Royal Baby - Only whilst stocks last...

Tired of seeing your country's economy in the toilet? Sick of corrupt politicians, criminal media barons and tax dodging corporations? Have you had your fill of rising energy bills, reduced public services and prohibitive petrol prices?

Well, friend, today is your lucky day, because you can make it all go away by adding just a sprinkle of the new craze that's sweeping the nation - Royal Baby!

Royal baby will fill up all those news reports, column inches and Facebook timelines in an instant, ensuring you don't have to read about the destruction of the NHS, the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan and the deepening crisis in the Eurozone. No more will you have to suffer the anguish of wondering if your favourite newspaper hacked the phone of your favourite reality star, because Royal Baby will provide a continuous stream of news-deadening fluff that will keep any actual or celebrity news out of the public eye for months to come.

But wait, that's not all, if you buy into Royal Baby now you'll get an additional gift - the gift of instant subservience to an as yet unborn child. The fantastic system of hereditary privilege in the UK means that we can offer you instant inferiority to the Royal Baby at no extra cost, just because his or her distant relations owned a lot of land in Germany.

So why are you waiting? Why even bother to finish reading? Get out there today and cover yourself in Royal Baby. Guaranteed to keep the news at bay for at least 9 months.

Whiskey in the Jar - Acoustic cover

Fool For your Loving - New guitar vid

New guitar video - Classical Gas - A work in progress

Yet Another Dire Straits song - Romeo & Juliet

Some more Dire Straits

Some Monday Noodles

I thought I'd plug the guitar in for 10 minutes and see what happened - here it is......

Valentine's Day

I surely can not be the only person in the world to whom the arrival of the annual profiteering extravaganza for Hallmark celebratory day of love and romance bring on feelings of dread, loathing and exploitation. I'm a very happily married man. I tell my wife of my love for her on a daily basis. If it were down to me I'd physically prove it on a daily basis, or even twice daily at weekends, assuming a grandparent or two would remove the kids to an otherwise 'fun' location.

But Valentine's Day pisses me off. Not because I have to openly show affection, or publicly declare my feelings - I'm an enlightened modern human being, apart from when I've had more than six pints - but for the simple reason that this one, arbitrarily chosen, day seems to possess the power to cancel out the acts of the other 364 days of the year, should one not purchase the cutesy card, flowers, posh dinner, chocolates etc. Any number of posh dinners and chocolates provided earlier or later in the year do not, could not ever, cover the expectations and anticipations of this one day, this day when, amazingly, the price of roses goes up threefold and a table at a decent restaurant is harder to find than than Nick Clegg's integrity.

I would lead a campaign to boycott Valentine's day, but as it's bloody cold sleeping on the sofa at night I'll refrain from doing so and simply vent my frustrations through the medium of blogger. By way of balance I would urge you to read the excellent 7 reasons that love is important post over at  7 reasons

A song for you.....

I recorded this on my iphone a while ago as a test, to see if the iphone camera helped cut out the lag I got recording from my webcam. It did that, but left me with this rather narrow looking effect which I'm underwhelmed by.

Anyhow, this is me playing and singing (if you can call it that) Dire Straits' "The Man's Too Strong" from the Brothers in Arms album. Real blogging will happen one day soon I promise.

Is this thing on?

So, the temptation to blog my incessant, occasionally incontinent, mental processes has become too great to resist. However, before I embark upon a journey from which I may never properly return, it occurs that a prudent thing to do would be to test the process, learn from a few inevitable mistakes and use the acquired knowledge to improve future output. Hence this initial, rather directionless, post - the maiden voyage, the virgin earth being tilled to make way for what will ultimately turn out to be a carbuncular edifice upon the blogosphere. Whether or not more follows depends on the success, or otherwise, of this rambling offering, as well as upon the amounts of red wine and cheese I consume in the meantime. So here it is. Whatever it is.