tunes of the day...
Dexy's Midnight Runners 'looking for the soul rebels', Be Good Tanyas, Sterephonics 'word gets around', Microdisney '39 minutes', Gene 'Olympian' and a large festive wodge of the fabulous Smiths....

A never ending horizon of beers and mince pies
Shit, I've gorged myself so much over the past week I'm starting to dream of all the excess!
Still, there's always room for one more Stella and with the excuse of the festive season - let's go!

Joe Strummer RIP
Goodbye Joe, you'll be missed. The Clash were a huge influence on my life and one of the finest punk bands to ever grace the planet. See: BBC report

Another top weekend!
Naturally buoyed by Cardiff City dispatching Colchester 2-1, Friday saw me (and a small crew of u75-ers) heading up to the Electric Ballroom to enjoy the attitude-free fun of the ultra-goth/cyberpunk 'Full Tilt' night. And much fun was had - all those foxy, stripy tight-clad ladies! Phew!
Saturday was shopping day followed by a quaff in the Albert and then up to one of the best nights to be found anywhere in London - the People's Republic of Disco event at the Windmill, Brixton. You bring along any two records you like (don't even think about trying to play it cool and turning up with the latest Hoxton 12") and people dance/vote accordingly. It's a top night and nice to be in a bar where everyone's got a big smile on their faces! Respect!

Still recovering...
It's been a hectic few days.. the urban75 party rocked big time with an up-for-it friendly crowd, some top tunes and the loveliest people - big respect all round! Next day it was up to Wales for my nephew's 18th (aargh! I feel so old!) with a trip to the mighty Ninian Park first. Except Cardiff City were crap and we got stuffed. And it rained. Boo hoo.
In the evening it was time to get drunk with people half my age - which was fun - followed by an early morning wander up Caerfilli Mountain to take in some lovely Welsh air...pics to follow soon.
Now I'm back in Brixton and still working on my chuffin' tax return. Grrr!
Quick recommendation: if you're getting hammered with spam, download this fab free app: Mailwasher - it sends the spam back from whence it came, telling it that your address doesn't exist. Cool!

Tax return hell!
Is there anything more boring, more mind-numbingly fucking tedious than rummaging around in boxes of yellowing receipts and then having to type all the shit into Microsoft-arsing-Money?!
Still, all that number crunching and pen pushing will be forgotten later, because tonight is the urban75 party night!
Yep, in a secret location somewhere in south London, there'll be a kickass meeting of the u75 clan and in a few hours that bastard income tax return will be the last thing on my mind. Bring it on! Let's paaaaaaaaaarty!!!!!!

Site of the day!
Check out this superb site, Butlins Memories that has loads of obscure facts and photos from the British holiday camps of the 1950s-80s. If you're in London, be sure to check out the excellent collection of huge Butlins promotional prints in the Photographers Gallery...

F-f-f-fucking f-f-f-freezing!
Now, I like cold weather. You can't beat walking through fresh snow in the crisp light of a winter's night, jacket zipped up against a chilly wind and seeing the warm, orange glow of a pub ahead. I love it.But I fear this relationship may turn sour after discovering that the heating in my flat is going to be out of action for the next SIX FUCKING WEEKS!
...I think I may be spending a lot more time in the warmth of my local pub....

Spamtastic :(
Fuck me: 240 identical spams in 2 minutes marks a new record even for me (and, believe me, I get a load of shitty spam every day).
The ISP serving up this shit (or being used by the spammers) is http://www.bezeqint.net/ but it's in some funny language I can't figure out (but I'm guessing that it's an Israeli site). Naturally all these spams are all about things I haven't the slightest interest in, but I'll say one thing: if any of those steeeenkin' spamming tossers ever came knocking on my door, I'd take great delight in shoving their spams right up their inbox.
SPAMMERS MUST DIE....

Manics at the Academy Brixton
Just come back from an excellent show in Brixton (on the guest list too, thanks to my CCFC-loving chum, Scott!). I know that the Manics tend to get a 'mixed' response, but there can be no denying that they put on a fucking excellent live show. They rocked! And James Dean Bradfield (the singer) is a really lovely, down to earth bloke, who always takes time out to talk to people. Respect!

what a day...
...consisting of a cod-mystic gay marriage ceremony in the GLA buildings ("earth energy streams", my arse!), followed by a lovely N London reception. Then the news of a fabulous Cardiff City FA Cup result, a top quaff in the trusty Brixton Albert with loads of chums (both urban75-ers and 'normal' people). Then it was a walk up to the Duke Of Edinburgh pub for a complete humiliation at table football at the hands of some outrageously good players, quickly forgotten in the warm haze of many Stellas. Top night!

The mother, father and close family of hangovers
...is coming soon!
Yep, after tonight's alco-fest at a London Bridge Xmas party my head is sure to be spinning tomorrow. I've no idea what the party was for, but they had free beer and champagne in unlimited qualities and - joy of joys - a table football game there too. And the mighty pint-sized Cardiff kept on winning (more or less). And the beers kept on flowing. Heck, I must have been drunk because I had a go on one of those stupid arcade motor bike racing games where you have to sit on a pretend bike and lean all over the place! The tube home was fun too: the entire carriage seemed to be coming back from various parties too and everyone seemed keen to carry on partying...but now..my 'ead.. she 'urts!

Brixton Winter Lights are go!
Or rather, they will be at 7pm tonight when internationally-renown, A-list celeb, Jeff, err, Schuman (who he?) from, err, Choice FM (who they?) throws the switch. More importantly, I've been invited to the reception afterwards which - if I'm not mistaken - means free beer. And will I be there? Check out my life-mantra on the subject:

If it's free - count on me!
If it's not - off like a shot!
If it's semi-free - weeellll, maybe...

Things I liked this weekend:
Cardiff City crushing QPR 4-0 at Loftus Road (although I had to sit in the wrong stand), the fantastic Butlins photos at the Photographer's Gallery, giving a talk at a really nice writing class at the Bonnington Centre, cheap lagers at the Albert (£1.95 for a Stella. Woohoo!), wolfing down weird frozen alcohol-laced fruity jelly blobs at a Brixton party and a Sunday morning coffee at the Lounge in Atlantic Rd, Brixton.

Cheapskate bloggers! Download this!
If you can't afford the spelling checker that comes with the Pro version, download this fantastic FREE utility which lets you spell check anything you type in to Internet Explorer forms (like this Blogger interface). Respect!

NYC photos are go!
After days and days of editing, sorting and generally fiddling about in a caffeine haze, I've now uploaded 200+ brand spankin' new New York photos. Click here to see them all
There'll also be 9 interactive panoramas going up soon along with a short pub/bar/café guide...