What have I been doing? Apart from taking photos of Hem, you mean? :-)

I’m just about caught up after all the excitement starting a week ago tonight when we saw Hem for the first (and only scheduled for us) time this tour in Shepherds Bush. Then we got chatting after the show, like you do, and ended up on the guest list with a photo pass for the next night in Reading, then E mentioned she loves the Beautiful South - no accounting for taste - and so off we went the following night to Nottingham for the third night in a row. Spent the weekend, and most of the first half of this week, knackered. It didn’t help that the Comfort Inn in Reading put us in the crappiest room on the top floor and because of the heat it was far from, ahem, comfortable. We ended up giving up on sleep and leaving at 4 a.m. which of course at least meant that we drove the M4 and M25 quicker than seems decent.

I doubt I’ll be able to see any band, let alone one I love so much, 3 times in a row again any time soon. I haven’t done that since my ligger days in Manchester, over 10 years ago now. It was cool to be able to hear the little details of arrangement they’d rehearsed for the shows, like the longer drum crescendos in Half Acre and so on, through repeated listening. But let’s face it, it was just as cool to get a little wave from Sally when she caught our eye amidst 4000 people…

After fighting our way here early warned as we were that Hem were on Stage early in Manchester, they won’t be on here for another half hour. Bugger! Two support acts mean we only get an hour and a half. They’re worth it though.

As if I didn’t know myself, I can tell it’s a hot and humid night that’s uncomfortable to sleep in - Des the Dog is spending most of his time the wrong way up in an attempt to keep cool. He looks an idiot, but what else is new?

I wrote that title just after watching the US GP fiasco. I didn’t get around to fleshing the story out until now, 2 weeks later, just before the French. Well, is the picture any clearer after all the stories that have emerged since? Not really. I suppose I can see the FIA point of view: the Michelin teams all suffered a major technical failure, and the teams that were on Bridgestones should not have suffered as a result. Having said that, 120000 or so paying punters also suffered. Of course the big loser in all this is Michelin because they’ll have to stump up for compensation for fans, there’s talk of running a silly little exhibition race, but most of all, they just said “Michelin tyres aren’t safe” on national and international prime time. My little Punto got switched from the Pirellis to Bridgestone Potenzas a long time ago…

Sitting on the back step just now and while Desdog was busy woofing at distant fireworks from a May Ball, a hedgehog was chowing down on slugs and snails barely four feet away from us. Fantastic! We could do with something to help control the huge slug and snail population round here. I always thought it was frogs that Des the Dog was snuffling around after in the garden, but it would appear I was wrong. Tell you what, mate, tell your friends! I promise I won’t use pellets, just the beer-traps I just bought. Loads of good vittals to be had in my garden, maybe get drunk on the beer-loaded ones - have yourself a party…

But here’s an imponderable I’ve never pondered before: why does it make your waz smell so awful? As usual, I’m not the first to wonder this… do a Google for yourself. And good grief - not only is only 46% of the population able to make stinky wee from this vegetable, but it seems it depends on your ethnic background whether you can smell it or not! Too strange for words…

One of the more fun All-Party Parliamentary Groups at Westminster must be the The All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group… might have known old Ken Clarke would be on it :-)

It’s a good scam, making a series like 24. It’s a load of old pony, really, but once you start watching you have to carry on. The suspension of disbelief required is, um, beyond belief, but still the format of the programme compels. The hero, unlike the villain, can’t even pronounce the word “nuclear”. Mind you, neither can the leader of the Free World.

Just took the server down for a while to try and fix the cooling problems it’s had. I’d bought some braided sleeving to try and bundle some cables together to improve the air flow. I’m so rubbish with the fat hands and the dodgy eyesight that one hour later, I’ve done precisely two of the power supply cables. Count ‘em - two. Both of those were a durned struggle too. Still I got the new fan in there. It’s just a case of stuffing all the connectors back in and hoping for the best. Science!