Dave Matthew's House

Are you a Dave Matthews fan? Do you enjoy watching House? Well, if so, you are in for a treat - or to be more accurate, you could be missing that treat right now!

Tonight's episode of House on Channel 5 guest stars Dave Matthews playing a musically gifted young man. But this young man spends more time behind a piano than a guitar and so far there isn't even a hint of a DMB song! Actually, so far all the music has been at the start and the poor guy has spent the rest on a hospital bed undergoing Dr Houses' relentless tests as he strenuously pursues the cause and cure of the condition!

Not so good at multitasking so thought I'd get back to the show!

Going Handsfree

As all you drivers should be aware, it is now illegal to even pick up a mobile phone while you are driving. You can pick up points and a fine if you caught. And what do points make? Anyone?

Anyway, I was thinking that I should find my Jabra Bluetooth headset and get it charged for use in the car. But I remembered how much I disliked the feel of it in my ear and how awkward it actually was to pick it up and put it in my ear before the caller hung up! So a rethink was required.

If you are a Nokia N73 user you will know that it, as so many modern phones, has a loudspeaker function. It works well but the problem is working out where to put the thing while talking. Leaving it on the seat next to me was no use as the speakers and mic were to far away resulting in a shouting match.

So all I needed was something to hold it, and this is what I got. It was only £5.95 in The Carphone Warehouse and I installed it on a vest right beside my steering wheel. The clip grips and easily holds my N73 which would be considered a reasonably heavy phone. Driving home today I conversed easily with my mother - who isn't renowned for her bat like hearing - so that proved to me it worked well.

Better still, you can buy the same clip in Tesco at the moment for less that £5. So if you have a decent loudspeaker system on your phone, this could be a cheap and effective way to go handsfree.

SWOT BBQ

We were at Mark & Claire's last night for a BBQ. Dermo worked his magic on the grill and to the best of my knowledge successfully fed the troops with no reports of any food poisoning.

My contribution was some home made wheaten bread (my Dad's recipe, it turned out really well) and a chocolate swiss roll - where were you Dave & Cara?!? I made this thinking you would be there. I guess that the bright side is that although this first effort wasn't bad the next is bound to be better. Sorry, but you're going to have to wait a bit longer to sample it!

And just to prove it wasn't just the lads! Someone is enjoying their dinner!

I Predict A Riot

Since I have been off work for a few days I had a good chance, which I took, to get through a book I have been reading. It is called 'I Predict a Riot'.

No, it isn't the life and times of Kaiser Chiefs, the band with a song of the same title. It is simply a work of fiction based around a few characters (and I say that in the way people from round here do ie. "He's some character him!") who live in and around Belfast. Both sides of our fractured community are involved as are many of our favourite past times as listed on the front cover!

It is funny and a bit of a dark side. The conversations remind of some that I have had over the years! Not by way of their content or subject matter but by way of the tempo, the rhythm and the intonation.

The writer, Colin Bateman, a local lad who for the sake of marketing has dropped his first name is also behind the well known TV series - Murphy's Law and has also written movie screenplays such as Divorcing Jack and Wild About Harry.

I have already ordered another of his titles, Belfast Confidential from Amazon Amazon. I even paid the extra 99p so the cover matches the one I have just read!

Ok, so if you want to know more you can visit Colin Bateman's Website. Note he uses the same blogger template as me!

Glastonbury 2007

I was chatting to my brother today who was is a taxi along with a few other unbelievably stinking fellas on their way from the Glastonbury Festival to the airport. Although clearly mucked to the oxters and audibly smelly the now tentless group were in good spirits after enjoying a great few days of musical indulgence.

I only got to see snippets of the BBC's coverage. This was partly due to being busy (check out the wedding post below!) and also due to the fact that I've been staying at my folks house for a couple of days so have been reduced to 4 analogue channels!

But they do have a non-too-shabby internet connection. So, if you like me missed a lot of the great acts that some of your friends are starting to rave on about then you will like this link to the beeb's webcasts of some of the live sets!

Watch and listen to live acts from Glastonbury 2007!

Did you see or listen to any of the weekend's acts? Any favourites?

Of course, not satisfied with the offerings of the mud soaked Glastonbury fields my brother and co are now off to Amsterdam for a couple of days to get cleaned and rested before going to another festival in Denmark. Yes, Denmark, home to Carlsberg, lovely bacon, tasty pastries and the great Maersk (who I work for) host the Roskilde Festival.



Over 170 bands at that one running from 5th to 8th July with the amazing Muse finishing things off on the Sunday. I am ever so slightly jealous!

Ian & Olwyn's Wedding

It has been a while since my last entry but what better way to return than with news of a wedding! Yip, on Saturday I had the pleasure of being a guest at the wedding of Ian McKinney and Olwyn Dowling. It was a great day with the couple adding their own special flavour to the proceedings.

Check out the sparklers! They handed one out to everyone. Then, in a scene that probably wouldn't have seemed out of place at Glastonbury (going on at the same time) we lit them in a circle and kind of danced around.




It looked fantastic and after a few minutes it wasn't just the emotion of it all that was choking! But the smoke made Lisanoor Castle look and feel very mysterious but was as spectacular as you could get without a full blown fireworks display.

Anyway, I had fun and I hope everyone else did too. It was great catching up with a few ex-Edinburgh Campers. Of course, now they have all grown up, and done a good job of it I might add!

In one of the quieter moments, which were pretty few, I messed around with the disposable camera they had left on the tables in a way only I could. See what I mean.

Blue is the Colour

My brother's latest masterpiece. Done with a mixture of ink and acrylic, this is soon to take pride of place in his friend's living room.

I think it is fantastic!