Splendid

Apparently I am 4th result out of 36,663 on MSN when folk search for "goats pupils." What's more disturbing is that somebody thought I would provide all the information they needed because the leading three entries showed evidence of actually dealing with the subject whereas mine started: "Watching the results on the teleprinter each Saturday was a must for all history pupils. A good one didn't guarantee leniency the following Monday, you just hoped it would." I wish these people worked for First Direct, viz:

"Hello, First Direct. May I take your name please?"

"Did you get the cheque I paid in on Tuesday, the one for £98,245?"

"We got one for £40."

"No, it had the wrong amount on. The bloke said I could change it."

"Oh, OK then. Bye."

---oo00oo---

This evening I have been a rockin' and a rollin' down with South Cheshire's finest liggers at Crewe's mighty Limelight Club. OK, that's a tad ambitious; I have been sitting on a 10" wide ledge with my mate Mark quaffing pints of Fuller's London Pride at not-London prices and tapping our feet roughly in time to the music.

I was attending an album launch for the first time in my life. I hasten to add I wasn't on the extensive guestlist as I'm not yet among South Cheshire's moving and shaking fraternity (one day I will be in "Cheshire Life," mugging alongside William Roache of Ken Barlow fame), so I paid £2.50 to get in. That didn't bother me at all. The occasion was the unleashing of Jim Kirkpatrick's album "Changed Priorities" on a largely unsuspecting world. He doesn't look it but Jim is only 4-years-old yet plays with an assuredness and fluidity of a man 12 time his age. For those familiar with the recent works of Thea Gilmore, he provides the guitar work for her live and recordedly. I'm crap with song titles but one or two stood out: he did a fine and accomplished version on a National of Robert Johnson's "Walking Blues" and a version of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Texas Flood" that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. He can certainly play alright. What's more, he's a fellow Rory Gallagher fan so that's a big plus in my book and I think that probably means there won't be too many Slipknot covers worked into his set unnoticed. I am looking forward to his acoustic set in a couple of weeks down at the Shroppie Fly in Audlem and I'd love to plug his album but I can't find a link to it. I bought a copy and he signed it so it does exist. When I get one, I'll insert it. A link I mean. He plays all over the place so keep an eye open.

For Betty, South Cheshire fashion demands ladies must wear tight jeans and small jackets and clutch their handbags across their midriffs, like they did 25 years ago. Gentlemen, black corduroy caps are de rigeur. I'm not sure the crowd was totally representative of Cheshire's grooviest hep cats as most seemed to be on the guestlist and were of the kind one would normally not expect to see in a seriously rock establishment. I noticed tonight they dispensed with the doormen which kind of means something. I enjoyed it.