Friday, April 30

Got back from Blackpool in the early hours of Thursday morning. Had a great week up there and did lots of fun stuff.
Got sunburned walking round Lake Windermere.
Got bored by Kill Bill Vol 2.
Got excited about winning £2 in the slots on St Annes Pier.
Fleeced Mum and Dad for £200 towards new carpets for the house then shagged the Allied Carpets carpet fitters when they came to lay me the carpets.
That last one was a lie (the shagging bit).
Ate loads of pies, pastries and pizzas.
Painted 3 old chairs and the front door.
Joined the library.
Bought cd’s by The Fall, KanYeWest, The Walkmen and Season 1 and 2 of The Family Guy on DVD.
Didn’t see David Morrissey or John Thomson filming new BBC drama ‘Blackpool’.
Got sand in my shoes twice a day (this is good for the soul).

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Went to see The Walkmen last night in London with Darren and DG and Melinda. They were intense, furious and stunning. My new fave band.

Tuesday, April 20

It wasn't very scary but it wasn't £14 either. It was £13. They have a life size effigy of Anne Robinson in the medieval torture chamber. Which is quite funny but only confused the German schoolchildren. We had a curry here at lunchtime. (good enough for Jarvis, good enough for us). Saw Ivan Massow walking across London Bridge in a nice pin striped suit. He even smells rich.

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Gay scooter riders group here.
Homo Vespa riders look here.
Scooter Gay Homosexual Vespa Lambretta Px125 Px200 club group.
Off to Brick Lane in a mo for a curry lunch and a shufty round this scooter shop. Then we're going to The London Dungeon to have the curry scared out of us on their new ride (the cost of admission is scary enough - £14!). Driving to Blackpool tonight. Ma and Pa Munster arriving tomorrow.

Monday, April 19



She makes really pretty dresses. The Viv exhibition was most excellent. I'm not gonna review it as there are hundreds of great reviews on the web and I agree with them all.

Ask do a lovely paper thin flat pizza. We went to the branch in Victoria which used to be the 'The Venue' in the 1980's. I saw Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five there in 1982. Which is spooky cos an hour later at the V&A I heard 'The Message' playing while I fingered a £10,000 frock.
And so begins two weeks off work. No money for foreign jaunts so it's London and Blackpool for us. Today it's lunch in town and then the Viv Westwood exhibition at the V&A. Mum and Dad wanna come to Blackpool so we'll probably host the old dears this weekend (though they'll have to entertain themselves as we have tickets for The Ordinary Boys in Preston on Saturday night).
Watched a couple of DVD's yesterday. Love Actually was shit, actually. In The Cut was a bit dull for me (though NYC looked great, very 70's and gritty, very Kojak). Mark Ruffalo looked a bit of a honey so I sat through it till the end.
Cabaret recommendation number 1.
Went to Duckie on Saturday night with the tanned and fully relaxed DG. Ida Barr was the cabaret and she was fucking funny. Ever wondered what an old lady (living in sheltered accomodation in Hackney - Thabo Mbeki Court - formally Winnie Mandela House) would sound like rapping, over the top of Eminem's 'Without Me' and Missy's 'Get Your Freak On', about Gaviscon, kippers, bin bags, Parkinsons disease and a dwindling pension? Well, now there's no need to wonder. Catch Ida at your nearest music hall and let her 'pump up the wireless'!

Sunday, April 18

Interesting things about Blackpool. Number 7.

Irish Sea fog. The warm easter weather last week resulted in a thick pea-souper one morning. This is how the beach looked at 9am and this is how it looked at 11am when the sun rose and burned away the fog stuff. Another interesting thing (not worthy of an entry of it's own though) I noticed last week was this poster advertising Shaun Ryder appearing as a DJ at a top night-spot in town. Same place that had Massive Attack on in November (but we went to see Ken Dodd instead).
I just found this great pic from 1899 and there, in the background, is Roberts Oyster Rooms! (see below). Crikey! that's the Clifton Hotel in the background too (we stayed at the Clifton in 2002, expensive and over-rated).
The Abingdon Street indoor market is great. A hanger type building with a high ceiling and exposed steel work and industrial glass roof. A classic array of stalls selling everything from dog beds to broken biscuits. The bag stall has this classic lamp lighting its wares and these non-factory produced cakes on the cake stall sell like hot cakes (shall I say cakes one more time? cakes).

Cakes.
Let's wish her a good landing!

Friday, April 16

Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 6.



The beach. The big, big, wide sands of Blackpool beach have been awarded a blue flag by the important people in charge of Britains beaches. And rightly so. A twilight walk on the sands with Edward still takes my breath away.
Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 5.



Caffs, bingo halls, pier-end tea rooms and department stores all try and out-do each other with the price of a cup of tea in Blackpool. And who can blame them with 12 million visitors a year all gasping for a rust coloured hot beverage to wash down their battered cod. Naturally, there is no Starbucks in Blackpool. Hurrah!

Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 4.



There is a shoe shop in Blackpool that sells expensive footwear such as Church’s, Barker’s and Loake. A visit to this shop is always a joy as they also sell shoes by Mister of Spain. Misters shoes are extremely garish and gaudy and usually feature materials such as crocodile skin and diamante. Some have a Cuban heel and some have outlandish fancy tassles hanging from them. They are obviously aimed at the ‘showman’ who may be passing through the town with his cabaret and they are VERY expensive. Needless to say, Mister also do a roaring trade in Las Vegas (the town in Nevada not the amusement arcade on the prom). Darren and I are often asked to leave the shop when our tears of laughter start to soak the carpet.

Thursday, April 15

Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 3.



Roberts Oyster Rooms on the prom near Noth Pier has been there forever. Selling all kinds of seafood, but specialising in Anglesey oysters, has made this place an institution in the North West. While walking past last week I noticed that the exterior has had a lick of paint over the winter. Very smart. I've never eaten there though. I never touch fruits de la mer. Who would eat something that has spent its life treading water around sewage outlets? Yuk.
Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 2.



The Grand National station was designed by Jospeh Emberton, architect of many of the Pleasure Beach buildings during the 1920s and 30s. The classic white tower has seen a few changes over the years, but was restored to its original art-deco modernist glory in 1991. This classic racing coaster is one of only three mobius-loop coasters in existence (that means it is one continuous piece of track which makes you return to the opposite platform from which you left). Opened in 1935 and still going strong thanks to Blackpool Pleasure Beach's maintenance team. The trains bump and bang their way out of the station, gliding off down through a short tunnel each side, not to be seen again until they fly back into the brakes having magically switched tracks. It's rough, bumpy, fast, thrilling and fun and the hills provide great airtime.
The first drop is simply superb, 60ft deep overall but it's a double drop, levelling out about 45ft down before devilishly dropping the rest of the way. In the middle seats you float sublimely, in the front seats you get superb airtime (stronger than most coasters) and in the back you get EJECTOR airtime! The 'Nash' may be pushing 70 years old, but it NEVER fails to thrill. Some people regret deciding to ride and never do so again, whilst others will want to ride and ride and ride again. As with many other BPB rides the Grand National is unique and historically important and fully deserves its English Heritage National Marker status.
Interesting places in Blackpool. Number 1.



The Abingdon Barbecue shop on Abingdon Street in Blackpool is responsible for the meaty aroma that greets you when you step off the train from Preston. As the day trippers stream down Talbot Road towards the sea and the North Pier they are diverted into Abingdon Street by the invisible fleshy whiff oozing from the shop doorway. Purveyors of good northern meats cooked on the premises such as gammon (with a slice of pineapple for added sophistication), hams, chicken quarters, pork pies, meat and potato pies and pork joints. These are removed from the ovens and displayed in the window all shiny and glistening with juices dripping down to the gleaming silver trays. They don’t stay in the window long as there is always a queue of portly ladies eager to feed their families without even switching their ovens on. We’ve joined the line a few times and partaken of the odd pork pie and barm cake* with sausage and bacon but since the weight watchers regime began last November we’ve tried to steer clear. Not very successfully. This shop remains an icon of any visit to the town centre and really good value too (four pork pies for a pound!).

*a barm cake is a large white soft bread roll.

Wednesday, April 14

*flicks through glossy motorbike catalogues while jiggling slipper on big toe*

Some complete cnut has nicked my motorbike! Between 11pm last night and 8am this morning the heartless swine crept into our front garden and took it. Edward, who normally hears a pin drop three miles away, didn't even stir.
Anyone wanna swap a long haired jack russell for a GT 550?

Tuesday, April 13

Today off work too. Hurah! Back tomorrow for three days then off again for two weeks and a day. Marvelous.
Got back from Blackpool last night at about 1am. We couldn't leave till Todd had kissed the gayer (who must be mad for dumping the 'bruiser'). I always preferred Coronation Street to Eastenders because they don't drag a story along for weeks on end. If someone has an affair/gets killed on Coronation Street it's all done and dusted and forgotten about in a week whereas on Eastenders the writers will extract 4 weeks worth of material from Mo Slater and her fiery farmer giles. So, anyway, this Todd business better end soon cos his whiny ways are starting to get a bit dull. Lets hope he gets laid properly at last by the gay nurse (I've forgotten his crap name), dumps frog faces' daughter, gets a shiny Canal Street shirt, starts to lisp, gets a poppers habit and then has a three-way with his own brother and the dumped bruiser. Go Corrie.

Since Friday morning last week we have swallowed:

18 hot x buns (toasted and heavily buttered)
4 pizzas (various sizes)
3 bags of crisps (various flavours)
2 Burger King meal deals
2 real Italian ice creams
2 full English cooked breakfasts
1 huge Cadburys Flake Easter egg (with 6 Flake bars inside it)
1 medium Cadburys dairy milk Easter egg
1 medium Cadburys Celebrations Easter egg
1 large box of Cadburys Celebrations (didn't come with the Easter egg)
1 steak pudding dinner
1 mince beef pie dinner
1 chicken fried rice from the chinese takeaway
1 tin of corned beef
1 tin of weight watchers baked beans.

Thursday, April 8

Perched on a step ladder posing for Daddy, so cute he hurts my teeth.

We're off to Blackpool tonight for an Easter of chocolate and chips by the sea (fingers crossed for that HUGE egg with the 6 bars of Cadbury Flake inside it!).

Have a nice calorie chocolate filled weekend everyone.

Wednesday, April 7


I am a grammar GOD!

How will you do?

This is the kind of thing you usually find over at BW but I'm bereft of anything to post today so I thought I'd stick it up. (ooh! matron!)

Tuesday, April 6


So, new coasters this year for Alton Towers and Legoland and we’ve still not been to Thorpe Park, Drayton Manor or Oakwood. We didn’t participate in the ‘all you can ride for £10’ wristbands at Blackpool Pleasure Beach two weeks ago and the Tivoli Gardens were closed when we were in Copenhagen in February. That means we’ve not hurtled towards the ground at frightening speed since last Autumn. This deplorable state of affairs must end soon.

Sunday, April 4

We had a lovely day in the country yesterday visiting garden centres and tasting home made soup with the BW's. Apart from them torturing our dog with electricity and then trying to kidnap him we had a great time. Last night was spent with him watching a woman pull offal out of her knickers at Duckie. April has started really well.

Friday, April 2

As a long time Disney theme park fanatic I found this page (via thingsmagazine)of park signs to be more than worthy of a decent hard-on. Sophisticated holiday makers usually shy away from a Disney vacation as the thought of a happy place created in the mind of a nazi, jew hating, racist homophobe makes them a bit uneasy. I, on the other hand, think that this is more than enough reason to visit (plus I like to be called ‘Sir’ several times a day).
The dark side of WDW in Florida is not hidden very well and it wouldn’t take Angela Lansbury long to start uncovering wicked goings on at every corner. ALL the male employees at Disney World are gay and the females are fifty year old grannies who like nothing more than hanging out with their gay colleagues at leather bars in downtown Orlando. Just meandering through the gift shops listening to the matronly staff gossiping…

“Kenny’s new boyfriend has a thick brass ring between his anus and testicles, oh! good afternoon Sir, just the one Mickey Mouse hat?”

…is worthy of the horrendous prices they charge. All is not well at Disney at the moment, share prices plunging and low visitor numbers, so now seems like as good a time to visit as any. Staying in one of the twenty immaculate Disney hotels and having no car (therefore no escape) is surely an experience that will send the Tuscany crowds mental, but not us. No siree. We will ooo and ah at the manicured lawns, the piped Disney tunes, the heated pools, the expensive breakfasts, the beefy bell boy, the fireworks, the cheeriness of everyone and the sheer fun of every minute of every day.

Good job I didn’t post this yesterday as you’d all think I was joking.


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My April 1st prank was pretty weak compared to others yesterday. I'd rather poke a shitty stick in my eyes than excercise.

Currently loving the last album by the Beautiful South, Gaze. The song 101% Man is very interesting. Lyrics below. Interview with Gay Times here. I've always had a 'thing' for Dave Hemingway but it now takes on a much more fascinating perspective.

I’ve seen these people described as mad
But find men kissing too odd
Say all their friends are gay when in fact
They gave a man in tight vest a quick nod

And all those threats if you keep kissing
They're gonna go report you to god
Yet if Christ really had that many disciples
There was probably one of you in his squad

And any news you receive would lead you to believe
Of the other world little is known
So that every gay presenter should really wear a sweater
With kids don’t try this at home

There are gay men who've knocked homophobics clean out
When most would have turned and ran
Gay men who hate it when they get called queer
And gay men who don’t give a damn
Some gay men go wearing women’s makeup
Just to prove to themselves they can
And on the masculine side of this whole wide world
There is no 101% man

Those who have only seen Gay Pride
Think it’s a life long license to shock
But men have kissed men since way back when
If you were caught you’d be put in a stock

And when the Tom Robinson band sang
"Sing if you’re glad to be gay"
We all joined in, and though most of us weren’t
The song seemed to show us the way

And as the song reached it's end you looked for the friend that
That made singing along feel O.K
It aint San Francisco but your end of term disco
And the dancefloor's beginning to sway

There are gay who've knocked homophobics clean out
When most would have turned and ran
Gay men who hate it when they get called queer
And gay men who don’t give a damn
Some gay men go wearing women’s makeup
Just to prove to themselves they can
And on the masculine side of this whole wide world
There's no 101% man
Man

Thursday, April 1

I joined a gym!