until there's a big reveal near the end and they all end up in Eddie's Bar at the end and have a good laugh about it. Like every week. 


Glad I've discovered this programme, otherwise I could easily just be wasting my time.

Monday 9th April - Back On The Blog!

After mostly eating pizza and drinking Guinness all of this bank holiday weekend, I have decided to dedicate my day today to my exercise bike, in an effort to 'offset' the calories I've taken on. Could have my work cut out. My weight has always been a fascination to me, which I guess isn't a very manly thing to admit to. Whilst never having been actually 'fat' or 'thin' I have always fluctuated between weights. While some people can eat and eat to their heart's content and never put weight on, and this seems dramatically unfair, all I have to do is take the tiniest bite out of a half-fat muffin, eat a low-fat packet of crisps, a big bar of chocolate, several pasties, a massive curry, loads of Haribo, 4 pizzas and a gallon of Guinness and the weight piles on me. I just don't understand it.


It's been over 2 months since my last blog entry. My attempt to write a blog every day for an entire year fizzled out at only 128 days - not unexpectedly really, it was quite hard work doing it every day in the end. Although I do feel that I have let down my loyal subscribers, all 5 of them, by not having written anything in months now. 


In the past 2 months, by way of keeping you up to date, I have done absolutely nothing worth noting. I seem to have been very busy, but somehow can't really remember what I've actually done. To look at the pictures on my facebook profile you would probably think I've been constantly playing gigs, as all of my photos seem to be of me playing guitar or singing, but I've not really played that many this year I don't think. It seems that the only time people ever take a picture of me is at a gig. And I'm always wearing the same shirt! 


Keep your eyes/ears peeled for the new podcast my friend and I will be starting soon.