Another 4am Start...

It's 5am and I'm being helped along with my early morning insomnia by a flagged-up but non the less it-is-5-in-the-fucking-morning brick filtered bass from a party next door.

I'm staying positive however (although Monday morning might prove another matter).

So how have I been whiling away the wee hours?

Eventually finished watching The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada!

I knew from the first trailer I'd love it and not sure how it took me so long to get round to watching it. All the right mix of Americana, male angst and road movie.

And Dwight Yoakam and Levon Helm anyone? Two really great performances - let alone Melissa Leo and Mr Lee Jones himself.

Here's Levon in one of his two scenes:



And Dwight Yoakam and Melissa Leo:



And here they are doing their regular thing:

The Band with The Staple Singers: 'The Weight'
(Levon's on the drums)



Dwight Yoakam: 'Intentional Heartache'

There But For Fortune

I'm walking up Regent Street to work in the mornings lately. This week at 7.30ish. Just in time to catch sight of the homeless guys sleeping in the Posh Shop doorways.

It's a terrible cliche but I wander along with my iPod tinkling away, maybe about to spend £3.49 on a carrot and ginger smoothie thing or £1.79 on a latte or £2.20 on coffee and toast or £3 something on a bagel or nearly £6 on a pack of Marlboros.

I'm suffering a hangover from an unexpected night of 5 pints of £3 odd beer and a £1.89 sausage pasty thing and used a £14 rail-card. I'll spend maybe £4 on Boots sushi at lunchtime and a good chance of a couple more coffees.

I've got to get round to sending back a dud piece of £30 RAM to Crucial, pay an overdue NI contribution, a credit card bill, rent and swap a £13 CD at HMV.

And I saunter past these fellas in the doorways in the morning feeling little more than a passing anger aimed somewhere between Top Shop and Western Capitalism that soon fades back into the everyday background drone.

The frustrating thing is that I feel it doesn't frustrate me enough.

Slippery When Wet

Ok, so in other train related news, what on earth is going on when a
train station built in the centre of London has to shut some of it's
entrances when it rains?

The ever lovely Charing Cross had a whole entrance closed and another
on some bizarre one-way system tonight because the floor was slippy.

Are we insane? Does this happen everytime there's a bit of drissle?
And how do you spell drissle?

Enquiring minds need to know. And yes, I am on the old iPhone on the
train.

Again.

Born Again Virgin

Here I am sat on the 17.41 from Lancaster to Euston.

It's going to be just short of 11 o'clock when I arrive which seems
extraordinary when I could do London to Paris and back in the same time.

Still, god forbid they should do engineering works on a work day. Take
up everyone's leisure time as long as people aren't held up getting to
jobs they hate on a Monday morning.

Bah...

To be fair I'm probably a bit biley since my trip up in First Class
was quiet as could be. In fact I had a whole carriage to myself, was
fed and watered regularly and made it in under 3 hours.

The very reason I'd spent the extra.

Years ago, when I used the West Coast line on a regular basis I would
openly hiss and curse the First Class coaches as I pushed my way into
Standard Smoking carriages (that's right kids).

Now, with a bit of disposable income, (and credit cards are disposable
income, right?) I'm justifying the "just thirty quid more" based on
the horror stories of non-vehicled friends on Virgin Trains.

Well, as First is now exhibiting all the everyday nuisance that I'd
hoped to avoid, god only knows what Standard is like...

So, I sit here contemplating the classless society and enjoying the
man over the aisle struggling with a monstrosity of a Windows laptop...

I tap away on my iPhone and listen to the girl opposite, who I'd
vaguely flirted with earlier, say to her mate on the phone that she'd
see her AT SCHOOL tomorrow....

I listen to Richard Thompson from the Macbook as I've not got the
right earphone connector for the iPhone and refuse to use the Apple
ones, not out of any particular audio-snobbery (although that would
probably be justified) but because they fall out of my ears and
broadcast more music to anyone within 100 yards of me rather than my
own head...

And more importantly realise that this entire post is merely an excuse
to practice on the keyboard and show off my week old but still magical
new toy (forgot to put any witty bracketed comments in this paragraph).

Well, I'm off for thirty quids worth of complimentary shortbread and
to send this while I've actually got an EDGE signal...

Whoopee!

iWonder

So, a few years ago (really, years) I mused that my purchasing of some
crazy PDA thing (m2000 anyone?) would increase the posts to this here
blog.

Which it clearly didn't.

Only time will tell whether the lovely iPhone that I'm sat typing this
on will have a more positive effect.

I've been spending a lot of time reading some great blogs of late and
feel I could at least attempt to offer something of worth.

However, the Cropredy Festival, aging heavy metal stars and the bloody
iPhone is all I can garner.

Well, who knows?

(see, exciting already...)

iBack

Well it's been a while since I've popped down to the Harbour but as
I'm sat up by the West Lancashire coast and have my magical iPhone
with me, thought I might drop by and see how everyone's doing.

Alright?

Marvelous...