Category: uncategorized

In a word, busy! Friday was a half-day at work. Michel had landed at Heathrow at 7:30 that morning and was making his way to his B&B to grab some sleep because he hadn't been able to get any for the whole flight and was now a bit of a wreck and was flirting with a migraine so it was best for him to get some kip and soon. Unfortunately, the lady at his B&B wasn't there when he arrived, so we set him up in the guest bedroom for a nap and we headed into town to get some errands done. We bought a nice pen for people to sign the guest book and made a special trip to Clinton cards for some Bobbles and some other stuff. We'd had the brilliantly sappy idea to make Mr. & Mrs Bobbles cake decorations (one is wearing a top hat and coat, the other has a veil! how cute is that?).

Our afternoon plans were severely derailed when the cat decided to go all toxic-waste-factory (TWF) on us. We'd run out of his normal cat food and had begun giving him some other brand that the breeder had given us a sampler bag of. He really, really liked it, but it's too rich for him. Not only was he smelling like a TWF but at one point that afternoon, he had diarrhoea from hell, which managed to coat his entire backside with shit. Nice. He smelled awful, and even he wouldn't go near it to clean himself – so we ended up having to clean the couch cover, a chair cover and my jeans because they got slimed. Imagine the scene of me holding the cat down in the bathtub with a pair of work gloves while Katy is using the showerhead to clean our cat's ass. The joys of pet ownership they tell me. Still, he ended up sleeping on us for most of the night so I think he doesn't bear us a grudge. After the cat incident, we went to the Red Lion for a nice pub meal cause I couldn't be assed to cook.

Saturday morning saw me up bright and way too early because I had to go fetch my parents at Heathrow. Took the train from Whittlesford to Liverpool St and then the tube to Kings Cross (where I'd planned to take the Picadilly line all the way to Heathrow). I know it's not the optimal route, but it's one I know and I can navigate it when I'm still not really awake. The problem was that Picadilly was not stopping at Kings because of maintenance work, and the Circle and Hammersmith&City were also running late (security and electrical incidents, respectively). I found an alternate route and ended up arriving a few minutes late so they were waiting for me at arrivals.

Their flight was mostly good and my dad seemed in decent shape considering his back troubles. We started the trip back to Cambs with little incident and regular smoking breaks for my dad. I think he got scared by a vending machine selling chargrilled steak flavoured crisps at one point.

Katy picked us up from Whittlesford, giving my parents their first taste of driving on the wrong side of the road. I now understand why it would have been a Very Bad Thing for Katy to come pick us up from Heathrow directly :)

Once we'd gotten my parents settled in with some tea/coffee/ashtray/chair in the backyard (my dad is really impressed with the chestnut tree out back), we went to pick up Michel to go do the final suit fitting. That turned out to be a bit of an adventure. The shirts we were fitted for turned out to be too small. They called the other Moss Bros branch in town, but that turned out to be completely useless. Apparently, they were overworked and understaffed and though they did call back the first time the fitting clerk called, they were less than polite to him on the phone the second time (so we ended up having to buy our own shirts from Debenhams and they'll be giving us a refund on the shirt hire).

Once we got home, we had time for a bit of a hurried meal and then Michel, my dad and I were off to the pub for my boys-night-out. We had a good time and the boys were not evil with me (though there had been mutterings that Some Things Might Happen :) The worse I had to do was to wear a god-awful silly had the whole evening, but that I can do. Had a few drinks and some good hearted laughs and everybody dispersed around midnight. That was a fun night.

By jove, I think I've done it! Organized over 10 hours of music so that it fits nicely on CDs (no one being longer than 1h19 or shorter than 1h15) and organized so that there's a nice progression from cocktail music to dinner music to fun music to chill music.

Those last few CDs are going to be fun :)

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The Tango Project – Por Una Cabeza (2:17)
Vivaldi – Concerto in G major, RV 151 'alla rustica' (4:23)
Air on the G String (Bach) (5:17)
George Gershwin – Someone to Watch Over Me (6:00)
Rimsky-Korsakov – Polovtsian Dances – Introduction (2:32)
Classic Moods – Tranquility – Vivaldi – Largo from Winter (4 Seasons) (2:06)
Classic Moods – Debussy – Claire de Lune (5:36)
Canon de Pachelbel – Canon De Pachelbel – Orquesta Filarmonica De Berlin Von Karajan (5:05)
Vivaldi – Concerto in D major for guitar, RV 93 Largo (5:08)
Yo-Yo Ma – Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (2:43)
Liszt – Consolation no. 3 (3:58)
Paint The Sky With Stars – China Roses – Enya (4:40)
Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan (4:18)
KT Tunstall – Under The Weather (3:36)
Daniel Powter – Bad Day (3:53)
Jem – Just a Ride (3:19)
Various Artists – U2 – Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (4:31)
Soundtrack – One (2:53)
Keane – Somewhere Only We Know (3:57)

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KT Tunstall – Stoppin' The Love (4:02)
Foo Fighters – Next Year (4:38)
Various Artists – Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head – B. J. Thomas (3:00)
Supertramp – Goodbye Stranger (5:51)
Kasabian – Club Foot (2:51)
The Beatles – Help! (2:18)
Bet.e & Stef – Fever (3:08)
Green Day – Holiday (3:52)
The Calling – Wherever You Will Go (3:29)
Santana – Smooth (4:55)
Nelly Furtado – Turn Out The Lights (4:36)
Rush – Closer to the Heart (2:55)
Ocean Colour Scene – The Riverboat Song (4:54)
Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al (4:40)
Morcheeba – Rome Wasn't Built In a Day (3:35)
Pulp – Disco 2000 (4:33)
The Beautiful South – Bell Bottomed Tear (4:35)
Muse – butterflies and hurricanes (5:01)
Paint The Sky With Stars – Caribbian Blue – Enya (3:58)

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Kasabian – Processed Beats (3:07)
Various Artists – Singin' In The Rain – Gene Kelly (2:57)
KT Tunstall – Miniature Disasters (3:31)
Blur – Country House (3:57)
Train – Drops of Jupiter (4:21)
The Beatles – All You Need Is Love (3:47)
Kevin Quain – Mr. Valentine's Dead (5:21)
Cake – Comfort Eagle (3:40)
The Beatles – Paperback Writter (2:18)
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies (3:50)
Various Artists – The Masterplan – Oasis (5:22)
Divine Comedy – Everybody knows (except you) (3:48)
Richard Rodgers – My Favorite Things / Maria (2:20)
The Beautiful South – Prettiest Eyes (3:49)
Dire Straits – Walk of Life (4:13)
Savage Garden – Affirmation (4:56)
Gnarls Barkley – Gnarls Barkley (3:01)
Sarah Mclachan – Angel (4:30)
Keane – Snowed Under (3:51)
Queen – Somebody to Love (4:52)

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JosGonzales – Heartbeats (2:41)
The Beatles – Here Comes the Sun (3:05)
Santana – Oye Como Va (4:18)
Foo Fighters – Learn to Fly (3:58)
Green Day – Wake Me Up When September Ends (4:45)
Barenaked Ladies – If I Had $1.000.000 (live) (5:09)
Van Morrison – Moondance (4:30)
Diana Krall – Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You (4:06)
Bobby McFerrin – Don't Worry, Be Happy (4:54)
Crowded House – Don't Dream It's Over (3:55)
Delerium – Silence (feat. Sarah McLachlan) (6:33)
Soundtrack – Momentum (3:27)
Various Artists – Right Here Waiting – richard marx (4:04)
Shrek – Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah (4:08)
Flogging Molly – The Sun Never Shines (On Closed Doors) (4:24)
Razorlight – Golden Touch (3:25)
Elbow – Red (3:39)
Travis – Side (3:59)

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Bet.e & Stef – All Is Well (3:10)
The Doves – Last Broadcast (3:22)
Pink Floyd – Money (6:31)
Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing (5:46)
David Bowie – Under Pressure (4:01)
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army (3:50)
Mr. Mister – Broken Wings (5:32)
Eels – My Beloved Monster (2:13)
Delerium – Euphoria (Firefly) (5:27)
Divine Comedy – The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count (4:19)
Pulp – Common People (5:51)
The Coral – Bad Man (3:03)
Incubus – Drive (3:52)
The Beautiful South – The Table (3:10)
The Beatles – I Feel Fine (2:18)
Various Artists – Sway – Dean Martin (2:43)
Nina Simone – Ain't Got No, I Got Life (2:12)
Idlewild – Scottish Fiction (3:53)
Idlewild – American English (4:34)

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Sting – Shape of My Heart (4:38)
De Phazz – The Mambo Craze (4:08)
Billy Joel – Piano Man (5:37)
Queen – Crazy little thing called love (2:42)
Toploader – Dancing In The Moonlight (3:53)
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc. (3:42)
Flogging Molly – Salty Dog (2:21)
Razorlight – Vice (3:14)
Chad Kroger+Santana – Why don't you and I (4:34)
The Eagles – Hotel California (7:14)
Harmonium – Dixie (3:26)
Falco – Putting On The Ritz (3:25)
Amy Stewart – Knock on Wood (3:43)
Van Halen – Why Can't This Be Love (3:48)
The Animals – The House of the Rising Sun (4:31)
Ash – Sometimes (4:07)
De Phazz – Jim the Jinn (3:21)
Flogging Molly – Devil's Dance Floor (3:59)
Various Artists – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic – the police (4:19)

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Travis – Flowers In The Window (3:41)
Phish – Bouncing Around the Room (4:08)
Green Day – Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (2:34)
Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun (2:24)
a-ha – Take On Me (4:46)
Aretha Franklin – I Will Survive (3:17)
Infernal – From Paris To Berlin (Radio Edit) (3:29)
Queen – Don't Stop Me Now (3:29)
The Who – Who Are You (6:23)
Electric Six – Gay Bar (2:20)
Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell (9:43)
Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart (6:58)
Queen – You're My Best Friend (2:51)
Flogging Molly – The Likes of You Again (4:34)
Stealers Wheel – Stuck In The Middle With You (3:23)
Green Day – Are We The Waiting (2:42)
Roxette – The Look (3:56)
Queen – We Are the Champions (3:00)
Richard O'Brien – The Time Warp (3:19)

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Huey Lewis & the News – Hip to Be Square (4:03)
Various Artists – (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight – cutting crew (4:10)
Flogging Molly – Tobacco (5:17)
Hacienda – Me Da Um Favor (4:55)
Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus (4:52)
Various Artists – Heaven Is A Place On Earth – belinda carlisle (3:54)
Flogging Molly – What's Left Of The Flag (3:39)
The Beautiful South – Rotterdam (or Anywhere) (3:37)
The Beatles – Let It Be (3:50)
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (5:15)
Muse – Feeling Good (3:19)
Portishead – Sour Times (4:14)
Air – Le Voyage De Penelope (3:11)
Lemon Jelly – Nice Weather for Ducks (4:39)
Pink Floyd – Time (7:06)
Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb (9:29)
Various Artists – (Somewhere) Over The Rainbow – Judy Garland (3:38)

Today didn't really go according to plan. I wanted to sleep in late, work on the music for the wedding and cook at a leisurely pace for dinner tonight. Instead, I had to wake up earlier than expected to go with Katy while she got various bits and bobs waxed, then go into town while she got her haircut (for 4 hours!!!) and then get dinner done (though that, at least, went according to plan and was quite nice).

Right now, I'm hiding away upstairs while Katy is getting merrily blotto with Anna, Rho and Rita on her hen night. I hope they have fun. I, in the meantime, will take this time to catch up on my book and just relax in a bit of peace and quiet. Sounds like a plan.