A couple of people had stated that they missed my inane mumblings and rantings.
I had stopped making them public, due to some idiotic mis-use elsewhere.

What's happened since my last blog in May?
My band has gigged a fair amount.
Chris and I published a Slade hitory book that we called 1966 And All That...
Our beloved cat Smudge passed away.
I have had some personal stuff, which didn't make me feel at all like writing the grim details of my daily life down.

I don't really have a lot to say and it's mainly a diary. I will see how it goes for a while.

July 2026

21st:
Over the last weekend, (on Friday) I went to watch my drummer help a band out at Murphy's Bar in Bury. Oir own group wasn't available tthat evening, so he was free to do it. I don't have a problem with the odd 'defection', as long as it doesn't turn into anything that looks like becoming too regular.

I got there before 9pm, having traveled there by bus. I thought I'd catch a bit of their first set and then make my way into Manchester on the tram, then get the train back to Bolton and a bus home from there.

Just before 9.30pm, the band were handed a mobile phone and it was the bar manager, moving their start time back to 10pm and instructing them to play until midnight. He also cut their fee.

Mistake.

The reaction was just what you would expect. Drums were almost packed up and put in the car. They were not at all happy. Faces went red and the air went blue. The agreed times and price were on the bass player's phone (effectively a totally binding contract) and were shown to the bar staff and the manager was reminded of the agreement. 

The band landed up playing for their agreed fee and from 10pm until 11.45pm. The manager said he should engage with the bands more. I'm not convinced. I didn't bother to leave my band's card for the boss to check out.

I had time to watch just a couple of songs then I really had to make my way to my next port of call. After I left, I worked out that as I was running half an hour late, making my way home via Manchester Victoria rail station now looked rather improbable, so I just got a bus back in the direction of home. I was home by 11.15pm.

On Saturday, my band played at Milnrow Workmens Club. I've played there a number of times and it was a slight surprise when I landed to find that they had put a new stage in a front corner of the floor area. It had a plugged-in DJ' gear stand on it, which made the space slightly awkward, but we worked around it.

A hen party was in and we mainly played for them, as they were dancing quite enthusiastically, though they went on to their next stop at half time. The rest of the crowd really enjoyed us and said some very nice things to us afterwards. It was good night and we hope to be back there next year.

The band is going to be mostly playing one night per weekend next year. Our guitarist, Paul, has become a father this year and so he naturally doesn't want his entire weekend taken up with gigging. The band has to work for all of us, so I can live with that. I may do some gigs on the side occasionally with a friend's ad hoc group if needed.

Sunday was a trip to the supermarket, whixh I repeated on Monday with an additional trip to the tip thrown in to get rid of some things. We are having our bathroom replaced and rebuilt soon, so some preparation will be required for that.

This afternoon (Monday) saw me paying a visit to the Bolton Hospice to get a blood test taken, as they are an outpost of the Christie Hospital, who monitor my cancer levels for potential treatment. I have never been there before. To me, Bolton Hospice is very much like the main Christie Hospital, a place I have always avoided completely, hoping I would never ever see it.

I will be pushing the publish button on a new book on July 30th, so that it's available on August 1st

22nd:
I ran out of my favourite Masala-flavoured cheese last night, so it was really a very worthwhile and productive trip over to Bury Market this morning. Aren't you just pleased that the blog has returned? You can keep up with my cheese intake.

I got a phone call from our bathroom installer, talking about a site visit tomorrow and a start date for the installation, which should take about a week.

My earlier blog is in the blog archive for those of you with the folder password.

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