MEAL OUT: The Admiral Hornblower (Oakham)

Another visit to The Admiral Hornblower (with Lee and Su) and again it performed solidly with a very edible burger for me and fish and chips for Rose. Can't help thinking that Lee and Su's blade of beef looked even better though - I think next time I might have that but substitute the truffle mash with fries. Initially we were too stuffed for a pud, but after a rest we managed and I had a very bananaey cheesecake (which made a change from Sticky Toffee Pudding), Rose had sorbet and Lee had apple crumble in a very silly pot which made it difficult to eat (and nowhere to put his custard).

Overall though, it was a jolly splendid evening... and considering the tragic lack of sleep we'd had the night before - that was fairly remarkable!

GIG: Solar Fake (London)

And it was off to London yet again for another trip to Elektrowrkz, this time to see Solar Fake for the first time ever, but first we had to put up with 'Witch of the Vale'. This is the kind of thing Dead Can Dance were doing a million times better back in 1987, and The 3rd and the Mortal were doing a thousand times better in 1995. So yeah, no thanks...

This was our second encounter with Massive Ego and again they failed to live up to their spectacular debut album 'Beautiful Suicide'. On paper they should be a great live band but for some reason it just doesn't quite seem to work like it should. It isn't the songs, because they've got a shitload of good songs... the singer is 'larger than life', so why they fail to really hit it live is a mystery to me.

Thankfully Solar Fake are far better live than we might have expected and produced a surprising amount of energy for such a 'gloomy' band. It was a pity we had to perch on the steps at the side of the venue to get a view, which killed our feet... but it was a great gig all the same, probably the third best of the year after Voivod and Assemblage23.

MEAL OUT: The Tollemache Arms (Harrington)

After two meals out in the previous two weeks (both for our 25th Wedding Aniversary) I wasn't too bothered about going out for my birthday, but in the end we decided we ought to really, so we decided to pay a visit to the Tollemache Arms. Rose had the half chicken that I had back in April and I wish I would have done the same really, but I had the burger - which was very nice but was polluted somewhat by some very dodgy pink mayo that tasted a lot like salad cream - yeuch! I scraped as much as I could off, but the taste unfortunately remained...

For pudding I had the sticky toffee pudding that I had last time, with the spectacular salted caramel ice cream, whereas Rose opted for the hot cookie with honeycomb ice cream... so it was her turn for pudding envy. Makes a change! Very nice overall, just that damned mayo threw a slight spanner in the works for me.

GIG: Sirus (London)

Somehow I knew this gig wouldn't run to time, and sure enough when we got there Vieon should have already been playing - but they weren't and so they came on at 9:45pm when they should have been on at 9:15am. Which meant that Sirus didn't come on until 10:45pm, and which subsequently meant they were still on stage at 11:45pm when we had to leave to catch the train home.

The show was in the smaller room (which we'd never been in before) and while the lighting and overall atmosphere was an improvement from Sheffield, and the band were a lot more relaxed it seemed, it somehow wasn't as good. It didn't help of course that from the moment we were in there we were worrying about the time and whether we would have to leave before the end. As it happened, we only missed a couple of minutes as 'Full Scale Revolt' was the last track of the evening, but it was still a bit annoying.

I don't think the setlist was quite as good as the one in Sheffield, we knew they weren't playing the same set, and some of the songs they'd chosen to play were definitely weaker than the ones they'd left out. Still no sign of 'Unite and Resist' though... :(

Earlier Vieon had 'entertained' us with their 80s Synth-Rock, which was okay... if a tad one-dimensional, and the processed vocals got a bit repetitive to be honest. The man man looked like a cross between Thomas Rainer (Nachtmahr) and Ro-land out of Grange Hill, which was amusing for far longer than it probably really should have been.

Salt in the wound was a half hour delay on the train on the way back while we waited for the police and ambulance to attend to someone, so it was another extremely late night for us. And we're doing it all again next Saturday- joy!

MEAL OUT: Langton Arms

To celebrate our 25th Anniversary, the Mums, Steve and Kirsty took us out for a meal at the Langton Arms. It was steak night so we all had steak, which was very nice. Mine arrived extremely pink and I had to send it back, but when it came back (cooked) it was delicious.

For pudding Rose had a sundae thing with honeycomb and raspberry ripple ice cream while I had the coffee and walnut sponge - which to all intents and purposes was a Sticky Toffee Pudding with walnuts in it and caramel sauce on the side. It was very nice, but I wish I'd asked for some ice cream instead of the huge dollop of (slightly hard) clotted cream that came with it.

Overall the food was pretty good but the service was pretty shoddy, the young serving staff were enthusiastic but ineffective and we had to ask for drinks several times and the puddings seemed to take a long time to come as well, I don't know whether it was because we weren't in the main room, but I don't think so somehow. Maybe it will be better next time?

GIG: Sirus (Sheffield)

Following Voivod's epic Welsh performance was never going to be an easy gig, but Sirus acquitted themselves admirably with a great set up in the white room at the Corporation. They started out a little rough, perhaps a symptom of inexperience... after all Sirus live shows aren't exactly a regular occurrence around these or any other parts, but once they got into their groove and the lights got turned down a bit, the band started to hit home.

Two or three songs from the as yet unreleased new album wasn't unexpected, and they all sounded pretty good. Annoyingly for those of us who'd pre-ordered the thing they had them there tonight, but on the upside, the also had the previously thought non-existent 'Falling Through Dystopia' CD for just £5! Rose and I both bought Sirus shirts, and I talked myself into getting the other super-rare Singularity CD single (36 pieces worldwide!)

Sirus were excellent, which is just as well considering the utter hell of a journey to get there, the M1 closed (maybe, at least the AA website said so), the interminable journey to get to junction 22, the car park road in Sheffield being closed, the car park being full and to top it all off the Sat Nav sending us down a restricted road - now waiting for the fine in the post.

Still, at least I didn't fall down the stairs like some poor guy, who appeared to be stone cold sober. He made a hell of a racket going down, but he seemed okay... but probably a bit bruised in the morning!

Keeva Leo

Josh Rombout

Andrew Waugh

Ryan Perillo

HORSE OF THE YEAR SHOW 2018

Due to plans to arrive 'early afternoon' being scuppered by the running order, this was a very long day out. We arrived at 11:15am or thereabouts and stuck it until the end (11pm). As ever the showjumping, scurry and mounted games were good and the showing was boring... it really doesn't change much. Thankfully there was no actual dressage (which is unspeakable shite) although there was a tedious woman 'dancing' with a horse. Despite the announcer insisting we'd 'never seen anything like it', I'm afraid as any previous visitor to HOYS will know - we very much have - and done better a few years ago, frankly.

On a positive note - Kinder Bueno ice cream, kicked ass!

GIG: Voivod (Cardiff)

Our second trip to The Globe in Cardiff, and so far this place has delivered two stunning gigs out of two! It's a long way to go for sure, 150 miles to be exact, but this one was definitely worth it, and we managed to get back in under three hours - which wasn't bad at all.

Support band 'Bio-Cancer' or 'Boi-Cancer' as the tickets rather unfortunately read, were great except for the terrible singer. Really, really terrible.. like a yapping dog or a quacking duck... but some of the riffs were very good and the guitarists certainly knew what they were doing.

But Voivod were in a different league, so entertaining and just 'fun'... Dan 'Chewy' Mongrain is a very good guitar player and no mistake, we stood right at the front, and right in front of him. It was a toss up whether to watch his playing or watch Snake's hilarious stage moves..

Songs included: Post Society, Ravenous Medicine, The Fall, Obsolete Beings, Always Moving, Iconspiracy, Overreaction, Order of the Black Guards, Technocaratic Manipulators, Voivod, The Prow, The Lost Machine and Into My Hypercube.

MEAL OUT: The Grey Goose (Gilmorton)

The perfect venue for our 25th Anniversary meal, and the Goose didn't disappoint - 2 perfect fillet steaks, a complementary soup sample and a pre-paid pudding (Malteser parfait and Strawberry Bakewell), what's not to like!