Rock on the rocks

There will be a fund raising night in aid of Guide Dogs on the 21st of Feb at "On the Rocks" in Newquay.

Organised by Catriona and her guide dog Ike, although I think Cat has done a bit more towards it than Ike has.
It will be an open mike music and entertainment night with prizes donated by the generous local businesses etc and performances from anyone wishing to turn up and play. For my sins, I will be attempting to take control of the DJ decks and provide the musical interludes between the fundraising and live acts, but dont let that put you off!

From around 8pm, it would be great to see everyone there.

Food, Friends, Family and, errrm, Bowling

Scott and Jo kindly offered to cook a roast for the usual rabble this afternoon. I tried to restrict myself to just a small portion as there would be another slap up meal in the evening for mums birthday. Unfortunately it was a bit too nice, and I ended up eating more than I should have including the so called caramelize carrots, for caramelized insert scorched. It was a bit of a stretch to expect Brett not to pine after the food, and with baby Amber extending her hand to feed him the poor thing must have gone insane. Amber and Brett seem to be good friends now, with B looking for attention all the time, and A giving him kisses and rolling on the floor with him. Having refrained from the intake of wine I very nearly fell asleep on the sofa afterwards whilst the others drank and chatted away.
We were taken straight from there to Truro by the folks early in the evening, along with Nat, Amy and Dan for the meal in the evening. So B had to spend another hour or so under a table whilst I stuffed my face. He had a bit of fun afterwards though when we finished up with a game of bowling.
This was the first time I had attempted bowling since losing my sight. Of course I went in all cocky saying that there wouldn't be any difference to my obviously amazing ball hurling skills. However I was soon proven wrong when my first 6 or 7 balls ended up in the gutter. I think I found some sort of technique by the end of the 2 games, but I may be deluded, scoring a total of around 20 points in total. For some reason B got very distressed when I went up to take my go, despite being only a few feet away he would whine and get really excited when I went back to him. Maybe with all the noise he thought I might be hurt. I think that mum enjoyed her birthday night out, and I particularly enjoyed working B at breakneck speed back to the car through the deserted streets of Truro

BBQ'd to a crisp.

Waking up with a hangover this morning was probably an indicator that I should refrain from drinkage for a while, the events that followed just served to reinforce this point!
Attending a bbq hosted by Rachael and Steve in the afternoon I put off drinking the quality Cornish ales til after I had some food. Persuaded to partake of the hairy dog to cure my hangover by my so called friends was just the start. The first 2 bottles were forced down whilst Brett stretched out in the garden waiting for baby Amber to wave food infront of his nose. The 3rd and 4th went down alot easier though! After a battle of wills over an entire chicken drumstick that B managed to get hold of and clamp down on, we took off.
After a quick change at home it was off to the pub, earlier thoughts of a hangover now well disguised by the same thing that gave rise to its origin. It was only a brief stop though, just enough time to let Scott and Jo get an eyeful of growler from the open legs of a 'lady' with all too short hotpants on. Leaving the high calibre clientelle and karaoke behind Jo went home and Scott and I ventured towards the Twilight.
Now, the Twilight Zone is Redruths one and only nightclub, it has the obligatory sticky carpet, plastic pint glasses and smells of sweaty dog. Hence the reason why I haven't attended in over 5 years. The only reason we were going was to see up and coming local band Glass Shark perform. Mistake no1. Only in Twiglet could they announce that the support band hadn't turned up, and then for the main act to play 2 songs, make some excuse about a chest problem and then leave! Claire, Oli and Morgan who we met in there left at this point to get their money back and go home. I on the other hand badgered Scott into staying. Mistake No2. It got very messy from there on in, lots of drink,a little boogieing on the dancefloor with Brett, and an unknown woman sitting on my lap for part of the evening. Most of which I have been told by Scott as I have no recolection.
Finally leaving at closing time we try to look for a taxi, after a disagreament with said taxi driver over the nature of his over inflated fare we decided to walk, not before I fall over and crack the back of my head. As we were at the bottom of the exit from the grounds, a bloke came running up and said that he had seen what had happened and he had got a whip round and collected taxi fare for us! Sometimes it pays to have a disability! However kind the offer, we still walked back to Scotts as there was no way I was going home in my state. Waking up in a strange bed not knowing quite where I was, a cut on my head and sick at the foot of the bed is definately an indication not to have 2 full days of drinking again in future.

Track of the day = Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

Oh my god I can't believe it, I've never seen Ronson and Allen this far from home.

'Stop me if you've heard this one before', but it's nice to 'Smile' at the 'Littlest Things', like Mark Ronson and Lily Allen playing at the Eden Project!
My sis and I were privilaged again to have free tickets to one of this years Eden Sessions gigs. The Lovely, wonderful, beautiful, kind, generous (I do hope they are reading for next year) people at the Sensory Trust gave us some tickets to assess the arrangements. It was Bretts first gig and he seemed to like it, sometimes wagging in time to the music. Luckily the weather held out and it was a pleasant evening all round. Much better than the reports on the previous nights gig with Amy Winehouse. Living up to her surname she turned in a shambollock performance, shouting at her stage hands, pissed up swaggering and at one point hitting herself on the head repeatedly with the mic. Ronson and Allen were a much more polished affair, with some pleasing trademark horniness. The evening flew by, possibly helped by the intake of some Rattler. For those that don't know, this is the devils own arse juice, a locally made cider of some 8 percent. In fact there were quite a few Rattlered up revellers bouncing around.
Brett as usual got loads of attention being the people whore that he is, being in the family enclosure made sure he had the kids fussing over him, and at one point eyeing up a nice ladies ice cream.
We will be back at Eden next week for our look around the garden that we had an input into. And of course are looking forward to next years sessions, come on Eden planners, where are the really big acts like Scooch?

Watch the video of Oh My God here

Track of the day = Mark Ronson - Just

Mays Social Club

Each month we have a gathering of the great and the good of the blind and visually impaired, it takes place at Tyacks in Camborne on the first Tues of the month. Its for those that want to chat about issues affecting us and general day to day gossip. We mostly have a young at heart approach and so age isn't a restriction on who attends, a love of a drink and putting the world to rights is more important.
Below are some photos of this months reprobates.


Nancy and Brian


Joe and Laura


Me and Joe


Kerry, Paul, Me, and Amy

Track of the day = Wham - Club Tropicana

blind drunk

being a few sheets to the wind and in charge of a guide dog isnt recommended. i wasnt drunk, just not at full concentration you see. this might have something to do with the fact that i was stood staring quizically at a set of traffic lights wondering who had dropped them into my previously light free route home. i was about to get out my whizzy new phone that has personal sat-nav built in, to locate my position, when i heard the tap of footsteps. knowing where i live, this could have been anybody from a prostitute to a, well, drunk prostitue. luckily it was a very helpfull gentleman and he helped orientate me, then proceeded to offer to walk the rest opf my route with me. i am pleased to say that i did not get mugged, he didnt try and break into my house, and i didnt have to endure yet another thing being forced into my anus against my will that day.
Brett in all this was excellent as usual, he tried his best, but when working a dog you need to instruct them which direction to take. this would be confusing for him having a drunk rambling away, he probably thought `im going to ignore this idiot and make my own way`. i have wondered what would happen if i was so drunk i couldnt walk. i could either hop on his back and ride him home rodeo fashion, he is big enough after all. or i could grab the harness and lie down and just let him drag my body along next to him, a bit like Indiana jones bouncing along behind a vehicle by his whip.
Note: neither Stuart or Brett endorse drinking, or condone the resulting actions.

Track of the day = Beck - Loser