Holiday, celebrate.

Ok so its been a while since the last update, just a little over a month so I thought it was time to say hello!

Right now I’m in Gozo in Malta listening to Aphre singing Dreams by Fleetwood Mac in the shower (possibly the Corrs version). I have had some nice times so far and it’s our third day here. Since we got here we’ve had to dampen down the Trump talk. I have so much to say but not really anything I can go i to right now, but what a state the world in.

Anyway what’s it like here? Well it’s very brown. I dont mean that in a bbc 4 way, but in a floor way. All the buildings are made of stone. We’re on a villa on a farm, so we usually hear a Donkey braying, and a cat meowing in the night. 

Aphre has been a lovely. She went to lidl over here and they had some of those sweets she always gets me at Christmas. They are basically Dark Chocolate with cherry liqueur and a cherry inside. They are amazing.

And as I’m a bit of a fan of Ferrero products (yes they do more than Ferrero Rocher nutella and Kinder stuff) I found these yesterday. 

These are basically Ferrero Rochers in a bar. Now yes I’ve taken pictures of food so far, but Johnny, You’re on holiday, what about the lovely pictures of where you are!

Here’s us all on the plane getti g ready to blast off. I don’t know who the man behind is. I wasn’t sure on the blasting off bit but actually flying and landing was ok, but a bit surreal to me considering I’d never flown or left the UK before.

Here’s some pics of the place were staying in

More laterrrr

On my bike

In Saturday’s post, I announced that I’d be doing a radio show from Tuesday and the rest of the week and said I’d say on what station and when  today. It’s today now so hello.

I’ll be on Worcester’s More Music Station Youthcomm 106.7 FM waking up Worcester at 7am. Now all I need to do is make sure I get there on time and hit the news, with the weather and traffic and travel. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve done some practicing of the weather and traffic. I won’t get much time to practice that when I get there so what I need to remember to do with reading is just pace myself and look ahead to what I’ll be reading. I’m over conscious about these things.

I even bought a bike. It looks like it’s from the 90s but it will do for what I need it for, and it’s in a pretty good state. I’ll be having a quick ride in a moment to make sure the gears are all good and that the breaks work (or at least work to a good enough level that I don’t have to stop by scraping my feet on the floor).

Back on-air

So today I’m back on my way to the place I was yesterday, which I can now reveal was Worcester! Why am I telling you? Could it be that yesterday’s chat/meeting/interview was a success? Well it was. I’ll be on the radio from next week all going well, I will reveal more info about it on Monday right here on this poor excuse of a blog.

It’s weird to be on air back in worcester, not that anyone will remember me from last time because nobody would have listened to me last time for various reasons. Due to the circumstances of last time though I am really nervous about coming back on-air, the last time wasn’t a fun experience, but I’m looking forward also to doing something I love and that I’m good at. It’s also a bit of a bit of personal nostalgia as the playout system I’ll be using was the one we used at Tone when I first started which made me smile, and I actually know the systems functionalities really well. I’m looking forward to it… which leads me on to today.

I’m off in today to see how it works, and maybe even for a little practice if I get chance. It depends what the idea of today is so im open to it happening if it’s a thing.

In today’s leg report, it seems to be alright today. I got back last night and it hurt, but didn’t take long for it to calm down. I’m hoping that I don’t have the same stairs experiences of yesterday which were not fun, it was like i got half way up and felt like my knee was like “naa mate”. All seems well though so far. I do have a bit of a walk in a bit though, it better keep its shiz together.

In the place

So today I am in a city for an interview/chat. It’s one of those “is it, isnt it” situations. I won’t be saying where this is happening or who it’s for, but all I will say is that I’d feel awkward wearing my University of Gloucestershire jumper. I was going to grab before I left, but then realised it might not be a cool idea.

So I’m sat in a wetherspoons as I’m very early for the thing, and chilling with some cheese crisps and a pepsi. While walking down the stairs though from the train station, it dawned on me that I’ve done something very wrong to my leg. On monday i went out and delivered a load of letters as an odd job for Aphre. It took me about 7 hours to get everything delivered and did it all on foot. When i got back I could feel my knee hurting. A few years ago i was coming back from a gig at Pittville Campus, when it snowed. It stopped classes for the day so we had a mess about day on Tone. See that post here.

So I thought the issue went away but walking for 6 hours must have agrovated it. I fell asleep on monday night with it slightly hurting only to be woken up by the pain on tuesday at 1.30am. I rested all day tuesday and Wednesday and thouht it had gone down, but I walked for 30 mins into town and by the time i got there, it was feeling a bit weird. I must have sat funny on the train because there it was again, doing feeling screems at me. 

I feel like feeling screamsshould be a phrase. 

This spoons is nice. It’s a hotel spoons, and its like all oldy rustic inside. A bit like somewhere my friend Rich would take potential Mrs Richards on dates. You’ll usually find me on a sofa in these types of pubs, the sofa or on a comfy chair. This seating reminds me of an early childhood sofa. When i was really little, my parents lived in Didcot, and I have vague flashes every so often, and that yellow/brown leather sofa is something that I remember. But yeah, pubs, I’m on the sofa or the bit that looks the cosiest – if it’s my choice.

I’m just trying to think of things to write now, I’ve still got a bit of time before I need to go. 

Oh here’s something… I’m trying to decide what I want to do about podcasts. Basically I was abandoned podcast wise that put an end to Prick Up Your Ears, and I was thinking about doing it with someone else, or doing a new podcast, or a similar podcast but I’m a bit stuck. I was looking at the stats today and they are good, if only we were having that many new listens when we were actually doing it, id have actually earnt something. We have 25k listens on the Sound Gorillas audioboom channel which is great, and Robin and Jelmer are doing a monthly podcast, but I want to be back doing silly things… but I’ve had various conbersations with people and there’s some thoughts out there that ive looked into, at the moment they are in the fridge.
right, time to do a leisurely walk to the place i need to be at. I’ll let you know what happens!

Funtimes

Today, in the middle of looking for my next job, I’ve decided to take a little creative break as I was starting to feel creatively frustrated. Up until last week I was working the college job which was fun, but fizzled out towards the end. I enjoyed it, and I feel that I’m a little more confident meeting strangers and being myself a little. Every student I dealt with during my time as an enrollment assistant, started their educational journey with me saying the words “Happy educational Funtimes!”… even the ones who were not totally pleased with having to go to college for legal reasons, at least there was a small smirk if not a smile.

The issue with creative breaks while frustrated means that I get stuck on where I want to go with it and go from task to task, then just end up blogging because that’s a thing I don’t stop half way through.

As far as work, a few weeks ago I went to Birmingham for a job interview, which seemed quite promising, but the concern was due to it being in Birmingham which is a few too many train journeys for them to be happy with. However the feedback was very good and I’m grateful for the opportunity. I was in the top 3 of 125 people who applied. This has been a thing for the past few interviews I’ve had so, we may be in a world where justice prevails for Johnny Robinson and the stint of bad luck since Christmas finally subsides.

I’m having a chat with some people later this week which I am really hoping that something will come out of. If it’s successful I will mention I will do more of a thing about it but apparently I have “Bags of potential”. I’m hoping those bags are bags are bags for life and not the paper bags you get at the chip shop that if you keep your chips in them for too long that they go soggy and your chips fall out (Genuinely happened once).

In other news, while I’ve been at home, Finn has been at nursery so I’ve had time to apply for things, but I’ve also been watching the Labour conference. It was nice to see that Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership again. I just wish the opposing members of Labour would just get on with opposing and getting voters interested in the party. As for uniting… well I hope it is a thing that can happen but it’s not going to be an easy thing. I see it more like a wound, and it’s going to take some time for it to be stitched, scab over, and then heal, providing it’s not aggravated again. I’m watching the conference now, with their mix of music that seems to be about 2 years old.

Speaking of Finn, he has been so good with nursery. He’s had a little bit of a faff with the first few weeks, but had cheered up bundles now. Apparently he hugs other children and seems to have a friend which is cool.

Aphre is also doing cool, She’s just been away for a bit to Berlin and I missed her loads and loads, so I’m glad she’s back. She was a bit down that she didn’t have her own space, as I have my cupboard studio under the stairs and although she has the Study, it doubles up as a dining room and general storage. I tried to make a clothes cupboard, I used a flimsy clothes rail as poles to make a new clothes rail, but I put some nails in the wall and put it up, but then when I put some clothes up, the nails fell out and now there’s some chunks in the wall so I need to re-visit that another day. I just wanted to show her that I do care about her and her lack of space issue, so I now consider the walls in the wall as love chunks.

I have stuff to do now, so I’ll get on with that. If I say this now it will hopefully mean I will update more often so here goes – I will try another attempt to update more regularly, once every day or every two days – let’s see how long that lasts!

Lightly Gnawing

So I’m writing this in my spare time while working. Firstly yes… I have a job right now working as a temp enrolment assistant. It’s OK and last week and the week before was very busy, but today hasn’t been so much.

The reason for this blog bit though was mainly so I could look busy, and to tell you about the brownies that are currently sat next to me. These brownies were… at one point in their journey probably quite tasty, but in their current form on Monday the 12th of September they are dry and dusty. I know because I’ve tasted it.

I’ve resorted to lightly gnawing my pass now, as I’m refraining from drinking too much more of my drink. I had a horrible time last evening being ill and not even eating my macaroni cheese last night which is like… nah mate.

Right, i have things to do! I must go!

 

TV Time(s)

Tonight was Channel Four’s Friday Night Dinner which is always a great watch. I’m glad that the obvious joke that could have happened happened early on and in more of an epic way that predicted. 

Last week I watched the first 3 episodes of Wasted. It’s on e4 (and all 4) and seems to be slightly inspired by Hot Fuzz/Scott Pilgrim/Spaced/Edgar Wright, but is great writing in its o  right. It’s based in a shop called “Stonedhenge” in a west country village. Surprisingly it has Shaun Bean in it as one of the main character’s spirit guide (or something). It’s pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was a version of something, but I would say that you can see the influences. The soundtrack is amazing, and is a little like something you’d expect to see on channel Four in the early 00s, which makes it great for Four’s brand, but also looks like it could have been picked up by BBC3… but could have lost some of its charm due to bbcing it up and losing some of its rawness.

Another new comedy show Aphre and I have been watching since it started last Tuesday is actually from Channel 5 – who’d have thought it? Boarderline is directed by Matt Jones (Badger, Breaking bad) and is voiced by (and executive produced by) Ralf Little. It’s a Mockumentary about officers at the uk boarder agency that is followed in a similar way as Ricky Gervais ‘The Office’ but again it’s taken that format and shaken it up with it’s own way of doing things. Can get a little crude at times, but I like that sort of thing.
We’ve been watching inside Number 9 on gold which is a great piece of writing from two of the guys from league of gentlrmen and Psychoville. I like how it’s unpredictable and you can guess what happens but would be wrong. So far I liked the one with the robbery for the way it was like a silent film and didn’t really have speech driven dialogue. That kind of series makes TV magical.

Not on comedy, but a habit I’ve had to break for a bit… Watching BBC news, especially breakfast. I’ve switched to ITV I’m afraid… only for the morning till Jeremy Kyle as Finn doesn’t like the shouting. I hate hearing about the olympics all the time. I have no interest so they are just ramming it down my neck. I would rather deal with Piers Morgan thank you.

Lastly, I just want to vent my dissapointment about the appeal court’s decision to overturn Monday’s decision to let members vote past the 6 month date. I paid my £25 to vote… I was one of those who could muster up £25 unlike a few of my other friends who joined past the retrospective date, and I have a great respect for the people who went to court to fight the case. Although I can vote, i feel gutted for the ones who can’t, and that I really hope this isn’t the end, whether that’s through another case or that that this doesnt happen in the future. I think this whole thing is unfair, and now those people who faught for the people of the party have to pay the court fees which is just crazy. 
Right, that’s all over and done with… it is time to go to bed!

Productive day

Today has been a productive day I think.

I finally managed to put together the shed thing in the garden. It’s like a little storagey thing, not like a proper shed. I’d love a shed though, I’d put loads of rsdioy things in it and make it into a studio.

But yeah i put it together. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve put together in a while, and it suggested i used a power screwdriver thing but didn’t have one of them (well, actually some how we do, but the bits were not with the drilly thing)

Aphre went to the cinema today, but when she came back she brought us all some little treats that were nice. Last night I got back with Ruby and Aphre had bought some vegan cheese from the shop. If you are squeemish skip to the next paragraph… it was weird, tasted ok when it was cold, but Aphre wanted it for pizza purposes. So we pizzad it, and tasted like a salty, bit cheezy splodge of glob in yoir mouth. A little like if you sneased, let that sit next to cheese for a week then re-ingested it the way it came out. I managed to force that down me, but regretted it shortly after.

Back to Aphre though, I just want to say that she is mega nice when I come back from picking Ruby up because I always leave really early that morning and knows that going up and down in one day can be draining, especially when I’m going by coach as I don’t travel well. It’s nice to get hugs and stuff when I get home. Things would be crap without her.

Tomorrow, i need to cut the grass and sort out my studio. The productivity of today also came up with a storage solution which meant having to take some shelves from my studio and storing other things. All exciting obviously. 

on a bus with various smells

Today I’m traveling up to yorkshire to spend half an jour at a train station and bring a girl home. Sounds like some sort of fucked up slease situation but actually no. I’m bringing my daughter Ruby down for 2 weeks of fun.

The thing is since i got on this bus, I’ve been trying to decipher what I can smell as these things really annoy me. If it was pleasant I could rest… especially apple and cinemon because that means cake. Yum. But the smell of this coach I don’t want to be eating that fucking cake. I dare the people who say that they are spokespeople for the general public to travel on a megabus from London to Manchester and call it a pleasure. I’m doing birmingham to manchester, but only because I went on the train to Birmingham insyead because of how horrific it is.

Smell 1 ) Body odor – someone clearly needed to wear some Lynx today.

Smell 2) Stale alcohol – someone has had a great night last night, so much so that you could smell their last 4 drinks that have matured on their t-shirt.

Smell 3) Bad aftershave – not just dabbed it, not just douced it, but litterally bathed in bad aftershave.

Smell 4) Polish (The cleaner not a person from poland). This seems to be coming and going like a medium wave radio station you managed to pic up broadcasting from… well… poland.

Smell 5) Fart – not allthe time, its been about 35 minutes since the last wave of this.

There are others that seems to wave in and out. I do question whether these smells are coming from one specific person who’s been on a massive bender – Went to Birmingham’s dingiest nightclub, drank 20 drinks, 5 or which has fallen down the front of their body, so pissed they tried to clean themselves with polish and subsequently fell into a barrel of bad aftershave but ran for the coach for a mile realising they were too far away from the bus, and now trying to keep their farts in.

I’ve been listening listening to the radio which is something I’ve weirdly nit done in a while I’ve come home to 6 music, already had Parliament – We’ve got the funk – which has made the journey slightly better. I drowns out the whoever is talking loud about whatever the hell they are talking about.

I need to go before I add sick to the smell… i don’t travel well on coaches,

Sleupdate

That is supposed to be a mixture of sleepy and update as I’ve not blogged gor a little bit. Today i took Ruby home after having a lovely week with her, and as it’s the school holidays, i will get her again in a week. She’s off on another holiday, then back to me which is weird. 

We spoke about music, and was subjected to a mixture of animal jam youtube videos of some songs she liked. It’s annoying because there isn’t really a safe place for her to actually access songs… like… for instance a kids radio station that played kid safe pop would be great. I’ve mentioned Fun Kids Radio before, which for some bits is good, they do have shows where they play regular music, have presenters, and they someti es play radio dramas. The downer is they do also play some terrible nursery rhymes and some of the productions are a bit old sounding… but i think to have a kid equivalent of heart would make them feel more like it was for them. Fun Kids is great for little kids, but for cbbc age to teenager (7-14s) maybe they are missing out. 

Tomorrow will probably be a tidying up/tidying up after Finn day as I don’t think anything is planned, but you never know… we might get Finn’s robot chinchillas out again.