GIG: Pain (Wolverhampton)

This was out third time seeing Peter Tagtgren's 'Pain', the last time being a few years ago in the upstairs of a pub in Derby. The Slade Rooms, though small, felt like a step up from that at least. We arrived just after support band 'The Vision Bleak' had started their set, and to be honest, they were okay. I was clinging to the hope that they would play their one stand out song 'The Deathship Symphny', but alas it was a forlorn hope and by the end of their set they were starting to outstay their welcome a bit. indeed, one very loud audience member berated the crowd for applauding such crap... and that was after the second song.

And so to Pain. Having negotiated the pillars of the Slade Rooms to facilitate a decent view we were treated to a decent set featuring a good mix of songs from the band's career. The only really notable omission for me was 'Dancing with the Dead', but while the setlist was sound the atmosphere was weird. Between songs the audience was silent, I mean they cheered, but then fell absolutely silent. It was a bit odd. And Pete kept faffing about walking off and coming back on between songs and then having to try and get the crowd going again... all very odd.

Still, it was a good show, certainly better than the Derby gig a few years ago. And we also chatted with Death Metal Rich, who looks more and more like Gahl every time I see him.

HOLIDAY: Crowne Plaza (Chester)

As I couldn't think of anything I wanted for my birthday I asked Rose to take me back to Chester for a night. We pretty much did the same things we did last time we were in Chester, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza, we had our evening meal there, we went to Kuckoo for cocktails and we looked in the shops. 

We also went to the cathedral this time, which was quite good. To be honest cathedrals are quite catherdrally and once you've seen one, you've seen the vast majority of them. It was still nice to see the gothic carvings and stuff though, and we popped into the cathedral cafe for a panini (which wasn't bad).

There were quite a few TAG dealers in Chester we noticed this time (we had more time to go around the town this time) and I tried on three watches altogether. There was also a few other brands about and we saw the completely nuts Breitling Avanger Hurricane 50mm!

We also looked in Pia, and some other shops (including gazing longingly at the cakes in the window of Patisserie Valerie), but we didn't buy much. We also visited Hotel Chocolat and bought a few goodies there and then we went back to the hotel.

Rose went on the treadmill and I went for a swim (85 lengths in 30 mins this time) and then we went downstairs to dinner. We had burgers again, which were really nice and then we shared a blackcurrant bakewell. After that we toddled off to Kuckoo for cocktails, this time I had a Caramac (which had an actual Caramac bar stuck in it) and a Kuckoo Kolada again... although I have to say I think the Caramac came out on top. Rose had a Wham Bar Sling (with a Wham bar stuck in the top) and a Strawberry and Marshmallow Shhhwing, both of which were also very nice. Then, after a quick visit to a late opening Sainsbury's we headed back to the room to watch First Dates.

In the morning I went for another swim, although I could only manage 65 lengths this time as I was in a lot of pain with my back. At breakfast we saw our Welsh waitress from our last visit 'Aimee' who it turned out was leaving to be a P.A.

Oh yes, I almost forgot! On the way down we stopped at an ice cream parlour called 'Snugbury's' (actually it was more of a case of stopping for the loo and buying an ice cream for the use thereof...). The ice cream was nice (mint choc chip in a basic cone, would have preferred a waffle cone but you had to have two scoops and they were quite big), and in the field next door there was a huge straw sculpture of Peter Rabbit. Quite something!

SHOPPING: Cheshire Oaks

God knows how many times we've been to Cheshire Oaks now, it must be in double figures... and once again we had an enjoyable few hours browsing through the shops. I rather cleverly managed to stand on a drain cover which drenched my left foot with rain water, but as luck would have it I bought a pair of trainers from Skechers and some socks from Next so I didn't have to walk around all day with a wet foot.

My back was very painful today, and I was very thirsty from the bacon at breakfast, so we stopped for a drink in Cafe Rouge. We'd never been in one before and it was quite nice, we only had Coke's but other people's food looked tasty enough, worth bearing in mind for the future perhaps.

Lindt was extremely busy, even though the prices are laughable, Santa's for £3.19, when no supermarket in the UK would sell for more that £2.50. Still, business was more than brisk and I added a sneaky Nocciolate to my two gold bars to get over £10 and get a free small Santa. Result.

Of course, no trip to Cheshire Oaks would be complete without a visit to the TAG Heuer store and I spent a goodly while in there trying on five watches, before we moved on to Lulu Guiness and then Radley. We didn't buy that much really, and the journey home was a bit of a drag, but overall it had been a good day.

MEAL OUT: The Grey Goose (Gilmorton)

Following a good month at work, Phil rewarded us with a meal out on the company with Rich and Debbie. They'd never been to the Grey Goose before and we hadn't been since April (when it had been a little disappointing to be honest). We went on a Saturday night and so it was a fixed price three course meal, but that was okay.

Obviously taking someone else out on your recommendation is a little unnerving, particularly when your last visit was a little shaky, but tonight the Goose was flying high and we had probably the best meal we've ever had there.

I had the potato and spring onion soup, Rich had the prawn cocktail and Rose and Debbie had the pigeon breast starter. For the main, Rich and I both had the fillet steak and Rose and Debbie both had the duo of beef. And for desert, we had four different choices. Rich had the tiramisu, Rose had the key lime pie, Debbie had lemon posset and I had the brownie. 

The brownie was nice enough, but Rose's key lime pie was pretty amazing, and as usual I wished I'd had that instead. But I was wary of it because key lime pie can sometimes have a rather unpleasant twang to it, but this one was lovely and smooth. 

A great night was had by all and it was nice to know the Goose is back on top form again.

GIG: The Birthday Massacre (Birmingham)

Presumably still (technically) on the 'Superstition' tour (as the new album hasn't arrived yet), this was another chance to catch the Canadian weirdos, this time with Rich as Rose has never been fully on board...

We arrived in plenty of time and rather than catch the first support band we decided to visit Ernest Jones instead. This was very fruitful as it turned out they had the TAG Heuer Monza and the Aquaracer with the black PVD coating. Seeing the Monza in the flesh made Rich weak at the knees and he spent the whole of the support band trying to work out where he could get the rest of the cash necessary to make the purchase... by the end of the night he was wavering though.

Support band Among the Echoes were fairly mediocre, like a pub band Moonspell, without the charisma. TBM on the other hand were great, playing largely the same set as last time (as far as I could tell) but no one really cared. The crowd was smaller than last time, but well behind the band and they seemed to be having a blast too.