The Specials

Back in December I bought Alex and I tickets for the last night of the Specials' homecoming tour At Coventry Richoh 

Arena. Last friday was the night of the concert. It was amazing! Me and Al grabbed a meal at the Elms first then drove 

through Foleshill in the worst driving rain I've seen for ages.

I've always liked bits of Ska and it's Al who introduced me to most of the music I like now, especially 80's stuff, so it 

seemed appropriate to go go and we'd both been looking forward to it for ages. We were amongst 8000 people, loads 

from Cov, and there was an amazing atmosphere. There are no seats, just tons of bodies and bars dotted around the 

sides of the stadium. We got bumped around a fair bit by the meat heads, but the audience was pretty mixed with families

and couples everywhere and once we moved out of the real tussle we still had a great view and it was still a fab atmosphere.

I think a lot of us were desperately happy to have them back in Coventry; and when the lead singer apologised 

for their absense all these years it seemed so sincere and emotional... It was the first time in a long time that I felt that

proud to be from Coventry. So it was more than just music. 

But fortunately the music was, on it's own, pretty great. I hadn't ever listened to more than the basic tourist's guide to 

Ska; Ghost Town, Too Much Too Young etc. Basically on friday, I was a daytripper! Al's always known more about 

ska, especially Madness - he has their whole back catalogue...I'd better say thank you to my cousin Paul Monks 

right now, seeing as before Alex he was trying to guide me towards good music (and Dr Who too, thanks again), and 

even though I was a brat something must have gone in during those years! 

Here are some videos taken by fellow sudience members. The first clip I have added mainly because it captures the o

pening of the concert; their intro was fab and you can hear how excited everyone is, singing 'Enjoy yourself,it's later than 

you think...' and that's how they ended too. Anyway watch, and judge for yourselves :)

My debut speeding along

The time for my acting debut, as Marie Celeste in Nude with Violin, is speeding towards us! I've learned my lines, pretty much and I think I know more or less my movements, so it's a question of polishing it and interracting with the other actors properly. It's a baptism of fire. Back in January I was happily criticising David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Dr Who (not much to criticise, but there you go) now here I am stumbling along through the process I realise how much more complex it really is. And I only have french tlines to learn. Sebastien, the main man, speaks French, Spanish, English Russian and Chinese!

I'd love it to be a sell out. On the one hand. On t'other that's a scary thought too! But I'd rather do this in front of a full house than an empty one if I'm honest.

Our flyer is below, you can book tickets for the friday and saturday by calling 0121 249 3630, and they are a credit crunching superb value of £8. For that you get a comfy seat and 2 hours of entertainment. Sold yet? Good! If you can't be there just wish me luck please. Send me french vibes too, if you can...

I also took some photos at a rehearsal the other week. Gives you an idea of the small size of the group. They all seem like good friends who go back years with a few of us being relatively new to it all.

The director Pat, doing her thing
The group rehearsing in the palatial Billesley Community Centre, less than a month til books down!

Nick & Iain
Tracy and Doug

Judy

Tracy and Iain

An early set design

That's me and Iain

The hen do

It was Sarah's hen do a few weeks ago, the weekend before our holiday and we all met up in London for a bit of a reunion, 50's music, big twirly skirts and mexican food. But first we went all civilised with an afternoon tea at the Biritish Museum... the pictures tell you all you need to know!

SARAH THE HEN

BEFORE... YUM
DURING... MUNCH

AFTER... AHH
Then all the hens got dressed up and the party got underway!

We all helped each other get ready

The girls posing

Sarah and her sister Jo who organised the night.

We went for cocktails and mexican food followed by dancing at a 50's music club. The polkadot dress was a gift by the hens and Sarah was in love with it. We all got a twirl in it too, it was fab! Everyone needs a rockabilly dress; if you're feeling low take a twirl and it's an instant happy pill!

Amsterdam

We went on holiday for our first anniversary and it was great to get away. We'd ummed and ah'd for ages and finally we just booked whatever we could on BMI Baby and it happened to be Amsterdam. We'd considered Paris, Seville, the UK, Brussels... just kept going round in circles but finally we made a decision!

We left birmingham at 7.45am and because of the joy of an on line check in, hand luggage only and a 50 minute flight, even despite a slight delay, we were changed and leaving our hotel ready to begin our holiday by 11.30am. Fabby! When we got off the plane the weather was dry, not very warm but relatively sunny. The dutch informed us that normally we shouldn't expect the weather to be very good, but in fact the weather just kept getting better so our photos show that for the 3 days we were really lucky with the weather!

Click here for a map

We didn't do anything very cultural. We'd gone to relax and it didn't disappoint! We walked around and saw various markets and parks, the canals (obviously), cafes, and just took it all in. The picture of me above with the 2 drinks are some freshly squeezed fruit juices that we'd bought at a great market out past the heineken brewery (south Amsterdam)

Below you can see a picture of the Dutch getting behind their national football team. It was amazing; Rembrandts Plein completely filled up with hundreds of crazy dutch all in orange. There was a fantastic atmosphere and best of all Holland won!

In these photos are the canals; the main focal point of any visit to Amsterdam ('The venice of the north') We took a boat trip which was quite interesting. All the houses along the canal have a winch or hook on the front of the roof's apex from which the Dam's winch their furniture in and out of the windows, their front doors and staircases being too narrow to move furniture!

This photo is of our visit to the flower market. It was a lovely market with masses of... you guessed it, flowers; but it was actually quite interesting. And of course, this being amsterdam, there were many flower gifts that played on the 'pot' pun and even rude plants; there are cactus plants in all shapes and sizes you know...