Play with the city - London

What a beauty! We took the QQ away for valentines weekend to whitstable. We stopped at the windy ridge guest house, and stayed in a room that was once used to take copious amounts of drugs, have orgies and make beautiful psychedilic rock in the 60’s. We blitzed the town, soaking up the cracking little art galleries rinsing the records shops for 45 inch records and of course the chippy for chips. Those were the best chips I’ve eaten in a long time. Totally recommend a trip out to whitstable. It’s beautiful, everything is within 100 yards of the coast, plus it has a vibrant arts scene. You can see why there’s a lot of londoners who’ve bought a place here. the quiet little town has character, charm and soothes the soul. I’ll defo be back in the summer.

We rose at 6am to head to the Covent Garden Flower market the thursday before valentines day. Although it was a wee bit early for me and m’lady, having the qashqai meant we could check out the bustling market near vauxhall. Unfortunately I think we’d left it a bit late in the day to see the mad scramble for flowers, but ultimately it was an enriching experience. The flower sellers in contrast to the delicate buds they were selling, were proper london geezers, sun readers and bacon butty brethrens. I was hoping for a magnificent bustling market but really got a large warehouse packed full of sweet smelling colourful flowers. a bit empty, a bit early, but very lovely. Certainly worth a look and a sniff.

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Have a gander @ Portasound’s perfromance at maida Vale for Huw Stephens Radio 1 show. Well done chaps.

It’s All Good hit The Haggerston way back in the year… Twas rammalladingdonged. ie busy. Andy & crew threw a super party. Steph’s new Bo Grace popped open the Crystal, G Dog was so juiced he couldn’t open his eyes, and I wished I still lived in Dalston. The party & tunes were immense. The sound system was not. If you love music, like me (sorry that sounds really crap dunnit), you’d have had to stand under the speaker to get a jist of what was going on. which I did, but I love a place with good acoustics. I can sniff a dodgy treble level a mile off. In all fairness, It’s All Good & andy Newcombe’s crew are better than the venue, and they know it. funny old place the haggerston though. a good ol’ dirty east end pub, that’s been shabbed up for the lo fi crew. I mean, I had a wander upstairs to see what was going on, I discovered a karaoke party, and I swear what those girl did to Prince’s “1999″, should be punishable in a court of law. I left, saw two in skinny jeaned kids being sick on their winkle pickers, then got a taxi back to my green abode in East Dulwich. Good night Dalston. Still love you, warts and all.

This has nothing to do with London, and everything to do with Yorkshire, otherwise known as God’s Backyard. I’m very grateful to Nissan for letting me have the QashQai, because it allows me to get my Yorskshire Top-up and spend some time with my fam & folks.  Last Weekend was the first time I’ve popped up in the badboy, but certainly not the last. It took me 3 hours to get home, I listened to Wossa, 6 albums, Radio 1,2,4&6 and my favourite station to drive to… classic fm. It might strike you as a rather old fogey music to listen to, but it chills me out & the only time I ever got a ticket was listening to Shy FX on the old “One in the Jungle”. I learnt my lesson then.

So, I went back to the Ellis residence in Netherthong, a village outside of Huddersfield which is very close to where Compo & his “Last of the Summer Wine” cronnies take it in turns to push each down a hill in a bath. And I love them for it too.  I took the QQ to all my favourite spots in Hudders; my grans, my cousins, Morrisons, grandad fred’s & Castle Hill (see Pic).

We all sang Ilkley Moor Ba Tat, we’re tight with our money, and called everyone “Luv”. No but seriously, before I go full blown Yorkshire man and start saying stuff like “trouble downt mill”, and “are you Lecking?”, let me say this… Go. It has some of the warmest people, breath taking scenery & freshest air aboot. I’m planning to pop up at the end of Feb, so if anyone fancies a lift, I’ll be happy to oblige. That is unless you’re Prince Harry or a murderer or just annoying.

Yum yummy yum. The Green Papaya, 191 Mare St is blooming lovely. I popped along with G dog, who’s a regular there & we scoffed our faces off. We polished off Tender Hoisin Beef, Fresh crisp & juicy Thai Veg, with Sweet & crisp Satay Chicken. The plates were clean. The staff were super friendly, service was timely, everything was spot on. I thoroughly recommend a visit if you’re in the area.
There’s lots of fodder to choose from in Hackney; Caribbean, Turkish, Vietnemese, Polish, Lebanese, Yorkshire (?). At it’s best Hackney has everything, a real multicultural fusion of food, people and everything they bring with them. Green Papaya is definitely one of the best in the area for sure.

Our meal came to 15 queens chins each with a few beers thrown in.We’ll be back

Green Papaya Info

To but it simply, Portasound Blazed the Social. They Created a frenzy of arm waving through their electrically gifted bass jazz, and most importantly had a very good time of it. The social itself was rammed full of slanty haircuts, with young filly’s strewn over bearded manlads. It was youth all the way. I became more aware of this as I ventured to the front to do my leg dance and the air con above me kept blowing my comb-over the wrong way. hey ho, bobby charlton here I come…. Back to the Portasound…Speaking to Mr James Dow (one third of portasound) after the gig he told me two things. He had been approached by his first groupie and Huw Stephens from Radio 1 had come upto them after the gig and asked them to go go Maida vale & record a special Portasound show for his radio show. Bingo?

Me? well I found an impressively large frisbee on my way to the Qash Qai. Winners all round me thinks. I’ll post the link to the show when it’s out there. Exciting stuff eh?

It may well be a Manchester run outfit, but surely everyone who enjoys free dj mix downloads will appreciate this badboy music blog. Cracking Best of 2008 mix, plus many more by Spinster’s such as Bill Brewster, who I saw play @ DiscoBox in the SeaBright Arms, East London. Look out for Discobox.

Cosmic Disco, Manchester
Discobox, London

You’ve got to check out Alan Aldridge’s life’s work at the Design Museum. utterly Wonderful. A rich trip into a fantastical world. He’s illustrated album artwork for the Beatles, Elton and was Art Director for Penguin Books. The exhibition is on til the 25th.

The Design Museum