Favourite Authors

When people ask me who is my favourite author (and they rarely do, but I'm going to tell you anyway) I'm torn between Christopher Brookmyre, Robert Rankin, and Jasper Fforde. These are the three authors whose books I am always willing to read regardless of reviews (if/when they are).

Brookmyre's "tartan noir" appeals to the Scot in me. Not a sentimental shortbread box lid image of Scotland, but crime thrillers with a singular sense of humour and Scottish references that might not make sense south of the border. I first came across him when I bought a paperback with the title "Boiling a Frog" and have been hooked ever since.

Rankin's books first caught my attention when I bought a paperback of The Antipope as a student in 1981 on my year's work experience (building a prison in the middle of an old airfield in Norfolk). The alternative reality of a Brentford with links to other worlds, running gags, and a love of the occasionally obvious but unavoidable bad pun keep me amused. Every time Brentford do well in the FA Cup I start to worry about the future of the planet...

Jasper Fforde appeals to the book lover in me. Again, an alternative reality. This time it's Swindon but the Crimean War is still rumbling on, dodos are not extinct, some people can jump in and out of novels, and croquet is a contact blood sport.

NTL Broadband + Freeserve e-mail account = problem

As I said in my previous post, I've got Broadband but have had problems with using my existing e-mail account. The technicians seem to be awake and answering calls at this time on a Saturday, and thanks to Anthony Wright (NTL Technician), I identified where the problem was and fixed it. I can now send e-mails from my old Freeserve account.

I've sent the uncompressed version of the Xmas family photo, and it went in about a second. Took a similar amount of time to download as well. the only hold up was the transfer between the servers. Key thing is now can receive photos from Mike and family in Australia without having to wander off to make a cup of tea while they download.

And now for breakfast and shopping - those twin joys of a Saturday morning - followed by laundry and other domestic stuff before we go to see Blood Brothers at the Theatre Royal tonight

Broadband is go!

Got hooked up to 1mb broadband this afternoon, so far so good apart from being unable to send messages from my old Freeserve account. Am trying to sort out settings but have had my first experience of NTL's version of "shortly" as in "a technician will reply shortly to your enquiry". Five goes so far and each time I've given up after about 10 minutes, only to find when I log on again that there is a message saying that the technician hasn't heard from me and assumes everything has been sorted....will try again tomorrow, might just be a Friday evening thing.

It's a small photo of a big card...

It's amazing what you get up to in your lunch time on Valentine's Day...just me and a few people and a 6ft card. There's no prizes for picking me out

Richard Thompson, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester: 2/2/06

We travelled up to Sandbach on Friday afternoon to see Sonia’s aunt Julia and her husband Jo. They kindly put us up for the night Jo did the driving into Manchester.

The evening started with a bit of sleb spotting at Wagamama restaurant. While we were eating Matt Lucas and David Walliams (Little Britain) wandered in. Waited to be seated without a fuss and then enjoyed a quiet meal while about half the people in the place recognised them.

We made the Bridgewater Hall in time for a quick drink and settled down to watch Jeb Loy Nichols play a half hour support slot. Sonia was very pleased to see him as she has been a fan since she first saw him play at Cambridge Folk festival a few years ago. Our seats were in the gods but the view was good and the acoustics close to perfect.

Richard Thompson came on to thunderous applause and was joined on stage by Danny Thompson who played double bass. They worked well together, complementing each other’s playing. Richard Thompson was in fine voice, chatting between songs and reminding the audience that “product is available in the foyer”.

The set included songs from the new album “Front Parlour Ballads” as well as old favourites. Thompson’s back catalogue is so large that I recognised about half the songs. “Hots For Smarts” was a new one on me, as was the song that the BBC banned in 1974 about licking ice cream. ”They said it had a subtext…it did” was his explanation for the ban.

With just two of them on stage, many songs were stripped back to their essentials. “Vincent Black Lightning 1952” made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

My only disappointment was that, despite being on stage for two hours including 3 encores, he didn’t play “Beeswing”. A minor grumble for a great gig in a great venue.

The drive back to Sandbach meant we got back to Julia’s and Jo’s close to midnight. We slept well, and after a breakfast of bacon cobs, gave Julia a lift to Nottingham Station so she could travel to Peterborough to see her daughter Nina.

Julia’s business has a website, and I promised a mention. So click here to visit it.