Happy Birthday Toni

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife Toni!

Presents were had and she was happy :)

Crow Dancers @ 3 Wishes Faery Festival

Today was the day that Crow Dancers made their return to the stage at 3 Wishes Faery Festival. This was special to us and we had done our debut gig there a year ago.

This year the weather was much kinder to us and instead of pouring rain we had gorgeous sunshine which was a very welcome change.

Our set went very well and the crowd were very positive making this another memorable occasion.

3 Wishes Faery Festival day two

It was another brilliant day with glorious weather. We had a beautiful breakfast courtesy of an amazing Indian food stall. Authentic noms were so nice, wish we had stuff like that here on a daily basis.

We did retail therapy, we chilled out with friends,we ate, we shopped.

There was a fabulous sunset....

Our evening played out to the fabulous sounds of The Dolmen who once again put on an amazing set and got everyone up and dancing.

3 Wishes Faery Festival day one

It was off to Cornwall today for 3 Wishes Faery Festival. I do love the sire that the event is held on and the way they set it up.

After a bit of misunderstanding we were finally able to get to a pitch and set our tent up/

The wild grass outside made a lovely silhouette on the inside of the tent.

We all had a wander round and popped into the rave tent.

We got there in time to see Loonaloop. We'd been impressed with them last year so wanted to catch them again.

The live entertainment rounded off nicely with a rousing performance from 3 Daft Monkeys.

There was vegetarian food, there was alcohol and there might have been a bit of dancing too. What a great start to the weekend.

Weymouth bound for Crow Dancers rehearsal

Toni and I were Weymouth bound this morning to get me there nice and early so that the Crow Dancers could meet up and rehearse in advance of our gig at 3 Wishes Faery Festival this coming weekend.

We had a good run down and time for a chill out before everyone arrived for rehearsal. The rehearsal went well and was very constructive. Roll on the weekend!

King's X @ Islington Assembly Hall

Tonight I met up with old school friend Dan to go and see King's X at the Islington Assembly Hall who had got us tickets.

King's X are a band that I was aware of but never really got in to way back when so it was all new territory for me tonight. I have to say I was very impressed. Not everything was my cup of tea but they put on a great show and were clearly really enjoying themselves.

It was great to catch up with Dan again and it was good to be introduced to something new. Next time it's my turn and I'll be inflicting Psychic TV on him!

More fantastic game trailers from E3

E3 is now in full swing with lots of fantastic game trailers being released. I'll kick things off with the one that I am most excited about. Assassin's Creed Black Flag was a great pirate game but a less good Assassin's Creed one. Well now Ubisoft have created Skull & Bones based on the sailing engine from Black Flag so it's all aboard me hearties as we sail the seven seas! First up is the cinematic trailer:


..and then a gameplay trailer:


With the Spider-man Homecoming movie about to be released it stands to reason that there is already a game in the wings ready to utilise the popularity of the webslinger. I'm like the look of this one.


I really enjoyed the God Of War 3 game on the PS3 and now God Of War 4 is heading to the PS4!


Last but not least we have the return of the Monster Hunter franchise to a Sony platform. It's always been a fun co-op game that is popular in our household so I imagine this will be a hit in Glitzville.

Hag stone hunting in Bexhill-on-Sea

The day started in glorious fashion and Toni and I both enjoyed a coffee out in the garden when we first got up. It was really nice sitting out there in the warmth and chilling.

Suitably relaxed it was time to head off to Grays to meet Helen and Keith and pick up Jess and Sasha and then head off to Bexhill-on-Sea for a day on the beach and hag stone hunting as part of the Dolmen Grove Essex & Kent Moot. We parked up on the road where Pam used to live which was a little bit emotional. It was nice to see that all her flowers were still flourishing though.

We headed for the beach and had a quick wander to find a good spot to set up camp.

We settled down for a picnic lunch as the kids were hungry.

After the noms it was time to scour the beach in search of hag stones.

Everyone had fun in their searching and we all found lots of nice stones, shells and of course hag stones.


I enjoyed just sitting near the sea watching the waves come and go and would have quite happily stayed doing that for hours.

Alas, the time came when we all had to jump into cars and head back again. After dropping off Jess and Sasha, Toni and I went to Helen and Keith's and spent an enjoyable evening.

It was a brilliant day that everyone thoroughly enjoyed and we can't wait for our next moot outing.

Boiling day and some game trailers

Today was a boiling day. I started things off by mowing the back garden before retreating to the safety of the inside and a cooler environment. The day was spent just chilling out and watching various stuff. Sam had Tristan over for a visit so it was nice to see him again.

Strangely although I had planned to I didn't end up having any PS4 time. Sometimes planning is a waste of time and just winging it is the way forward.

The big E3 event has just kicked off and we are seeing some exciting looking trailers for upcoming games. EA have just released a gameplay trailer for Star Wars Battlefront II which just looks amazing. Having been somewhat disappointed with the first instalment I am really looking forward to this one. Not only do we get a solo campaign but it also covers all eras.


Assassin's Creed set in Egypt you say? Hell yeah, I'll have some of that! Hopefully I can get Black Flag finished before Origins is released.


Last of my notable entries is the Wolfenstein sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Black Panther trailer

Marvel have just released a Black Panther trailer. The film isn't due out until 2018 but they are getting the hype started already.

Apparently the film is set after the events of Captain America: Civil War and sees King T’Challa return home to Wakanda only to finds his sovereignty challenged by factions within his own country
This one looks to score high on the visual front and Marvel haven't let us done on the story side yet.

Good news, casting my vote and Toni's tattoo

So today started just as rough as the last couple. Desk moves went ahead as planned and without hitch. Other problem was still persisting throughout the day sadly with no sign of letting up. I was about to head off home when I suddenly got a message suggesting that perhaps things were about to return back to normal again. This was really good news for me and I hope I haven't read too much into the message.

In much better spirits than previous days I headed back home and off to place my vote in the General Election. After that it was time to call on supernatural forces in the hope that there is a decent outcome.

Toni went and had one of her tattoos finished off today. The result was stunning.
Here's the before shot:

...and here's the after shot:

Rough old day

It was a rough old day today. I don't like bad feeling and I did my best to try and sort things out but sadly I failed. I had this horrible empty feeling for most of the day. I'll have to try and find the off switch for my feelings.

Off to Coventry and then home

I was right in my blog yesterday. I was sent on a trip today.... the irony of this sign is hilarious

It's not a very nice place and certainly the office felt like a playground. We are talking about a desk move not killing a first born child! It will be interesting to see how long this plays out for, hopefully normal service will be resumed ASAP!

Overall I did have a good day though with lots of important project work coming together and at least some of my colleagues looking to play nice together to help us move work forward.

A last minute change of plans meant that I travelled straight back home tonight which was a relief as I was feeling a bit bruised after work. Good food and many episodes of Bones was the perfect way to unwind.

Talk about stress....

Well today was a real struggle. Trying to execute a plan you have had delegated by your boss is not easy when some people aren't going to be happy no matter what you do!

Don't shoot me I'm just the messenger! Sometimes a school playground seems much easier to deal with than an office! With great responsibility comes great stress! Deep joy! I have a feeling things will be worse tomorrow!

It was such a relief to get home and enjoy a lovely meal before indulging in a good session of Assassin's Creed Black Flag.