Lionheart (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)

[All pictures available from these Flickr sets for Lionheart, Heights and Biohazard]

Time for a comeback with the eloquently-named “In Your Fucking Face” tour, Biohazard once again returned to these shores with no fewer than three bands in tow. Due to being buried in work and just being tired, I missed openers Dripback (who I gather feature a member of Sonishphere’s publicity team on bass).

I got to King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (best venue name ever) in time to sup a pint of their name-brand beer while catching the tail end of Lionheart’s set. Typical hardcore – bouncy, rhythmic, angry and fronted by a scary guy wearing tattoos and a bandana. A decent reception from the crowd, too. The venue is the kind where the band walk of stage via the crowd so they’re buggered if nobody likes them.

As I waited for the next act to some on, a couple of guys with fairly posh English accents excused themselves to get past and started sorting kit out on stage. It turns out that these very young men with their posh accents were the next support act, Heights. As they themselves admitted whilst on stage, they were somewhat out of place on the bill but they made the most of it.

Heights (Photo credit: Iain Purdie)

Playing a more heavy, thrashy, deathy kind of set they were definitely not playing to a crowd which would automatically accept them. However, they showed no nerves, took no bullshit and played a blinder. Frankly, for a bunch of guys that young it was a hell of an energetic and charismatic set. The moment the first chord was struck they changed from a bunch of university muppets into five rather insane and scary beanpoles.

Hanging from the ceiling, climbing the barrier and posing on the monitors they looked like they owned the damn place.

Helped by a small bunch of their local fans, I genuinely think they went down surprisingly well. Certainly, there was none of the jeering that The JB Conspiracy got before Reel Big Fish the previous night. Or the shouts of “shit!” and glasses of water (probably) thrown at Bring Me The Horizon prior to Machine Head coming on stage (mind you, that was justified – they were bloody awful).

As I mentioned before, the venue is pretty small. As such, it was possible to talk to most of Biohazard as they warmed up and set up their kit for the set. Several of the audience took the opportunity to do so, grabbing some photos and a handshake. It was very much like being at a small gig where your friends were playing on stage. No pretence, no “we’re better than you” bullshit. Just some guys hanging with their mates before jumping on stage and rocking the living shit out of them.

And such they did.

As with RBF the night before, I’m not a huge fan of Biohazard in as much as I don’t really know much of their stuff. The last time I saw them was maybe 1994 or something, back at Bradford Rios when it was still good an attracted a lot of big names. One thing I do know is that they have a reputation. They certainly lived up to it.

Current frontman/guitarist Billy Graziadei was as pumped up and angry as any hardcore lead should be. No messing about, by the first chorus he was in the crowd, standing on their shoulders and being carried around. This was repeated towards the end of the set.

The barrier was chastised and (with the blessing of the two security staff), fans were invited to get on the stage and hurl themselves back off. A handful rose to it, but the barrier did make a difference to how easy this would be.

With a set running to just under ninety minutes, they played a good variety of songs including the one I really do know (from my Radio RamAir days), “Shades of Grey”. Other than a break in the proceedings to raise a glass to a drummer Danny Schuler’s fifth stint at fatherhood (with free beer – thank you!), the show was pretty relentless and hugely enjoyable.

I had to admit that I was surprised that they had chosen such a small venue for this tour, good though its reputation may be. It surprised me more not to see it completely jammed, though I don’t know if this is normal and they just keep numbers low for licensing/security. Whatever, it was a perfect atmosphere with great sound for a band with their stature to play an nice, intimate gig.

Definitely a band I’ll be looking forward to seeing again.

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Biohazard – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

[For the full set of pictures from the gig on Flickr, please follow this link]

Finally, the last concert of a five-gig-week. Again, Gillian couldn’t manage partly due to the whole pregnancy thing and again we couldn’t dispose of a spare ticket. Seriously, people – this was Napalm frickin’ Death! Given the length of the Brummie quartet’s set, this made it one of the most expensive gigs (per minute) that I think I’ve ever been to. Eek.

The last time I saw Napalm Death was in London at the Camden Underworld with Amy while she was at Veterinary College nearby. That night ended with me stage-diving for the first time in years (most venues won’t allow it any more – bloody ambulance-chasing lawyers and health & safety), helping a guy with a concussion focus before the ambulance arrived and Amy getting a bar job. Not a bad evening, all in all.

This time round, I missed the two support acts and got there in good time for Napalm Death to hit the (small) stage. Ivory Blacks is one of the smallest venues in Glasgow with a capacity of, I believe, 283. It was well on the way to that by my estimation. I collected the obligatory pint, wandered comfortably to the barrier at the front of the stage and awaited the noise.

It’s hard to believe they’ve been going since 1981. And also that they feature precisely none of the founding members. What is always guaranteed is a good show.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Barney is a great guy and – like Ginger on Thursday night – more than happy to have some banter with the crowd. He’s also a bit of a politico. Imagine Mark Thomas only with metal to back him up. The tracks they ran through covered the entire history of the band, though perhaps didn’t hit every single album. I confess to not being a huge expert on them.

I did recognise a handful of songs, though, including one of the best cover versions you’ll hear live – the ever-present “Nazi Punks Fuck Off“, originally by the Dead Kennedys. If you can’t follow the chorus to that beauty, then you’re as well giving up now and buying the latest Justin Bieber album. Then killing yourself.

Another two covers of bands I’d never heard of rounded out the disappointingly short hour-long set. For the duration of the aural battering, the crowd was free to surf and stagedive, “security” for this handled by one poor bugger in a white shirt who didn’t complain once – not even when he took an accidental foot to the face. In other words, an excellent venue. The sound was great and it’s a venue that really suits a band like Napalm Death.

Still, £16+ per ticket is quite a sum for a small gig that only lasts an hour.

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Napalm Death – Ivory Blacks

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Three big bands, one expensive ticket… and in my view a very upside-down bill with the best band of the night opening and the weakest closing.

I missed Steel Panther a year or so ago when they played the Garage. I found out about the gig the day after they were on. Gutted. We predominantly got tickets for this shindig because they were on the bill despite it working out at over £50 per person with the booking fees. Of course, with the opening slot they only got about 40 minutes to play. And, of course, we were running late courtesy of traffic on the Squinty Bridge being rubbish for absolutely no reason and a huge queue to pick up pre-ordered tickets.

As a result, we caught maybe 30 minutes of the set. Thankfully a) what we saw was excellent and b) they’re headlining their own show at the Academy in March for which we’ve already got tickets. A large number of people were definitely there to see them (in particular the guy dressed up in a “Shocker” costume) and I think they’ve made themselves a lot of fans from this tour, too.

Let’s give them credit. They’re taking the piss out of the rock and roll lifestyle that the likes of Crue led during the 80′s and 90′s. However, they’re doing it with imagination and great musical talent, plus a desire to put on a genuinely fun show. I’m really looking forward to the gig next year.

After a surprisingly short set change, Motley Crue exploded (quite literally) onto stage with fireworks going off as the curtain dropped. I was on my way back from the bar with some overpriced soft drinks as the lot went off and I’m glad I didn’t drop anything.

Now, I’ve seen Crue twice before. The first time was at Graspop a few years back where they headlined… and were awful. Marina and I gave up after maybe three songs of flat-vocals and badly-tuned instruments. I then caught them at Sonisphere (I think) last year where there was definitely some improvement.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Tonight they put on the kind of show you’d expect from a band who’ve been doing this for so long. They’re definitely not as young as they once were, but – like Steel Panther before them – they gave it everything. For those who’ve seen them live before, there were no real surprised. Indoor fireworks, flames, explosions and part of a roller coaster stolen from an amusement park somewhere which has had Tommy Lee‘s drum kit welded to it.

One of the highlights was a blink-and-you’d-miss-it appearance by Justin Bieber… as one of the photographs displayed on the huge backdrop during “Girls, Girls, Girls“. A cheap shot, but who cares.

Although they’re not one of my favourite bands, and I really wasn’t expecting much from them Motley Crue did themselves proud and certainly entertained a sizeable crowd for ninety minutes. I reckon their stage set along accounted for 50% of the ticket price.

And so to the headliners. Def Leppard have been going for about as long as Crue and, during the Hysteria heyday, apparently went through an equivalent amount of drugs, booze and women as did their American counterparts. They had a comeback at Download last year which received rave reviews with an energetic performance. Sadly, tonight, I don’t think they pulled that off.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

The set was fine. Every song was a hit, but it was obvious even before they took to the stage that they weren’t the band of choice from the three on the bill. The crowd had visibly thinned as soon as Crue departed and those that were left began trickling out less than a third of the way through the Steel City’s finest’s set. In honesty, we only stayed as we begrudged paying over £50 per ticket only to leave early. That and Gillian and Wendi were busy perving the guitarist.

In all honesty, though, we were all bored. After half an hour or so, we were checking our watches and I was spending more time on Tweetdeck than I was on watching the show. They weren’t that great to start with, but following on from two such good acts just made it worse for them.

I just wish I’d seen Def Leppard about 20 years ago when I was really into them. This just wasn’t the right time to catch their show. For the die-hard I’m sure it was a great performance, but for those who were just there to see the rest of the bill it was somewhat disappointing.

Full marks to Joe Elliott, though, who battled his way through a sore throat. This meant the high notes just weren’t going to be hit but it’s better than cancelling. One note to the band, though. If you’re playing a city split by royalist sectarianism such as Glasgow… don’t emblazon your stage with Union flags when you walk off before your encore. There was a notable section of the crowd booing them as a result. Sad – but even sadder that it wasn’t surprising when it happened.

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Steel Panther / Motley Crue / Def Leppard – SECC

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

What a line-up. Three cracking bands on one ticket, only a shame that it meant an early door-time and that we missed the first half of Theory of a Deadman. What little we caught – about five or six songs – was good stuff. I enjoyed it enough to want to get tickets for their upcoming headlining show in February anyway.

After a very brief set change, Black Stone Cherry arrived to huge applause and played their way through an excellent set. Their blues-influenced rock works well on CD and is just as catchy and enjoyable live, especially coming from a band with so much charisma. I’ve never even seen pictures of the band, and they really weren’t what any of us were expecting. The guitarist and bassist look like they walked right out of recording the next Status Quo album, the drummer could pass for The Muppets‘ Animal and lead singer Chris Roberston looks like a chunky sociology teacher.

Appearances are nothing to go by and Robertson has an incredible, and fairly unique, voice. You hear him sing and you know it’s BSC you’re listening to. For a band in a support slot they owned the stage as well as any headliner, playing tracks from all three of their albums. I would say there was a toal of about one-and-a-half songs which involved the crowd taking over vocal duties. Again, not something any old support act could get away with.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

For a second time that night, I found myself looking forward to seeing an act live again – this time on their March tour.

A credit to the engineers and crew saw Alter Bridge themselves take to the stage after another remarkably short delay to begin their hour-and-45-minute set. They ploughed through the opening four songs without so much as a pause for breath, covering both old and new material. The band is very much Myles Kennedy‘s baby, but the rest of the band put in every bit as much as the lead.

It was, however, Myles’ birthday and he got the rousing chorus you’d expect from the crowd.

The set covered all aspects of the band’s three albums, from the heavier rock to the solo, acoustic ballads. Note perfect for the duration, there’s no doubting their abilities as performers but I would have to give them one piece of advice – drop the wanky alternating guitar solo crap. It went on for far too long and we could have had at least one, possibly two more songs in the time it ran on for.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Whinge over, another exhilarating performance from a top notch quartet which rounded off a superb evening of music. The three bands fit together well musically, in my ears. If you like one of the groups then the others are definitely at least worth having a listen to.

As I said earlier, the two supports have sold themselves a few more gig tickets by virtue of their performances. I can’t wait!

Related articles

• Alter Bridge Live Cardiff Motorpoint Arena 23/11/11 (liveandloudrock.wordpress.com)

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Alter Bridge / Black Stone Cherry / Theory of a Deadman – Glasgow SECC

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

[79 pics of the nights in this Flickr set]

The first of two big nights at the SECC with Iron Maiden tomorrow. It’s almost like a mini-festival with comfier beds.

Tonight, though, Judas Priest with Queensryche and Rival Sons in support. We missed Rival Sons entirely and only made it in time to see maybe three songs by Queensryche. In honesty, I was never a fan and what little I saw of them was never going to sway me. They’re not bad… they just never grabbed me musically.

If memory serves, this is the third time I’ve seen Judas Priest live. The first was way back in the early 90′s on the Painkiller tour at Newcastle City Hall. I only got tickets as Annihilator were opening for them. I ended up front row for a very impressive gig by a band I knew about 3 songs by.

Next up was Graspop in 2008, coincidentally with Iron Maiden headlining one of the other nights. Here they put on a great show, but Rob Halford really looked like he was struggling.

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

No such problems this evening. Once the annoying DJ stopped messing about (good music, but good grief… what a nutjob), the curtain dropped and Priest burst into life. A shame KK Downing had left the band but nobody could have any complaints about new member Richie Faulkner. Aside from being a bit younger than the rest, he fit right in and was note perfect. Well done, son.

I’ll admit to not being the biggest Priest fan. I know a couple of the really old numbers, but mainly I got into them around the time of Ram It Down. As such, I didn’t recognise some of the tracks, but it didn’t really matter. Sure, I enjoyed “Painkiller”, “Nostradamus” and “Blood Red Skies” that bit more but the show was powerful enough that even the handful of tracks I didn’t recognise were enjoyable enough.

A half dozen flash pots, some smoke stacks and a bunch of lasers were all that was needed alongside a nice big amplified rig. Halford doesn’t talk a lot to the crowd, but what he does say is nice enough – pointing out album covers, crediting the original writers of songs Priest have covered and so on. Even a drum solo towards the end didn’t dampen the crowd who really started to go mad past the halfway mark of the 2-hour show with a pit opening up. OK, so there were only about 10 people in it at the peak, but still…

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

Two encores rounded off the evening, and of course the highlight was “Breaking The Law”. I don’t think Halford sang a word of the first verse and chorus, leaving it to the audience to make the noise.

It’s a shame this is their last ever world tour, but at least we know there’s another album on the way and live dates will be forthcoming, though not on the scale of the past. In fairness to the guys, they’re all around the sixty mark and have been doing this for an incredible forty years. I hope I have that much energy when I get there. And that my beard mysteriously gains colour like Halford’s. Seriously, why isn’t his grey? No fair.

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Judas Priest / Queensryche Glasgow SECC

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

[More pictures and some videos in my GWAR Flickr set]

I was rather pleased to be able to see the infrequently-touring GWAR, especially as I couldn’t make it to this year’s Download where they were also playing. The last time I saw them was in Manchester around 2003 (at a guess) and before that must have been the early 90′s at the laughingly-monikered “Middlesbrough Arena” (I’ve lived in houses with bigger bedrooms than that place). I gather it’s been 17 years since they played in Scotland at all, and the crowd were baying for blood.

Picked the right band, then.

However, before them was a half-decent set by Clutch that I’m still not sure if I liked or not. I gather they’ve got a bit of a hardcore following, but I don’t think I’ll ever get into them. Their first couple of songs were rather slow and dull until the singer strapped on a guitar and the tempo seemed to increase. Much better.

Thing is, they then finished with some rather experimental, weird-sounding guff somewhat reminiscent of David Bowie during the “I’m on fuck-tons of drugs” phase. credit to them for having so much variety, but… no, not for me.

GWAR finally took the stage at 10pm and started their set by ripping Her Majesty The Queen‘s boobs off. It went downhill from there. In a good way.

I don’t know a single damn song by GWAR, but I wasn’t there for the music. I think I tried to listen to an album once, back before I saw them the first time, and I wasn’t too impressed. However, their stage show is worth the entry fee.

Gillian cowered at the back near the bar while I got covered head to toe in stage blood, squirted out of various ripped and torn carcasses. And an alien penis.

As you do.

It really is completely silly, but that’s the point. Loud music, ridiculous costumes, extreme violence and Lady Gaga being beaten to death with a giant sink plunger. I’m sure she’d approve.

Fortunately, curfew wasn’t at 11pm, so we did get an encore and the curtain dropped around 11:15. I don’t envy the cleaning crew their job, but have to thank the guys working the barrier who did a sterling piece of work in their soon-discarded plastic macs.

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GWAR / Clutch – O2 ABC, Glasgow

Image by Iain Purdie via Flickr

[More pics of Buckcherry on this Flickr set]

A brief review of this gig and a little late posting it due to being a) busy and b) ill. This is the second time I’ve had a chance to catch Buckcherry after their support slot under Disturbed in December at the SECC. It is the first time I’ve been to The Arches and it’s an OK venue though its unusual shape makes it a little awkward to get a decent view from far back. So I pushed my way to the front after they opened with “Dead”.

They’re definitely a good live band, with a great variety of tracks but fitting firmly into the category of “bouncy, singalong rock”. The set was virtually non-stop with only the briefest of stage walk-offs before a short encore. There was no complaints about variety, either, with tracks from all their albums as far as I could tell – I was a little bit tipsy.

My only complaint was the length of the set which was only slightly over an hour. I was expecting the usual ninety minutes and would have enjoyed the extra few songs it would have given, but not to worry. Hopefully next time!

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Buckcherry – The Arches, Glasgow

Image via Wikipedia

Or more specifically, making it harder to find teaching jobs.

I’m coming to the end of my probationary year through in Edinburgh and intend to move through to Glasgow in the summer to be with Gillian and the kids. Therefore I’ve been looking for a job in the area. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive, I know teaching jobs aren’t that easy to find at the moment. However, it seems that Glasgow Council are making it more difficult – and their methods seem purposeless.

Only one job for a Computing teacher has come up in Glasgow and I didn’t get an interview. Given the number of candidates (and I’m sure many were far more experienced than me) this isn’t a huge surprise and I’m not that downhearted about it.

What’s really getting my goat is that I inquired about being put onto the supply list for occasional work up until I can find a permanent position. “Sorry,” I was told, “Glasgow are only putting their own probationers onto their supply list”.

So, basically, to get a job in Glasgow you have to be working in Glasgow already. Let’s not take into account the fact that some of those probationers might be moving elsewhere and that some who studied in Glasgow (like me) took advantage of the “go anywhere” scheme promoted by the GTCS to fill vacancies elsewhere on the understanding we could head “home” afterwards.

The plot thickens, though, when I heard that only the best graded probationers in Glasgow would go onto their supply list. Now I’ve only heard this from one person, but it is a probationer who is within the system so I’ve no reason to doubt what they’re saying. I wasn’t aware that probationers were graded beyond “suitable”, “suitable with some extra time required” and “for the love of all that’s holy, don’t let them in a classroom again”.

So it seems that Glasgow have decided – somehow – to grade all their probationers. This applies to Primary, secondary and all subject specialities therein. It’s unrelated to any other council so there’s nothing for them to regulate against. Hence their “grading” must be completely arbitrary. Given that it’s the first time they’ve done it, it’s also unproven.

Right, so they grade all their teachers. They only allow the “top” ones onto the supply list. This assumes the aforementioned top ones don’t get permanent employment in Glasgow or elsewhere. Or that they’re not moving out of the area, perhaps as they themselves were on the “go anywhere” scheme.

Throwing in some random figures, let’s say there are 100 teachers. The top 20 get permanent posts, so you’re left with 80 who are OK ro good (or crap). 15 of these go elsewhere or drop out of teaching. Glasgow needs 100 new entries on the supply register so where does it get the space-fillers? The first 35 to apply from elsewhere, or from further down their graded list. Not the best, the first. Which means they’re not necessarily going to fill the register with anyone decent.

In addition, when a school seeks a supply teacher the local authority don’t say “here – you’re having this person”. They send out a list of potentials. The department head will then put out the feelers and seek references, official or otherwise. What “grade” they got is irrelevant.

In fact, I would expect that grading teachers would cause them to be more likely to end up skipping the supply list because – assuming a probationer is told how they’re doing grade-wise – it could be used as a “selling point” in interviews.

From what I’ve been able to find out, it’s only Glasgow that are doing this. None of the surrounding councils are bothering. Why? I have no idea. But I simply cannot figure out any actual reason for doing so that doesn’t revolve around generating paperwork and giving some council monkeys a job.

If the GTCS – the governing body for teachers in Scotland – doesn’t see fit to grade new teachers, why on earth do Glasgow Council think that they have the needs, or indeed the skills, to do so themselves?

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Making it even harder to find teachers

Strathclyde University - Jordanhill Campus

I’m sure there are a few of you out there who don’t follow my goings-on via facebook and/or Twitter so I thought I might as well put a few words up here. This blog is rapidly becoming a film review site and I don’t want that!

Recent news – I applied for a PGDE (Primary) course at Strathclyde University and found out this week, after interview, that I hadn’t got on. I’m disappointed, but it’s not the end of the world. With over 800 people competing for barely 130 places I’m glad I at least got as far as an interview. I guess I’ll see how things stand close to term starting and I may ring to see if there have been any drop-outs. Or I try again next year.

What’s a real shame is that next year will be the last time the course will be running at the Jordanhill campus and I really liked it there. Far more convenient and lovely surroundings – much better (and cheaper) than traipsing into the city centre every day.

What else? Well, Gill and I are still doing remarkably well. I guess she’s just not got bored of me yet. The two kids are just amazing. I honestly didn’t realise how much I would enjoy taking on the responsibility of kids. OK, so I only see them all at weekends and holidays but I’m looking forward to July when – assuming I don’t arse things up like I have a habit of doing – I’ll be moving in with them.

In the meantime I’ve been helping redecorate, put together furniture and “tech” the house up a bit. We had been hoping to move to another place (and such a lovely place), but financially it’s just not viable at the moment. Instead we’re looking at extending the existing place and staying put for a few years. Nice location, though, and good for schools for the kids – and hopefully for me!

On the job front, things aren’t looking fantastic with precisely no full-time vacancies for Computing teachers being advertised. There’s always supply, and I have no issues with going back to IT if it’s going to pay the bills. Hell, the dive company that Gill is doing her SCUBA training with is after divemasters, so you never know – I could go that direction instead.

Work is going well. I’m lucky enough to have fantastic support at the school at which I’m doing my NQT year. Teaching isn’t as easy as you might have thought it was when you were the kid sat in the classroom staring out of the window. I’m definitely on the downhill slope towards the year end, and will be losing a fair few classes to exam leave in the very near future. Revision time!

As mentioned, though, the job situation sucks and it seems the Scottish government have decided that their money saving plans for next year are best focussed on destroying the education system as best they can while ensuring that the upper echelons of Holyrood get to keep their flash cars and velvet-upholstered toilet seats. But that will be another blog post.

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Catch-up post

I do actually have a work blog, but good luck finding it – it’s deliberately well hidden. Though not that well, due to my employer’s bonkers IT system (up until I complained a few weeks into term that having posts “signed” with my real name was a little silly).

The other main reason for the lack of blogging is the fact that I’m making quite a lot of use of Twitter and Facebook. My life is being reduced to several 140-character bullet points, and a series of “Like”s. This isn’t good.

So I thought I’d take the end of the year to do a quick wrap-up and fill in some cracks. What’s happened and what’s happening?

Well, the year in brief. I started it at university, living with an aunt in Glasgow. I finished my PGDE(S) with Computing in the summer and headed to Vietnam, where I worked for 2 months with some incredible people at the Hanoi Backpacker’s Hostel.

There I met some new friends, and had a chance to catch up with some old ones – in particular the staff at the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. I didn’t spend as much time as I’d hoped with them due to the work commitments (6 days on, 1 off if I was lucky), but still enjoyed a lot of time helping out and just hanging with the kids.

On the off chance anyone from Vietnam is reading – hey guys and thanks. It was great!

Upon my return, I started working in Edinburgh – placed there at random by the Scottish government. This was fine by me but meant doing a bit of house hunting. My first “own place” since 2006. OK, so I do have a flatmate, but I also have my own room. And bills. Whoo!

I’ve started catching up on my live music as well. Missed so many gigs over the last few years – it’s hard to book tickets in advance when you don’t know from month to month what country you’ll be in – I went to around 10 gigs between August and December. Exodus, Annihilator, All That Remains, Airbourne, Bowling For Soup, Alter Bridge, Disturbed, Hatebreed, Ginger (ex-Wildhearts)…

Then in October things changed. Armed with a pass to all four of Hayseed Dixie‘s Glasgow tour dates, I arranged to stay with the cousin of a friend for one of the evenings. This would allow me to have a couple of bevvies. She decided she wanted to come along as she liked the sound of the band.

As 2010 draws to a close, I’m writing this blog post in her front room. Her two kids are upstairs in bed and we’re settling down with a cuppa.

Despite always promising that I’d never date a single mother, Gill completely changed my perceptions. I had my reasons – mainly related to worrying about how I would handle children who weren’t my own. I’m glad to say that Gill’s two are lovely and I love them as much as I love her.

Yeah, let’s end the year on a soppy note. Work’s hard, but rewarding. I have my hopes for next year, either in employment or back at university.

But the main thing is that I’m finally in a stable relationship with the most amazing woman with the most wonderful kids. I shall try desperately not to screw this one up.

Happy New 2011.

And a token “humbug” just in case you think I’m losing my touch.

Related articles

• Ginger (ex-Wildhearts), Glasgow Garage (moshblog.me.uk)
• Airbourne – Glasgow Barrowlands (moshblog.me.uk)
• Hatebreed – Glasgow Garage (moshblog.me.uk)
• Alter Bridge / Bowling For Soup (moshblog.me.uk)

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Life should not be in bullet points