On a School Night…

We went out midweek to the wonderful Roundhouse venue and saw the sassy and energetic Paloma Faith performing as she tours promoting her new album. She looked great in a black and white dress in the rockabilly style of the 1950’s, her red hair was fluffed up and she wore a small black hat/fascinator and killer black heals. The set was gleaming white on several levels and the band played white instruments (apart from the brass and double bass). There was a trumpet, saxophone and a trombone player in the brass section, a lead guitarist, a drummer a piano/keyboard player and a couple of musicians that played several instruments (a keyboard/guitar player and a striking woman who played keyboard, electric and double bass). Faith showed her insecure side as she reacted to less than whole positive review in the papers by referring to it throughout her set, otherwise she was her normal funny and bubbly self. The opening act was King Holiday and ‘astro-soul’ group from Brooklyn, the lead singer of which channelled Prince and James Brown in equal measures, the band were a talent group of drummer, bassist, lead guitar, saxophone player and a couple of girls singing backup. It was a long night and the fact that it was standing only tickets meant we were quite exhausted when we got home after midnight. Go fun even though.

Glamping in Shropshire…

On the last May bank holiday we added an extra day to give us a four day weekend and we visited Andy & Jodie in Shropshire and helped them with the renovation of their stone cottage and garden. As the house was in the process of being stripped back to the bare bones we a tent in the orchard glamped up with a double bed in it. The weather was not great but we still managed to get out and work in the garden and help with the house. One day we visited the nearby beautiful market town of Ludlow full of interesting architecture, quirky shops and a very impressive castle. Later we ate in the Church Inn and each had one of their famous pies. On the evenings we drank more than was wise and played a few games (Tokaido, Ticket to Ride and Cards Against Humanity) went to bed late and stated all over again the following day. We had a lot of fun and even momentarily considered throwing it all in to do something similar.

Playing Tourist…

We have had some mixed weather here in the UK but the day we went to Greenwich was glorious sunshine and blue skies. We had arranged to see the LongitudePunk’d exhibition at the Royal Observatory and tacked at trip to the restored CuttySark in the process. The exhibition was quirky and fun with some laugh out loud pieces on display and more than a few references to how Kiwi birds might be used as a more reliable method of navigation. At the Cutty Sark we saw a group of Mods turn up on scooters and bumped into a friend Rick who was with them as they rode from Woolwich in remembrance to the murdered drummer Lee Rigby. We also wandered through the market and later met up with Jamie to wish him a happy birthday. It was a grand day out.

Spring Gardening…

We have been working in the garden and potting shed planting seeds in preparation for the growing season to coma and we have been cultivating those crops already planted whilst watching the potato tops emerge from the ground and the beans and peas reaching for the sky. The fruit bushes look well and full of fruit and the strawberries are in bloom. The front garden has also filled out with new spring growth, the bluebells are over and the foxglove are coming out along with the lupin, rose and poppies, and I am hopeful of a hollyhock this year

A Critical Mass of Geeks…

Some of our regular weekly games get together on an infrequent basis to play games face to face. Recently this was held at our place and was extended to a couple of players living further afield (Wales and Birmingham) it was still a bit too far for Scott to travel from Canada to attend, though we did threaten to Skype him and place a computer at the end of the table. James too had other commitments with the imminent arrival of his second child. Tony, Rhys, Kevin and Martin came over and we played several games including:

• Formula D
• Red Dragon Inn
• Cards Against Humanity
• Space Alert
• Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards
• Perudo
• Tokiado

Tony and Martin come over Friday evening and we played unto the wee small hours, starting again at 9ish when Rhys and Kevin joined us and didn’t stop until 7 that evening. Tony also ran a short one off RPG session that he was play testing for a convention coming up.

Happy Families…

Congratulations go to James and Nikala who have a new baby daughter, a sister to Noah.