The new place

Hello there - it's been a while, hasn't it? Keeping well? And the missus? Junior must be coming up to...what, four now? Time flies...

Greetings from my new home in Wollstonecraft, NSW, part of Sydney's quite swanky Lower North Shore. I'm not actually doing any commuting at the moment, but fingers crossed I will be soon.

I've not been entirely idle since I've been over here, oh no. I have been immersing myself in the beer culture and calling it research. Witness my new blog, The Six O'Clock Swill. Bookmark and check often.

Day One Hundred and Sixty-Six - The New Vortex, Gillett Square, N16

Dave came down today and we met after work to go and see Tim Berne's Science Friction group (Tim Berne - alto sax, Marc "groovy trousers" Ducret - guitar, Craig Taborn - keyboards, Tom Rainey - drums) at The Vortex in Dalston. I hate the area and am still in mourning for the old Vortex (where you could get a good meal and didn't feel like you were in a community centre) but they keep on putting on the last few people in "jazz" that I'm interested in seeing. And some stuff I'd rather eat glass than see, but there you go.

Good gig, plenty of beer, and a nice prelude to my stag weekend in Belgium. Yes, Belgium.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Eight - Brigstock Road, SE19

On visiting Thornton Heath to have my medical for my Australian visa, what should I see in someone's front garden?

The Maberley Road mattresses were still there this morning, if you were wondering.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-Three - Gypsy Hill, SE19

A different route to work this morning so that I could pick up a parcel from the Royal Mail sorting office. Said parcel contained CD-rs from Phantomhead Recordings and I recommend the two 3" CD-rs (especially the Ian Watson/Mark Jolliffe one) very highly. Get them while you can.

That's the City of London you can see.

Day One Hundred and Fifty-One - Joiner Street, SE1

Another weird night at Shunt. More details (and pics) here.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Eight - Bennett's Hill, Birmingham B5

Another meeting in Birmingham, another chance to sample the beers in The Wellington. And this time I had pig snacks, too.

Day One Hundred and Thirty-Four - Leicester Square, WC2

"Up West" (as they say) to see Sweeney Todd (very slow getting going, nicely gory later on) I get caught up in the crowds waiting to gawp at the stars of The Accidental Husband, a film which I predict that no-one who has the misfortune to see will remember for more than half an hour afterwards.

Day One Hundred and Thirty - Campden Hill Road, W8

In the "here be dragons" (as far as I'm concerned) environs of Notting Hill for a bit of a crawl with the legend that is Lorkin, we stumble upon Mr Jeff Lynne's wheels. Nice.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Six - Chelmsford Winter Beer Festival, CM1

Will chooses the dark side.

Day One Hundred and Twenty-Three - Bennett's Hill, Birmingham B5

Stopped in for a cheeky one at The Wellington (mentioned previously) on my way home from a meeting at one of our Birmingham offices and was greeted by this sign at the door. How can I swing a meeting in Birmingham on Thursday (or early Friday) next week so I can take advantage of this? Bostin!

Day One Hundred and Twelve - Highgate Station, N6

A diversion on the way home to spend money (and have a chat) at Sound 323, my favourite record shop in the world. Back down in the tube they've taken all the adverts off the walls, leaving a series of nice framed plaster works of art.

Day One Hundred and Ten - Holborn Viaduct, EC1

On the way to Haberdasher's Hall (which may be "a twenty-first century venue of the finest quality and highest standards" but was bloody freezing all day) this morning for a very tedious event I passed this, the oldest drinking fountain in London, set up by The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association.

Day One Hundred and Nine - New Street, Birmingham B5

21st century nannying from "Bullring", or the Bull Ring as it used to be called before they demolished it and started again. Blimey, it used to make the Elephant and Castle shopping centre look good, didn't it?

Ooh, Adnams' Tally Ho - good job I only had one of those last night.

Day One Hundred and Eight - Upper Dean Street, Birmingham B5

The view from my window at Premier Apartments, my Birmingham pied a terre. I'm here for an early meeting tomorrow morning, so that makes this the last stage of today's commute in my little rule book.

I like coming to Birmingham as it means I can have a couple of pints in The Wellington, the only pub I know that has its beer selection on a TV screen and invites you to order them by number.

Day One Hundred and One - Brewer's Green, SW1

More boozery ('tis the season), this time in Tapsters, a (shudder) wine bar near work. We were saying goodbye to my boss of the last two and three-quarter years. He's a very nice chap and I will miss him, especially as there's still no news about who we'll get in his place. Grrr.

Day One Hundred - Charterhouse Street, EC1

An unofficial one-hundredth-post celebration in The Fox and Anchor, near Smithfield Market with Will. There's a review from the very same night by my new beer hero, Stonch, here. I pretty much agree with him, but I'm still not sure about the pewter mugs and wonder if they're just an excuse to give you short measures. There's a pint line on the outside of the mugs but the barman seemed rather cavalier with the froth and it's not like you can see inside, is it? Very nice beer though.

Those cubey things you can see are the pork scratchings, which are the meatiest "scratchings" I've ever had. Nice.

Day Ninety-Six - The Red Rose Club, Seven Sisters Road N7

Went to No Signal at the Red Rose tonight. Beforehand I ate excellent Japanese/Korean food with Dave and Richard at Hana, which is just across the road from the venue and has become a bit of a must-do before gigs there.

The gig was full of fans of Sunn O))), and therefore not yer usual Red Rose crowd. They were there to see Stephen O'Malley of that group play with Oren Ambarchi, who often collaborates with the band. Their set was ok, nothing special, but made better by the application of dry ice at regular intervals. Of the other acts on the bill, Herve Boghossian and Tetuzi Akiyama played a pretty acoustic guitar duet, Mark Wastell (tamtam, pictured above) and Joachim Nordvall (laptop) conjured dark satanic wastelands, and Z'Ev (percussion) and the unspeakably bad Osso Exotico (shit keyboards and electronics) made a bloody awful racket. Nicely put together night though. How do No Signal manage it? Tiny venue, a good mix of big names and names that should be big, and sold out. Well done chaps.

Day Ninety-Three - Great Russell Street, WC1

After work diversion to Gosh!, my favourite comics shop. Calvin always makes me happy when I see him outside.

Pity their website, other than the front page, is so out of date.

Day Ninety - Crystal Palace Park, SE19

An odd sign to see at the entrance to a firework display. Mind you, given the poor quality of the display we could have done with bringing our own.

Day Eighty-Seven - Wood Lane, W12

As the nine-to-five shift at BBC TV Centre go home, I'm going in to meet my chum Julian for a farewell drink in the BBC Club before he goes off travelling for three months. We were joined by several other beer-drinking friends and I only just made the last train home. Hic.

On the discman today: AM - Fond Of Tigers Release The Saviours